Day 21 - The calorific value of dust - Trial by fire: new bike, first tour, first time in Asia

November 15, 2024

Day 21 - The calorific value of dust

When you descend on a road that ranges from magnificent to abhorrent and spend your night by the river at Nam Chat, at the bottom of the "U", then it seems foolish to expect a smooth black surface on the ascent out. And, indeed for any part of the road to Phou Khoun.

But, before describing the day's cycling, let us begin by describing the start of the day. And there's no better way of doing that than with a photo of an Asian throne.

The bathroom was very good - fine Asian throne, good hot shower, etc. The one glitch was that there was often no water to the upper floor. There was, however, a mandi - bucket of water.

The road outside our guesthouse. It is very hard to photograph potholes but rest assured that this one is big.

Across the road was a fine restaurant.

Breakfast was the same as last night's dinner.

What will the day bring? What we do know is that there's 1700 m of climbing in a ride of 60 km. It doesn't look easy and, if yesterday's anything to go by, then every bend will be a mishmash of potholes and hillocks of sand and rocks. There's one main town along the way - Phou Vieng, no doubt as dusty as this indicator.

The day did not have a good start. Winston woke with nasty back spasms and then, as we were setting off, he noticed a front tyre with low pressure. Some excellent detective work, using the mandi bucket, revealed a very slow leak that we traced to a tiny piece of wire, like a retractable needle concealed in the tire. Our day would have been far different if we had not found it.

It was close to 9 when we left our riverside abode, crossed the bridge and started climbing.

Winston was slow but steady. The problem for me was guessing his speed. After waiting for him at 5 and 12 km and knowing that he was chugging along, I waited longer than expected after 20 km and got worried.

Alas, no passing motorists indicated trouble behind. Eventually, Winston rolled in. We had a discussion and came up with a strategy for getting to Phou Khoun. We would be pushing the daylight. But, the main thing is that we had done the biggest climb. From now on it would be undulating with just another 900 m of ascending!

The use of a classic Thorn bicycle stand. When I bought this bike, Thorn stated that if you attach a stand you void your warranty.

We were aiming for 60 km and now, at the top of the main climb, started getting the odd km for "free" and the occasional ridge-top village with plenty to look at.

From the top of the first climb, it became relentless climbing and descending.

Staring back down on a village we passed.

Why don't these signs show a smiling cyclist???

I've no idea what this building is but it sits on a hilltop and we like that!

Twenty km turned into 30 as we ascended another hill and I said to Winston that we're now counting down. Let's aim for 35 and then 40.

Other than the undulating terrain, there were a couple of constants in our day: we were always high and it was mostly dusty, especially on the bends. There were things that saddened us - land clearing and garbage, but others that brought smiles.

How can you not like a fellow bathing his bull? He's probably just washing the dust away.

Winston determined to reach a fine grove of Jerusalem artichokes.

We passed the 40 km mark at about the time that we passed a line of intriguing little houses on the bend of a road.

It's pleasing to know that these are probably storage houses for rice. I feared they were accommodation for small children.

We were both getting hungry and searched for sustenance in a well-stocked store. I couldn't find anything that seemed heavier than air. Thus, I showed the proprietor an old packet of Vietnamese love cakes and the best match were these. They're fine if you're cycling up hills!

There's a lot of them! You would need to pay me to eat them at home!

The rough roads tend to achieve this aim.

Somewhere, high on one of these ridges, we saw pineapples growing. A bevy of unused roadside stalls suggested a flourishing market when the fruits are ripe.

With more slugging up hills and the occasional free km, we reached 50 km. Winston was pushing himself to his limits but was keeping going and so I suggested that I forge on ahead and find a guesthouse. Almost immediately I tackled a brute of a hill but, once over, the going became easier. But the broken tarmac demanded constant slowing and one feared any vehicle that would toss dust into the air. As the day lengthened, the view grew in stature.

I was unsure whether Winston would be home before dark and so, when I spotted a guesthouse, I called stumps on the day.

We're getting used to guesthouses having nice plants, such as this Crown of Thorns, Euphoria milii.

Winston arrived fairly late after a very hard day in the saddle. After a good rest he managed to muster the energy to walk 2 km into town, where we won on the food. A fellow in a Chinese restaurant, the Yun Chun, cooked us an excellent meal. And then, of course, we walked the 2 km home to complete our 10,000 steps for the day.

Even the sign, photographed the next morning, is covered in dust.

And so, let us think about the calorific value of dust of which we both got a substantial dose today. Indeed, Winston complained of a sore throat in the evening. I found that the dust gave me no advantage at all. It didn't abate my hunger and so I conclude that it's of minimal calorific value.

Today's ride: 59 km (37 miles)
Total: 1,006 km (625 miles)

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