SE Asia bike ride – Phu Phong to Pleiku

This promised to be the toughest day of the tour and t didn’t disappoint!  With 77 miles and 6609 feet of elevation gain but only 1400 feet of descent it was hard work, especially with dodgy pedals & seemingly no shops that sell quality ones.

The traffic was particularly horrendous with huge overloaded trucks squealing down the hills carrying sugar cane & cassava (I think) added to them the endless buses screaming past and overtaking the trucks and I’m amazed that there aren’t a LOT more accidents. As it was a lorry had overturned and if the driver survived it would have been a miracle.

I also kept thinking how in the hell did PeteL drag big guns up & down this road in the war, especially in the monsoon…

I eventually resorted to plugging in the headphones and listened to Matt Darey thus blocking out the racket 🙂 whilst grinding my way up the hills. The left pedal sounds as it it has lost a bearing and makes  a clicking noise, the new right pedal has all but seized up. Otherwise the bike & gears performed well with the endless changes from the lowest gear and straight into the highest gear on the descents.

I eventually sailed down into Pleiku and saw the huge Hoang Anh Gialal Hotel where I managed to get a room on the 9th floor overlooking the town for $50. A bit of luxury 🙂

Here is the never to be beaten Strava:

and a few pictures here.