ISAN 2020 - 2,024 kilometer brevet
Date: 2 February 2020 - 8 February 2020
Total distance: 2,045 Kilometers
Start Time: 7:00 am 2 February 2020
Return
Time: 7:25 pm 8 February 2020
With: Mahesh Choudhary, Rajkumar Khot, Rakesh Jakhmola
and Satish Sharma
Altitude Profile:
About the ride:
This was going to be the inaugural edition of the ISAN
2020 ride being organised by Audax Club ISAN. A 2,020 kilometer ride the route
was a loop across north eastern Thailand (ISAN Region - covering 20 ISAN
districts) along the borders of Cambodia and Laos. 800 kilometers of the route
was along the Mekong river which is the border between Thailand and Laos.
The ride brief said that we should be prepared for
heat and rains and that we would have 24 hour shops every 40-50 kilometers
along the route and that we would be facing a lot of Thai dogs as well during
the ride.
It did not take long when Mohan Subramanyam said that he was registering for the ISAN 2020 ride for me to jump on and register for the ride. The registration process took over a month as the process was split into phases which included pre-registration, payment of fee, uploading medical certificate and travel insurance. There were 2 time options for the ride, one at 12 kilometers per hour - 168 hours and another at 10 kilometers per hour - 202 hours. Wanting to play it safe I opted for the 202 hour option. Waited a little to book the flight tickets and the accommodation and we were set to go for the ride.
Although the travel plans were made I was not prepared
physically for a ride of the magnitude of 2,000 kilometers. I had barely ridden
in the months after PBP and had totaled about 2,000 kilometers over 3 months
from October - December and the thought of having to do it over the course of 8
days seemed herculean. I was getting friendly reminders from my friends that I
was not practicing for the Thailand ride.
With just January remaining it was time to pull up my
socks and get on the saddle and get rid of some weight which I had accumulated
over the past months. Getting up early was a big challenge in January as it was
very cold and getting rid of the laziness which had set in was difficult. I
knew that as long as I could get out of bed and get on the saddle I would be
done with half the ride.
I was able to start January with a couple of back to
back rides, a 300 Kilometers recce of the Melukote ride which I converted into
a 400 kilometer ride with some additional kilometers and followed it up with a
200 kilometer Nandi brevet. I was riding a brevet after almost 6 months in
Bangalore which brought back the focus a little. Followed up this ride with a
ride to Bellur Cross, a 200 kilometer night ride and then an easy paced ride to
Markandeshwara - Teerahalli hills two days later. Did a ride to Jawadhu Hills
and then to Panchapalli to get some practice on climbs/rolling terrain and
threw in a few hours on the trainer to prepare myself for the ride. I had
managed to accumulate 2,000 kilometers in January and was silently confident of
being able to do a 2,000 kilometer ride in Thailand.
Plan for the ride:
I spent minimal time drawing up a plan for this ride.
Given that I had limited time and was spending it on riding during January I
came up with a simple plan and did not look at the route in detail. I was going to depend on Bike Gpx completely for this ride and Santosh Surendra had provided the split files of the route to be used for the ride. The plan
was to ride the first 600 kilometers like a regular brevet and finish it within
40 hours. Subsequently the plan was to ride 300 kilometers every 24 hours. This
would ensure that the ride would be completed in 168 hours max. If it was
possible to push further on any day then I would take the additional kilometers
to keep a buffer for the climbs which were going to start after 1,400
kilometers.
The organisers had divided the route into 20 stages
and had provided a difficulty index of each stage:
| Difficulty Index | Number of Stages |
| * | 12 |
| ** | 5 |
| *** | 2 |
| **** | 1 |
Going by the difficulty index Stage 14 and 15 were ***
and stage 16 was the most difficult at ****. So the plan was to keep an additional
buffer for these stages. A plan factoring in the difficulty of the stages was
drawn up as follows:
| Day | Distance | Ride Time | Total Time | Stop Time |
| 1 | 400 | 20 | 24 | 4 |
| 2 | 350 | 18 | 24 | 6 |
| 3 | 300 | 15 | 24 | 9 |
| 4 | 300 | 15 | 24 | 9 |
| 5 | 250 | 13 | 24 | 11 |
| 6 | 250 | 13 | 24 | 11 |
| 7 | 200 | 10 | 13 | 3 |
| 2,050 | 104 | 157 | 53 |
Since ride preparations were ongoing through January
and since Visa on Arrival was applicable to us, the travel preparations did not
hit me till I had only 2-3 days remaining to board the flight. Some last minute
apparel purchases since we were going to have 6 drop bags available, purchased MTR
sachets, serviced the cycle - a new chain installed just before travel again
(something I don't like to do but end up doing before every big ride).
Bags packed with a few hours remaining to travel to the airport and with the
arrival of Rajkumar Khot from Pune we had a quick lunch and headed to the
airport. Synced up with the other riders from Bangalore and we were on board
the flight.
We arrived in Thailand at 6:00 am on 31 January 2020
and had to wait for about 6 hours for other riders to arrive before being
transported to the start point. In the interim we were given a tour of the
sprawling 25 kilometers cycling track near the Suvarnabhumi airport - Skylane. It was a
fantastic place and we were impressed with the cycling infrastructure in place
and also by the cycles being used by the Thai riders.
After the tour, we started from the airport around 1:00 pm and reached the
hotel near the start point around 5:00 pm. Quickly assembled the cycles and
went on a small test ride to ensure that the cycle was working fine. Surprise
element during the test ride was that it was not humid and there was a slight
chill in the night air, conditions which felt like home. Dinner and packing the
drop bags took a long time and we slept around 1:00 am.
1 February 2020, was the registration for the ride,
headed to the start point, completed the ride formalities, put our stuff in the
respective drop bags and after a brief rest back in the room headed back to the
start point at 5:00 pm for the route briefing. A detailed route briefing was
given stage wise and we were told about the road conditions and traffic that we
could expect during the ride. Quick dinner and then headed back to the room to
catch up on as much sleep as possible.
Start Point:
The start was scheduled for 7:00 am. We were up around
5:00 am, got ready and headed to the pantry to have some bread and jam and
headed to the start point which was just under 2 kilometers from the hotel. We
reached around 6:00 am and saw a whole lot of riders already assembled at the
start. We headed to the breakfast counter and collected the breakfast pack
which consisted of a cup cake, a dry fruit cake, 2 bananas and a sachet of soy
milk. I stocked up all of it in the jersey pockets to consume during the ride
except for the dry fruit cake which I ate immediately.
Photo sessions were in progress and the Indian
contingent got one of their own. The 12 of us assembled and got a few clicks
taken and then headed to the start line and waited for the clock to tick over
to 7:00 am. It was a bunch start and all the riders irrespective of 168 hours
or 202 hour slots were going to start together. The organisers were doing their
bit to keep the energy levels high before the start. The clock was taking a
long time to tick over to 7:00 am and it gave time to keep fiddling with the
bike and apparel and make last minute changes to re-check the lights, re-look
at the stuff in the handle bar bags, route uploaded on bikegpx, etc. Finally the clock chimed 7:00 am and we were
waved off from the Khao Khaen Public Park at Pak Chong.
Stage 1 - Pak Chong - Khon
Buri
Distance - 118
kilometers Cumulative Distance - 118 kilometers
Difficulty Index - **
Control Point - 7-11 Store
Getting out of the park took some time as I was
amongst the 177 starters. A cautious start and then got into a long line of
riders as we hit the road. Steady pace for the first couple of kilometers to
ensure that there were no hiccups and warmed up to the occasion. It took a
short time for the mind to digest that I had started off on a 2,000 kilometer
ride and the next 7-8 days would be about enjoying the ride and not having to
think of anything else. At the 3 kilometer mark we took the right to head
towards Khon Buri and this is where the ride kicked off. Mahesh and I started
to increase the pace and were going past riders. Went past Mohan Sir and
Santosh which ticked off the pre-requisite of the plan which was to stay ahead
of them and then caught up with Rajkumar who had started very fast and was
ahead of all of us. In a short while Mahesh
and I were ahead and it was a relatively quick ride and we caught up with a
group of fast riders. After a while surprisingly Mahesh had dropped back and I
was sitting at the back of the group and was able to hold their wheel. It was a
fast start for me and I was trying to stay in touch with the group as much as
possible. Ride speeds were averaging close to 30 kmph on rolling terrain and
the road surface was not smooth. I was worried if I had started off too quick,
however decided to stick on as long as I could. It was still early hours and
the weather was pleasant and the wind was mild. However, with the clock ticking
past 8:00 am the wind speed was beginning to increase, a cross wind blew across
us. Even though the wind was getting stronger, the speed was not coming down
and the effect of fresh legs were being seen as we rode quickly. Close to 40
kilometers done in 90 minutes when we reached the first major turn of the ride,
a left turn to start a climb. This climb was a teaser of the climbs that we
could expect during the rest of the ride, a short but super steep climb. The
initial part of the climb was rolling terrain until we hit a wall for about a
kilometer. The group disintegrated here as everyone climbed at their own speed.
I zig zagged my way up the climb and then started a nice long downhill. It was
a perfect recovery after a small shock.
The first control was almost 30 kilometers away and getting there seemed a little far-fetched. Made my way past the 100 kilometer mark in under 4 hours and then heard the familiar voice of Mahesh telling me to get into the group. He was riding with another group which sped past me. I tried to catch up with them, but the effort was futile and I settled down into my pace not wanting to blow up any further at the start of the ride itself. The group was gone within a minute and I was riding alone with a few riders visible in the distance in front and behind me.
