See Part 2 for subsequent entries
Follow Mike on his 2024 journey cycling through Thailand on his self-made bamboo bicycle. Check back often for updates!
January 22, 2024 - Cycling in Pratamnak park
I'm taking a day off of the intense cycling and cheating for the ride tomorrow. By cheating I mean studying the terrain before the actual ride. There are always ploys that can be used to one's own advantage especially on rides with steep climbs and sharp turns. This helped me with the SCC drop rides. I did the Texas and the OWB rides solo several times to get the lay of the land.
The killer ride here is on and around Pratamnak park. After today, I feel that I've got it... upshift here, downshift there, get out of the saddle at this point, relax and breathe deeply now. This process prepares the mind. Tonight I'll prepare the bike by waxing the chain, fine tuning the shifting and pumping up to 100 PSI. This hill is no joke.
After the drill, I walked around the Park going to places that are missed when racing with a group. It's quite a blissful, quiet and scenic park nestled between Pattaya and Jomtien beaches.
The Buddhist sanctuary at the crest of Pratamnak hill is a sacred place of devotion. Foreigners and non Buddhists are welcome to enjoy the peace, meditate, participate in the rituals and gain an understanding of Buddhist precepts. This is year 2567 Buddhist era.
The next day is today, Tuesday. The British climbing fanatic bowed out due to flu symptoms and only one other rider showed up, the Dutchman. This has to be the most unpopular ride in the province. It was once believed that only mountain bikes could reach the top. Now a few road cyclists have proven that supposition to be wrong, a very few. I do believe that one hour on this hill with multiple climbs is better training than many hours and many kilometers on easier routes. In that hour, the cyclists can take the cardio to the max, the resistance to the breaking point and finish in a sweat drenched heap. On this ride, there were no stops. Once the summit is reached it's right back down again. Holding back on the brakes to keep the speed within safe limits on the downhill is almost as tiring. At the base there may be a short respite as we ride to the next upward approach because these nuts climb the same hill 5 times. Is there a way to replicate this experience on a home trainer? No! I discussed this with the Dutchman after the ride. How can you duplicate the dodging and weaving around soi dogs, killer storm grates, tire destroying potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips? Not to mention the heat, the sometimes poor air quality, the accumulated fatique of cycling daily. Forget it. The only way is to get on that jet plane and come here.
Quickly, the ride is over. We discuss the ride and future rides (tougher hills to come), drink our hydration electrolyte liquid and part ways. I cool down by riding another 15 km at the beach. The scenes are fantastic.
Ahh, photos taken on the off day ride...
1) Stairs ascending Big Buddha hill
2) Attitude needed to get to the top
3) Before training in Thailand
4) After training in Thailand
5) View 200 meters above sea level
6) Muay Thai kick boxing training
January 21, 2024 - Metric century ride to Phala beach
I feared this would be one long ride, not only for the distance but also for the number of stops needed to eat and rehydrate. It's cool in the morning but as soon as that tropical sun peeks over the horizon, the heat is on. We had a larger than normal group of eight cyclists representing five countries, Thailand, Canada, Netherlands, UK and US. Some of the riders joined us outside of town waiting at a 7-11 store. There are thousands of 7-11s here.
The ride was hilly because we avoided the coastal highway, preferring quieter and more scenic back roads. Phala was chosen as the halfway point, although we visited two other beaches as well. All were more or less beautiful, typically Thai with temples, archways, gardens of bougainvillea and coconut trees lining the route.
We stopped at a nearby restaurant which was built within a bamboo forest. I Bong restaurant was the name. There is no polite translation for this place name. Every breakfast ordered was delicious and less than 100 baht. That's 3 bucks for a filling breakfast, Thai style, with fresh coffee and a Thai dessert. I will frequently mention the low costs here for nearly everything locally produced. It's quite easy to find a good meal in the Thai market for 40 baht and local beer for 60 baht at a bar. Hah, even cheaper at 7-11.
We got back to town at 1 in the afternoon, much too hot at that time to be cycling, 32 C which is over 90 for sure.
