Today was an all time great road bike adventure climb in one of the more remote corners of the planet. Climbing up into the jungle/forests, through the Hill Tribe area of northwestern Thailand, pedaling past the mists and up to the mountaintops was so incredibly spectacular and so ridiculously difficult that I was in oxygen-deprived awe all morning. This day, this climb, was what this trip was all about!
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I'd saved a special rainbow, psychedelic wave jersey for the occasion. For some reason it seemed the right one to wear this morning. Khun Jame drove us outside of Mae Kong Son and we were off, riding through a heavy cold fog. This is the really perfect weather when you are really into the 18% grade, focused, red-lining and feeling the bike surging forward and upwards with every pedal stroke. Nothing but the road, the grit in the chain, and the sounds of the mountains.
After two hours of climbing, we broke out of the clouds and the road would dip down into the fog and then climb back to the sunshine. Wisps of mist blowing across the road that continued to surge upwards.
This is a shot of our van, but also pretty nicely shows the grade for most of the climb. I was thinking on the way up that when 6% looks like a flat stretch, then there are far too many 16% pitches over 40 km. But, finally, we reached the top! In this shot, beyond the Gatorade, you can see the mists below.
Here, in the shot below, I was nicely lectured by some Hill Tribe women for not having enough nut toffee to give away.
The plan, as far as we had a plan, was to ride all the way to Pai. We didn't have rooms, due to the Chinese New Year tourist boom, but Khun Jame was pretty sure that we could get a place outside of town. Originally, we had planned to ride to Bah Pah Mah and spend the night, however Jame's usual lodge there was already booked. So, we were going to take our chances and Jame was confident and we descended from the mountain top ready for the big climb into Pai after going through Bah Pah Mah.
I was first out and did my usual screaming descent on the Griffen, which goes downhill much better than I can push it uphill. The boron carbide frame is so stiff and the Mavic Kyserium wheelset so sturdy that I really feel grounded into the road, like a yoga Tadasana... connected the earth. Then, there are these new special Armadillo tires that are absolutely indestructible, so I flew down the hill and into this lovely valley that wound down, down, and down, opening into a flat long stretch.
Just past the river crossing in the Shang Hill Tribe of Soppong there was a sign for Baan Natural Coffee. "Yep," thought I, "just what I need for the climb into Pai."
Several minutes later the van pulled up, with Markus inside. He'd had enough riding for the day, after the long climb and was still suffering from his intestinal distress from the day before. (No details here, but he seemed to have thought that the smart thing to do two days ago for his leg cramps was to ingest half a bottle of magnesium tablets. This, I can assure you, will seriously screw up your GI tract while having some minor unproven affect on the cramps.)
Well, it just so happened that this little coffee stop had these perfectly lovely teak chalets perched above the river!
Each of the chalets rented for 550 bhat (about US$15), so we called a group meeting to decide whether to continue to ride into Pai or unload the van, shower, lie in the sun, swim in the river and have some beers. Guess what the outcome of that meeting was??
So, tomorrow we ride the final 60 km into Pai. And there are hills.... 1800 meter climb over the mountain. Oh boy!!
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