Day 11 Bike: Put the Hammer Down

July 18, 2023

Kosit One Hotel to Saraburi

This rural Isaan section was starting to get on my nerves. I figured the best way out of here was to slam dunk a massive distance and book a wicked hotel with a swimming pool and other amenities for motivation. The much larger town of Saraburi had a place that fit this bill, so I booked the place midway when I knew it was possible to make it. It would be nearly 160km or a full 100 miles.

I tried to be ready at the crack of dawn but the free hotel breakfast had other plans.

Breakfast done, it was a nice easy start. That wouldn't last long. If we're honest here, the parts about this Isaan section that I wasn't enjoying were the pandemic remnants. The Cafe Amazon chain seemed to be the biggest fan of social distancing, and it took multiple visits over many days to finally clue in. All the staff wore masks, the stores had very short opening hours, they would always ask first without fail, "Takeout?", and they had all that bullshit plexiglass and feet signs on the ground etc..

It wasn't just Amazon, other restaurants and places had the same protocol. Chairs were often purposely taken away, and many times the whole place was just closed. Street food, if you can call it that, was a case of walk up to a vendor and take away snacks. Sitting was discouraged and they didn't give out wayer refills like before.

There were many many more examples like this I which set the tone for a boring couple of days.

This Amazon was a slight improvement. No plexiglass screen, only half the staff wore masks. But they still insisted on takeout

The second one was no better except I convinced them to not do takeout and let me chill.

The Cafe Amazons stops were few and far between and they dictated the pace of the ride. So I wanted to relax and enjoy those stops with refreshing AC because there was nothing else to stop for. Yet they were making it very difficult to do so.

These now outdated pandemic restrictions reminded me how Florida was a sanctuary for true rest and enjoyment during covid as early as 2021, maybe even before. During the lockdown I let out with a comment "I would rather have the virus than deal with these restrictions." I got what I wanted and had covid twice. It was no big deal. So maybe Florida got it right all along. History has proven that past performance influences future directions.

Anyways, back to the biking. With such a long and endless gruelling day of cycling and absolutely no cheers or smiles from the locals, the above soundtrack was repeating in my mind nonstop all day.

There's a bit of resemblance. That's what the picture above inspired

Soon it was time for lunch and I was famished. However, every place I saw was either closed, takeout, or the chairs put away. Eventually I got off the road and found a quiet place that was amazingly open for business.

Not satisfied with such meagre meals, I tried to find more but there was nothing to stop at. There were endless stretches of nothingness and not even a 7/11. The cars and trucks meanwhile were passing me endlessly on the motorway and there were no alternative routes.

The absolute worst part of the ride happened between 100-120 km. At this point the road started climbing a very long hill and was going straight into a very strong headwind. Speed kept dropping and I got more and more exhausted, thining this was never going to end. I tried to push myself to get it over with but my body wasn't cooperating so I wisely backed off. This just made the suffering go on longer.

This was a lot more difficult than Laos because of the psychological factor. Locals there would be cheering me on or giving thumbs up, here there was absolutely none of that. The only reactions were stone cold stares and sourpuss looks. Even the clerks at convenience stores looked down in the dumps and didn't smile once. Land of Smiles? Not this region.

The only thing I could do was keep pushing the pedals and keep believing at some point this would get better.

Today's ride: 155 km (96 miles)
Total: 1,338 km (831 miles)

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