31.07.10 (Kasi to Kiou Ka Cham)
Hell Day, that is what the Navy Seals call their day that does not end in training. Today was our own personal hell day. We started before dawn and headed out up the hill that had defeated us the day before. Easy as pie, we were up to the top in 90 minutes, which is good for a 12 miles of flat and up hill.
The decent was over all to fast and we started on the the longest hill of the day, approx 12 miles of continuous up hill with some 10% sections thrown in for fun, I am so chuffed that we managed to cycle all of it, no walking today. All thanks to the downpour we were cycling in as there was no sun. Yippee, I'll take cycling in the rain any day. So we reached what we thought was the top of the hill and had an early lunch in a restaurant with stunning views of the craggy peaks that make northern Loas so beautiful. Heading back out we realised that we had been deceived by the village sign and in fact the top was a further 7 miles, but with full stomachs we felt re energised. On reaching the town of Phou Khoun we stopped and re-stocked our biscuit supply at the market at the cross roads where the road splits off to the east and Phonsavan.
With the rain so bad, we saw lots of landslides along the way and riding through ones that had been cleared but with thick slippy mud left on the road was scary, the smaller ones that had not been cleared we just rode round. The descent after the town was a blessing, it gave us time to stand out of the saddle without having to power hard and was very refreshing. All too soon the down hill turned in to the next up hill slog, this was perhaps the shortest of the day at about 7 miles long but by now our legs were not fresh and the going was tough. Still the end arrived at last and we were able to buy some fruit and drinks at the stalls on the side of the road at the top. These along with the small road side shops in the villages that we pass through have been our saving grace in Laos.
The last hill of the day was upon us at 4pm, we were both flagging fast so had another handful of crackers and biscuits and set off. There was a funny noise coming from my end of the bike (typical) and we were just deciding if it was my bottom bracket (the thing that joins the pedal arms together and allows them to turn, for all you non bikies) when the chain snapped. Luckily there was no other traffic on the road as there was a bit of a wobble as our feet spun round with no resistance, if only peddling up hill was really that easy. Mr Fixit Roberts whipped out the tool kit and set to work while I sat and swatted flies. We discussed the option of flagging down a passing truck to give us a lift and I kept a look out but the only truck to pass that stopped had pineapples in the back.
All too soon for my liking the chain had been fixed and we were on our way again, the sun was playing hide and seak behind the clouds but by this time the ferocity had gone so it just enhanced the spectacular scenery when the sun did come out. We pulled up in Kiou Ka Cham as dusk was just turning in to night, it was just after 7pm and was the end to my very longest day in the saddle ever. Unfortunately for us the run of good hotels had to dry up sometime and tonight was the night, we had researched the best of the three so knew where to head for, we booked in grabbed a bite to eat and fell in to bed.
Stats for the day: 13 hours of travel 11.5 of those actually peddling, over 2000 meters climbed and a good many descended and all in 60 odd miles!!
01.08.10 (Kiou Ka Cham to Louang Probang)
Dawn came all to soon and we were off again glad to be gone from the lumpy bed from hell. Today was the last day of cycling before a well earned couple of rest days.
We knew we had two hills to climb today, the first by far the longer at about 10 miles long. But first we were rewarded for all the up hill slogging of the day before with a mammoth down hill. Yippee.... that was good fun and that was about our lot for fun for the day as the sun had come out to play so on the up hill we fried, unfortunately for me the sheer amount of time we had spent in the saddle the day before had left quite an impression and it HURT! This meant that sustained sitting(necessity in up hill cycling on a tandem) was beyond painful and we decided to walk for a while, so we walked/pushed up hill for about 2 hours and covered 6 miles, not bad. We were seriously bored and we decided to see if I could stand the pain to ride again and set off. I could just about bare it so we pushed on a reached the top by 11am. The down hill was amazing, we over took 3 trucks that had over taken us on the way up we were going that fast, Rich has got the hang of what my top speed is before I start yelling, so was very restrained.
Louang Probang by 2pm and booked into a guesthouse with WiFi so we could tackle our Tibet travel plans.
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