Tackling the hills into Pai was an epic day of cycling. Our map led us to believe we could break the roughly 135k ride to Pai into two manageable days of riding. The first day would take us through the lower foothills and leave us in a position to hit the longest section of the climb in the early hours the following morning.
We started out of Chiang Mai a little after 5am just after the curfew had been lifted for the daylight hours. The first 30k were flat with gentle rises here and there to spice up an otherwise monotonous morning. Once we turned onto highway 1095, the road into Pai, we began to hit some of the first rolling hills leading up to the big climbs.
After a brief stop to fuel up on some chicken curry we began our upward push to Pai. We soon discovered the foothills leading up to Pai were not quite the gradual start to the bigger climbs still to come. We hit some pretty wicked stretches of road that made my legs burn something fierce. But the early start to the day also meant an early end and thus a light at the end of the steep, steep tunnel. Around 10am we topped out on our biggest climb of the day and started scoping out the roadside for a guesthouse to crash in for the afternoon and evening. We had a specific spot in mind based on our map and decided to push a few extra kilometers to shorten the long ride still to come.
Much to our surprise we never found the guesthouse listed on our map and subsequently managed to overshoot all the other guesthouses by about 10k. Given that we had dropped down the other side of the first big hill we opted to try our luck heading to Pai instead of turning around and climbing the hill a second time. We carried another 10k before trying our luck at a roadside cafe to inquire about any possible upcoming guesthouses. Turns out we were a little screwed; the next guesthouse wasn't until Pai...60 very steep kilometers away.
Now we had a dilemma to consider. It was around 11am, which meant we would be tackling a pretty epic climb in the hottest part of the day. What we did have going for us were some heavy gray clouds capping the hills and providing a check on the soon to be broiling temperatures. We sat down and discussed our predicament over a frosty mango shake laying out the various options.
Option 1: wait for a bus.
Option 2: ride back to the guesthouses we had already passed.
Option 3: suck it up and ride.
Option 1 felt like a cop out, I mean we did come to northern Thailand to ride in the hills. Option 2 meant moving uphill in the wrong direction, not fun. Leaving us with Option 3: suck it up and ride to Pai. Once the decision was made it was time to lather up with sunscreen, saddle up and ride, hoping the clouds would continue to provide a little cover through the afternoon.
Given the distance we still had to cover and the amount of time left to do it, we picked a mellow manageable pace and began cranking up the hills. We climbed, turned, climbed some more, turned some more, and slowly churned up the snaking road towards Pai. The lower half of the climb, thankfully, maintained a pretty reasonable grade and gave us hope that we had not undertaken more than we could handle.
Sometime later, I'm not really sure how long, we were given a brief respite from the interminable uphill as the road contoured along the hillside, and allowed us to crank a few kilometers on the precious flat grade before giving way to the base of what was most likely the last big climb of the day.
Given my large frame and the distance we had covered since breakfast, we decided a snack break and some cold beverages were in order. In hindsight what I really needed was an actual meal, but that didn't become apparent for another hour or so. The pickings were pretty slim at the stand with no real substantial options. In the end I went for a healthy snack of coke and potato chips, supplemented with raw peanuts for protein. I spent the next 10 odd minutes or so gorging myself on the few relatively insubstantial snacks I had found, hoping it would provide me with the requisite energy to finish the day.
Almost immediately after we left the snack stand, we rolled into the town of Mae Sae, dotted with restaurants, and surprisingly a few guesthouses. At this point we were mentally committed to the climb so we didn't give the guesthouses much thought, but I did contemplate stopping for an actual meal before we attempted the last few hills. With a stomach full of junk and no appetite to spur me towards more food we carried on into the hills.
Skipping a substantial meal felt fine for the first 6k or so after Mae Sae, but then I burned through all the sugars and quick energy from my junk food foray, and the climbing got really hard. That's not to say it was easy before, but now I was hurting, my body needed more calories than I had given it. I stopped to down some peanuts, but my energy level had already crashed pretty hard. We were approaching the top of the climb and my legs were fading fast. Right before we reached the top, and the last rest stop before the descent into Pai, I came as close I've been on this trip to being physically unable to pedal my bike. I was seeing stars as I mashed down on the pedals around the last one or two turns to the summit. Then, at the moment my body couldn't go any further, there was a restaurant. At this point we knew that the remainder of the ride was going to be downhill, but my body needed something before we carried on. The patron of the restaurant whipped us up a couple of orders of fried rice with chicken which I put down with a semi-cold bottle of honey lemon tea. Even then I still needed some time to let my body start processing the food before we left.
