If Day 1 had been a lovely warm-up cycle, then Day 2 was to be a bake-off....because it was truly hot and for some of the group who hadn't had our exposure to 3 weeks of South East Asian heat and humidity it was too much. To be fair it was almost a little much for us, but the terrain and some of the interludes we had more than made up for it. Our first tour had been a great way to get into training for a cycle tour. Not having cycled in 5 years (as in literally not having cycled at all), we had been worried, but the terrain was kind. At the time we considered the slightly undulating slopes of Cambodia to be full on hill climbs. Oh how wrong we were.
The plan for Day 2 was 55km split over 3 legs of 20/20/15km. Already we were seeing the difference between the two trips, with 20km legs being farther than we'd travelled in a single leg before. Immediately the group split out into the various elements that would pretty much continue for the rest of the tour. Quentin and Julia kept up the pace at the front and I tailed off towards 15km and spent the last 5km with Gary, who thankfully stayed along for a chat. We hadn't even started on the hills, but the old power/weight ratio of my "physique" was nicht so gut on the uphill stretches!
By 20km it was already in the early 30s and we had barely hit 10am. Humidity must have been in the early 80% and the next 20km promised to be ......hard? Is that the word?
I found the heat and humidity less challenging than most, which was good because this levelled the playing field out; during the middle hours of the day my lack of training and inability to hill climb were not so obvious. Having just passed the halfway mark we realised a couple of things. Julia was flagging and as our group wasn't into forming peletons like the group of the first tour, we weren't getting the benefits of being "domestiqued" by a leader. The net net was more conversation between pairs of cyclists and less racing, more of a "holiday" less of a ride.
As we hit the 15km mark Julia was on the way out and thinking about stopping. Between the photosensitivity as a result of her anti-malarials and the heat, she was struggling. Just at this point we managed to catch up again with Quentin (or had he been waiting for us?) and then with Chi our guide. The 4 of us formed up and I just managed to hang on to Quentin's back wheel, which meant Julia at the back had 30% less work......all good. We fairly flew along those last 5km in what was actually a really exhilarating last stretch.
We pulled into the afternoon pit-stop well ahead and with a long time to relax and regain strength. Between laying in hammocks under the rubber trees, meeting a little lady from the local village who became the darling of the group and eating a well earned lunch, we momentarily forgot the stress of the last ride.
I wasn't particularly paying much attention as the group began to head off and found myself walking back from a comfort break and being almost the last one left to leave. Julia had left without her gloves so I raced off to catch up with her. Wow.....that was a dumb decision! Aside from her being on a mission and pushing through as fast as she could, she was now up front and without realising it I had a way to cycle. Frankly there was little chance of me catching her, but I wasn't to know. This 15k leg was probably one of the fastest and most pointless I cycled! In the end I got there a few minutes after she had arrived. Dammit. When I pulled in I could barely breathe and it took quite a while to stop puffing. Julia just looked at me quizzically asking "why would you do that?" Enough said.
We had a 3 hour transfer from here to a 5 star resort in Mui Ne. Imagine the Shining, mixed with early 70s Vegas and Richard Clayderman piped through the ceiling speakers. I loved it; it was so kitsch, so perfectly cheesy and ridiculous that it worked. By now the group had begun to get to know each other and as Julia and I sat down for cocktails, the rest of the group trickled up to the bar outside the restaurant and joined us. We lucked out big time, being the first to be served (by about 30 minutes - something of a theme for the rest of the trip) and which meant we were early to bed and early to rise.
We had a 7.30am start and 60km ahead of us........60km through hills.
No comments:
Post a Comment