Ride to Laos, from the Navel of Esaan (Big Day).
I live in the province of Maha Sarakam, what Esaan people refer to as the "belly-button of Esaan." It is right in the middle of the large bulge that is North-Eastern Thailand, its an area of about 200,000 square kilometers.
This was my set-up for a five day trip. Covering 740km and including one day of relaxation in the middle, I couldn't wait!
The destination: Nakon Panom Province, the town of Renu Nakon. My friends had planned out another day of volunteering and made all the arrangements, I just needed to get there.
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| 15.4kg (including 1L of water), good balance between possible-length-of-trip and mountain-climbing-comfort. The bike itself weighs exactly 9.0kg, and my weight on Day 1 was exactly 71kg. |
The Belly-Button of Esaan - Maha Sarakam Province, riding to Nakon Panom, then back to Renu Nakon District.
You can see from the distance that it was a pretty good day. Leaving just before 5AM, I didn't make it to the destination until 7PM. About 90 minutes slower too than my current quickest time for a double century ride, so it was by no means just a head-down blast to get there. I stopped for coffee three different times, and two more times just to snap some photos and have a chat with some local elderly folks hanging out. During the daytime hours in Esaan, pretty much every dwelling is bound to have a few people sitting in the shade, taking it easy while the heat of the day passes. If you stop for water, and feel like having a chat, its a great chance to make someone's day, or give them a good surprise at least :) I can't say that I speak Esaan, but I definitely know enough to have a chat, give and receive all the basic information that will be asked in the first five minutes... and then off again! I gave a description of all that I ate and drank for the day, and if you happen to be looking to drop a few kg of body weight in a hurry - then you too should try a 10+ hour ride in the 36C Thai sunshine :)
Ride Notes:
Woke up at 3:45AM and drank 600mL of water. Did 30 pushups, and then ate 4 pieces of toast with peanut butter and honey, some dates, then drank one cup of soy milk. While waiting to use the bathroom, I read some Bible chapters and made oatmeal to put in a Tupperware for a second breakfast. I also made 2 sandwiches (same as breakfast, but put in a baggie). Those pack a lot of calories and the bread will usually stay soft for many hours.
Left at 445Am, lights fully charged, said a prayer and ran out the door. Excited to carry my bike down the stairs for another journey into the fields of Esaan! Stopped at 7-11 to get a weight check just as the trip began. My weight (with helmet shoes clothes stuff in pockets) was exactly 71.0kg, and my bike (with bags and 1L of water) was exactly 15.4kg.
From Kham Riang, Maha Sarakam (ต่ ขามเรียง, จ. มหาสารคาม) - Rode 80km, passing Yang Talat, Kalasin Town, and on to Som Det. This passed through one small storm, it was the main road the whole way and the first hour was in the dark.
Home to Som Det - 80km.
Stopped at Amazon in Som Det (อ. สมเด็จ), had the oatmeal from my container, and one large coffee. Hilarious story, first time ever, someone stole my shoes... and then returned them!!
Som Det to Sang Ko - 37km.
From Som Det, rode about 40km up the front side of PuPaan Mountain (biggest climb anywhere near me, 330 metres of elevation gain), flew down to the PTT in SangKo (อ. สร้างค้อ) to buy water, say a quick hello to the guys working at the petrol pumps (I pass this way often) then continued on through the hills to TaoNgoi, Sakon Nakon (อ. เต่างอย). The views here were magical, but it was really starting to heat up. I had to stop for water here, just before the final turn into Tao Ngoi town.
Sang Ko to Tao Ngoi - 41km.
The public and government building in Thailand will always have at least access to a restroom, and a shaded place to sit. I make good use of these, sometimes even showering, changing, if I am lucky (like this one) the police station will even have a full outdoor kitchen. Free drinking water, a place to wash up, a sink, big open place to sit down, unpack things from the bike while resting in cool shade. At night I would even have slept here without a problem! Nice big space and almost no one around. I had the sandwiches here, as well as sat to rest for awhile while drinking an entire 1.5L bottle.
Tao Ngoi to Na Kae - 42km.
Continuing on from Tao Ngoi, the next stop was Na Kae. During midday in Thailand, I don't think its wise to ride more than an hour without a break, and it definitely is going to limit how much energy you have left once it finally stops being so hot. Anyone wanting to ride more than 300km in a day really has to manage the midday hours well.
