Matthew Wegner

Today’s riding was utterly fantastic. Saddle soreness wasn’t much of a problem, the weather was fine (if a little hot), and the scenery was absolutely gorgeous. One stretch of the trip in particular was amazing. I took video for parts of it, which should convey the immersion a little more clearly, but I’ve also uploaded a new batch of photos to the Flickr set.

Stronger, Faster

The pace today was definitely faster. I’m also adapting to the riding–it seems like my body is used to the notion of a stressful workout for several hours in a row. It’s a great feeling to zoom through an off-road section, pedaling quickly and dodging potholes and rough terrain. I did a have a bit of a crash myself, though, although it wasn’t much. I ended up going over a drop on a downhill section with my brake engaged. I didn’t notice it until I was too close to disengage the brake, so my only hope was to hold it perfectly steady on landing to avoid being thrown. No luck!

Nich’s Crash

The youngest rider on the tour, Nich (13), had a pretty wicked crash today. It was on a downhill section and he rides without a brake. I wasn’t near enough to see him fall, but I was the second person to quickly come across him. He was in a lot of pain and didn’t have t move his arm–at first the group was worried it may have been a broken collarbone, but the final diagnosis was a nasty cash a road rash and a possible sprain. The tour organizer, Ken, is actually a practicing doctor and was there on the scene within a few minutes. Tomorrow is a rest day, so hopefully he’ll be back riding after that!

Rest Time!

We’re here for another day–the beach is right across the street–so it’ll be nice to hang out and go for a swim. There are only two riding days left in the tour. I feel great and am looking forward to tackling them head on!

We were on the road again today after spending an entire day lounging around Hoi An. The day began with a 45-minute boat ride down the river, to a back road that went along the coast.

Music and Dirt

I really enjoyed today’s riding, for two reasons: Most of the trail was unsurfaced off-road, which requires more engagement, and today was the first day I broke out the iPod. The roads were quieter, but I’m also much more used to traffic, so it didn’t seem at all dangerous. The music helped a lot. It’s surprising how far you can go in under an album’s length of tunes. I found myself going much faster in parts, too, as I would accelerate to match the rhythm of a song.

Videos

I took a bunch of videos today. I wanted to capture random parts of riding on the trip, so everyone can get an idea of what it’s actually like for the 90% of the time when we’re actually riding.  I likely won’t be able to upload them once I’m back in the states, so look for those in a bit!

I did take some photos, though, which should be in the Flickr stream by the time you read this.  We’re staying in an absolute dump of a “4-star” hotel.  Cold shower with no curtain, stains on the carpet, electrical wires stapled to the walls to run up to the ceiling lights.  We ate here, too; I haven’t had any digestion problems on the trip, but if I’m going to it’ll definitely be this place.

The ride tomorrow is a little longer, and then we have another rest day.  The last two days of the tour are the big ones:  100 km and 90 km days.  Should be fun, if a little brutal in terms of saddle soreness.

Today started with a 10 km (6.2 mile) climb.  It was fairly shallow, at least as far as mountain passes go.  I rode the whole thing in one slow, methodical go, without any dismounts.

All told today was around 65 or 70 km.  I forgot to fully charge my GPS, though, so it died shortly after the hill.  You can see the stats for today here, and yesterday’s full route here.  The heart rate data is false–I wasn’t wearing it, but it got so humid it started sending a signal anyway.

I only took a few photos today.  Mostly it was because the riding was a little harder–not physically, it’s the saddle soreness that kills everyone–and the sights were pretty much the same as from before.

Tomorrow is a free day in Hoi An, so I’ll do a longer update after that (I’m posting these from a tiny laptop on free wireless, by the way).

Today was the first real riding day. Yesterday our path took us around the city, but we ended up at the same hotel we started at. Today we did some serious mileage: 50 miles, with two big climbs through passes.

Now I’m sitting at our accommodation for the night, a swanky beach resort. After we got back I went and played in the ocean before getting a 4-hands massage on the beach (at the ripoff price of $5, but I was too lazy to bargain).

Random Bits

My brain is reasonably fried, so no long-winded rants from me, but have some juicy tidbits of info instead. In no particular order:

• Number of children I’ve said “hello!” to: 50+
• Number of high fives to kids: 10, unless you count the trains of 10 screaming children all lined up
• (Sometimes they hold on, which is kind of scary)
• Honks I’ve heard: 300+?
• (People here honk to communicate presence, as traffic rules are very loose)
• Rest stops today: 3 (four segments of 20km)
• Times I wondered why the hell I was doing this: 4
• Times I thought it was the best decision ever: 20+
• Different types of food I’ve eaten: 20+?
• (Their food is very, very good)

Dinner Time

I’m off for dinner! Tomorrow we start off with a 10km climb, which I’m a little worried about. My lack of hill training is painfully apparent compared to some of the other riders. Must find longer cranks before tomorrow! I also have some GPS data t upload later. The Flickr set has new pics now, as usual.