I couldn't wait to get to the control as I was now
hungry and was swigging on water to keep the hunger at bay. Finally made it to the
control at 11:29 am. 118 kilometers covered in 4 hours 30 minutes was a very
good return considering that I had struggled over the last 40 kilometers.
Mahesh loitering inside the 7-11 store was a relief and we decided to ride
together as sustaining the pace of the group was going to be very difficult for
us.
Got the brevet card signed by the 7-11 staff, bought a
rice and egg meal off the shelf and a coca-cola and headed out to eat. As we
sat to eat, Satish Sharma, Venkatesh Shivarama (Venky Sir) and Satish Addanki
arrived at the control. It was a small gathering of the Indian contingent and
we took our time to eat and get started.
Stage 2 - Khon Buri -
Buriram
Distance - 111
kilometers Cumulative Distance - 229 kilometers
Difficulty Index - *
Control Point - 7-11 Store, PTT Petrol Station
Time was flying and before we knew it an hour had
almost flown by and we were still at the control. The rest had given sufficient
recovery, however, we were getting into the zone of having to eat at odd times
and I was wary of this situation as not eating at the right time would lead to
acidity and I wanted to stay away from this as much as possible. However, with
the food being taken at 11:30 am, it was more like a brunch and not a proper
lunch.
Mahesh, Satish Sharma, Venky Sir and I started from
the control just before 12:30 pm. Rakesh Jakhmola had just reached the control
when we were leaving and Satish Addanki opted to rest for a while longer before
starting.
The road surface was better than the morning session
and it was easier riding having recovered from the morning session and now it was
about holding a steady pace. However, the heat was peaking and it was beginning
to slow us down more than we would have liked and it also necessitated more
breaks. On one such break, Satish Addanki caught up with us and the 5 of us
were grouped together again.
The ride speed fluctuated between being steady and
quick. Venky Sir was beginning to cramp and we stopped to rest at the next 7-11
store. Since Venky Sir and Satish wanted to rest a little longer, Mahesh,
Satish Sharma and I started from the store and rode steadily and were seeing
riders intermittently on the route. As the heat was bearing down on us, Mahesh
was getting faster and Satish and I could not stay with him as he
disappeared. However, within a few kilometers Mahesh had found a provision
store and had stopped there for a break. Ideal place for a break as we feasted
on a family pack ice cream which was our lunch. It was close to 3pm and we
ended up taking over a 30 minute break. Venky Sir and Satish Addanki caught up
with us here and we started together.
The route after the break was scenic and there was
ample tree cover. It further helped that the Sun had begun its descent and the
legs were able to recover. Venky Sir and Satish Addanki fell behind after a
while, however Mahesh, Satish Sharma and I were able to maintain a steady pace
as we began to whittle down the kilometers to the next control.
With the intensity of the Sun reducing the number of
stops reduced and we made it to next control at Buriram just after 6:00 pm. The
volunteers stamped our card and we refilled water and headed into the 7-11
store to get hot water as we prepared a couple of MTR sachets, one Poha and one
Upma packet was mixed and I began to eat up. We were joined by Venky Sir,
Satish Addanki and Rakesh Jakhmola in a short while. 6 of us resting and eating
before we started the ride again.
Stage 3 - Buriram -
Sisaket
Distance - 118
kilometers Cumulative Distance - 347 kilometers
Difficulty Index - *
Control Point - Wat Prai Pattana
Another hour spent at the control before we could
restart the ride. This time, Rakesh Jakhmola joined us and we were 4 in the
group now, Mahesh, Rakesh, Satish Sharma and me. The Sun had gone done and the
lights were switched on. We started as 4 on the road and in a short while we
could see flashing lights ahead, some we caught up with and others we lost
sight of. The roads were wide and good road surface made riding easy. The only
issue was that the Thai dogs made their entry here. As the night got darker,
the dogs were on the prowl and would come chasing and barking at us. It was not
one dog, however a group of dogs which would come after us at one go on most
occasions. On one such occasion, it almost caused a crash when a dog came right
across Satish's cycle and he had to stop abruptly, as I was drafting behind
him, I was just about able to avoid a crash. Close call and one which
necessitated that we ride with a gap between each rider and that we should not
ride close. The after effect of the crash was not only a change in formation
but we went off- route as well. Seemed like all our devices were suffering from
the shock and there was no alarm when we went off route. We had ridden about 3
kilometers off route and stopped to re-fill water when we got to know that we
were off-route. Had to ride back, got on route and made it to the next town Kap
Choeng and stopped at a 7-11 store for dinner. Same routine here for Mahesh and
me, hot water from the store, couple of MTR sachets and we were good. Venky Sir
and Satish Addanki caught up with us just as we were preparing to leave from
here. One of our quicker stops as we spent just over 30 minutes here.
We were about 60 kilometers from the control at
Sisaket which was the first drop bag location. The night was kind and the road
was good and the terrain was relatively flat. We were able to keep a steady
pace and rode through the night with ease. Having flashing lights in and around
us gave the needed push to stay focused on the ride. However, I was beginning
to tire and sleep was catching up, knowing that it was the first night and the
plan being not to sleep, I wanted to take a power nap. We found a lawn at a roundabout
and slept, 20 minutes later we were up just as we were passed by Venky Sir and
Satish Addanki. Took a further 10 minutes to get back to pace and we rode for a
further 15 minutes when we caught up with Venky Sir and Satish Addanki who had
stopped for a break and were eating roti's. We stopped and I took the
opportunity to catch up with some more sleep as the others rested/ate the roti.
We were up again in about 30 minutes and started the ride towards the control
which was about 15 kilometers away. Satish Addanki playing music on the speaker
kept us entertained and awake as long as he was with us, in a short while he
had sped ahead and opened a gap with ease.
We reached the control which was a temple, Wat Prai
Pattana at 1:33 am. We had covered 347 kilometers in 18.5 hours. We were hungry
and although the plan was to have minimal sleep on the first night we opted to
sleep for a couple of hours. Although the option to bathe and change clothes
was available, opted not to use it as the time spent on this could be used to
sleep instead. Tended to the sore butt with some Chamois cream and headed to
the pantry where excellent rice and chicken soup was being given. Had one
serving of this and headed to the hall where sleep arrangement had been made.
We decided to wake at 3:00 am and re-start the ride which would give us an
hour's sleep.
We woke up at 3:00 am and promptly went back to sleep.
We woke up again at 4:00 am, an hour had been lost. The loss of the hour got us
back on our feet as we hurried to make our way out of the control. We stepped
out and met Mohan Subramanyam and Pritish Abraham. They had reached the control
a while back and were heading in to sleep for a while. All the Indian riders
had made it to the control except Rajkumar Khot who was about 10 kilometers from
the control.
Mahesh, Rakesh, Satish Sharma and me got ready and
started from the control at 4:30 am. The target was to get to 400 kilometers at
least by 7:00 am which meant we had to ride 50 kilometers in the next 2.5 hours.
Stage 4 - Sisaket -
Kantharalak
Distance - 100
kilometers Cumulative Distance - 447 kilometers
Difficulty Index - *
Control Point - Grocery Store
The ride started with a climb from the temple. A nice
way to warm up as it got the heart going again after the rest period and we
were back on track. Navigation was key here and this time we did not go off
route as we found the turn to the 1 kilometer gravel road without going off
route. This turn was easy to miss, however, the garmin devices of Mahesh and
Satish were on cue and we were on track.
Day break was early with the sky beginning to change
colour around 5:30 am. The artist was at work changing the black sky into
different shades of blue and throwing in some orange in a short while to signal
that a new day was beginning and that we had to pull up our socks and get ready
to experience another beautiful day. The change in the day, meant that we had
to catch up with the kilometer requirement for the first 24 hours, however,
hunger was beginning to bite and I was repenting for not having an additional
serving of the superb rice and chicken soup at the control.
We came across a small store around 6:30 am and
stopped to eat/drink coffee. Language being a barrier, we could not get the
point across that we wanted coffee and had to settle on eating chips and soft
drinks. I ate a packet of caramel pop corn and drank an M150 (the Thai
equivalent of the Red Bull). As we sat munching on chips and popcorn, Thai
riders came by and asked for coffee and they got it. Mahesh, Rakesh and Satish
followed suit and pointed to the drink and they got coffee as well. The Thai
riders came, had their fill and left, we were still sitting at the provision
store. We were taking long breaks and even though we realised that the Thai
riders had left we still took a little more time to get going.
We restarted slowly and took our time to get going. We
reached Khun Han, which was a big town and since we had stopped about half an
hour ago to eat we did not stop here. We took a right turn here and after a few
kilometers the road surface became very very rough. The road had been watered
to keep the dust levels down, which made this feel like a ride just after a
downpour. The rough surface brought the pace down to a crawl and the vibration
from the road was making us suffer. We were riding on the paint in the middle
of the road as much as possible to try and get as much smooth surface as
possible, however every time we went off the road to avoid the reflectors
installed in the middle of the road it was painful. We came across less rough
surfaces intermittently which felt like a smooth surface even though it was
not, and tried to make max use of the respite from heavy vibration from the
road.
