Epic Day

From Dak Pek to Thanh My, Vietnam; 74 miles
Conditions: from 55 F at 7:00 am to 70 F at 4:30 pm; strong headwind, sunny in the morning, cloudy in the afternoon

The Tour de France always has its “penultimate stage,” the one that is at the same time most difficult but most glorious.  That describes our day today.  This is not a race, but it is a tour.  Today was not a stage, but the 10th day of our tour.  It was the most painful and it was the most beautiful.  It was the most difficult and it was the most rewarding.  All of us are very weary from the ride.  But all of us agree that this was the best day of all...so far.

We started riding before 7 am and within a few miles we were climbing and climbing and climbing.  This was “granny gear” day for those of us who had the third small crank on the front cluster.  Up and up we went.  2500 feet.  3000 feet.  3100 feet.  How much higher would we go?  Before 8 am we were at 3300 feet and by 9 am we had crested the highest pass at 3565 feet above sea level. Not Rocky Mountain high, Vietnam highlands high.

And what we saw as we climbed were the best vistas of the entire journey.  We were literally in and above the clouds.  Lots of “oo’s” and “ahh’s” as we climbed.  The realization that we were climbing into glory made the pain almost bearable.

One reward for our toil up the mountain?  Flying down.  No roller coaster ride can compare to the thrill of sailing down a mountain road at somewhere over 30 mph.  We would fly down until the road turned upward for the next climb and then grind way until we crest the next hill and then fly down again.

After about four hours, we had climbed as high as would go and the general descent began.  For all the climbing of the morning, most of the afternoon was downhill along the Ho Chi Minh Trail as it follows this mountain river toward Da Nang.  We descended from over 3500 feet to just over 150 feet above sea level by day’s end.  That’s a lot of fast, breath-taking riding.

So, 74 miles later we rest, satisfied that what has just occurred will live with us the rest of our lives, something we’ll be telling our children and grandchildren about.  It was an epic day.

What we may NOT be telling anyone much about is the huge amount of salts and sugars we have taken in during our breaks in riding during the day.  Well, here's some of the evidence.  Crackers, cookies, dried fruit, and chips along with bananas, oranges and whatever native Vietnamese fruit our friends can find--these have sustained us with some quick energy as we ride.