Total kilometers was 103. There were 5 water stops. Dehydration is a constant concern. All the cyclists use an electrolyte power to mix with the water. A month supply costs 100 baht at the pharmacy. Currently, the exchange rate is very favorable at 35 baht to the US dollar.
Thus ends a typical week of cycling every day, about 300 km this week but I'm not counting.
Stay warm if possible my SCC friends,
Mike
Phala beach
Breakfast at I Bong in the bamboo
I Bong entrance
January 20, 2024
Just got back from watching the sunset over the Gulf of Thailand, dinner at side walk cafe, then stopped at fruit stand.
Here's 200 baht 5 bucks of fruit, grown here. Thai bananas, papaya, mango, passion fruit and avocado. Rambutan and oranges thrown in as a bonus.
Only 3 days supply.
Sunday tomorrow will be a century ride to Phala beach in Rayong province. Stay tuned! It just gets better...
January 19, 2024
It looks like I'll be joining groups here 4 or more times a week. Thursday was an off day giving me time to stock up on groceries at the Farang market and Thai markets. Farang is Thai for anyone not Thai but primarily Western foreigners. At the Farang market I can get items like bread, yogurt, oatmeal, etc. Like in the States, prices are fixed. All produce and fruit I buy at Thai markets where prices are always negotiable. To negotiate prices, a thorough knowledge of the Thai language is required otherwise you get the Farang price. A few snappy phrases in Thai and your price will drop in half.
You need no car here, a bicycle is all that's needed. I strap on an empty back pack and fill it up before returning to home base. I have never seen any cyclist drive a car to a group ride starting point.
The interval training at the lake side cycling track is a regular Friday 60 km group ride. This group maintains a 32 kph pace on the flats, 26 kph on the climbs and 36-40 kph on the 5 km home stretch. The only goal I have here is to break 30 kph at the crest of the hill and to pull over 40 kph on the final stretch. No one who has invested thousands of dollars in a carbon bicycle wants a guy on a hand built bamboo bike to drop them. They will stay on my wheel no matter how much it hurts. I've noticed this same phenomenon on our 18.5 mph drop rides. It's always best to leave the ego at home.
We had a long coffee break at a lake side cafe and then the usual rush back to town at 40 kph, a slight decline helps here. Each rider splits off where convenient and I'm back at the apartment at 10 am.
The next ride I will join is a metric century to Pala beach in Rayong province on Sunday. A Thai lady will join the group to photograph along the way. Should be hilarious!
Below are photos of the resort where I stay and Thai markets just up the street.
Later,
1) Endless salt water pool
2) Reverse osmosis machine for drinking water
3) Gym
4) Fruit stand with local tropical fruit
5) Fresh local vegetables at market
6) Mobile street food vendor
January 17, 2024
Perfect condition today for the club ride to Bang Saray beach with two flying Dutchmen and two Brits. Hold on there are photos this time. We started out from town later than normal, 6:15 am and picked up the flying Dutchmen brothers en route. These guys like to ride fast and then take long breaks. Nothing is the same as we in Sussex are used to. There is no paceline. You think leading groups in Sussex is like herding cats. Here it's like herding cats on methamphetamines. I'm sure it gets worse in the bigger groups. There may be cyclists from a dozen countries each with their own peculiar cycling culture. Fortunately, this ride was labled as a scenic ride with photo ops.
Sorry but I couldn't stop to photograph the ten foot cobra crossing the road. I will say that it was nice to see motorists stop to allow the snake a safe crossing. Buddhists are like that. It may be dear departed uncle Somchai in his reincarnation. He did have that habit after all.
Bang Saray on Wednesdays is always rather empty I am told. It's a beach popular with Thais and gets busy on weekends and holidays.
Let's describe the ride. We had one slow rider who is just rejoining the club after some medical problems. So for the first half we moved rather slowly for his benefit. We took our first break at the jungle bar and enjoyed some fresh cappuccino. Our slower rider decided he had enough and we parted ways. Here the pace picked up to their normal speed. I am now going metric. When in Rome...BTW the whole world is Rome but with one barbaric outlier. Their normal speed for the rest of the ride was around 30 kph, not real fast but there are a lot of hills in this region and some of the roads in Bang Saray are quite busy.
