Day Three - Bueng Kan to Ban Phaeng

113.88 kms over 8 hours 54 mins including rest times

Today I joined the One Hundred Club.  Never having cycled even close to 100km before, it was always going to be tough.  This is me at the end of day three.

 

We set off on a cool morning but I think we all knew that the cloud cover would burn off and turn into a scorcher.  The heat rash under my shorts at the end of the day was testament to that.  

Today was all about the cycling and how my body would perform.  OMG listen to me!

I have started to realise how important the nutrition that you put inside you at each stop is.  I have never eaten so much before and thankfully the food is delicious.

Breakfast is always a huge plate of fried rice, fried eggs, fruit and toast.  Coffee to pump you up. In Thailand they sell great little cans of strong sweet iced coffee which are a cyclists best friend at a rest stop. We drink copious amounts of water with electrolytes to keep hydrated.  The slightest sign of a headache tells you to increase the intake.

About half of the cycling today was off road on very bumpy and dusty tracks.  The impact on the body was harder and you had to concentrate, as Craig (Borat) discovered when he got the tandem with Mai Thiew on the back stuck in a rut around a corner.  Suddenly his riding partner was no longer there.  Thankfully she was ok.  Mai Thiew is so inspiring: Director of Home Hug orphanage, where we are headed, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer about 9 years ago but is determined to do the ride with us and be part of it.  She is an amazing woman and very precious cargo for Borat to lose!

The rubber plantations turned into endless miles of tobacco plantations and we were to see the leaves hanging to dry in one large barn towards the end.  We stopped in a few villages to be greeted by excited children, who wanted to play, ride alongside on their bikes and even have a go on the tandem.

 

At one village we stopped by the Catholic Church and the priest came out to see us.  His English was great and he explained that 95% of the village is Catholic since the French arrived up the Mekong well over a hundred years ago.  The church on the river is probably the first thing they built.

 

At the first stop today after 22 kms, I took a gel with caffeine.  Some cyclists swear by them and some shy away, saying they upset your stomach and can make you feel sick and the high that you get means you also have to come down. I was told to drink loads of water with it not realising there was a bumpy off road 20 km stretch ahead to torment my bladder! But I wanted to test one and today was the day to do that.  I have to say that I did get a huge boost of energy and had a power in my legs that came out of nowhere. I was even singing far too loudly. On a welcome stretch of highway, I found myself zipping along in a group and we must have been averaging about 29 kph.  

I am understanding the pleasures of riding in a group and resting behind someone else at times, which was what happened later in the day when I was starting to lag and Emma cycled up and tucked me in behind her.  

It was a long day which was broken up into five legs with a longer stop in between.  We needed those to hydrate, snack and stretch.

My legs were better than I thought.  The main problem I had was the intense pain between my shoulder blades from leaning over the handle bars all day.  The wonderful Chris and Andrew of Team NZ helped me out with that in the evening with an application of Deep Heat, Panadol and some stretching.

By the end of the day, I was immensely proud of myself.  We were all in bed by 9pm after the best dinner so far of steamed fish in chilli and lime, chicken and cashew nuts and Som Tam salad (my favourite).

 

Another 100+ day tomorrow before the rest day.

Day Two - Pak Khet to Beung Kan

65kms

3 hours 47 mins

 

The quiet morning of the local Thai villagers was interrupted as a swarm of blue-shirted bicycles buzzed through village after village.

It feels like the Tour de Thailand as locals bring out their kids to line the stretches, call off their dogs and watch us buzzing by.  The leading pack of stronger riders has served to get everyone up and alert to our impending arrival.  Continual cries of hello or Sawadee-ka, smiling waving connects us with these delightful people. Their lives are simple but community sense strong as young and old, able-bodied and less fortunate live side by side.  They seem to look after each other well, there are lots of men with children and I have seen 2 Downs Syndrome children in the last 2 days, looked after by what may be grandparents.

 

We gave away some Sticky Hands that Trevor had brought to kids who love the stretchy sticky colourful toys.  But we generally only slow down and rarely stop.  Most of the photos taken here are on fast shutter speed whilst keeping out for pot holes at the same time!

 

Our ride through the rural areas on Day two took us through rubber plantations, the trees carefully cut and their weeping wounds caught by the vessels tied at the base. Apparently it is always the landowners that make the money.  

Workers can lease land but the fruits of their labour apparently quickly dry up after all additional costs, even after their hard work. 

