A day of rest, time to reflect

First couple of days of cycling with HiRoads have passed. Warm, but not too hot with some serious climbs behind us. This short trip I am riding a rented bike, a Trek at a price you can buy a second hand one for in Holland. It has some fails, but in general it will do it's job. Not my bike, so not my problems when I give it back....

First day of cycling we did 76 kms, on flat roads and was basically uneventful. Nice ride altogether.

Second day, about 96 kms. We were joined by a Thai woman cyclist and her cousin. She is an aquintance of Marcel. Interesting ride with one big never ending climb an a steep short one. We had a coffe break at the top, and afterwards the Thai cyclists went their way, because of other prior engagements

In the descent one of our group members, Ivo crashed, and had to be taken to the hospital at Chiang Mai to get his chin and hand stiched up. Shaken not stirred he soldiered on the next day, as we did. A 100 kms plus ride, wth two brutal clims in the boiling sun. Agan a steep descent into Pai, our destination for two days.

The descents can be challenging here, to put it mildly. Sometimes the road surface runs out of tarmac and you find yourself plowing through clay. That only happened one time, but it pays to be cautious every time you corner a tight bent! Traffic... well what can I say... It takes getting used to it. Drive left and 'go with the flow' is the way you go about. Be nice, but demand that space on the road you need to get safely from A to B.

This was a short update for now! More to come shortly!