Brevet cards stamped and we were given coupons to the
restaurant where we were served rice and meat and a drink complimentary. The
base meat being pork, it was difficult for the other riders to eat and they had
to wait for some time to get chicken fried rice and also just plain rice and
vegetables.
We took a long break here, almost an hour as we
freshened up and recovered from the difficult session which we had. Santosh
meanwhile had taken minimal rest at the previous control and had caught up with
us at this control. We decided to get going together from this control and
spent some more time here drinking an extra juice before we got going.
Stage 5 - Kantharalak -
Na Chaluai - 73 kilometers
Distance - 73
kilometers Cumulative Distance - 520 kilometers
Difficulty Index - *
Control Point - 7-11 Store
Fortunately for us within a kilometer of the control
we took a left and instead of a head wind we had a cross wind. We were sitting
at the breakfast table and dreading the head wind as we watched the plants bend
backwards and were relieved that we had taken the turn and avoided the brunt of
the head wind and the cross wind was far better.
We started at a steady pace as we did not want to tire
ourselves out. As the Sun began to crank up the heat we were slowing down as
the aches were beginning to show up. Saddle sore necessitated off the saddle
riding frequently and acidity was beginning to hit, the food at odd times was
beginning to take effect.
The next control was only 73 kilometers away and this
was supposed to be easy, however, the afternoon heat and the previous day's
ride were beginning to slow us down. The ride speed had dipped considerably and
our attempts to set a steady pace were failing. We made a stop for watermelon and resumed the ride after a 30 minute break.
Getting to the next control seemed like an impossible
task as we were struggling to ride in this section. The patience levels were
being tested here as I was feeling sleepy as well. We couldn't take a sleep
break which would only delay the arrival to the control and we were already
looking at another delayed lunch day. This would only worsen the acidity and I
was not looking forward to add a stomach ache to the list of body ache's.
With about 15 kilometers remaining to the control,
Mahesh and I shot ahead and tried to get to the control as soon as possible.
The kilometers coming down quickly helped on the mental front and kept us
going. We made it to the 7-11 store at 2:24 pm and went around the store and
picked up salted egg cup noodles and a coke for lunch. By the time we came out
Satish and Rakesh arrived as well and few more minutes and Santosh reached as
well. The effect of less sleep was beginning to show on Santosh and he was
visibly more tired than the 4 of us.
Another hour spent at the control and this was when I
realised that we had taken 6 hours for the 73 kilometers from the previous
control which included 2 breaks of almost an hour each. I was not too happy
with the time taken and did feel like we had lost out on a lot of time in this
section of the ride.
Stage 6 - Na Chaluai -
Ubon Ratchatani - 87 kilometers
Distance - 87
kilometers Cumulative Distance - 607 kilometers
Difficulty Index - *
Control Point - Wat Phu Prao
We started from the control around 3:30 pm and just as
we exited town we were onto bad roads. Riding on these roads was very tough and
also worrying with the puncture risk being high. When we did manage to get off
the rough patch after about 30 minutes it was time to make up for lost time and
we sped along. The tiredness and pains of the morning was forgotten, the Sun
turning down its intensity helped to a large extent. We were averaging around
30 kmph for the next hour I guess. Mahesh, Rakesh and me were around each other
and Satish was following a little behind. Each one was spurring the other to ride
faster and it did not look like anyone was tired. We were in rolling terrain,
sprinting on climbs and recovering a little on the descents was the formula for
this section. It was on one of the climbs that Mahesh raced past like the wind
and was gone in the blink of an eye, one of the moment's of the ride for me to
have watched him blitz past. We regrouped when we reached Buntharik town and
stopped for a bottle of Coca Cola. Satish reached as well and we started after
a half an hour break. The half an hour break had undone all the work that had
been done over the past hour of riding.
We took a left to head out of town and were immediately hit with bad roads again. The pace dropped and the anxious look further up the road to see for the visible change in surface was back.
The road surface did change after a while, but now we
were in steep rolling terrain. It was night fall as well and with the reduced
visibility carrying speed on the descent became difficult. The climbs were
taxing and the descents could not be enjoyed as much. Further when we did get
to the top of the climb and we had a descent section we were greeted by bad
roads which made the descent difficult as we had to avoid pot holes. Rakesh
almost avoiding a crash in this section had us trying to play it safe over the
remainder of the descent as much as possible.
When we did make it out of the descent and entered town
steep climbs continued. The control point was a temple (Wat) and by now we had
figured that a temple means it would be atop a hill, however the gradient was
not expected. One kilometer to go for the temple and the gradient just kicks up
and we had to crawl to the control point.
We reached the control at 7:45 pm. 607 kilometers
completed in 36 hours 45 minutes. This was a drop bag location and we went
about the routine of bathing, change of clothes and then having dinner. The
discussion at the dinner table and also towards the last few kilometers in this
section was that the difficulty index for this section was * and if this was an
easy section then getting past the **** section would be near impossible. We
had to build a buffer to accommodate the difficult sections and hope to come
out of it unscathed. The sleep arrangements here were not as elaborate as the
one at Drop Bag 1 location and we opted to ride further than to sleep here as
the night was still young.
Stage 7 - Si Mueang Mai
- Khemmarat
Distance - 139
kilometers Cumulative Distance - 746 kilometers
Difficulty Index - *
Control Point - Nam Thaeng Police Station and Lae
Khong Resort
This section was divided into 2 parts, a pass through
control at Nam Thaeng Police Station which was 63 kilometers away and then the
Lae Khong Resort which was a further 76 kilometers. Our plan was to ride to the Nam Thaeng Police
Station and then stop for a couple of hours of sleep before we resumed the
ride.
Si Mueang Mai - Nam Thaeng Police Station
Almost 10 pm when we started from the Control. We were
in for some steep rolling terrain to get out of town. We were circling around
the Sirindhorn reservoir and I did miss day light here since the view would
have been beautiful around here.
We had made it close to the Mekong river and a few turns later we were crossing the bridge over the Mekong river. The ride from here for the next 800 kilometers almost would be adjacent to the river, although we would not be seeing the river for the next 200 kilometers almost. Another place where we missed out on daylight as we crossed the bridge.
The ride from here was in rolling terrain and the
climbs were steady but long. The gradient was not steep but were taking forever
to get done. On the few occasions when vehicles passed us we would have to
raise our head skywards to see them descending. As it was night and we were
together we were joking about the climbs and made it past these with relative
ease. The bath had helped the legs recover to an extent and we were not
feeling very tired.
As the night wore on the climbing seemed to be a lot
and we were hardly doing any descents. We were bordering a forest reserve and
at the same time climbing almost all the time. This was another * difficulty
section which was worrying to say the least as the **** section was becoming
more of a scary section.
The ride was slow and we had taken over 3 hours to
ride 50 kilometers. We got a 7-8 kilometer descent after this which left me
wanting to climb more than have the descent. The weather changed to cold
weather and the descent sent chills down the body. After looking forward to the
descent while climbing, when it did come by I wished that it had rather not
come by. We raced downhill and then rode through a flat section in town and
pulled up at the Police Station at 1:00 am. We woke up the volunteer and got
the brevet card sealed and headed into the Police Station. Few riders were
sleeping here, we found ourselves a place on the floor and tried to sleep.
We were up in about 15 minutes as the place was freezing.
We could not sleep and the body was beginning to ache cause of the cold. Mahesh
had found himself a blanket and was fast asleep. The 3 of us walked around the
police station looking for a blanket. Fortunately for us after about 10 minutes
a rider who was using a blanket got up to leave. We took the blanket from him
and the 3 of us covered ourselves in one blanket and slept. The plan was to get
started at 3:00 am which would give us about 1.5 hours of sleep. We woke up at 3:00
am and our efforts to wake Mahesh up were futile. We decided to get back under
the blanket and sleep for another hour.
4:30 am and this time all of us woke up. Getting rid
of the blanket was very difficult as it was still biting cold. The body was
aching and getting back on the saddle was difficult. The warmth of the blanket
was very tempting to crawl back into, however, we still had to get out into the
cold and get through 10 difficult minutes on the bike before the body
would warm up.
Nam Thaeng Police Station - Khemmarat
It was almost 5:00 am when we started from the police
station. Just as expected the cold weather was difficult to get through. If
this was not enough we had a rough road surface waiting for us. I had to use
two headlights to have sufficient visibility and the sight of a climb was
rather pleasing to the eyes even though the road was not good as it would heat
the body up.
A few kilometers later, the cold was not as big a
factor as it was when we started. The neck warmer which was covering the face
was pulled down as it was getting stuffy and now I wanted a little bit of the
cold air on my face. We were still adjacent to the forest although it felt like
we were riding through the forest. In a short while it was day break, the rough
road continued.
I kept looking at the map and thought that the rough
road would end when we get out of the forest area and looked up the distance
remaining of the forest. Roughly about 10-12 kilometers remained and I mentally
prepared for a rough ride for a further 45 minutes. The terrain was rolling and
in some places the descent was very steep. On one such steep descent the back
wheel got into a wobble and I was struggling to control the wobble, had to
reduce the speed gradually and did so by sitting upright on the saddle and as
the speed reduced, I was able to bring the bike under control. For a fleeting
second I did think that a crash was imminent. Fortunately nothing untoward occurred
and I was still on the saddle and riding ahead.
