A long day with lots of hills

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.