serendipity: the movie

Earlier this year, we attempted to produce a video of the ride through the ‘serendipity’ alleyways, but, as I described in Serendipity, it didn’t go according to plan. However, that post does include an account of the evolution of the ride, how it developed from a simple through route to an exercise in topology, where the idea was to traverse all the paths once. For students of mathematics, there are three odd nodes in the network, meaning that it isn’t possible to traverse all the alleys without repeating two short sections, although from a purely cycling perspective this doesn’t matter. The idea is merely to have fun.

Having ridden through the alleyways on Saturday for the first time since returning to Hong Kong, I was even more keen to shoot a new video, mainly because there were one or two dramatic changes, which I point out below. But first the video, which starts at the exit from ‘heart of darkness’ and crosses Ho Sheung Heung Road:

In exploring this area, I assigned numbers to different alleys to reflect the order in which they were investigated, although this isn’t something you need to know when following the route. However, the summary that follows refers to these numbers, together with the elapsed time on the video.

The first alley is #1, but at 1:18 it passes the start of #3. We never used to follow this alley because it would have involved missing out the hill, and as I’ve pointed out elsewhere, hills on narrow paths invariably seem harder than equivalent hills on roads. The limited amount of wobble room means that you have to drive at the hill to maintain a straight(ish) line.

However, it did seem to be a waste not to do #3, especially as it emerges onto Ma Tso Lung Road almost directly opposite the start of #2. The key was #4, which starts at 1:42. This alleyway eventually leads back to Ho Sheung Heung Road, which would be utterly pointless, but there is a turn-off to the right at 2:31:

Before this point, there is a tree stump at 2:18 that wasn’t there in May. The clearance is very tight, probably no more than 3cm on each side:

The route then briefly rejoins #1 at 3:04 before turning off again at the first available opportunity onto #5. If I’d come this way for the first time yesterday, I would probably have turned back, because the route appeared to be blocked by a large clump of elephants’ ears at 3:52.

However, as Paula pointed out the first time we came this way, on Saturday, we knew that there must be a way through, even if it is a bit crash! bang! wallop! It had been completely clear five months earlier!

The route then rejoins #1 at 4:13 and follows this backwards to the start of #3 at 4:23:

Ma Tso Lung Road marks the end of #3 and the start of #2 at 5:58.

Although on average #2 is narrower than the other alleyways, the most interesting point occurs at 7:03. I like to ride over cast-iron storm drain covers, manhole covers and, especially, the small hinged lids that provide access to water stop-taps to see whether they make a noise. And this may be a squatter area, but residents do enjoy piped water (and mains electricity). There are three of these small hinged lids at this point that are so spaced that if you hit all three with both wheels, you will produce a cadence that is instantly recognizable.

Paula didn’t try this—until she heard me—but now we both try to hit what I’ve started referring to as ‘the musical cha-cha-cha’. It’s surprisingly difficult, because even a 1cm deviation means that you will miss at least one of the beats. And it isn’t often that we both hit it correctly, although we did when shooting this video. You will have to have the volume cranked up to hear me, but Paula had the microphone, and the familiar cadence is unmistakeable on the soundtrack.

And as I pointed out above, this entire segment is so much fun to ride, which is why I ride a bike in the first place.