We stopped one more time for some photo ops at the beach. This was a social ride for the most part and also an opportunity to check out the area for future rides; good restaurants, good roads, clean, it all checked out well.
Ahh, the race back to the starting point, these guys can't help it. There's got to be some competition. Once we reached the principal highway, it was a straight 20k shot back to Jomtien beach. The road is smooth and flat with plenty of shoulder, a rare condition here. These guys aren't the fastest in this area. There are more competitive groups of former Euro team cyclists. Hah, not ready for that! But we pushed the needle to 40 kph most of the way passing many motorized vehicles, the three wheeled trikes, tuktuks, can be quite slow.
The ride total was 75 kilometers. Average 23 kph
Best sprint on the flat 47 kph
It always seems easier here, must be the spicy food.
Bamboo bike at the jungle bar
The last three survivors on the ride
Beach scenes at tropical Bang Saray
January 15, 2024
And they said it couldn't be done
My first week in Thailand is behind me and the jetlag has completely subsided. I'm no longer dizzy and disoriented. For a few days I couldn't know for sure if my experience was real or something from a dream.
As for cycling, during that first week I cycled 125 miles, 3 group rides and some solo rides around town. I will be shifting to the metric system soon. To those unfamiliar with it, 25 miles equals 40 kilometers, mental math it from there.
I'm using my flatlander groupset here, so perfect for Sussex county roads. It's a 1 x 11 SRAM Apex. The crankset is a Shimano GRX with a 50 tooth chainring. The cluster has 11-28 teeth. My ride this Tuesday morning was with a small subset of cyclists who love climbing. It's a very small subset, only two showed up. The other cyclists I've met think we're mad to ride on Pratamnak hill, a promontory that separates Pattaya from Jomtien, but it's perfect for training. There is nothing that will get the cyclist to the next level like hill climbs. Embrace it and flat land riding will seem like child's play.
As all of you know, I encounter a lot of skepticism because of my DIY approach, a hand made bamboo bike, a 1 x 11 groupset... it'll never work. I don't blame the skeptics, they've been convinced by the bicycle industry with million dollar advertising campaigns to think a certain way. Like a bumblebee that's not supposed to fly, just do it. The belief here was that I would not be able to pull these hills with such a small gear range. The gradient is quite steep, perhaps 15 degrees or more and they climb this hill five times. Each time the hill is attacked from a different direction using a different path. The Dutchmen and biggest skeptic broke his shifter on the first hill and had to wait out the ride. The bamboo had no problem although I had to get out of the saddle on the steepest sections. It was only the British climber and I for the rest of the ride, grinding up and flying down, twisting into hairpin turns, dodging wandering dogs and rough potholed roads again and again. Honestly, a larger gear range would be helpful here but we finished the ride side by side and I made a few more believers. Yes, it works! These were the toughest hill climbs this part of Thailand has to offer. The other hills will be a breeze.
Tomorrow is Wednesday and we take a longer ride to Bang Saray beach. I promise to get some photos. It should be quite beautiful.
It's not a dream,
January 14, 2024
Sunday morning at 6 am the Dutchmen meet on a street corner, head out of town and collect Dutchmen on the way. We were heading to the adjoining province of Rayong. A coffee shop there called Phufa Coffee attracts cyclists from all over. They have plenty of bike racks and terrific cappuccinos.
This was a long ride for one morning with some serious climbing. The scenery was quite spectacular. We passed through rubber plantations, mango orchards and cassava fields while climbing to the coffee shop perched on the side of a mountain. Their entire business seems to rely on cyclists stopping for a coffee break. Indeed, there were many cyclists sweating profusely as they reached the top of the hill. Most so out of breath that they couldn't talk for a minute or so.