We got out of the forest and my expectation that the
rough road would end did not materialise. We were still on rough roads,
however, they were better than the roads that we had ridden through the forest
area. The clock had struck 7:00 am and it was time to take
stock of the kilometers done:
Day 1 - 390 kilometers
Day 2 - 310 kilometers
Day 2 mileage had dropped significantly and it was
down to the rough roads and the additional hours spent sleeping if not a 350
kilometer day at least was on the cards.
Even though we were on rough roads the Pickup trucks
were whizzing past us like the road was smooth and driving on them was easy. We
tried to ride the paint in the middle of the road when possible and tried to
take the least bumpy line on other occasions to get through this section
unscathed.
The smooth sections when they did come by were met
with a broad smile and relief, just the thought that the body would get a
respite from the vibration was comforting. We were slow through this
section as well which was on account of
the road surface and was happy when the distance remaining to the control came
down to single digits. An easy to miss turn with about 5 kilometers remaining
to the control was spotted thanks to the Bike Gpx alarm which rang within 20
meters of having overshot this turn. We were on track and in a short while got
a glimpse of the Mekong river. A quick stop for a photo and we were back on the
saddle.
The control was a resort which was built on the banks
of the river. We reached the control at 9:45 am and headed inside to get the
brevet card sealed. Card sealed, photo's of the river taken, phones being
charged and we sat down to eat. Pork fried rice was available and the egg fried
rice took a while to arrive. An hour spent at this control as well, which was
becoming a norm, an hour spent at a control and half an hour for a break.
Stage 8 - Khemmarat - Mukdhahan
- 86 kilometers
Distance - 86
kilometers Cumulative Distance - 832 kilometers
Difficulty Index - *
Control Point - Wat Phu Manorom
Almost 11:00 am when we got started from the control.
The next control was 86 kilometers away, which meant a further 5 hours of
riding at our present pace. If the road surface and gradient and the difficulty
index of * stayed true then we could make up some time here.
The road surface was good and the gradient was not bad
either although it was rolling terrain we were able to hold a good pace. The
heat was not bad as well as it was a cloudy day and the Sun was not too much of
a factor today.
We did a good stint in this section with minimal
breaks and the effort paid off as we were able to knock off 80 kilometers in
about 3.5 hours. However, just as we neared the control the huge Buddha Statue
was visible from a distance and we prepared for a climb to the top of the hill.
Little were we expecting a steep climb.
Just 2 kilometers from the control and there was a
steep climb in front of us. There were boards stating that we should use low
gears and also boards stating that the gradient was 8%. It was a slow climb to
the top and the option to zig zag on this hill was minimal as there were car's ferrying
devotees to the top and bottom of the hill. With cars using this road
frequently in both directions it was about riding the max gradient with no
scope to ease the gradient by zig zagging on this hill. Fortunately it was a 2
kilometer climb and we made it to the top at 3:10 pm.
We were famished when we reached the top and were
expecting food at this control, however, this was a refreshment only control
and we had to go to town to have food. We spent some time on the hill before
heading downhill in search of restaurants. We did not know that Mukdhahan was a
big town and kept making enquiries at every small shop just before entering
town for food to which we were only getting a food not available response.
We entered town and at the first place of enquiry
where we got egg fried rice we settled down to have lunch. It was 4:00 pm and
it was a delayed lunch.
Stage 9 - Mukdhahan - Nakhon
Phanom
Distance - 105
kilometers Cumulative Distance - 937 kilometers
Difficulty Index - *
Control Point - The River Hotel
The distance to the next control was 105 kilometers.
By now the conclusion was that if the distance to the next control is over 100
kilometers then that section had to be relatively easy. The difficult sections
had been kept at around 80 kilometers or less and the next section being over
100 kilometers was going to be easy.
5:00 pm when we started from the control. A ride
through town and we realised that this is where we start riding next to the
river with a view of the river all through from here. When we got past town we
stopped to take a few pics of the river and the bridge across the river which
connects Thailand to Laos. A fellow cyclist from Mukdhahan was at the
waterfront and took a few pics with him as well.
The road was flat and although narrow was smooth. Our
time spent at the waterfront had resulted in us having very little time of daylight remaining. As the night began to take over we still had substantial
distance remaining to make it to the control.
The closest marker on the mile stone was That Phanom and we got about to riding to this place. The kilometers remaining to this place was under 30 by now and it was easy to countdown to this location. The pictures of the temple on the mile stone showed that there was a big temple at That Phanom.
As we got closer to That Phanom we could see that the
streets are lit and the place was very vibrant. The route took us straight to
the night market and we had to get off the cycle and push the cycle to get past
the night market. The jackfruit was very tempting and I feasted on jackfruit
here. The food stalls which were set up here were very tempting and we walked
around like we were on tour fascinated by the food on display and momentarily
forgot that we are on a brevet.
The gpx map showed that we were on route and that we
had to walk through the market, we walked past and reached a cordoned off area.
Now we were unsure of how to proceed. A few enquiries with the people and we
were told that we could carry the cycles across and that we were on route. We
carried the cycles and saw that there was a recital in progress for which the
area had been cordoned off. We wriggled our way out of the melee and got back
on the road from where we could get back on the saddle.
We still had about 40 kilometers to get to the next control.
The road was flat and we made progress rather easily in this section. We
stopped for a break with about 20 kilometers remaining and ate groundnuts and
yoghurt.
When we resumed the ride there was a strong cross
wind. The road was well illuminated as well. From the time we made it past
That Phanom it did not feel like we had exited the town as the road was well
lit. It felt like we were riding within the same town and after a couple of
hours we were looking out for the control.
We reached the River Hotel at 10:24 pm. Got the brevet
cards sealed, collected the drop bags and headed to the room to freshen up,
catch a quick nap and be on our way. The 4 of us were given one room. Food was
ordered and by the time we had bathed and changed our clothes, the food had
arrived. Mahesh was asleep, Rakesh, Satish and I had food and went to sleep.
The alarm was set for 2:30 am and we went to sleep. Plan
was to get at least 2.5 hours of sleep as it was 12:00 pm by the time we went
to sleep. After the previous nights experience where we had overslept, this
time we woke up promptly at 2:30 am, Mahesh ate and we headed down to hand over
the drop bags and then get started.
Stage 10 - Nakhon
Phanom - Bueng Khong Long - 111 kilometers
Distance - 111
kilometers Cumulative Distance - 1,048 kilometers
Difficulty Index - *
Control Point - Loawluang Police Station
It was 3:30 am when we started from the hotel. A few
kilometers and we were passing by the waterfront with beautiful temples and
then we had to get onto the cycling track which was beside the river. Beautiful
track and was well decorated and illuminated for the Chinese New Year. It felt
like the cycling track had been decked up for us as we were the only ones on
the track at that time. A few photos later we were back on the track.
With day break there was a small push to get as many
kilometers as possible under our belt. However, we had to take a right turn and
head onto interior roads which was not as smooth as the highway. We were on
concreted roads and the pace dropped. The pace was not noticed too much as we
were in the midst of agricultural fields which was very scenic.
When the clock struck 7:00 am we had covered 1,000
kilometers. It had been a 300 kilometer day which meant that the buffer time
for the one's in the 202 hour category had increased, however for Rakesh who
was in the 168 hour category it was only a marginal increase since the minimum
requirement for him was 289 kilometers per day. For Mahesh, Satish and me the
buffer was now at 28 hours as against Rakesh's buffer which was at just over 11
hours. With the difficult section coming in after 1,400 kilometers we had to
maintain the buffer at least if not increase it over the course of the day.
Our immediate goal was to get to control which was
still over 40 kilometers away. The road surface was not smooth which hampered
us on the speed front. We were cautious while riding here. Mahesh and I had
gone ahead a little in this section while Rakesh and Satish were riding
together. The agricultural fields with the river in the back ground was a
beautiful view which took the mind off the time and the ride.
We had ridden for a couple of hours and had barely
realised it. We were passing by a town and a quick check of the brevet card, we
realised that the control point was a police station and that we might not have
food available there. We stopped at a shop in town and we requested for hot
water. The owner instead took the MTR sachets with him and prepared the upma
and poha for us and gave us the dish ready to eat. Just as Mahesh and I were
getting ready to eat, Rakesh and Satish arrived and picked up juice and other
items to eat.
The break took about 45 minutes, we were about 12
kilometers from the control. Once we were done with the break we resumed the
ride and headed for the control. Half an hour later we were at the control. It
was 9:50 am. Got the brevet cards stamped and had juice and a Bun with coconut
filling in it. Took a few pics with the volunteers before heading back on the
road. Even though we had stopped for breakfast and taken a break before
reaching the control, the stop at the control point was over 30 minutes.
Stage 11 - Bueng Khong
Long - Bueng Kan
Distance - 95
kilometers Cumulative Distance - 1,143 kilometers
Difficulty Index - *
Control Point - Wat Ahong Silawat
We were about 10 kilometers away from getting back
onto the highway. I counted down the kilometers to get back onto the highway as
the pace would increase on the highway as compared to the concreted interior
road. Half an hour again and we were on the highway. In a short while we were
being waved down by the volunteer. Satish had forgotten his water bottles at
the control and the volunteer had caught up with us to hand it over. We had
been oblivious to the fact that the bottles were missing till then.
The road was good with trees lining both sides of the road. It was a pleasure to be riding on this route. However, good things don't last too long and we had rolling terrain waiting for us. It was mild rolling terrain and was not very difficult, however, having ridden over 200 kilometers on flat terrain, even a small increase in gradient felt like a lot more than it actually was.
