Lampang: It wasn't that far, and it certainly wasn't that easy

August 14, 2015

Leaving Wang Chin was easy. It's a small town and you just cross the river heading north to leave town. I did notice several 24 hour Motels on the north side of town, so there is a bit of choice. My hotel was right on the river as you enter town from the south, but I had some strange night fowl screeching outside my window all night long. It wasn't that far to Lampang, so I wasn't too worried. But there is this hill you see...

That's my first real hill of this ride. I didn't count how many km it is, but I did inspect every inch of the concrete barrier that abuts the shoulderless slow lane. It's about 1 metre high and has a worrying number of scrapes and gouges along its entire length. This I know because I pushed my bike up the whole thing, give or take a couple of short stretches where I could cycle it. My guess is it's about 5 km of uphill, mostly at about +9%. And then there is the downhill on the other side. That was a hoot, especially with only one brake. The downhill was capped off with about 2 km of roadworks - resurfacing the road with a mix of hot tar and sand. A bit of impromptu rustproofing for my panniers... and legs.

It went on like this for the entire uphill; me pushing slowly and praying that I wouldn't get smeared against that wall. Maybe someday I'll have the ability to ride effortlessly up hills like this, but not today.

Seemed to take forever for this much anticipated road sign to show up. The ride down was exhilarating, but I was still completely trashed by the time I got to the bottom and past the roadworks tar and sanding.

I was so trashed and sweat soaked (like I had been hot dipped in a soup of sweat and road grime) by the time I finished the hill that it took me several hours rest and refueling at one of the roadside restaurants before I felt fit enough to continue on to Lampang.

Lampang is a nice town. It's not a tourist town, which is a plus as far as I'm concerned. The small riverside hotel, restaurant and entertainment strip was populated mostly (98%) by locals. The hotels & guesthouses are reasonably priced and the whole town has a nice ambiance about it. I spent the weekend there, instead of moving on to Chiang Mai, which I knew would be crowded. And the bike shops would be closed on the week end, and I needed a good bike shop...

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