From there it's mostly downhill back to town. I had already consumed all my water so a second stop was needed. Another coffee shop but this one by the lake, Sien View Cafe on Silver lake. This one is also favored by cyclists and I got to field questions about the bamboo bike. A crowd of cyclists collected around the bike out of curiosity. This happens nearly every time I stop somewhere. The Euro bikes, the Chinese bikes, the Japanese bikes get no notice at all but the one American bike catches their eye every time.
Back to town and the pace picks up to 20-22 mph on the open flats, 18 mph through the towns. We're passing vehicles of all sorts. This is crazy but one has to keep up. I don't know where we're going. The bamboo bike handles the rough roads smoothly. My main concern is the carbon front fork and the wheels. The tires bottom out on the rims too many times despite 100 psi.
Finally we reach town and have breakfast. 110 baht for coffee, two eggs, toast, jam, butter, two strips of bacon, salad, orange juice, grilled potatoes and water. That's less than 3 dollars. I bought two pairs of socks and a swim suit yesterday for 145 baht, $4.50. This would have cost me more than 50 dollars at Tangier outlet.
We did over 50 miles, 85 kilometers to be precise and got back before noon. Done for the day.
I'm looking forward to hill climbs with the climbing group. I'm afraid my 50 tooth chain ring with a 11-28 cluster will not get me to the top of Pratamnak hill. It can be steep. They do this on Tuesday. If I am wise, I'll try the climb solo Monday morning. Why didn't I bring the 11-42 cluster? Will I have to walk up? What a grind that will be.
Later, Mike
January 12, 2024
This is what it's like, a very typical ride although this is not the best route. There are many much more scenic; lakes, mountains, temples, wildlife sanctuaries, jungles, etc. Notice the green cycling lanes.
Click here for YouTube Video
January 11, 2024
It's 30 minutes before my 6 am Friday ride. I've been awake since 2 am. The rule of thumb regarding jetlag is to allow one day of recovery for every hour of time displacement. I've got a week to go before synching totally.
Apologies to my friends, all good cyclists, who are somewhat adverse to servicing their bicycles. Let us say that you will have a greater level of confidence on a bike if you know how to fix it in any situation. I used the water bottle bike stand as an example. It works, it got the job done, it saved me time and money. I will stop here as it is time to meet the group. It is totally dark at 6:00 am.
Back from the ride at 10 am. There were only 2 other riders. The core of Jomtien cycling club and their fastest riders. They were waiting for me at a nearby 7-11. These guys would have no trouble on our 18.5 drop rides. They like fast and are undaunted by the terrible roads, street dogs, and busy market areas. Mabprachan lake is about 10 miles outside of town. It's a steady climb all the way. To avoid busy roads, we wend and wind our way through markets, pass temples, enter dog infested alleys and hopefully exit unscathed. It's all quite exhilarating and a bit scary especially in darkness. The workout begins at the lake. By this time, the sun has risen and the heat is on. There's always a foggy mist hanging over the lake which quickly burns off. Surrounding the lake is a 10 kilometer bike track, cyclists only and no crazy dog walkers with pepper spray. Thai people don't walk dogs. I love that. Once on the bike track, we can open up the pipes. There are hills, even here. On the flats they maintain 18-20 mph. Climbing the hills, they try to maintain speed while increasing the wattage. It may slow down to 16 mph but they push it all the way to the top. This is the real workout and these guys love their hills. Last year they dropped me every time. This year with the bamboo bike, it's a different story. They may kick me out of the club and I'll have to ride with Euro maniacs if I drop them on the hills.
We finished the last 5 kilometer stretch at 22 mph. It's a gradual upgrade most of the way and maintaining this speed provides the best interval of the entire ride. This is where the sweat begins to pour. It's over 90 degrees by this time. Luckily, we're in the cold season. It will get worse as April is the start of the hot season.
Well, they don't do beer as far as I know. We stopped at a coffee shop at the lake, met some friends and rehydrated before heading back to town. I'm sorry I have no photos. It is quite beautiful especially the country side and the jungles. We passed through a jungle on the Wednesday ride cheered on by scores of monkeys. This sure ain't Kansas, Dorothy.
