Ban Thung Yua -> Ban Mahathat We had a delicious breakfast of khao tom (boiled soup rice), fresh mango and pineapple before heading out. Ping gave us some of the best bananas we’ve ever had and some khao lam (sticky rice sweetened and cooked in bamboo) to take for the road. Before taking off, I realized the awkward fall my bike took the day before had actually cracked the rim. Concerning but it felt okay when I pressed on it. Nothing I could do but ride cautiously and avoid big impacts. The strap to hold my seat pack had been twisted since China. I usually loop it back on itself to remove the excess but somehow it got messed up. I tried many times unsuccessfully to fix it. Last night, Ping gave us a puzzle to solve that involved moving a ring past a knot and thought maybe he could help. Emily gave it a try and immediately fixed it. I was so mad because I’ve tried everything and couldn’t do it. I still don’t know what it was exactly that she did differently. Plenty of stray dogs, which Emily doesn’t like, but also plenty of stray puppies, which she loves sent us on our way. The day started off overcast with a chance of rain. We were thankful for the cloud cover but it was still warm. I think without the drying effect of the sun, sweat was dripping off of me. The roads were nice and mellow to start but we soon found evidence of the landslides from the monsoon season. So much dirt must have come down and it’s pretty impressive that all the roads have been cleared. Once we got onto dirt, it got bumpier and steeper. It was pretty in the jungle but hard to enjoy sometimes. I think we climbed 2000’ in the first 10mi. before rejoining the road and going to our lunch spot. Just before lunch, the route sent us into a school where some stray dogs started barking at us. The route was supposed to take us out the gate on the other side but it was closed. Now we were riding along the grass next to the fence to get back to the gate we entered from. The dogs started to run towards me, barking, but didn’t come all the way. Emily was freaked out enough that she yeeted of decent drop on her gravel bike that she wouldn’t do on her MTB. Now I know what it’ll take for her to do some tech. 🤣 The lunch stop seemed early and I wasn’t really that hungry yet but I knew we had to eat. When I’m hot, I lose my appetite, which I think also happens to me when I’m dehydrated. More reason to make the pitstop. I don’t remember the name of the place but it was quite good. Their Pad See Ew was the second best we’ve had so far. While we were eating, I was watching the dark clouds move across the sky. It looked like they were moving away but as we were finishing up, it started to sprinkle. We debated when to leave and as we put on our rain jackets, it really started to pour! We hung out for another 10-15 minutes maybe and died down so we headed out. It sprinkled here there for a little while before stopping completely. Luckily it didn’t affect the trails. There was only one small part that got a bit muddy and slippery. Not long after, we were back on dirt, now rockier than before and with river crossings. The first one was the only one we changed shoes for. The rest were narrow and shallow enough to ride through but at the cost of cleaning my drivetrain of any lube. My drivetrain sounded horrible. We stopped so I could live the chain and over the crest was another river crossing. After a few more, when it seemed safe to relube, we encountered more river crossings! At one point Emily went for it only to find big rocks in the middle of the crossing. All I heard were her shouts of, “No! No! No!!!” and then she had a wet foot. We lost track of the number of crossings. I feel like it was a dozen, Emily thought it was eight. In any case, it was way more than we were expecting - which was one. 🙃 The river crossings were on the first of a set of three progressively longer and steep climbs. Once we got to the part where it went vertical, we lubed up one last time. My drivetrain still sounded horrible but eventually quieted down. I think our first and last rivers we crossed over had suspension bridges. The last one was pretty sketchy with Temple of Doom vibes. A moped got there as we were walking across. Once we cleared, he just rode across it at speed. Kind of crazy. There was plenty of over 20% grades and hike-a-biking. Again, more than I was expecting. On one of the last, steep, climbs, I was looking down at the ground, riding behind Emily, and I saw an ant that was crawling along as fast as we were going. 🤣 The descents were just as steep as the climbs and unfortunately I had to descend them slower and more carefully than normal. After the last big climb, there was a section that it was recommended be walked. We didn’t really know until we were on it. It was super steep and pretty loose. I wanted to stop and walk but I couldn’t. I couldn’t even slow down really but I found a patch of grass off to the side where I could safely stop just in time before taking Emily out. 😬 We were happy to be back on road and done with the crazy climbing. Once we got into town it was all about the snacks. Smoothies and boba followed by some sweet roti next to the 7-11 where we got some snacks for tomorrow. When we were getting our drinks, we still had 5 miles to our homestay and just enough time to get there by sunset. That was before the roti stop which meant we got there as it was getting dark. The wheel seems to have survived the day and is still tensioned with no signs of any change but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t fail catastrophically. 😬