PDKL45

I live near Seoul, in Uijeongbu. I ride around Seoul and Gyeonggido on river paths and on mixed rides, on river paths and then up and down mountains. I really like doing stuff like taking the train to Chuncheon (and eating dakgalbi) before riding back to Seoul on the Bukhangang Path.

I agree that people need to know more about the bike infrastructure here, because it's really world class. Everyone has been posting online about the German "bike super highway" recently, but it's actually nothing compared to what we already have here in Korea. The government here--the tourism ministry--could be doing a lot more to promote it, because it would earn a lot of money, and cyclists going down the paths take money to rural areas and give business to restaurants and min baks/pensions etc. I have wondered why the government people don't do more to publicize the bike paths, because they are really, really good. It's something Korea should be really proud of, like the excellent public transport here.

One thing the Korea tourism people could be doing is going to places where the bike industry goes and setting up booths with press kits for the bike journalists from Bike Rumor etc. Like go to the Taipei bike show, the big one in Las Vegas, Interbike, the London one, the German one etc. Go to places where bike people are and publicize the whole bike network here and invite journalists (or someone like the Bike Snob--BSNYC) to come ride here and write about it. The tourism people could also hire a part-time English bike blogger (I would LOVE that job! ^^) to make posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Not spamming though, raising awareness in a relaxed way and being honest about what they are doing by properly answering questions and offering advice from a local perspective, rather than aggressively creating repetitive threads etc.

I want to go in a "ride around Korea" race/Korean style bike "rally" when the DMZ and the East, South and West Sea bike paths are finished that goes around Korea in a circle. Like Ride Across America or the Tour Divide, but in this case "Ride Around Korea." Riding events like that, endurance races that people will enter for fun and adventure, rather to win, would put Korea on the map, and make it a stop for long distance bike racers. Organizing a self-supported touring race without big prizes (pride and accomplishment are the prizes) would be really good for bike tourism as more and more people heard about the race and it could be the focus of cycle tourist marketing campaigns. Even do a ride/race for bikepackers/adventure tourers that is 50/50 on bike paths and mountains, just like the Kiwi Brevet in New Zealand.

Another thing is trains. Everyone wants to take their bike back to Seoul on the KTX, but it does not allow bikes. If the KTX made one bike carriage and made one service a day from Busan to Seoul with a bike carriage, it would be really popular. Even on the Saemaeul, a bike carriage from Busan to Seoul would be really popular. The only train you can take a bike on now is the Muganghwa, and not all of them have the amusement/games carriage that you are allowed to put your bike in. Korail already runs a perfect service to Chun Cheon, with bike carriages, from Seoul. If they did the same, just bigger, with the KTX or Saemaeul, it would be perfect for casual tourists. Right now, there is no linking bike path back to Seoul. While there will be by 2019, looking at the map I posted, at the moment, no cyclists want to ride back to Seoul on the same path, so a big problem with getting more people to ride the paths is the lack of a dedicated train service back to Seoul. There is already some train called "Leports" or something that takes bikes, but I don't think it goes from Busan to Seoul. Korea already has everything in place for bikes on trains and a KTX bike carriage would be like the final link in the chain. A quick, efficient means of getting back to Seoul with your bike to fly out of the country after having explored Busan would make it HUGE with international tourists.