Ready to Roll!
We're off!!! Finally!!! Only to stop at the local 7-11 for coffee and muffins!
We finally find our way out of Pitsanuloek on highway 12 and are on our way!! Bike feels good in my hands. I end up with 6 lbs on each pannier up front and 16 lbs on each pannier in rear...plus front handle bar bag at around 5 lbs. The front will lighten as I go as almost all the weight are kid's t'shirts I'd bought from Boulder kid's triathlon to pass out along the way. Hell, I gave out 6 jut on the train trip!!! But the bike feels really squirrely when I try to get out of the saddle but you get used to it. We rode about 14 mph average to Sukothai, about 90K ride. Pretty much flat, slight grade. The road is great...good blacktop, 4 lane divided highway and a huge lane just for bikes, scooters and farm implements. People honked at us along the way and smiled (Thai are notorious for smiling...which is why I love this country so much!). We stopped 23 mile into the ride, loaded up on coffee and refueled and off we went. I love riding this bike...feels like a Cadillac! It takes the bumps and cracks in the road with great ease and no feel of the road. The load doesn't feel all that bad, but we'll see once we get into the mountains next week. We arrived in Sukothai before noon and were able to find this great guesthouse for 600 baht ($20) a night that had hot water, ac and are little bunglaows...great place to stay. And cold beer! So we've been cruising the day. Tomorrow morning we'll leave early to ride into Old Sukothai, about 15K, which is a World Heritage site that dates to the 11th century...very old religious wats and temples. I've been wanting to see this area for a long time. The best way to see it is on bikes, so we'll be in great shape. We plan to ride around the area all morning, then around 1 or 2 we'll leave, start heading north toward Uttaridit for several hours and then get a guest house. Food and places to stay are easy!!
No comments:
Post a Comment