In an hour's time I was feeling very sleepy and was
slowing down a lot. I requested for a sleep break and we found a nice bus stop
and I took a quick power nap here. 5 minutes nap and the overall break was 20
minutes.
We got back on the saddle and made steady progress. We
made it to Beung Kan city around 2:30 pm. We were looking for lunch options and
Rakesh spotted the board of Pizza Kitchen. We searched for Pizza Kitchen and
although it was probably half a kilometer off route we headed to the
restaurant. We ate pizza and all of us were happy with the change in menu which
over the past few days had been either fried rice or upma/poha.
An hour spent for lunch, we were about 20 kilometers
from the control and got back on route. Mild rolling terrain continued and we
took just about an hour to get to the control. This control was a drop bag location
with sleep arrangements. However, as we had reached around 4:00 pm at this
control it was too early to sleep, it was decided to shower, change clothes,
have food and ride on rather than to sleep here.
We collected the drop bags, 1 room for two of us which
made this a quicker stop and we made it to the food counter. Egg fried rice and
grilled chicken was ordered, refilled water, packed our bags and headed back on
the road at 6:00 pm.
Stage 12 - Bueng Kan - Nong
Khai
Distance - 115
kilometers Cumulative Distance - 1,258 kilometers
Difficulty Index - *
Control Point - Culture Park, Wat Lamduan
The distance to the next control being over 100
kilometers we were expecting an easy ride. The road was good and it was mild
rolling terrain. As the night set in we tried to draft which was not working out.
I was struggling to set a constant pace while riding upfront which was throwing
things out of gear. The fluctuations in speed was not working out and Mahesh
and Satish were doing the bulk of the riding upfront as they were able to set a
constant pace.
We stopped at a Tesco store and filled up on water and
got ourselves a couple of apples for the road. Satish had told us to keep
eating on the ride and this was working out well for me as it kept the acidity
at bay. I kept a packet of salted peanuts in the jersey pocket and kept munching on
them while riding and the breaks at these stores was being used to top up the
peanut packet.
The highway was broad and well lit on most occasions
again. We had another hour of riding at varied speeds and the shortest distance
on the mile stone was the target. The next town in the radar was Phon Phisai
and I was looking forward to getting there and stopping for dinner. Mahesh sped
ahead as he was feeling sleepy and tried to overcome the sleep by increasing
the speed. The three of us were riding steady and failed to notice that we had
passed Mahesh who had stopped at a bus stop. Satish did think that we had
passed Mahesh and we called Mahesh to confirm that he had stopped and we were
now ahead of him by a couple of kilometers. We told Mahesh to ride into town as
we were stopping at a 7-11 store to have dinner. Mahesh came by and so did a
Thai rider as well who wanted to ride along till Nong Khai which was the next
control. We told her that we are stopping to eat and she was okay to wait for
us.
It was another session of upma/poha with hot water
from the 7-11 store and some yoghurt for Mahesh and Strawberry flavoured milk
for me. I don't drink milk/coffee/tea, however on the ride I find that drinking
milk helps on the acidity front for me. There was a top up of peanuts as well
at this store.
Around 10:30 pm when we started the ride from Phon
Phisai. Just over 40 kilometers to the next control. We had a nice chatty ride
and did not realise the distance coming down. It also dawned on us that we
were done with 1,200 kilometers and were now going beyond our max distance in a
single ride (not considering the SR5 as its 4 different rides and not one single
ride).
The pace was not fast and neither was it slow as we
pulled up at the Control at 12:15 am. We had taken under 2 hours after the
dinner break to cover over 40 kilometers. Happy to have got to the control
which was a temple with the river across the road. There was a beautiful
serpent figurine which looked like it was guarding the entry to the river.
We were given fried chicken and rice at this control and
there was beer for the beer drinkers as well. We ate and planned to catch up on
a couple of hours of sleep here. It was 1 am when we headed to the portico to
sleep. Rakesh meanwhile had managed to find a blanket and three of us snuck
under the blanket while Mahesh found a nice enclosed area to sleep.
The plan to sleep till 3:30 am did not work out. We were up at 2:30 am and decided to get going as we were not sleeping well here. It was disturbed sleep on this night and since everyone was struggling to sleep here we decided to move on. It took a further 30 minutes before we started from the control.
Stage 13 - Nong Khai
- Sangkhom
Distance - 84
kilometers Cumulative Distance - 1,342 kilometers
Difficulty Index - **
Control Point - 7-11 Store
After the failed attempt at trying to get some quality
sleep we were back on the saddle at 3:00 am. We had to get onto a cycling track
and the next few kilometers was on the cycling track. Once again we were early
and there was no day light to enjoy the cycling track as much as we could.
We rode slowly for about an hour as we had not slept
well. The pace was slow and we managed to push for an hour when we stopped at a
Tesco store and topped up on water, peanuts, fruits and strawberry flavoured
milk for me. We spent about 20 minutes here before we resumed the ride. We made
it for only a few more kilometers when sleep struck again and we decided to
sleep. Found a closed store front and all of us slept on the floor. We took a
30 minute nap here I guess and were up and about in 40 minutes. The breaks were
increasing and the timing of the breaks were also increasing.
The last sleep break had worked and we were able to
get a sustained period of riding in. It was rolling terrain. Slow on the climbs
and quick on the descents to average the speed was what followed for the next
hour or so.
The clock had struck 7:00 am and we had done 1,316
kilometers which meant that we had ridden 316 kilometers on Day 4. Not a bad
return and the daily mileage read as follows:
Day 1 - 390 kilometers
Day 2 - 310 kilometers
Day 3 - 300 kilometers
Day 4 - 316 kilometersAt the end of the hour we were close to the river and were getting beautiful panoramic view of the river as we were on elevated ground. We had a small downhill on which we stopped and took a few pics before resuming the ride.
Just before arriving at the control we had a little
bit of flat terrain and we were making the most of it. There was a drizzle at
this point, not enough to warrant a packing of the electronic items, but was
enough to make the top surface of the road wet. There was a rider about 100
meters ahead of us and I saw him turning into a 7-11 store on the right hand
side of the road. This was about 2 kilometers before the control marked on the
map, however, since the control was a 7-11 store I assumed that this was the
control and followed the rider into the petrol bunk where the 7-11 store was
located. The rider saw me and signaled that this was not the control and that
the control was further down the road. I
acknowledged and turned the cycle, but in my hurry to turn I forgot about the
wet concrete and down I went. I was up almost immediately, with a few aches on
the left side of the body, that is the shoulder, finger, thighs. The wheels
were rotating and there was no damage to the cycle. We headed out of the petrol
bunk and back onto the road and made it to the other 7-11 store which was a
kilometer ahead.
Stage 14 - Sangkhom - Chiang
Khan
Distance - 100
kilometers Cumulative Distance - 1,442 kilometers
Difficulty Index - ***
Control Point - Riverside Chiang Khan Resort
We stamped our brevet cards and headed out in search
of a restaurant to have fresh food instead of the packed food at the 7-11
store. While we were searching for the restaurant, Rakesh saw that a huge pin
had gone through his back tire. We found a restaurant and ordered rice with
stir fried vegetables. While the food was being prepared, we changed the tube
in Rakesh's rear tire. In the meantime we got to know that pork had been mixed
in the rice and since the remaining riders don't eat pork we had to go ahead
since the restaurant did not have rice available and we had to wait for a fresh
batch of rice to be prepared. We headed further down the road and found another
restaurant where we got egg fried rice.
We took our time to eat and then got going. We had
rolling terrain on offer with the terrain not expected to ease up from here on.
The stage difficulty index was only going up from here on till 1,800 kilometers
and it was about getting through the kilometers with as little damage as
possible.
We had begun the ride after 10 am and as the clock
ticked by the Sun slowly began to heat things up. Although there were trees
around us, there was not enough canopy cover on the road which was bare which
made us take the brunt of the heat. We were passing through a small forest area
or probably riding adjacent to one and when we passed by the check post we
stopped at a store to cool off with ice cream and other eatables.
The breaks would usually consist of taking a look at
the tracking and looking out for the other Indian riders. We had noticed that
Rajkumar Khot was on a charge and had made up a lot of time and was only about
30 kilometers behind us. We resumed the ride after about 30 minutes.
We were tired and there were visible signs of
tiredness amongst us and were looking for a spark to ignite us. Suddenly,
Rakesh caught wind and sped ahead and the rest of us followed suit. He had
woken us up from our slumber and it took quite an effort to close the gap to
him and then ride in formation.
The terrain was not letting up, it was continuous
rolling and there were sudden switches in the gradient as well which
necessitated constant shifting of the gears. At one place when I tried to shift
from the small ring to the big ring in the front, the cable snapped. I was
distraught and was left ruing the decision to shift the gear at that juncture.
I told the other riders that the cable had snapped and we stopped ahead to
check and confirmed that the cable had indeed snapped.
I could continue riding as the chain was now on the
small ring and with rolling terrain and climbs for the next 400 odd kilometers,
I would not require the big ring too much. However, I did not want to slow down
Mahesh, Rakesh and Satish and told them to go ahead. They were not keen on
going ahead and wanted to fix the problem. We enquired for cycle shops at a
couple of places and were told that we would get a cycle shop at Pak Chom which
was a few kilometers ahead. We reached Pak Chom and saw a 7-11 store where we
ate food and then a quick visit to 2 cycle shops where they said that they
could not fix the problem. So I would at minimum have to ride to the next
control if wanted to fix the problem.