**This stretch, by the way, the 80-odd km from the top of PuPaan through TaoNgoi and on to Na Kae, has to be one of the top bits of riding in all of Esaan. Aside from Northern Thailand, it is really hard to find areas of both beautiful rolling hills, and no people around to worry about (as they blast around turns going way too fast, enjoying the beautifully paved roads the Thai government builds so quickly...)
45km more to Na Kae (อ. นาแก), I was out of Kalasin Province, and into Sakon Nakon. This is where the wind really started to kick up, but I was feeling surprisingly strong! It was actually fun riding into such a stiff crosswind, and I was even thankful for the extra weight on the bike at this point. I was leaning over sideways, a few times even felt like the wind was going to blow the wheels out from under me! At least it wasn't so hot anymore. This brought me to about 2PM, and I stopped for a final coffee at the PTT in Na Kae. (exactly 199km from home).
At about this point, I knew it was only going to be another 90 minutes to reach my friends house. Since I had made such good time in the morning, I got to thinking - it would be hilarious to go and meet my friend at the airport, instead of just waiting for them to get home (they were flying up from Bangkok). The thought of a race, bicycle against airplane, is just idiotic, but how much more so to think of the bicycle winning!? :) I went for it.
Na Kae to Renu Nakon - 44km.
From Na Kae to Renu Nakon, there was some construction on the roads, and some massive, massive tailwinds. The road was winding in a NorthEast direction, so I would go from being thrust onwards by an invisible hand, to crouching over, shifting down two or even three gears in a moment, bending to get out of the wall of wind that would present itself after each right turn. Glorious riding, if one has the legs, then this is always good fun.
A final 40km to my friends home, and I ran inside to give everyone some hugs. Amidst congratulations and smiles, I broke the news that the trip wasn't over yet, as I would try to ride to the airport and make it before 6pm. Obviously they thought I was a bit nuts, after riding 240km already, why would someone want to ride even a minute more, let alone another 45km?
I dropped off the largest bag, made sure that I wasn't losing any important tools with it, and set off again immediately. I was actually going to have to push to make it, but I felt great knowing that I would have a tailwind the entire way.
Renu Nakon to the NKP Airport - 48km.
Everything was going great, the legs were feeling fine, I was smiling and happy to know that I had arrived in one of my favorite places in the world (Nakon Panom, pretty much anywhere along the Mae Nam Kong, could easily be considered for a 'most peaceful place on earth' award).
Going great that is, until I took a wrong turn! I tried to take a shortcut, getting away from the highway, but also just wanting to cut off a few more minutes if I could. The road was winding, but still just one single road, and unbelievably I turned right to go back into Nakon Panom city. Ahh! I was even making good time too, I thought I could still catch them before they collected their bags.
Anyways, not only did it mean that I wouldn't be surprising them, but it also meant I would have to sit in the dark (as it was now past sundown) and wait for them. Ha! I spoke too soon, because just a few minutes later I received a phone call informing me that the truck was not headed directly back, they were going onwards to pick up another friend as well.
Wrong Turn back to Renu Nakon - 40km.
Congratulations Joel, adding not only the 45km to the airport, but having to ride back as well. Whew. At least I could have the satisfaction of doing it all on my own, not catching a lift, as well as having a chance to break the 200 miles in a day number (something surprisingly evasive, for me anyways, there is always such a psychological barrier to get through once I have reached the 240-250km mark. Always a million reasons to call it a day :) )
Thus, the 326km day, when actually I had only planned to ride 238km.
The final hour was in total darkness, of my three lights only one still had battery, and it was at this point that I was really starting to struggle. Drinking water, not feeling like it was even going down, I thought constantly of just keeping the pedals turning over, back straight and eyes up, knowing how embarrassing it would be to come off the bike in just the final hour of such an epic ride. I was extremely lucky here in that the road had been freshly paved, only a few sticks and the reflective markers as obstacles. About half of the final 30km had large, lovely amber colored street lighting, while the other half was in darkness aside from my single flashing light.
I think any solo long-distance rider will be familiar with this situation, when trying to conserve battery, not knowing exactly how much longer either the equipment or the rider is going to need to hold out, it almost becomes entrancing watching that white light turn on and off, endlessly flashing... if the battery is strong enough, and the rider carrying enough fatigue, it might even feel like a panic attack at times - like a weirdly athletic scary movie! But in the end, one has to remember, everything will be ok if you just keep going, and going, and going.
