Finally the start of the trip has begun. We had three uneventful, but long flights and arrived in Bangkok about 11:30 AM local time. We are 13 hours ahead of Central Time in the US. It’s been about 15 years since I, Richard, have been here and after talking about the horrors of the traffic from the airport to the hotel, it was actually a very pleasant trip on the new motor-way.

It seems we are going to have quite a few more people following us on this trip as Mike Valenti, of theVeloist.com cycling community web site, has a posting of our blog on his site and Ed Pavelka, of the RoadBikeRider.com newsletter, put a note about our blog in the most recent issue. If you get a chance, visit both of these sites as they are well worth the time but not until you have digested every word we have written here!

There are only four of us traveling on this small tour: Laura and Richard from the flatlands west of Chicago, IL; Dr. Jim, from Kankakee, IL; and Janie, from New Brunswick, NJ. We all met and know each other from an LA to Boston cross country ride we were part of in 2008. We bonded as a group on that ride along with our fifth rider Darry, from Park City, UT, went off and started a new business venture and an intensive MBA program at the same time and couldn’t make this trip. He and his “That’s awfully mean spirited” retorts will be greatly missed on this ride.

From here on most of the writing will improve as Laura will do most of the blogging and I will be working the photos and videos, along with a few asides for the ride descriptions. The next few postings will mostly include sightseeing in and around Bangkok until the ride starts on Monday.