@gschenk - where in chian were you?

china even

ive only been to shanghai, but i wouldn't want to ride a bike there. that being said, I got ridiculously sick when i got there

hm. manchester stadium...

...is not in China

there was a bombing there

oh bugger

I patched a puncture on a 36" tube today.

Every wheel now looks tiny

If you get a hotel on the opposite side of a freeway (road) from the place you want to go, you can expect a 2 km trip to cover 300 m

i saw that as a comment somewhere on the internet recently

I've had the same thing happen before, 4 mile trip to go 500 feet. Traffic "control" in large American cities is a thing. It usually helps to put stuff into Google maps and get directions first.

id guess its less of a problem in other places since the actual highways don't go through main parts of cities

Here in the Midwest, most larger cities are getting better about having bicycle infrastructure in place, especially around downtown and adjacent suburbs. Farther out in the country it gets to be a bit of a bitch though...

Or around commercial centers where most hotels are