It's 120 degrees. Let's go biking!

Many Americans living in China are sports enthusiasts. One must come here knowing that sports can be practiced and enjoyed but that have to be enjoyed within the realm of some of the most polluted air in the world. Shanghai's air is NOT clean. Apparently because of the Beijing Olympic preparations, Chinese cities everywhere have cleaned themselves up and life here is already an improvement. That is a topic for another post. I can't believe it. But anyway...
I figured, hey, it is flat in Shanghai- I will get a road bike and join the crazy Americans who bike here. My school gives us close to $1000 to spend on WELLNESS- gym memberships, sports clothing, bikes, massages, vitamins, doctor visits, whatver fits into the category. So I bought two bikes with my moola- (by the way, the money here is called the riminbi- commonly called quai). One bike is my girlie bike with a basket that I ride to school. The other bike is this snazzy French road bike that weighs jsut about nothing. So off I go with some people from school and a dude from the US consulate.
Imagine:
8:30 am. Get on the bike. It is VERY hot and steamy. Trucks spew dust and air out at you.
8:45 am. You ride in a bike lane. All roads have bike lanes. Big bike lanes.
8:46 am. So much traffic near home that cars are now driving with you in the bike lane.
9:00 am. Man from US consulate with fancy gadgets says, "You know the adjusted heat index is like 120 degrees." WHAT!? Yup, some mechanical number puncher calculates how much concrete a city has, the heat, the wind, and all sorts of other factors to shoot out a number. 120.
9:15 am. My pals from school, who are currently training for triathalons, say, "Francesca (me!), you are doing great. Indeed I am. Sweating and cranking the tires around and around.
9:16 am. Profuse sweating. Perhaps more sweat than EVER. Avoiding dust particles at all cost.
9:30 am. We are still in the dregs of the city but beginning to see some green. I smile at some Chinese dudes who are staring at me. They do not smile back. They think, "Why would some stupid white person do this on purpose when I ride a bike only because I can't afford a car!??"
9:38 am. I see rice patties and massive construction sites. These things exist equally in ever-growing Shanghai.
9:40 am. I sweat more profusely. Trying not to breathe in fumes from diesel truck.
9:45 am. We arrive at the green "hill". We rode around it. Notice attached picture.
9:50 am. I reflect that perhaps I will ride my bike more when it is under 100 degrees.
10:10 am. We ride back home, past shoe factories, under highway overpasses and past many people selling oranges. If I was with some less hard-core people I would have stopped but I didn't want to break the groove. More pictures to come.
11:15 am. Finish the 50 km total ride. Not bad. I am happy, falling onto the floor in my perfectly air-conditioned apartment.
1:15 pm. Showered and starving, I fill my belly with Bao Zi - DUMPLINGS!!!