Aug. 15: The Great (and painful) Wall
From ESPN.com senior writer Jim Caple:
JUYONGGUAN -- The warning sign was clear, even if the grammar wasn't.
"Heart cerebral disease sufferers ascend the Great Wall to please watch for. BE CAREFUL."
What you don't appreciate about the Great Wall of China until you see it up close is just how steep it is in the sections that dip and climb Slinky-like over the hills, mountains and valleys. Such is the case at the section where the cycling road course ended, presenting a strenuous hike -- and as the sign warns, a potentially dangerous one.
The portion of the Wall dips down slightly from the race course road, crosses a narrow valley and then climbs back up many hundred feet to the surrounding hilltops, from where it stretches along in several directions. Hundreds of stairs lead up here, and in some areas, they are knee-high and so steep that it is more like climbing a ladder than a staircase.
On top of that, the steps and walkways can be very slick from years of built-up mold and mildew. I had to hold on to an arm rail to keep myself from sliding on my rear at one point.
After huffing and puffing to the top of one tower, I pondered whether it was worth climbing the remaining hundreds of steps to the very top. Already gasping for air and drenched in sweat, I decided that I had exerted myself enough for the afternoon. Then I saw the TV crew coming down.
They had set up camera and transmission gear atop the next hill to tape the road race from the side. And now with the road race over, they were carrying all that gear down -- satellite dishes, generators, fans, platforms. Two men, their bare chests coated in sweat, struggled to carry a black equipment trunk down the slick, steep stairs.
When I asked how much the trunk weighed, they set it down and invited me to pick it up. I tried and nearly gave myself a hernia. "It weighs 40 to 50 kilos [or 88 to 110 pounds]," said Mathieu Rocton, who works for a French TV network.
I couldn't imagine carrying that much all that way down these steps.
"We had to carry it up, too," he said. "And then we had to go up and come down every day."
Good God. And I thought the cyclists exhausted themselves. How many steps is it?
"I don't know," he said. "I was always too out of breath to count."