While we rested one of the police officers manning the checkpoint heading into Pai came over and entertained us with some questions, compliments, and conversation. When we told him we had started in Chiang Mai that morning I think he realized pretty quickly why we looked so haggard. We had pushed a good 100k at that point with a solid 60k of that uphill. He told us, much to our relief, that from the checkpoint on we would be cruising almost entirely downhill. With this welcome bit of info we hopped on our bikes and started down the last 30k into Pai.
Right he was, most of the last 30k into Pai was down a steep windy hill that shot us out into the valley leaving us with a few rolling hills heading into town. At that point in the day even a few rolling hills were about all my legs could handle and it took some effort to mash the last few out before we rolled into Pai and the prospect of a good night of sleep and a few days off before heading on. The final tally for the day was about 140k and 10 1/2 hours of riding with plenty of climbing.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai consists of a sprawling urban landscape surrounded by undulating green mountains. The focal point of the city is a large square, the old city, encapsulated by a relic moat morphed into a scenic canal. Trees line the walkways on either side of the moat creating a shady promenade with fountains spaced throughout. Once you enter the old city the crowd and businesses turn touristy; loads of guesthouses, internet cafes, and western restaurants. Despite the preponderance of western oriented businesses on the main streets a little wandering would lead to the maze of back alley ways and lanes taking you into the heart of the old city and away from the tourist facade along the moat.
We ended up staying in Chiang Mai for a little longer than we had planned, mostly to take advantage of a hotel deal of stay three nights and get the fourth for free, I'm always a sucker for those. The extended stay did give us a chance to hit up a few bike shops and take care of some necessary repairs that we had been putting off due to a lack of adequately equipped bike shops. As it turned out my bike required some additional repairs and replacement parts after our one day ride in Chiang Mai, so the few extra days turned out to be quite necessary. Over the course of the last few months my chain had worn away the teeth on my front and rear cogs which frustratingly resulted in the chain slipping of the rear cassette any time I applied pressure to the pedals. Not an ideal situation when the next few weeks were going to be cycling in some of the steepest terrain of the trip. Fortunately a replacement Shimano crank set and cassette only set me back $60, a steal considering in that in the US a cassette has cost me up to $70 by itself. If you ever end up in Chiang Mai and need to find a bike shop go to Jacky's bike shop, they were quick and knew what they were doing with the repairs and didn't rip me off.
The day trip that brought about the end of my cassette and crank set took us 20k up to the top of Dusthep Poi. I found that trying to climb 20k with the chain consistently slipping off the cassette any time I tried to crank up a steep section is frustratingly slow. Add to that the chain periodically falling off when I shifted, made the whole climb an extra special one. But make it to the top I did, although with no small amount of grumbling as I'm sure Paris would attest to.
From the top it was a bit of guessing as to which way we needed to go to hit the trail that would take us back down the mountain. The maps we perused in the bookstore had a clearly marked trail that could potentially take us down, but once we were at the top it wasn't at all clear where that trail started, if at all. With only a vague idea of how to get down we hit up an expat mtn. biking tour operator for some friendly suggestions on which way we should head. Unfortunately for us the guy wasn't exactly overflowing with information, at best he was cagey about relating any trail info to us. I'm not sure if he was trying to rope us into his tour, or if he was afraid of liability issues, but either way he didn't give us much and made it sound surprisingly difficult to find the trail down the mountain.
As it turned out there were plenty of locals along the road who were quite happy to point us in the right direction, and in the end we found our way down via a series of dirt roads in various states of repair. We wound down from the upper slopes through a Hmong village and a smattering of liche plantations before being spat out on a little reservoir about 9k from town. After stopping for a waterfront lunch and some cool drinks we hit the road and cruised the last little bit back into town.