I tried to convince Mahesh, Satish and Rakesh to go
ahead but they were not ready. I was worried on two fronts, one was that I
would slow them down and the second being that I would have to work harder to
stay with the group and putting undue pressure on the chain might lead to
another cable failure which would signal the end of my ride. The more that I
was around the group the more frustrated I was getting and I vented it out to
Mahesh after which they rode ahead. I mentally prepared myself for a slower
ride with lesser breaks to make up for the loss in time on account of the
slower speed.
To my surprise, after about 10 kilometers I went ahead
of Mahesh and Rakesh who had stopped to refill on water. I did not stop as I
was set on riding with less breaks. Satish rode along with me and in about 20
minutes we were pulling up at the control. It was 3:45 pm when we reached the
control. Mahesh and Rakesh arrived 5 minutes later. This was a drop bag
location and I wanted to shower, change and leave immediately from this
control.
This was a superb resort with the rooms floating on
the Mekong river. We were taken to the rooms below and the location of the
rooms was very tempting to call it a day and rest here and continue the next
day. I did not have the luxury to take rest here after the cable had snapped
and moreover spending over 12 hours at the control did not seem to work for me
and I got about getting ready.
We got ready and headed back to the restaurant where rice with stir fried vegetables, bread and jam and juice was on offer for us. We ate up and
started from the resort at 6:00 pm. Rajkumar was about 30 minutes behind us and
said that he would be resting at the resort before resuming the ride and that we
should continue riding as he planned to ride after a 2 hour sleep break.
Stage 15 - Chiang Khan
- Lom Kao
Distance - 167
kilometers Cumulative Distance - 1,609 kilometers
Difficulty Index - ***
Control Point - Hen-Om Coffee, 7-11 Store and 7-11
Store
This section was divided into 3 parts;
Chiang Khan - Tha Li - deadly rolling terrain
Satish Sharma was reading the ridewithgps map
precisely and he knew exactly when the steep climbs were starting and he told
us that this was where the short and steep climbs start. It was going to be
rolling terrain with the climbs having gradients in the 15-20% range.
I had tried to contact the support car for replacing
the front derailleur cable, however there was no response from them. Venky Sir
called when he got to know about the cable cut and enquired about the damage
and said that its better not to repair the FD now and that I should continue
riding as it is, if not he suggested a couple of hacks to getting the chain
onto the big ring if it is absolutely required. I was comfortable on the lower
ring, but still had my concerns over riding in the group. I had another round
of discussion over riding with the group here who were not ready to ride ahead.
Finally it was agreed that they would ride at their speed and would not slow
down and would stay together as long as I could keep up with them. I don't know
if they said this to get going because they did not go ahead after this and
made it look like that was the max speed at which they could ride.
However, we were together and with nightfall we were
now in some serious gradient. The climbs were short but were super steep. The
first one was negotiated with some degree of ease. We were taken aback when
there was a sudden downpour which had me taking cover under a tree to pack my
phone. Fortunately the shower did not last more than a minute and we were back
on the road. The rolling terrain continued and we were slogging it out on the
climbs and getting a little recovery on the quick descents.
The advantage with the short segments is that at the
end of the first hour of riding, we can start the negative countdown. Anything
under 40 kilometers was not too taxing on the mind and was easy to keep going.
Just when we were thinking that the difficult part of
this segment had been done and that we would have an easy ride to Tha Li, we
were hit by a wall. It looked like a 1 kilometer climb and it required me to
look vertically upwards to see the top of the climb. Lowest gear in use and zig
zagged my way to the top where the other riders had already made it. From here
the next few kilometers was relaxed and we made it to the control at Hen Om
Cafe at 9:03 pm.
We were given egg fried rice and I had a M150 here I
guess. Another 1 hour break before we got back on the bike.
Tha Li - Dan Sai - rolling terrain continues
We started from Tha Li and the initial kilometers was
easy paced and it was in stark contrast to the earlier segment. I was hoping
that this would last, however after the initial easy kilometers, we were back
in rolling terrain. It seemed like we were in a forest area and the river was
cascading downhill next to us, we could only hear the river and not see it.
The climbing continued and when the descents started I
had to use two headlights to enhance the visibility to be able to keep the
speed up in the descents. At this point after doing steep climbs I wanted to
carry as much speed as possible on the climbs. The group would get split
intermittently and we would make frequent stops to regroup in this section.
Once we were done with the forest area, we headed out
and were passing by villages. Villages meant that we would be facing dogs in
abundance. 4-6 dogs at a minimum at each location and each village would have
multiple locations where we would be crossing them. First occasion Satish
Sharma fell when he could not uncleat. Few more kilometers and I saw Mahesh
chasing the dogs with the cycle in his hand as he was trying to deal with the
dogs that had surrounded him. I was having a free run at the back with the dogs
turning their attention to the riders in front.
We were tired and were looking forward to getting to
the next control so that we could eat as we were hungry. The countdown had
begun to get the remaining kilometers down to 10 and once that target was reached
the speed would be increased to make a dash for the control since we would be
resting at the control and would get time to recover.
We reached the 7-11 store at 2:15 am. We fixed up a
upma/poha meal and also some hot fritters from the nearby market which was
already set up. As long as we were riding we did not feel the bite of the cold
weather, however, stopping to eat had us shivering by the time we were done.
Our plan was to sleep for a couple of hours at this
control, however, the cold weather did not allow us to sleep outside. We
decided to look for a hotel room for a couple of hours to sleep. Easier said
than done as finding a person at the reception of the hotels at this hour was
very difficult. We went around to 3 places with no luck. We headed to a petrol
bunk and requested to sleep in their office when we spotted a sign for room
behind the petrol bunk. It was a resort and we were lucky to get a room here for
THB 350. The 4 of us crammed into the bed with the plan being to wake up at
6:00 am, which meant that we get 3 hours of sleep.
Dan Sai - Lom Kao - get the climbing shoes on
We were up by 6:15 am and got ready to leave. Took a
further 30 minutes to get going and were finally out of the bunk by 7:00 am. Rajkumar
Khot had gone ahead of us as he was on a roll and taking minimal breaks.
By the time we started the 5th day was done and the
daily mileage read as follows:
Day 1 - 390 kilometers
Day 2 - 310 kilometers
Day 3 - 300 kilometers
Day 4 - 316 kilometers
Day 5 - 251 kilometers
The mileage had dropped drastically, however as it had been a day with some difficult sections the drop was understandable.
Satish had told us that we would be hitting a 6-7 kilometer climb almost immediately and that would be followed by downhill terrain for the next 15-20 kilometers. With the next control being just over 40 kilometers away this section was going to be about getting past the climb.
When we came out, the Sun was out and the cold had
subsided. Within a kilometer of the start we were in a steep climb and made
slow progress. As the gradient began to let up we
began to get comfortable and increased the pace a little. Took about 40 minutes
to make it to the top and then started the descent. It was a steep descent to
begin with and I was applying the brakes to keep the speed in check. Although I
enjoy descents, steep descents are not for me and I was being extra careful now
to minimise the risk of crashing as I could not afford it.
The next 20 kilometers was a breeze and we made quick
progress as it was mostly downhill terrain. We reached the 7-11 store which was
the control point. Got the brevet card stamped and sat to eat breakfast which
was Stir fired basil chicken with rice, strawberry flavoured milk and a top up
of salted peanuts. It was 9:10 am when we reached this control and we started
from the control at 9:40 am. This was probably one of our quicker stops.
Stage 16 - Lom Kao - Nam
Nao
Distance - 81
kilometers Cumulative Distance - 1,690 kilometers
Difficulty Index - ****
Control Point - Ban Huai Lat and Pruksa View Homestay
We were done with 1,609 kilometers and now we knew
that if we made it past the next 80 kilometers we would be done with the most
difficult section of this ride. The next section was **** and was where we
would have to get past a huge climb over 15 kilometers at least of climbing to
be done. This section was divided into 2 parts;
Lom Kao - Lak Dan - You ain't climbed anything yet
The start from the control was relatively flat and it
was a surprise that we had made it through about 15 kilometers without any
trouble. When the climb did start it was again 'looking at the sky' kind of
climbs. The clock had ticked to 11:00 am when we started the climb and we had
to contend with the heat as well while climbing. The gradient of the climbs is
not something that I have seen or ridden before, so I cannot draw a parallel to
compare these climbs. A difference between the climbs in Thailand to the ones
in India are that while the climbs in India spiral to the top, the climbs in
Thailand go straight up with minimal curves. We were climbing walls and every
time we climbed one wall there was another one looking at us and asking the
question "what are you staring at" as I had dumbfounded look on my
face and was looking at the climb with disbelief. Am I hallucinating or is it
really that steep? Got to be hallucination was the thought until I reached the
wall to start the climb and got to know that I was not hallucinating. There
were small breaks in the gradient when we got small descents for about 100
meters, but every descent was tempered as we could see the next climb waiting
for us. We zig zagged where possible and had to take the steep route on some
occasions since there were vehicles plying on this route. While we crawled, the
trucks and pickups whizzed past us like there was no gradient at all.
We were drenched in our sweat in a short while. We
were running through our water stock pretty quickly as well. There were no
shops around and we were in crunch situation as dehydration risk was high. We
had to stop oncoming cars and request for water to stock up on water. At one
point Satish made a statement that we had stopped sweating since all the fluid
in the body had been drained, which was true as we were not sweating anymore.
