Day 5 (Krabi - Phang Nga Bay)

Distance : 100km

Terrain : Hills, big and small, all the way.

The ride started off well. We had views of limestone cliffs all the way while riding out of Krabi. Particularly nice to ride when the morning sun was not that hot and great for taking photos. Really felt motivated and the hills didn't matter.



Slowly, the limestone cliffs and hills disappeared behind us but the hills didn't stop. In fact, it was entirely hilly! It wasn't that bad at first cos' I could go really fast on the downslopes to give me the momentum to rush up the upslopes. I was doing that for as long as I could remember when suddenly, I felt a sharp pain on my left knee when I hit 55km. Then it began to hurt badly. When I exerted strength using my left knee, the pain would jolt through my knee and it will go numb for a while.



I had to use the lowest gears possible to go up the slopes and then let the bike roll down the downslopes. I was going between 10-15km/h. It was really miserable cos' I still had some 40km to go, and the sun was unbearably hot. The uncles in the support vehicle kept asking me if I wanted to load up. It was tempting but I managed to push on anyway.

Wanted to dump the bike and cry at some points, as the pain was somewhat unbearable. Started thinking about training back in PSTS then...the never-ending runs that Staff Mike (now he's a chief) made us do. I imagined that when I was this tired in PSTS and still had to do push-ups and sit-ups when people fell behind. That took my mind off the pain and somehow I managed to reach the hotel.