Tour de Thailand

What a ride! We have finally reached Phuket. Looking back, the ride wasn't so bad. In fact, it's not that tough. It would have been if I had cheong-ed the mountains and slopes together with the rest of the roadbikers. Yun (my sis) and I were the ones with mountain bikes, so we were a distance behind the rest. It doesn't really matter actually, juz that we reached the hotels later than the rest.

We spent 3 days riding, from Hatyai to this beach resort in the east coast of Thailand, then cut across a MOUNTAIN RANGE and hit Krabi. Rested 1 day in Krabi before going onto the road again. Trouble hit for me after we left Krabi. The terrain was really, I mean, REALLY hilly. I was cheonging all the way when suddenly I felt a very sharp pain in my left knee when I hit 60km.

It was quite bad. The pain was so bad that I felt like crying. At certain points, it hurt so bad that I wanted to buang the bike and walk. Since there was no shade to buang the bike, might as well juz continue cycling. Was going between 10-15km/h at that time cos' I couldn't stretch my left leg nor bend it, so I was depending on the down slopes to bring me away.

The pain and scorching sun reminded me of my training days. Images of marching up and down, left and right with helmet and shield and stuff all donned. UST made cycling seem like an easy feat. At least I'm seated. That was of coz' what I thought between the bouts of sharp pain in my knee. I also thought about Ah Bui and her deranged knee. It must have hurt so badly for her as well. Therefore, my lunar new year resolution is not to make fun of ah bui's deranged knee again. :D

So anyway, somehow, I made it to the hotel in Phang Nya, many hours after the rest arrived. The uncles kept asking me if I wanted to load up my bike. Nah... It was painful and agonising but if I don't endure, how to excel right? Yah...so anyway, images of the PTI training went through my head as well. I thought of the bloody runs, sprinting with 2 4kg medicine balls and the bloody long runs...that if I don't catch up with the guys and 2 pseudo-women (Chen and can't-remember-her-name (I think they are men trapped in women's bodies :P)), they had to keep doing calisthenics till I reach them. Ya...so cycling didn't seem that bad after all.

Had to go really slow today. Went at my own pace. Cannot cheong down slopes cos' the pain will come back. So metre by metre, I finally reached Phuket. KNS. And the first thing Eng Lock asked was "How's your knee? Go back Singapore buy a roadbike lah. December we cycle to Bangkok?" Ermmmmmmmmm..................... Maybe I drive the safety vehicle? keke...

Cycling in a group like that can be interesting. There are 8 of us in all. We have :
1 and 2 : Yun and myself
3 : Eng Lock - friendly uncle who works in the construction business. Seems like a typical nice dinosaur who blends in so well in a pub. And ya...he drinks A LOT.
4 : Ryan - friendly Mauritius guy who looks and behaves like a typical Singaporean. Nice chap. Very humble and easy-going. The kind of guy that you'd want to travel with.
5 : Bruce - aka Hao Lian. He's actually quite a nice guy. Initial HL-ness could be due to his American blood. Haha! He's quite good actually. Quite a good rider, and yah, he can belay lead and whatever stuff.
6 : Vincent - very quiet and shy guy. Poor thing that he had pretty bad backaches, and was told that he couldn't go fast. HUH?! If he didn't have the backache, he'd probably fly on his bike.
7 : Eddie - didn't quite like him at first but he's actually a nice guy if you strip off the sarcasm. He came over and gave me medication for my knee at night and told me to wrap with towel etc.
8 : Yong Siew - the 3rd lady in the group. Can't believe she's 50!! Really fit and tough lady! Very Singaporean and bargains like anything.

We also have the 2 uncles in the support vehicle. Really interesting group.

Anyway, this is not a good place to blog. Cos' I wouldn't know if any of them comes in and see what i type here. Haha! Afternoon after Thai massage. Not in the mood to blog. :P

Tomorrow I'll be transferring out of Phuket to Khao Lak. Taking a 2-day liveaboard diving trip to Similan Islands. Costs $400+++. TMD....really broke already.