Great ride, of course I was happy to arrive, and in the end I did actually still succeed in making it to my friend's house before they did. Going to pick up the other friend caused them to allow me a one hour bonus window, I was able to eat and shower before they arrived at around 8pm.
Nakon Panom holds a special place in my heart, as it is the place where we were all working when I decided to stay on and live in Thailand, not just pass through as a traveler (the group that I came to do this single day of volunteering with is the same group of people who gave me my first job in Thailand back in August of 2009).
Very much a reunion here, the two and half days together just flew by. So many awesome memories together, travel stories and life lived together over the past 8 years and 8 months... I am extremely blessed to have met them, and wonderfully lucky to still be having chances to hang out, relax, and occasionally go out and spread some love to those around (the activities we did here on this occasion involved a large group of people, all elderly, just any local people who wanted to join in, and we used the meeting hall of a nearby school for the day).
4AM - toast, honey/pb, dates, soymilk - 750cal
(1 water bottle before breakfast, then 2 bottles while riding)
7AM - oatmeal (w/peanuts, chia seeds, coconut oil, sunflower seeds, and raisins) - 800cal
- coffee #1 at Amazon
(1 bottle while sitting, 2 bottles riding)
9AM - energy packet, ClifShot, and granola bar - 300cal
(2 water bottles)
11AM - box lunch from 7-11 (pad-krapow Jae version) and pack of black rice - 600cal
(2 bottles while sitting, 2 bottles riding)
1PM - sandwiches from my pocket, honey from 7-11 - 800cal
- coffee #2 at Amazon
(1 bottle while sitting, 2 bottles riding)
- banana while riding - 100cal
3PM - electrolyte pack and granola bar - 200cal
(1 bottles while sitting, 2 bottles riding)
5PM - banana while sitting - 100cal
(1 bottle sitting, 1 bottle riding)
Breakfast before beginning the ride - 750
Best estimate for cals consumed while riding - 2950
(goal of drinking at least one water bottle per hour while riding, then try to drink one at every stop, I stopped 6 times, and rode for 10 hours - target should have been 16 bottles, if memory serves me right I actually drank 19)
After-ride dinner of rice, vegetables, eggs, sun-dried beef and fermented fish - 800
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Estimated energy use, relaxed riding for 7 hours, medium pace for 2 hours, hard pace for 1 hour.
500 cals per hour relaxing, 600 medium, and 700+ hard pace.
Estimated use for entire ride, 5400cals.
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When the ride gets to be 9, 10, 11+ hours long, it gets harder and harder to stay even for calories used vs cals consumed. Many people use calories in liquid form in their bottles or as energy gels, for me that is too expensive. Last year I was buying the honey packets from 7-11, but I felt that it was contributing to a greater problem - sugar reliance. Now that I have changed my TRAINING, not the long rides but what I do on the other days of the week, that is where I have noticed a big difference.
I can't really speak for anyone else, so I am just going to write exactly my own experience and the opinions that I have developed as of now from that experience. Every person is in some way unique, of course there are things we can learn from each other, but each person's heart rate, aerobic threshold, body weight, water use efficiency, heat tolerance, ability to digest during riding... so many things!! Even besides the things relevant while actually riding you can also think about sleep, stress level throughout a given week, stretching afterwards, other exercising that one does... there are SO many variables involved. Surely changing just one wouldn't make such a noticeable difference, but the idea is to find some balance between all of them that works in a satisfactory way.
So. For me, lately I have noticed a big difference in my life outside of cycling coming from changes made to my diet while cycling. I can't say that I have noticed much difference in the actual cycling itself, but I notice that I feel better in general, and therefore I figure that I have made some changes for the better.
What are the changes? Well, I used to use almost entirely sugar as fuel for the cycling, and as far as the cycling went it was great! But during the days that I wouldn't ride, I would literally crash on my desk at around 2 or 3pm every day, without fail. I was following the advice from the athletes at the carbs-for-fuel-end of the spectrum (most of them vegetarian besides that), and I was able to ride long hours on the bike, but felt pretty up and down for all my waking hours besides those. I would have big energy boosts and feel great, but then feel totally lame and unable to function at work without one or even two back to back cups of coffee. I would get the urge to eat entire mountains of fruit (I would regularly eat 3 guavas and 3 mangoes in the morning break time, the same again in the afternoon break time, and always a coffee with each).
