Preparation for Seoul to Busan

I am very excited about my first solo cycling trip to Korea and occasional doubt about doing Seoul to Busan by myself. I wanted to plan in advance, but I have no idea how to break the 633km down into doable bits in 6 days with sufficient breaks, rest and photo moments. I referenced a lot of info blogs to help myself and below is a list of those I referenced.

1. This blog contains quite a few links to video of people who did Seoul to Busan 

2. This was one of my most referenced blog: Bicycle Thailand
The elevation map was exceptionally useful, suggestions on where to stay to tackle the stretch between Suanbo and Ihwaryeong was exceptionally helpful. The fact that I knew there were places to stay after the first hill gave me the confidence to go for it on my day 3 of the trip. It was a raining day and knowing you won't have to be stuck climbing another hill after the first hill helped tremendously.

That said, I was training quite a bit and had experience doing multiple climbs in Taiwan in Dec 2016, novice riders are advised to climb their hills in the beginning of the day. (I also had a 3 x 10 on a road bike for this purpose).

I also read some other solo riders' blog to gain the needed confidence that I can do this ride alone. 3. This was the most promising blog, I thought if she can do it, then I can do it!

4. Fellow Singaporean's Blog! Winter, Snow and only using a Bike Friday!

My friend also found me a group on Facebook - Cycling Seoul to Busan and Beyond, awesome group, lots of information on the group and people contributing their experiences.

I actually referenced my packing list to a post by one of the members of this group

Amazing Packing List! from Cat Terleski, those which are strike out are things I didn't bring
Basic Packing List: 
Bike Gear
- Lights (Rear and front)
- Charging cables for lights
- 2 tubes  I only brought one and I didn't use it.
- Tire levers
- Mini pump
- Helmet
- Shoes
- Pedals
- Chamois Cream  I got vaseline instead
- Multitool/Torque wrench
- Bike lock (unnecessary)
- Bell
- Pedal Wrench
- Water Bottles

Bike Clothing:
- 2 Jerseys  I only brought one, all motels/guest house provided laundry.
- 2 Shorts  I brought 2 pairs of long cycling pants, and sent one back on Day 4
- 1 Base layer
- Gloves
- 2 Long socks  I have like 4 pairs of short socks instead, I really like my socks dry
- Sunglasses
- Buff

Clothing:
- Warm Jacket
- Rain Jacket
- 1 Pair Pants  I brought 2 pairs of shorts (Singaporean style)
- 2 T-Shirts 
- 1 Hoodie
- 1 Pair Trainers

Electronics/Extras/Toiletries
- Phone
- Garmin
- Power Converter
- Charging cables
- Korea book (unnecessary)
- Inkpad
- Wi-Fi egg (rented from airport)
- Gels/Bars
- Asprin/Etc. (I had a huge medication bag, also brought along pills for sleeping, antihistamines, mosquito spray, bandaid, tiger balm, sprayed on band-aid etc....)
- Sunscreen
- Hand sanitizer
- Tissues/Wet Wipes
- Small Brush
- Dry Shampoo
- Deodorant
- Toothbrush/Toothpaste (most motels provided)
- Lip Gloss
- Paper Laundry Soap (I have a small bag of laundry powder instead of this)
- Contacts/ Contact Solution
- Laundry Clips x 6 (for hanging clothes on curtains)

Credits to them for sharing their valuable experience so I can now share mine =)