Cycling: Day 1

Today will start with a shout out to Mr Owen Kent. Owen you are a gentleman, the generous loaner of bike shoes and clips, and in no small part have contributed to today’s finest moments of pace setting, as well as todays lowest moments (both figuratively and literally) – my two comically slow motion collisions with the ground.  The first of these occurred before we’d even set off!  I’m pleased to say that these experiences appear to have been part of a learning process and I am now quite understanding of the importance of unclipping my shoes from the pedals before stopping.

 

So, following that inauspicious start, here’s the round up of what happened next:

• For a first day we really took mission by its foolishness, starting with our longest ride of the trip, totalling over 90km.
• The route was a mix of regular roads, part constructed roads, dirt tracks and just dirt that aspires to be the dirt track it once was, before it became simply part of a succession of pot holes and rocks.
• For the first 6km this morning we were adopted by a beach dog.  Which gave some early entertainment value as he fended off a pack of other strays and a troop of monkeys for us.
• We had some welcome cloud cover for the early morning, but by mid-morning I was singing Here Comes the Sun and regretting it for the rest of the day.
• We by a number of crops and plantations, providing some welcome scenery and my first glimpse of how pepper corns are grown.  Cambodia is famed for its pepper, so it seems.
• Bananas are a revelation.  Who knew they could taste like this?  ‘This’ in fact being confusingly like an apple, but they are fantastic all the same.
• This evening we saw a wedding taking over a street and funeral over the paddy field from where we having dinner, which, following a small light show, involved the pyre being light with… fireworks.  Brilliant.

 

For my sadistic supporters:

By my reckoning, the furthest I’ve ever rode is approximately 20km.  Today we did 90km.

(I started writing a smart description of how my body feels this evening, but actually, that top line and your imagination is much more effective.)

 

Thanks to all that supported.  For anyone who hasn’t but would like to, you’re absolutely not too late!