Monday, June 6, 2011

The worlds fastest Indian


Day 5 - and a real focus on the biking.
Writing this has some challenges as the netbook screen got broken - not totally surprising given the state of the roads.  So I have a small area of the screen that works and have to find inventive ways to start applications. Having created the blog I've had to transfer it to the hotel computer - and work with a machine that seems to have come off the arc.  Sorry no pictures yet - can't think how i will use Picassa in quarter of a screen.  Ross
Len
Subtitle: Pride cometh before a fall
Started the ride with some lovely long sweeping bends.  I was feeling very relaxed and got into trying a few different riding styles for size.  Peter Fonda Easy rider style is laid back, low revs, imagine no helmet, drop handle bars, born to be wild playing in the background.  Next its cafe racer style, head down, feet back harder on the gears and into the corners.  John Wayne, straight back comes next, you get the idea.  Was feeling pretty pleased with my riding at the rest stop.  Starting out again only a couple of minutes on the bike and I go round an easy corner at modest speed.  Next thing I know my front wheel is scrubbing out, gravity is doing its thing .  Have a brief moment to contemplate whether I can blame anyone or anything else for my predicament and realise I can't as I kiss the pavement.   Botheration!  Worst hurt was my pride, next my pants, then a few bony places.  At this point I was grateful for the knee and elbow pads that the touring company made us wear. 
While entirely my fault I do blame Ross for the damage to my pants.  Being more 'fashion forward' than me Ross had taken to wearing his knee pads under his trousers.   While making  a fashion statement this also helped reduce the laughter from the Vietmanese kids we passed (geriatric skateboarder?)  anyway I had foolishly copied Ross's fashion lead today despite knowing that the pants were at risk.  Lead astray again!   
Ross
Actually - wearing pants over knee pads keeps them in place and reduces injury.  Pants cheap- knees expensive.
The scenery today was probably impressive and had we been travelling through here having not been in the mountains we would have been stopping every 5 minutes for photos.  Instead we had a day where the riding took precedence.  Len's momentary lapse of reason aside, we had a wonderful time riding the curves, keeping the revs up and slowly improving. It's so like ski-ing, but with more serious consequences for mistakes.  After lunch we had 30kms of road works.  Not just gravel sections but long spells of barely formed roads, big rocks and a spell of waiting while blast fall was cleared.  No red lights or stop/go signs, although there was the odd 5km speed limit notice where bridges were missing.  The bikes coped incredibly well although the computer was clearly tested.  
This morning in Bao Lac the town was crowded with market activity and I doubt we could have got through the crowds on the main street on our bikes.  New houses were being constructed, with simple petrol winches, hauling buckets of concrete 4 floors up.  On the road a team of 6 fed the mixer, filled the bucket and operated the winch.  Some wore hard hats, but not those working on bucket filling.
Breakfast was Pho (noodle soup) from a small shop off the market.  With afters of honeycomb and papaya. A great start to the day.   On the way out of town we had a 20 minute delay in a crowd (not a queue, more like a scrum) waiting for petrol.  Entertainment was provided by the police harassing a pillion passenger for riding without her helmet done up.  Given that less that half the riders wear helmets it was clearly a "meet quota" or revenue exercise.   With our tanks filled Chung departed with a sudden alacrity, very keen that we didn't provide easy revenue for some imagined infringement.
We are staying in an upmarket hotel in Cao Bang.  This is a major city, but foreigners are still a rarity.  Our guide, Chung is the only other English speaker we have met.  It creates a few interesting challenges - esp when we left Chung behind to explore town on our own - no map, no guide, no clues at all really.  
Dinner in the old quarter was another gastronomic delight.  Very light on the fish sauce, some chilli.but some other subtle spices that need more research.  
It's now 10:30pm - late for us.  Len and Mark are probably already sleeping as I battle with this old computer.

Cheers
 








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