We did 40 miles today which is average. By the time we reached town, we were dripping with sweat. A good ride for sure. Next ride is Sunday for the long but most scenic ride into the mountains. Hopefully we will have a larger group.
To return to a topic I initiated, servicing the bike. On my return to Sussex county, I would gladly give tips on zen and the art of bicycle maintenance. Apologies to Robert Persig. I do hope you've read his book. I've invited several club members to drop by my shop. Tom Sheehan and Steve Smith are the only two members who have dared enter the only bamboo frame building facility on the Eastern shore. In fact Tom has done some work for me and the bike I'm riding now has parts machined by Tom. In the process of building Tom's bamboo bike last year, he was with it all the way. So now, he can service his own bikes. You should never miss a ride because you have to take your bike to the shop unless you prefer throwing away your money. There's a work shop available and I charge nothing. Full stop. That's my apology.
The water bottle bike stand. Tie your front wheel to a vertical surface. I used the kitchen table and two short bungee cords. Lift the rear of the bike onto your water bottle by placing it under the bottom bracket. What else is it for? Now you can adjust your gears as the rear wheel can freely spin. As for adjusting the gears, that too is easy. Until I get back, just YouTube it. There must be a hundred videos on the topic.
Time to work on my tan.
Later, Mike in Thailand
January 10, 2024 - Zen and the art of bicycle maintenance
Wednesday morning I joined a small group of six for a slow ride to Silver lake. The bicycle was totally untested and as always many adjustments would be needed. Keep in mind that in order pack the bike compactly I had to completely disassemble it; pedals, crankset, derailleur, chain, cluster, handlebar, seat, seat post. All these were packed and wrapped with the frame in a suitcase size box. I also packed a small tool set; Allen keys, chain pliers, long nose pliers, screwdriver.
We started before dawn and were at the lake at sunrise. It was a motley group of Brits and one Thai lady, our photographer, a good group in this case since I mainly wanted to road test the bike. All went well. A few minor adjustments to the brakes and gears would be needed but that was expected.
Here's where the zen comes in aka Yankee ingenuity. Of course I didn't bring a bike stand which is needed to adjust gears. In the photos is the tool kit and the water bottle bike stand. Everything is adjusted perfectly now and I'm ready for the next ride. A good cyclist should be able to work on their own bike. It's a dang bicycle not the space shuttle.
Next ride is Friday with a faster group. We will be riding to lake Mabprachan which has a 10 kilometer bike track encircling it.
Stay warm, Mike
Dawn at Silver lake
Tools
Bike stand
January 8, 2024 - Thai arrival
I just arrived in Thailand yesterday morning at 1am. Bike arrived as well but it was an anxious thirty minutes waiting for it at baggage claim, worn but not broken. Waited several hours at Suvarnabhumi airport for first bus to Jomtien beach. Two hours to Jomtien and my cycling buddy was waiting for me in the bus station at 9:30. No car! He has a small motorbike. I had to ride on the pillion with a bicycle on my lap, a backpack and a duffle bag between my legs. Typical Thailand behavior. Glad I didn't bring the grand kids.
My cycling buddy, Rinus, showed me to my new quarters on the 8th floor of the Park Lane Jomtien Resort. The apartment has all amenities, 250 USD a month. He then took me around the resort, gym, and pool. Outside within 200 meters, are restaurants, laundry, bakery, convenience stores, fruit stands, all very convenient. It should be three months of easy living.
I assembled the bike this morning at 2am. Jet lag is not too bad this trip but several days are needed to synch sleep pattern, 12 hour time difference.
This first full day is mainly for food shopping and getting the bike finished. I still need wheels because I decided that packing wheels would be too bulky. I hope to be rolling this week.
Weather is hot and dry. It is now 30 degrees Celsius about 90 Fahrenheit. December through March is the cold season with very little rain.
Tomorrow the Jomtien cycling club meets at 6am for a short ride to Silver lake. I expect about 6-8 riders and a moderate pace similar to the Dewey beer Monday ride, a good break in and road test for the bike and me. Bill, feel free to post this email to the club if you like.
Park Lane Jomtien Resort
Road to Silver lake taken last year
