On Tuesday morning, 5 February, we loaded the bikes into Khun Game's van and drove north about an hour and a half to a spot about 10 km south of where we had finished our ride from Chiang Mai, through Phrao and into the limestone mountains of Chiang Dao two days before.
Khun Game had provided SAG escort for lots of other cycling groups, but none that had specifically asked for big hills and long mileage before.
He was really an excellent guide for this kind of trip, keeping us provisioned with cold drinks and beer in the cooler for the end of the day. He gave each of us a small Cobra walkie-talkie, which we used if we were separated or had mechanical troubles. We couldn't have found a better way to do this trip, moving fast with light loads on the bikes and a friendly tour guide who not only knew cyclists but kept us informed about where we were, what would be best to eat at the local food stops and even introduced us to the best in Thai carbo-loading food.
To heck with gels and goos, we had sticky rice cooked in bamboo.
Khun Game pulled the van over just before we started our ride that morning at a stand where two old women were sitting by an open pit fire, stuffing sticky rice and beans into short bamboo stalks and placing them into the makeshift oven to bake. The ends of the stalks were closed with what I think was coconut husk, so that the stalks could be carried by the Thais as food on long journeys. Game bought a dozen of the stalks and showed us how to open them when we were ready for a snack. He pounded the outside of the bamboo to loosen the rice from the insides, removed the end cap of coconut bark and then peeled the stalk back. This was the perfect cycling food, sweet and easily digestible. We kept these handy in the van and I'd put one in the back pocket of my jersey to eat on the roll.
Almost all of the small towns had special monuments to King Bhumibol, the beloved Thai king. This is a shot that Game took as we rolled through Fang.
The route took us through the mountains between Chiang Dao National Park to the west and Doi Wiang Pha National Park to the east. And then, for the last two hours, it was fast and flat, heading into a headwind coming from Laos and across the Mekong River. 
Around 4:00 pm we arrived in the town of Mae Nam Kok and rode about a half kilometer outside of town to the Baan Suan resort, perched on the banks of the Kok river about one mile down river from Myanmar. The Kok River empties into the Mekong River, about 35 miles to the east.
This was a lovely place to end up and a big surprise. I was imagining a downtown hotel, but all of a sudden we were out of the city and in a pretty little green spot by the rivier. Each of us had bungaloes just above the water.
A group of about ten young monks came down the mountain from the monestary perched up on the top of the hill and bathed in the river. We drank large bottles of Heineken to replenish lost fluids and replace glycogen stores for the ride the next day.
Khun Game arranged for two women from the village to come up and give us each a two-hour traditional Thai massage before dinner. When Game arrived, I was inside my room unpacking and Markus was on the balcony. By the time I got on the porch, Markus had already chosen the younger of the two. We had a good laugh later about the fact that my masseuse had one tooth for each of the five directions of the wind in Thailand, each pointing in that direction. But in all seriousness, she may have been less comely than Markus' but she had strong hands and worked out all of the knots in my legs after 67.5 miles and 4,343 feet of vertical climbing in just over four hours of riding.
