Day 89 – Mueang Petchabun to Chun Daen
Today’s ride was only 55kms, but we did have a hill. I know you non-cyclists don’t understand, but pushing yourself and a tandem bicycle up a hill is hard work. Since our tandem bike weighs 210kg it’s A LOT of hard work. Even small hills present a problem, but it’s more about the grade.
If the grade is reasonable you can cycle up the hill. Pushing uphill is fine, it’s like riding with a group and trying to hang on. It can be done, but if the group is a lot faster than you and pulls away it’s a similar feeling to when grade of the hill increases and you find yourself losing the battle.
Today the grade was fine overall, and we managed a 100m and a 200m climb without much trouble. These climbs were longer than the other memorable ones that we’ve had, including Phang Nga, Ranong and Sa Kaew, but it’s hard to know if the grade was much worse on those. They all happen at different times during the day and your body feels differently about them.
Today the hills started at 20kms and lasted for about 10kms until the top, so we were fresh and it was manageable. The last time we pushed the bicycle was in Sa Kaew, but the hills there arrived after 90kms and only lasted for 5kms or so. I don’t really think that the grade was that much worse, but I know we were fairly spent at that point. I need to double check the data (once it’s uploaded).
No Internet tonight, at all. I think this might be the first time on this trip with no Internet. We found a nice place that is kept very well by a couple. Unlike some of these types of places, this particular place is owned by people who have pride in their little resort and it shows, they care about it and it’s environment. I wish more Thai people had the same love for their surroundings.
We’re going to Phichit tomorrow and then on to Phitsanulok where we will take a day off. Then we’ll have a short trip to Sukothai where we will most likely take another day off, just because these areas are of interest to us and we’ve not visited them in a long time.
Today was a good day, it gave me some confidence that we might be ready for the next 1,200kms. I don’t really care how long it takes us, I would just like to finish it and make sure we have some fun along the way.
