Okay, all I have to say is that one should never book a bike tour and then not train properly for it. I am starting to kick myself in the behind for not spending more time in the basement on the CompuTrainer. The other thing, never and I mean never not bring your own seat along; especially us ladies. And the third thing, mountain bikes on paved roads suck! There really is no reason for us to be on hard tails with big ol’ knobby tires and front shocks that do not lock out. I feel like I have been pushing tons of steel down the road and it is damn hard! And I mean hard! Do you get the feeling like today was not pleasant for me?! You are right. Oh, how I am wishing for my nice BMC road bike right now! But I better get a handle on myself since this is only day three of a 16 day ride!

Enough bitching for now. I am sure I will have more later! Today we left the coastline of Thailand and headed inland. What I love about this ride are the small quiet roads that take us through little villages lined with primitive buildings and everyone is selling something. When we stop for a break it is always at a small food stand and the people there are so gracious. I get practice saying, “Hello” and “Thank you” in Thai. Sometimes they laugh but mostly they answer back with a very nice, respectful bow in return. Even though our guides have food for us we always make sure we buy something from the stand.

We passed through into Chantaburi province which is well known for its fruit. Woody points out the different trees as we pass by and most of them look the same to me! We did finally get to see a huge Jack fruit hanging from a tree and some cashews. We should all pay great respect to the cashew tree. Did you know that only one nut comes from each flower on the tree? Absolutely amazing!

At some point during the first 50K of the ride, we stopped for a short temple break which was situated next to a school. There was a class of about 20 first graders out playing and we stopped by to say hello and take some pictures. Oh, my God, the kids went nuts and they went nuts for Jim. He would take their picture, show it to them and they would all scream with laughter. Then of course everyone wanted in and we all got our pictures taken with the school kids. I think they were the highlight of the day.

The sun was beating down pretty hard once again and I did not want to further my sunburn along so I opted to put on a long sleeve shirt. I was amazed at how cool it kept me and how happy my dermatologist will be. Of course pouring water on me also helped. I cannot tell you how hot is it here. This is heat I have never experienced before. It makes Chicago at the height of summer feel like fall. The only way to keep cool is to keep riding. And you better have some good chamois cream because the chaffing could become deadly. I got a little chaffing on the first day and I am making sure nothing flares up. I am also having a hard time adjusting to this bike so between the heat, the heavy riding bike and the chaffing, I have been a bit cranky at times. But I am more conscious of my water and food intake now. One cannot get behind the eight ball here!

We stopped for lunch at a friend of Woody’s guest house. It was absolutely heaven. There was a light breeze coming off the canal and welcoming table full of delicious food. I am having to be a little careful of the food and the spices. It all tastes delicious but my poor western tummy doesn’t always agree. I am not sick but some of the spices can be a bit deadly, if ya know what I mean! :) Woody also thought it might be a good idea to hang at the guesthouse and let the sun go down a bit. We all took a nap, expect Jim, who took advantage of an open internet line.

I am not sure if taking a nap was a good idea, especially since we had at 45K yet to go in the ride. It was still hot out, now just a little later in the day. We were in a rather big city with many stops and starts among cars and motorcycles that had little or no exhaust controls. I was glad to have a scarf that I could wrap around my mouth and nose. Unfortunately for me, between the heat, eating lunch and just having a very hard time adjusting to the bike, I ended up jumping in the van around 75K and calling it a day. I am going to have to come to terms with the mountain bike if I am going to be able to finish this ride.

I rode in the van with Rich as Janie and Jim made their way to the stopping point in the ride. We loaded the bikes up and drove the final 15K or so on a very busy road to our hotel. The landscape of Thailand has changed and the mountains are closer than ever. I am wondering how much we will have to climb to get to the border. Climbing is good because there are always downhills, too. But I will have to wait until morning to really find out. In the meantime, Woody and Mr. Sukho took us to a local restaurant and we had our last Thai dinner of the trip. It will be hard to say good-bye to our guides as they have treated us so well.

We are all anxiously looking forward to crossing over into Cambodia tomorrow. Rich will still ride in the van but is hoping to be back on the bike in two days. I will be very happy when he can ride with us once again.

Link to today’s photos

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