It has been a long time since I rode my bike. So long in fact, that when I got it out this morning to join Chris on a long ride out in the countryside, there was a thick layer of dust over the bike and lock and helmet.
But I was excited to get out of the city and explore the rice fields again. Around 5 AM I woke up without an alarm and jumped out of bed. By 6 I was eating a quick breakfast at Mc Donalds at J-Avenue and waiting for Chris to come by and pick me up. He finally showed up with his friend Peter who lives in Shanghai, and the three of us headed off towards the airport with our three bikes on a car rack.
We started our bike tour at a wat just north of the airport, and made a lesurely 32 km route through the rice fields as the sun was rising. The air was fairly cool, and the roads were mostly empty, so it was a very enjoyable ride. Neither Peter nor I had done much riding recently, so we begged Chris to take it slow and easy, which he did. By the time we got back to our parked car at the wat, I was tired but not completely exhausted.
We loaded up the bikes again on the rack on the back of the car, and headed home. But unfortunately, we only made it a few miles when the rack broke! We were stuck 30 kilometers from home with no way to get all of the bikes back, other than to ride them.
So that's what we did. About 10 kilometers into the trip my legs were starting to cramp up a bit and so we found a nice little restaurant that had a seating area on the roof where we could relax. We ended up ordering several plates of delicious Thai food and a few Thai beers, and I definitely felt better after that.
We eventually made it home, after a few more breaks, including one stop at a truck parked on the side of the road selling fresh-squeezed sugar cane juice. In this picture that Chris took, you can see a very unflattering photo of a very tired me enjoying my sugar cane!
But all in all, it was a great adventure and I loved every bit of it (except for the aching legs). Here is a Google Map of the two routes we took. If you'd like to see some pictures from the ride, then click on the "View Larger Map" link and then click on the pins. A little box will pop up with a picture that was taken at that very location!
View Larger Map
You can also view some more pictures taken by Chris and myself during our adventure.
