January 3, 2021
To Restore the Montague
The Montague Paratrooper Pro has been the folding bike of choice that I've used on almost all my tours. It has lasted almost 10 years which is saying something. Most of the time it stays behind in Thailand at a guesthouse while I fly in twice a year and do tours, thus saving wear and tear of taking the bike on airplanes.
Before covid, I almost lost the bike in Khon Kaen. I had left the bike behind at a hotel and flew to Bangkok to try and renew my passport. Meanwhile, the WHO declared covid as a pandemic and things rapidly starting locking down. There was a quick window of time to hustle back to Khon Kaen, pick up the bike, and get out. This all happened before China closed the border.
Meanwhile, the bike had taken a beating on the plane, as well as being used for daily commuting to work. The disc brakes were totally shot, derailleur not working properly, and lots of problems with the cassette. Many of the bike shops downtown were unable or unwilling to do repairs, which I found extremely irritating because this would not even be an issue in Bangkok. After a bit of searching I found a shop far off across the river that had all the parts needed and could do this job.
So a plan was set to bike there, and I also hit a few key spots including a former medium-risk compound where there was a local covid outbreak last month.
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It is hard to imagine the scale of this compound as it probably houses over 5000 people, almost a mini-city, but a mysterious local case (yes, just one case) originating from imported goods at the airport caused the whole place to suddenly go into lockdown. Even taxi drivers dropping off passengers were marooned for two weeks. The community sprung into action to find temporary housing for anyone stuck inside, and arrange for food deliveries at the gates and so forth. The whole complex was cordoned off with people in hazmat suits and everyone was required to be tested. Yes, to reiterate, this was over a single case. Two weeks later they finished a third round of testing and opened the gates at midnight, and people flooded out.
[Update November 2022] Even the Chinese government at this point would admit those measures were beyond excessive back then. There were a whole bunch of recent political meetings that resulted in lowering the lockdown time to 5 days, as well as reduced the mass testing edicts. On average now there are 20-30 new cases a day in the city which is still peanuts but the idea of locking down a building for 14 days would be considered criminal now. And yet, those people will never be held to account for what they did.
Once at the Specialized Bike shop, I walked in and the guy recognized me right away. Thankfully I had spoken to him earlier on New Years Day after a party in the area, and mentioned I would be bringing in the bike to do a ton of repairs. At the time he said he had the parts and could do what I wanted, so he took a detailed look at the bike and said he'd be in contact with me.
On that note, while eating lunch and watching the world go by, I had this great feeling that the Montague would soon be in Thailand again, as well as other international destinations, and touring would be back on the agenda.
[Update November 2022] It would be at least 2 years later from the time of that writing.
Today's ride: 56 km (35 miles)
Total: 88 km (55 miles)
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