An old injury has come back to near-cripple me, and a mystery something has given Tom a really bad case of a gassy, sore belly which is sapping his energy down into the red.
As he said, he knows it's bad when the old local lady on her 55 year old rust-bucket one-gear squeaky bicycle sails past him...
Plus we have had to contend with these debilitating physical conditions whilst riding into a constant howling headwind, which is no fun at all at the best of times.
Of course, before I get a dozen emails (mostly from fellow PCT-09-ers, all telling us to HTFU!) I should point out that both Tom and myself have certainly already each had a number of servings of huge man-sized, special limited edition, 32 flavor, secret spicy sauce cans of HARDEN UP! And that's why we are still rolling out the kilometers and gettin' it done...
But it hasn't been easy.
So since we had our roadside watermelon break, we have made it on another couple of hundred kilometers, and are now just over 100 from HCMC.
Once we get there, it's off to the clinic to get Tom tested and see what's draining him and making him feel lousy, (and then hopefully fix him up), and for me to get something to straighten up my back and stop the muscle spasms that are contorting my spine and making me stand lop-sided.
The funny thing is, once I'm in the saddle and pedaling, I'm not too bad... It's just getting on and off that's a problem. Oh, and standing, bending, putting on my socks and shoes, walking and sitting anywhere else..!
We just wish we could fix the damn headwind... With the nice graded hills and general terrain we've been riding along, we should be able to keep a nice steady 20-25 kph clip going... On the downhills, 25-30 kph.
However, it's a constant hard slog to maintain 10-15 kph on the flat, and often, as we crest a hill, the wind is stronger, and we have to push hard downhill to keep anything near 15-20... Pedaling hard DOWNHILL? Now that's just WRONG! Poor Tom, with his energy tank on 'E' has been finding it a real hard slog... The wind is a real slap in the face...
Anyway, although it might seem like it, I am not posting a whinging post... Merely reporting the facts as they are... It's all good...We are out on the road, the sun has been mild, the locals are still pretty good (except for the odd idiot, who knows enough English to yell "faster, faster" or "hurry up, hurry up!" as they whiz past us way too closely), and the abundance of food and water means we can still roll light, topping up as and when we stop for a break.
So for now, I'll leave y'all, and will hopefully be posting more happy news in the next few days from the busy bustling city that was once called Saigon.
Cheers!
RWK.
(flat) out!
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Location:1A,,Vietnam