We took a small break to allow the legs to recover. Stopping for long was a
risk as well as it was getting close to lunch and stopping would only make us
hungry and we would struggle further to climb and the climb might just become impossible
to overcome. We got back on the saddle and kept going at the climbs, it has to
end at some point, if not we at least make it to the control. With about 8
kilometers remaining to the control, we got a break and the downhill started.
There was a house here, I went in to ask for water, however there was no one at
the house. We rode a couple of kilometers and came across a store where we
stopped to refill water. There was food available at the store as well, we
ordered food. However, Rakesh and Mahesh did not want to eat, so we decided
that they would ride ahead to the control to eat there while Satish and I would
finish eating and come to the control. Meanwhile, Rajkumar had just reached the
control and a quick call and he said that he would wait for us to reach.
Satish and I did not take long to get started and must have started within a few minutes of Mahesh and Rakesh starting. We regrouped at the control where Rajkumar was narrating his experience to Mahesh. It was 1:36 pm when we reached here and we got the cards stamped and ate watermelon before starting from the control.
Lak Dan - Nam Nao - The dessert is served
We were 37 kilometers from the next control. I was
expecting that we were done with the difficult climbs and that this section
would be easier than the previous section. However, when we started we were
hit by a wall almost immediately. Crawled up the climb and made slow progress,
every break in the gradient was now feeling like a mini downhill section. The 32 cog of the cassette was working overtime with the gradients being steep, I was happy to have a big cog to overcome some big climbs. We
were taking intermittent breaks to regroup as we were climbing at different
speeds. It took us over an hour to get past the major climbs and then had some
respite when we got a steep downhill section.
We were bordering a forest area and the descent took
us out of the forest area and we were passing by villages now. The gradient
eased up for a few kilometers before rolling terrain came back in a short
while. I was tired with the rolling terrain and wanted to get to the control as
soon as possible. With the number of kilometers going under 15 to the control,
I did not stop to regroup and continued to ride. The rolling terrain was only
getting tougher as I got closer to the control and it was frustrating to see
the gradient of the road going up again when I was close to the control. Kept
tracking the route on bikegpx and made it to the control at 4:30 pm.
I was relieved that the difficult part of the ride was
done. The other riders began to arrive within a few minutes. We collected the
drop bags and the 5 of us split into 2 rooms to freshen up and get going as
soon as possible.
I had rice with fried chicken and we got ready to
leave. Rajkumar took a power nap and we got ready to leave when he was up.
Headed towards the gate and started the ride.
Stage 17 - Nam Nao - Kaset
Sombun
Distance - 85
kilometers Cumulative Distance - 1,775 kilometers
Difficulty Index - **
Control Point - 7-11 Store, PTT Petrol Station
I had a wobble in the rear tire as soon as we started
the ride and the tire was rather noisy. I stopped and checked the tire pressure
and confirmed that I had a puncture. There was still air left in the tire and I
feared that it was a puncture caused by a pin and finding the pin in the dark
would be difficult. We located the puncture and saw that there was no pin which
had pierced the tire and that it was a pinch flat. Changed the tube and with
the help of the other riders pumped the tire up to pressure. We were on the
road at 7:20 pm.
We started with a small rolling terrain section and
then started a steep descent. I had two lights on to be able to do this
downhill. The downhill was very steep and keeping the cycle under control was
difficult here. The speeds were high and the risk of a crash was very very
high. Steep downhill's were getting me scared and I got into a wobble again. A
wobble at this speed and I had resigned to the fact that a crash was on.
However, some quick thinking and I realised that I had changed my position on
the saddle for the downhill and got back to the regular position on the saddle
which gave better control on the downhill and I was able to get the bike back
under control. I was shouting on the downhill in anticipation of a crash,
however, with the bike back in control I calmed down quickly.
After the steep downhill, the gradient eased up and it
was steady downhill gradient. It was easy riding as the 5 of us had regrouped
and rode in formation. Mahesh setting the pace for us and we were sitting
behind. The first 20 kilometers having been done at break neck speed had given
us the opportunity to have a relaxed ride, however, we were doing a steady pace
and did not back off the pace too much. The gradient helped as I did not have
to spin too much to stay with the group.
40 kilometers were done with relative ease and we saw
a Tesco store ahead. It was around 9:30pm when we stopped. I refilled the
salted peanuts and drank a strawberry flavoured milk and had a pineapple pie as
well. We got going from here in about 40 minutes.
We were under 30 kilometers from the next control and
overall we were just over 250 kilometers from the finish. The night was young
and we planned that we should try to ride through the night with just a power
nap so that we could finish the ride before the Sun heats up the next day. With
this plan we began the ride.
The next 30 kilometers was pure entertainment.
Rajkumar Khot was in his element and it was a laugh riot as he entertained us
with his witty statements and regaled us with his tales. It was more like a joy
ride and we were not worried about sleep and were wide awake and it looked like
if Raj was going to be able to do this through the night then we would be
finishing the ride quicker than we expected.
However, the effect of the previous day's ride began
to show up and Raj began to slow down with under 10 kilometers remaining to the
Control. Mahesh, Rakesh, Satish and I had slept well the previous night,
however Raj having ridden almost continuously with minimal rest over the past 3
days was beginning to tire. We made it to the control at 12:00 am, on the dot
midnight. After a quick top up on the food front, we planned to take a power
nap which stretched to a sleep as we took a 45 minute nap and then got up to
get going.
Stage 18 - Kaset Sombun
- Chaiyaphum
Distance - 75
kilometers Cumulative Distance - 1,850 kilometers
Difficulty Index - **
Control Point - 7-11 Store, Ban Kwao
With 225 kilometers remaining, we were looking forward
to knocking off 125 of these kilometers in the next 6-7 hours, given that the
terrain would be easy. At a minimum, the next control which was 75 kilometers
ahead should be reached by 5:00 am. This was the plan when we set-off at 1:40
am.
We passed through town which was still buzzing on
account of a concert. The town was well lit and the people were still on the
streets. We passed by the ground where the concert was in progress. Negotiated
our way safely out of town as there was traffic and people crossing the road
and we did not want any untoward incident at this hour.
The pace of the ride was slow and we were lethargic.
The high energy ride before reaching the control on account of Raj's
entertainment had mellowed down and we were trying to get through the
kilometers now. An hour of riding and we were pretty much in sleep zone again
and we decided to sleep as the plan to ride through the night was not working
and we wanted to get another hour of sleep in. We found a closed store with
benches out in front and decided to take an hour's break. Dogs had spotted us
and were barking at us when we headed to the store, however, we were tired and
did not care about the dogs barking and went to sleep in spite of the barking.
The dogs continued barking for the next 15 minutes with a small competition on
as to whether they could bark louder than the snoring before they gave up and
went quite.
All of us were up only at 4:15 am and we took a
further 15 minutes to get going. It was a slow start again showing that the
break was not sufficient. In a short while Raj had a shut eye moment and went
off road. We decided that it was too risky to continue and that we had to rest
further and decided to restart only after day break. We rode a little searching
for a place to sleep. We came across a closed store again and went to sleep on the
stairs in front of the store. 5 am when we stopped and now it was a wait for
day light.
We had curious and concerned people coming out of
their houses and giving us puzzled looks. In about half an hour the store owner
opened the shutter of the store and saw us sleeping on the store front and
immediately closed the shutters. The husband came out and enquired about who we
are and what we are doing there? Once convinced he opened the store and that
served as a place for us to fill up on some food.
The previous night's plan had fallen flat and we still
had 210 kilometers to ride and were looking at riding for a further 12 hours at
least. We started the ride around 6:30 am. Within 5 kilometers we were climbing
and it was a steady climb. We did it with relative ease as the gradient was
gentle and nothing like what we had seen the earlier day. We did consider that
it had been easy on account of the sleep/rest and that we might have struggled
had we tried to do it at night.
A nice downhill followed the climb and we were in mild
rolling terrain after this. A beautiful sun rise and a turn onto interior roads
had us passing by agricultural fields again. Early morning weather was perfect
for riding and we were in cruise mode. The kilometers came down quickly and we
made it to the next control at 8:37 am. Rakesh, Satish and I had reached early
while Raj and Mahesh had fallen behind a little. The 7-11 store was a control
and we came out after the brevet cards were stamped, while Mahesh and Raj went
to the adjoining Tesco store. They did not know that this was a control and had
assumed that we were stopping for breakfast. A quick reminder to get their
cards stamped and we settled down for breakfast.
We took an hour to have food and drinks and get
started from the control.
Stage 19 - Chaiyaphum -
Dan Khun Thot
Distance - 106
kilometers Cumulative Distance - 1,956 kilometers
Difficulty Index - *
Control Point - Owl Coffee
170 kilometers remaining with the terrain being flat
meant that it was going to be tough for me to keep up with the rest of the
group. 170 kilometers was still a big number and I did not want to be pushing
hard at this juncture. I was looking forward to getting the remaining
kilometers to under 100 before increasing the effort.
Raj had taken off like a jet and was gone in a few
minutes. Satish and Rakesh went ahead but were within sight. Mahesh slowed down
and paced me as there was a strong cross wind and he was shielding me from the
brunt of the wind.