We finished up our stay in Chiang Mai in somewhat unsettling circumstances due to the political situation in Bangkok. On our second to last day in town the Thai military stormed the protest barricades in Bangkok bringing an end to months of protest and at times bloodshed between protesters and the military. This sparked outrage and protests in many provinces around the country and led to the government calling for a curfew. For us this meant an early dinner and picking up extra snacks before holing up in our room for the rest of the night to sit out the curfew. I'm not entirely sure if there were any significant protests in Chiang Mai that night, but on my way to the store there was a tire bonfire raging at the end of the street that our hotel was on. Even that didn't last all that long since it was extinguished during the three minutes I was in the store. The rest of the night passed uneventfully and life seemed to carry on as usual the next day. Paris came across a few vandalized pay phones, but other than that all seemed well, at least where we were staying. Curfew extended for one more day and than we headed out of town early the next morning to the tackle the hills leading up to Pai.
We ended up staying in Chiang Mai for a little longer than we had planned, mostly to take advantage of a hotel deal of stay three nights and get the fourth for free, I'm always a sucker for those. The extended stay did give us a chance to hit up a few bike shops and take care of some necessary repairs that we had been putting off due to a lack of adequately equipped bike shops. As it turned out my bike required some additional repairs and replacement parts after our one day ride in Chiang Mai, so the few extra days turned out to be quite necessary. Over the course of the last few months my chain had worn away the teeth on my front and rear cogs which frustratingly resulted in the chain slipping of the rear cassette any time I applied pressure to the pedals. Not an ideal situation when the next few weeks were going to be cycling in some of the steepest terrain of the trip. Fortunately a replacement Shimano crank set and cassette only set me back $60, a steal considering in that in the US a cassette has cost me up to $70 by itself. If you ever end up in Chiang Mai and need to find a bike shop go to Jacky's bike shop, they were quick and knew what they were doing with the repairs and didn't rip me off.
The day trip that brought about the end of my cassette and crank set took us 20k up to the top of Dusthep Poi. I found that trying to climb 20k with the chain consistently slipping off the cassette any time I tried to crank up a steep section is frustratingly slow. Add to that the chain periodically falling off when I shifted, made the whole climb an extra special one. But make it to the top I did, although with no small amount of grumbling as I'm sure Paris would attest to.
From the top it was a bit of guessing as to which way we needed to go to hit the trail that would take us back down the mountain. The maps we perused in the bookstore had a clearly marked trail that could potentially take us down, but once we were at the top it wasn't at all clear where that trail started, if at all. With only a vague idea of how to get down we hit up an expat mtn. biking tour operator for some friendly suggestions on which way we should head. Unfortunately for us the guy wasn't exactly overflowing with information, at best he was cagey about relating any trail info to us. I'm not sure if he was trying to rope us into his tour, or if he was afraid of liability issues, but either way he didn't give us much and made it sound surprisingly difficult to find the trail down the mountain.
As it turned out there were plenty of locals along the road who were quite happy to point us in the right direction, and in the end we found our way down via a series of dirt roads in various states of repair. We wound down from the upper slopes through a Hmong village and a smattering of liche plantations before being spat out on a little reservoir about 9k from town. After stopping for a waterfront lunch and some cool drinks we hit the road and cruised the last little bit back into town.
We finished up our stay in Chiang Mai in somewhat unsettling circumstances due to the political situation in Bangkok. On our second to last day in town the Thai military stormed the protest barricades in Bangkok bringing an end to months of protest and at times bloodshed between protesters and the military. This sparked outrage and protests in many provinces around the country and led to the government calling for a curfew. For us this meant an early dinner and picking up extra snacks before holing up in our room for the rest of the night to sit out the curfew. I'm not entirely sure if there were any significant protests in Chiang Mai that night, but on my way to the store there was a tire bonfire raging at the end of the street that our hotel was on. Even that didn't last all that long since it was extinguished during the three minutes I was in the store. The rest of the night passed uneventfully and life seemed to carry on as usual the next day. Paris came across a few vandalized pay phones, but other than that all seemed well, at least where we were staying. Curfew extended for one more day and than we headed out of town early the next morning to the tackle the hills leading up to Pai.
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