{"id":2659,"date":"2025-01-20T16:10:48","date_gmt":"2025-01-20T16:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/warmshowersblog.org\/?p=1443"},"modified":"2025-01-20T16:10:48","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T16:10:48","slug":"south-korean-international-cycling-gang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.warmshowers.org\/es\/south-korean-international-cycling-gang\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korean International Cycling Gang"},"content":{"rendered":"
Contributor: Doris Tuck<\/h5>\n

\"AOn Thursday evening, August 1, 2024, I received a Warmshowers message from Veronica Lee requesting an overnight stay in San Jose for Saturday and Sunday nights.<\/strong> I\u2019m 88 years old, and by the afternoon, I\u2019m often tired. It took me a while to consider her request. I spoke with my boyfriend of 48 years, Roger, and, as usual, he said, \u201cIt\u2019s up to you, babe.\u201d Initially, I was hesitant to take on anything extra, but I eventually thought, <\/span>We don\u2019t have anything else to do; it might be fun.<\/span><\/i> So, I agreed and gave her my phone number.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Veronica called later, I learned that there were <\/span>four<\/span><\/i> of them. Oof! We have two empty bedrooms\u2014a double bed in one (sheesh, I\u2019d have to clear off all the stuff I\u2019d been piling up there) and a queen bed in the other. Wow. I had to rethink and recheck. But once again, I thought, <\/span>What the heck. We don\u2019t have anything else to do, and it might be fun.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, gee, can all of you sleep together?\u201d I asked. \u201cWe have only two bedrooms, and one of them is small with just a double bed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, yes, we can sleep together; that\u2019s no problem,\u201d she assured me.<\/span><\/p>\n

The next morning, she called again and asked if they could come Friday night instead of Saturday. Wow. Another adjustment. Still, I thought, <\/span>Why not?<\/span><\/i> That\u2019s when I learned more about the group: two women and two men.<\/span><\/p>\n

Veronica, the leader, is a 28-year-old graduate student at a university in Seoul, and the others are undergraduates. Morrie, the other woman, is 22 years old, while Daniel and Mark, the two men, are 21 and 20, respectively. (Incidentally, my two oldest sons are also named Daniel and Mark.) They had spent the last two nights in San Francisco and planned to ride down to San Jose on Friday. I expected their journey would take most of the day, so I decided to prepare dinner for them. They would likely be tired and hungry after a full day of cycling.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"AI\u2019m getting pretty good at hacking Trader Joe\u2019s frozen entrees and turning them into decent meals. For this dinner, I used their frozen chili and cheese tamales. I microwaved them briefly, then whipped up a batter with eggs, yogurt, Trader Joe\u2019s chili corn salsa, and jalape\u00f1o sauce. I added besan (garbanzo bean flour), almond flour, and a few extra spices, then baked it all into a bread-like casserole.<\/span><\/p>\n

To accompany the tamales, I sliced a large cantaloupe and enhanced two bags of salad with apple chunks, chopped onion, dried cranberries, sliced almonds, and walnut bits. It was a pretty tasty spread.<\/span><\/p>\n

I underestimated their hunger. They scraped the baking dishes clean and looked around for more. Taking the hint, I offered creamed tuna over toast or rice\u2014a quick and easy fallback for when we\u2019re hungry, and I\u2019m tired. Morrie\u2019s eyes lit up at the suggestion, so I made two cans\u2019 worth of tuna and toasted most of a loaf of bread. Again, they polished off every last bite.<\/span><\/p>\n

Friday Night<\/b>
\n<\/b>The women shared the double bed, while the men crashed on top of the queen bed, face first, their feet dangling off the edge. I suppose all that cycling pumps up your metabolism\u2014and exhaustion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Saturday Morning<\/b>
\n<\/b>\"AThe next morning, we wanted to treat them to dosa. That\u2019s when we realized both our cars could seat only five people comfortably\u2014but not six. Roger decided to get creative and used his Subaru Impreza hatchback. Veronica, Morrie, and Roger took turns riding in the \u201chatch,\u201d with instructions to keep their heads down to avoid attracting the attention of any curious police officers.<\/span><\/p>\n

We went to Ulavacharu in Campbell, where the sambar isn\u2019t too spicy for my taste. The cycling gang, however, happily devoured the chutneys I can\u2019t handle. They seemed to thoroughly enjoy the experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

That evening, they offered to cook dinner for us and insisted on buying rice, even though we already had plenty. Since I needed to replenish our frozen tamale supply, we all headed to Trader Joe\u2019s.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"PlattersBack home, Veronica and Morrie took charge in the kitchen. They cooked a pot of rice and used my two largest cast iron skillets to prepare a hearty portion of kimchi they had purchased Friday on their way down from the city.\u00a0 I contributed sliced watermelon, a quart of carrot juice, and some dhokla with chutney from a local spice house. Dinner was a hit. Even though I needed to add plain rice to my serving of kimchi, the meal was delicious, and everyone enjoyed it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sunday Morning<\/b><\/p>\n

On Sunday morning, I suggested dim sum for breakfast. Our riders eagerly agreed. We went to Golden Sun Palace in Milpitas and had a delightful meal. Although the bill came to almost $100, the cyclists insisted on paying.<\/span><\/p>\n

After breakfast, they packed up their gear, preparing to head over the mountain to Santa Cruz for a couple of nights before continuing down the coast to Los Angeles.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Case You\u2019re Wondering\u2026<\/b>
\n<\/span>All four riders were using 29er bikes. However, the rear bike racks weren\u2019t sturdy enough for the weight they carried. One rack arm broke, cutting the sidewall of a rear tire. Thankfully, they had spare tires, so they were able to continue their journey.<\/span><\/p>\n

Farewell to the South Korean International Cycling Gang<\/b><\/p>\n

\"ManyIt was a whirlwind weekend filled with good food, laughter, and shared stories. Hosting Veronica, Morrie, Daniel, and Mark was an unexpected but delightful adventure.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Contributor: Doris Tuck On Thursday evening, August 1, 2024, I received a Warmshowers message from Veronica Lee requesting an overnight stay in San Jose for Saturday and Sunday nights. I\u2019m 88 years old, and by the afternoon, I\u2019m often tired. It took me a while to consider her request. I spoke with my boyfriend of [\u2026]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1735,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[57,58,53,50,64,56],"class_list":["post-2659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hosts-corner","tag-long-distance-bicycle-touring","tag-long-distance-bike-touring","tag-warmshowers","tag-warmshowers-foundation","tag-warmshowers-hosts","tag-warmshowers-org"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t