Sometimes you feel it, and sometimes, no matter what you try to tell yourself, you just don’t. We’ve had a bit of both over the last couple of days. Looking back at the trip log I’ve been keeping, I suppose I can see why. Our last (and only) rest day was on March 16th, and although we were off the bikes, we were still up at first light to bargain with tuk tuk drivers in Bangkok for transportation for us and our bikes across town, then on a bus to Hua Hin, and up late exploring the night market. No cycling, but not too much R&R either. So 1100 km, two countries and two seas later brings us here, to a nice little guesthouse in Khuraburi, ready to sleep around the clock after just having eaten all the food and treats we could carry home from the market and the 7 Eleven.

We’ve ridden three new segments since my last post – Kraburi to Ranong (69 km), Ranong to Bang Ben Beach (60 km) and Bang Ben to Khuraburi (80 km). We had a blissful ride from Kraburi to Ranong, did a quick visa renewal in Ranong, and then another short exhilarating blast over to Bang Ben Beach that marked our arrival at the Andaman sea. Our bodies have been fading for a couple of days now, but two short days back to back and a change in landscape kept spirits high and kept us hungry for the ride. The 129 km of inland riding in between Kraburi and Bang Ben Beach were incredible. Flat roads up until this point have been great for covering distance and were instrumental in allowing our bodies to acclimatize to the heat, but after 800 km, it started to get a bit old. Enter 129 km of rolling, twisty, perfectly smooth pavement lined with jungle on all sides and punctuated with a steep 170 m climb at the end of day one. If that doesn’t get your libido primed, I’m not sure that anything would 😉 the ride was killer. We were, and still are, waiting for a good stiff tailwind, but during the last couple of days it didn’t matter. The smooth, undulating, curvy strip of asphalt we were on was pristine. When the route is this sweet, nothing else matters.

We had a Western style toast, juice, jam, eggs and coffee breakfast at the guesthouse in Kraburi, said goodbye to our very friendly hostess and were on the road by 8. We tore through the majority of the distance, pulling energy from the rolling hills and corners bordered by dense jungle. In the early morning, roadside vegetation sheltered us from the low angle sunlight, but as the ride progressed, we slowly became more and more exposed. There wasn’t much breeze and the heat became intense. We arrived at the north end of Ranong and at the base of an unexpected, steep 170 m climb just as the sun was reaching it’s apex above us. All shadows had vanished, the Tropical sun was had reached maximum strength, and as the grade of the climb rapidly increased, my speed dropped and the little breeze I was generating vanished. I rapidly shifted down and began the slow grind of climbing on a loaded bike. Legs burned, lungs gasped, sweat poured. Grind, switchback, repeat. At the wrong time, a climb like this can de devastating, but if you hit it at the right moment, the grit you need to dig down to and put into summiting makes you feel invincible. This situation was the latter, I thrived on the challenge. Then I pulled around the last corner to the top and saw the best combination of road signs I have ever come across.

With the promise of a sweet descent, I grabbed a quick drink of water, stuffed my hat under the lid of a pannier, geared down and attacked the descent. I entered the first switchback, it was better than I ever would have thought. A super tight radius turn with a steep bank. I’ve only ever ridden a corner like this on dirt. Then another switchback. Amazing. Straight down the fall line and then into another. I’ve never leaned on a loaded bike like that before, but with enough English on it, it went. I railed two more switchbacks in quick succession before being tossed out onto a more gentle descent with mellow corners. I rode out the rest of the descent into the city in euphoria. MTO regulations on turn radius definitely ruin Ontario riding.

We arrived in Ranong on a high from an amazing ride. Officially, our objective is to seek out a Thai experience here, but a ride this great deserved a more familiar type of celebration. We pulled up to the best looking coffee bar in town for espresso and cookies, then treated ourselves to a much nicer than average guesthouse.

And to cap the experience off, Vanja found a good little fried chicken stand in the evening market.

We spent a couple of hours getting our Thai visas extended the following morning, had lunch at our fancy guesthouse bistro and finally got on the road by noonish when most turn in for a few hours to hide from the sun. The ride to Bang Ben beach was similarly energizing as the ride to Ranong, minus the climb. With a quick break for bananas mid ride, we pulled into the Wasana Guesthouse at 4. With that, we marked our arrival to the Andaman Sea and 1100 km on the odometer. Wasana is owned by a Dutch man and Thai woman, and in addition to having very nice clean bungalows, they served up mean dishes of chicken curry, fried noodles and cashew chicken. We enjoyed a large dinner, a sunset stroll on the beach, and then another dinner before passing out at 9 pm.

Then it all went to hell. Getting out of bed the next morning was a chore. Riding 10 pancake-flat kilometers from the beach to the highway was a chore, and riding the first 50 km of ever so slightly climbing pavement with intermittent headwinds was excruciating. My body had enough and wasn’t willing to yield anything else. To make matters worse, neither of us seemed to be able to get enough calories in our bodies. We were absolutely done. Then Vanja wrapped her chain around her crank arm more times than I imagined possible. Mercifully, the grade dropped off to a very gradual false-flat descent for the remaining 30 km to Khuraburi. We pulled into a coffee shop on the edge of town, and as if some greater power felt our pain, we were served the absolute best espresso we’ve had since leaving Dundas.

And this brings us back to our guesthouse in Khuraburi, after eating everything we could carry home from the market and 7 Eleven, exhausted and in dire need of some time off.

Khuraburi is a tiny little town without much in terms of a beach. Wanting to maximize beach time when not riding, we loaded our bikes onto the top of a taxi the next day and bump-bumped our way down the highway to the beautiful beaches of Khao Lak.

For the last two days, we’ve been recuperating in the sand and surf in Khao Lak. It’s much more touristy than anything we’ve experienced in Asia yet, but with high prices and a lot of fat, sunburnt white guys, come some nice luxuries too. Vanja turned 26 on Sunday and we celebrated with an amazing four course set menu that included spring rolls, seafood soup, curried chicken, rice, spicy vegetables and a fruit plate for dessert. We added a second ice cream sundae dessert for good measure.

There are certainly high times and low times on the bike when you spend this many days in a row in the saddle, but you know what, that’s completely alright. Hanging out in the sand on the Andaman coast is alright too.