We were in narrow winding roads and passing through a
lot of villages. When we made it out of the villages and back onto the highway,
it was time to face the Sun and the wind. Raj was waiting ahead and we
regrouped and continued the ride. The highway was difficult to ride with the
Sun sapping our energy reserves quickly. The gaps between us was varying,
although everyone was in sight, there was almost a 100 meter gap between the rider
in the front and me at the back. The pace was dropping and we wanted to take a
watermelon break as we saw a few stores selling water melons. By the time we
regrouped we came across a stall selling cold drinks and not watermelon. We
stopped and refilled on water and had a drink and 30 minutes later we were back
on our bikes.
The slow pace continued after the break with the Sun
not doing any favours today and neither was the wind letting up. Managed to
grind out another hour of riding in tough conditions and saw a 7-11 store and
decided that we would stop for lunch. It was around 1:00 pm when we stopped and
it was time to top up on food and refreshments.
It was a comparatively quick break as we got going in
40 minutes. We now had just over 100 kilometers remaining. It was time to get
some quick miles in, however we were in the mood for some circus stunts with
the camera and it was photo shoot time while we were riding through town.
I was trying to get into the frame and was in an awkward position and missed on the bump on the road. Went over it and almost lost control of the bike, managed to avoid a fall and was still smiling about the circus stunts that we were trying out. Satish managed to capture the moment:
I was trying to get into the frame and was in an awkward position and missed on the bump on the road. Went over it and almost lost control of the bike, managed to avoid a fall and was still smiling about the circus stunts that we were trying out. Satish managed to capture the moment:
It took a good 10 minutes to get out of this mode and
get back to riding. With the remaining kilometers down to under 100, we were
now in a relatively comfortable zone and I was okay to cross chain as well from
here. Getting onto the smaller gears in the cassette made it easy to stay on
pace with the group although I risked chain damage. The lethargy of the morning
was left behind and we were making good time post lunch.
We made a right turn on the route and were onto rough
roads and a lot of traffic from here on. The vehicles were zipping past us and
with minimal shoulder space on the left on a rough surface it was difficult to
ride and required the concentration levels to be high. To complicate things
further, rolling terrain was back and it was slightly more than gentle rolling
so we had to work to get through to the next control.
We stuck to the task of riding and did not make any
further stops and got close to the control. As we got closer, it was that
feeling that the control is just not arriving and every time we checked the route
map we still had 2 more kilometers to go. The mind was playing games here and
getting to the control was becoming irritating to say the least. We finally
made it to Owl Coffee, got the brevet cards stamped by the volunteers. It was
3:30 pm when we got here and it was time to rest a little before we resumed the
ride.
Stage 20 - Dan Khun
Thot - Pak Chong
Distance - 68
kilometers Cumulative Distance - 2,024 kilometers
Difficulty Index - **
Control Point - Khao Khaen Public Park
A week ago we had 20 stages to get through and now we
were looking at the last stage which was only 68 kilometers. It was only a
matter of bringing ourselves to the finish based on the energy levels after the
break it looked like we could finish before 6:00 pm.
We exited from the control and were onto a steep descent. The road surface was not good and there were cracks in the road which on some occasions were about 1-2 inches wide. This was a risky downhill and my heart rate was probably more than it would be on a climb while doing this descent. Luck had not deserted us and all of us made it out of this downhill safely without any incidents.
The downhill section was around 10 kilometers and we
had quickly brought the remaining kilometers down to around the 50 kilometer
mark. The downhill had drained me and even a break for Coca Cola was not enough
to get me going.
When we got going
it was a struggle to ride at pace and we were crawling. The road was
mild rolling, actually based on the route that we had ridden till now, this
could not be considered as rolling terrain and would fall in the flat terrain
category. Flat terrain meant that we needed to keep turning the legs continuously
which was not happening.
With the end nearing, it felt like the mind did not
want the ride to finish and was not allowing the body to get to the finish. I
was feeling drained and saw that Rakesh was also struggling at this point. Raj,
Mahesh and Satish were riding easily. The finish was now under 30 kilometers
and I asked for a break and we stopped at a shop for juice.
The break helped to re-focus and when we got back on
the saddle, Raj took up the pacing task and he set a pretty high pace. We were
now able to keep up with him although it was being done with a groan, the fact
that the kilometers were coming down quickly made up for the stress. The clock
had ticked past 6:00 pm and soon it was dark.
The last few kilometers we were in a little bit of traffic as we entered the city and by the time we negotiated the traffic and the signals and made it to the finish point it was 7:25 pm. The volunteers greeted and cheered for us as we reached the finish point. We congratulated each other on having completed the ride and headed in to complete the finish line formalities. Brevet card was stamped with the finishing time and we returned the gps device and headed out for some pics.
Number Crunching:
Having completed the ride
it's time to do some number crunching:
Day
|
Distance
|
Ride Time
|
Total Time
|
Stop Time
|
Sleep Time
|
Drop Bag Access
|
Time at
Control/Breaks
|
Ride Speed
|
1
|
390
|
17.00
|
24.00
|
7.00
|
2.50
|
-
|
4.50
|
22.94
|
2
|
310
|
15.75
|
24.00
|
8.25
|
2.50
|
1.25
|
4.50
|
19.68
|
3
|
300
|
15.75
|
24.00
|
8.25
|
2.75
|
1.25
|
4.25
|
19.05
|
4
|
316
|
15.50
|
24.00
|
8.50
|
2.00
|
1.25
|
5.25
|
20.39
|
5
|
251
|
16.75
|
24.00
|
7.25
|
3.00
|
1.25
|
3.00
|
14.99
|
6
|
253
|
14.75
|
24.00
|
9.25
|
2.50
|
1.25
|
5.50
|
17.15
|
7
|
200
|
9.00
|
12.50
|
3.50
|
-
|
-
|
3.50
|
22.22
|
2,020
|
104.50
|
156.50
|
52.00
|
15.25
|
6.25
|
30.50
|
19.33
|
I was surprised when I saw that the ride time and the
total time were pretty much in sync with the initial plan that I had drawn up
for the ride. I did not track the plan during the ride and was only trying to
get to 300 kilometers for every 24 hours.
Post ride when the I did see the data and saw that the
saddle time was 104.50 hours out of a total time of 156.5 hours, I did not know
how I had spent the 52 hours off the saddle since I knew that I had not slept
for too many hours. The total sleep that I got on this ride was 15 hours 15 minutes
and the 5 drop bag's that I accessed took me 6 hours 15 minutes. The remaining
30.50 hours was spent for food and refreshment breaks which averages to
approximately 1 hour 30 minutes for every 100 kilometers. Which meant that even
if we had ridden at 20 kmph, the break time would bring it down to 15 kmph and add the sleep time and
drop bag access and we were close to the 12kmph average. On the days with
climbs the ride speed went down but we did not compensate the drop in speed
with a decrease in the break time. If the break time had been managed
efficiently, we could have probably had more sleep time allowing for a better
recovery rather than having to struggle like we did on the 6th night.
At the end of the ride it shows that we have ridden 2,020
kilometers in 6.5 days which averages to 310 kilometers per day. Good enough
for this ride, however, still scope for better ride management. In hind sight
we could have probably touched the 350 kilometer per day mark with better time
management.
Summary
We traversed 2,020 kilometers across North Eastern
Thailand and it was a beautiful experience. We got to see a different Thailand
and it changed my perspective of the place. Humid and hot was what I was expecting
the weather to be, however, the weather was similar to what we have here in and
around Bangalore. Close to the coastline and beaches is what I was expecting,
however the ride took us away from the beach and towards a river which forms
the border between Thailand and Laos and further we were riding adjacent to the
river for almost 800 kilometers. The developed cities on the banks of the river
with cycling tracks and the various temples were stress busters and a relief to
the drooping eyes. The gradient of the climbs was something that I could not
have imagined even in my dreams, this ride has redefined 'steep' in my books. Finally,
the chain of 7-11 stores which were our life savers without which the ride
would have been much more difficult.
The ride was not smooth sailing and there were issues,
but overall I feel that I was fortunate that the damage was limited to one
broken front derailleur cable and one puncture only on this ride. It could have
been worse, however, being able to complete the ride felt good.
A shout out to the organisers who in the inaugural
edition did a great job. The route was meticulously planned to give the riders
a feel of the Thai people, culture, food, temples and locations. It was not
just a ride to test our physical limits, but a ride which allowed us to
experience Thailand.
I would like to thank Mahesh, Rajkumar, Rakesh and
Satish for riding with me and putting up with my tantrums when the ride was not
in my favour. Phenomenal ride by Rajkumar Khot, who in spite of having a tough
start made up a lot of ground over the course of the next three days. Would
like to thank Mohan Sir, Santosh, Pritish, Grinshina, Rohit, Satish Addanki and
Venky Sir for pushing us to the finish line. The other riders that we met on
the ride were always smiling and it was
always positive energy around them and it was inspiring to watch them ride. The
Thai people who put up with our English and sign language which they managed to
decode and were able to guide us/provide us with what we wanted were very humble and polite.
This ride was made special by the Indian contingent. 12 riders embarked on an adventure and at the end of the week all of us had made it to the finish line on our saddles. Having a 100% finish is awesome.
Amazing!!!!
ReplyDeleteNo words;))
Respect you
Awesome bro :) Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteGreat write up Monish loved it.. what a journey you all had, thank you for taking bus the journey virtually capturing all the details
ReplyDeleteIncredible journey, narrated beautifully.
ReplyDeleteVery good informative Article.
ReplyDeleteGippy Cycles