Occasionally you see a huge modern house with gates and garden.  I asked our guide if these are the landowners' properties but they are apparently equally like to be the result of a young girl or lady-boy sending home money to the family from their dubious work in Bangkok.  

The chilly start to the morning soon turned to heat, drier than I expected which makes it a very hot ride as we head for our welcome oases of water and fruit stops.  We are mainly following the fertile lands of the Mekong which divides Laos and Thailand in this area.   It is beautiful and abundant for the people that live around it.  The Mighty Mekong then stretches down through Thailand, Laos to its delta in Vietnam. I heard the Chinese talk of building more dams which would dry up the livelihoods of millions of people.  

 

The hotel was very modern and nice with a big sign outside to greet us.  Most went on the afternoon excursion to a temple with  stunning views which involved climbing high up dubious scaffolded platforms.  Knowing that I would not be able to make that, I opted to go for a massage.  Unfortunately, their trip turned to tragedy when a monk collapsed and died in front of them.  Peter and some others stayed and performed CPR and mouth to mouth until a medical team arrived, but he did not make it. It seems the poor monk died in a the temple that represents the circle of life, which went some way to  appeasing the shaken and shocked nerves of some of the group that emerged for dinner that evening.  

We had a short ride today which means 110km tomorrow and some even longer ones after that. 

Day One - Udon Thani to Pak Khet

Day One Complete
85.25km - 5hours 47 mins
Only 714.75 to go as we head towards the orphanage in Yasathon

Meandering along the Mekong, the dusty rural roads led us through villages, past temples and endless stalls of bananas, pineapples and durian.  In the villages, glints of the morning sun reflected on the water of the rice paddies, the colour of the new shoots a vivid veridian against the browns and reds of the earth. 

I quickly got used to my bike and am glad for the comfort of my own saddle!  There were 4 legs and I loved every minute even when the rural lanes turned into long 25kms stretches of  straight and dusty highways with thundering trucks and substandard roads.  It was getting very hot and I was getting hungry.
The 3rd leg was the toughest, the hottest and challenging for my novice legs.  But as we pulled into the welcome relief of shade, beautiful food and the sugary rush of ice-cold Pepsi, we were soon revived and ready to start again.

We have learned early to bark at dogs to intimidate them and stop them from causing a swerve.  If we see a snake on the road, the instruction is to run over it, dead or alive.  Same reason.  Most accidents can be caused by us knocking each other off!

Day One ended in Pak Khet, a dirty uneventful small town.  The hotel we were supposed to be staying in gazumped us and some of us were lucky enough to be moved down the road to a very basic motel.
Provided in them was a cold shower, toilet, a bed with no bedding, a hard pillow, a bar of soap, cotton buds and a condom (which had little helmet logos on!)  No internet, of course.  It was not hard to work out that these stark rooms are normally rented by the hour and not by the night by tourists, let alone the cycling elite!

We went out for another exquisite dinner by the Mekong, got serenaded by a Thai Elvis along the way (actually we just appreciated his efforts more than a young Thai girl who was the subject of his song) and by the time we wobbled back to the hotel, the time difference and the 85 km ride had the better of me, and I slept a sound and exhausted sleep, until our 6am start for Day Two. 

Ready for take off

Been around the car park with emma so far but looking good!

Dinner on the Mekong

Beautiful dinner tonight in Udon Thani on the Mekong River which divides Laos and Thailand where we were presented with our shirts. What an amazing bunch of people Early start tomorrow for day one.

Middle-aged Men in Lycra

Awoke far too early this morning to the frangipani scented warm air of Bangkok. A lovely hotel spa, typical Thai romance, outstanding service.. and realised all I have been dreaming about is men in lycra.

Never having been one to dip a freshly- pedicured toe into the shallow end, I find that yet again I have plunged straight into the deep end and "taken up cycling" and will start with an 800 km ride!  

This  it has thrust me into a new world of men with tanned, toned and shaved legs, conversations of cleats and fancy shoes, caffeine and "goos", and what bum cream to use.

God, the last time I used bum cream was when I had babies and that was on my haemorrhoids!

And what fills me now with most trepidation and anticipation, the apparent need to dispense with underwear! 

So think of me tomorrow when I start the ride, lubed up and knickerless in bike shorts that remind me of an incontinence pad, staring at the MAMILS with with shaved legs and wearing lycra.  

 

All I can say is I hope they are black....The shorts that is. 

 

Qantas lounge sydney with emma

Just about to board