coldfusionPaul

never new there was such a thing ;-)

thanks.

i had to ride through 2-3km of tarred road (on my way to khao yai along route 3222 ban na to kaeng khoi, well past the point of no return) & accumulated quite a bit of tar & some debris on my tires. i scraped off much of it but unfortunately i dumped my bike on the bridge over mittraphap road & cracked a few ribs (and a big big thanks to the highway dept for that lovely road surface on the bridge) . so i've only gotten around to cleaning things now.

managed to clean up the frame, etc. pretty well but the tires are another story. thin crust of tar & debris won't come off no matter what i tried (gas, fab, etc.). pretty sure i'll have to toss the tires but before i do i thought i 'd ask here.

btw there's a lot of road construction on route 3222 starting 10km from kaeng khoi. and no alternative routes (that i can see yet).

yup those are the guys.

here's a snapshot of contador whacking that idiot in the face: http://twitpic.com/5u4j3s

levi leipheimer posted an image that explains somewhat: http://instagr.am/p/ITKGh/

here's a trailer for a RAAM documentary, "bicycle dreams":

there should be jail time for the motorcycle/car drivers.it's a tough enough race without having to worry about some retard running you over.

well some RAAM racers are local "champs". for instance 5 time winner jure robič was on the slovenian (slovak??) national team & won a bunch of races. but i think it's a different type of riding than most stage races, they average *only* 22-23km/hr, no sprint finishes, not much in the way of support, etc. which maybe requires a different kind of athlete.

it gets no real media coverage in the US which is really too bad--though i have no idea how they would cover it, US media can barely cover the TdF.

ps: jure robič was killed last year in an accident, hit by a car while out riding. there have been 2 fatalities during the RAAM, all by cars.

the race across america (RAAM) is tougher: http://bit.ly/olGvn0 that's 3000 *miles* done in one shot (8 days or so straight thru, no rest days, little or no support). it never gets much coverage.

true channel 102 every night at 8:30pm has the previous day's highlights. it's the same summary that velonews used to offer on their web site in previous tours (but don't seem to do so this year).

baking soda & hot water will clean up water bottles, etc.

let me repeat my warning about using "additives" to wash fancy pants cycling jerseys. you will destroy the chemical treatment that makes them "fancy pants". i know :-(

you might want to give google's fusion tables a look: http://bit.ly/mSCDbt as a way to store your routes & their attributes.

the longer your jerseys are "wet", the more chance they have of growing bacteria or molds. my fancy pants dri-fit, etc jerseys wick the sweat away & seem to dry quicker while riding. the plain polyester ones breathe less so they stay wet longer.

you can get rid of the stink by using some baking soda to soak the jerseys in, then wash them normally. if that still doesn't do the trick repeat but follow up with diluted vinegar rinse.

but i wouldn't do this to the specially treated jerseys, even fabric softening ruins the chemical coating on them.

i've ridden up khao ito a couple of times on my roadbike, its a real gut buster from bangkok (even taking a train to prachinburi & riding from there it was still a gut buster). the road conditions in the area & up the mountain were pretty good. never heard any serious complaints from my MTB friends about the trails & from what little i've seen from the road these are well marked w/some safety features. there are no shops on the mountain itself but plenty around the base.

there's a fairly well-stocked bike shop on the way out of prachinburi to khao ito (sorry can't find their business card for contact details) that probably know quite a bit about it.

if these are put up on something like panoramio they ought to show up in google earth/maps:

rit's shop

Rit Bike

87/4 Moo 4

Ban Na, Nakhon Nayok 26110

081-668-6660

[email protected]

14° 15' 36.28" N 101° 4' 22.46" E

well stocked shop for road & MTB consumables. mainly deals in folding & 2nd hand japanese bikes but also deals fixies, road & MTB. nice, honest guy.

PKBicycle

Soi 74, Ram Indra Road

081-829-8871

13° 48' 42.19" N 100° 41' 39.52" E

well-stocked for road & MTB consumables. also deals in vintage bikes/parts. nice, honest guy.

if i can make a suggestion or two, a link to a map of all the shops would be nice. also the info links on the maps are devoid of any information, the name of the bike shop, etc. would be nice.

final bit of stats: i got a bit more than 1k more on the front tire (rotated from the rear at 2500km), so lets call that 3500km. unfortunately i only got that much on the new continental GP4000 i put on the rear. my conclusion is that these continentals are a bad value for where i ride (though might be a bit a of a fluke considering we didn't have a very dry, dry season this year). oh well.

i can report that the route is more or less the same.

• #304 outbound is still a big mess from seemingly endless construction.
• #3138 is still cobblestone like (shook the blood out of my arms & popped the caps on the end of my handlebars clean off). shame really, nice riding terrain.
• #3240 from khao mai kaew into pong is vastly improved. used to be kind of a narrow, 2 lane road. it's still 2 lane but the road shoulders have been massively widened (about the width of a regular traffic lane). road shoulder surface is smooth so you can really come screaming down out of the hills ;-)
• pattaya itself is still the suck

it looks like i'll be doing that route sunday. i'll report back if there any major changes.

it's too big for a road bike, doesn't matter what i think too big is. most cycling GPS are 3-4" tops not 7". geez.

this route was about 175km. how long that will take you depends on you & the wind. took me about 7 hours against the wind, stopping along the way for coffee, water, etc. the wind (if from the S) can be brutal south of nong chak. despite any complaints you might near from me, i still do this ride ;-)

basically it's:

bangkok-->chachoengsao-->phanat nikom-->nong chak-->route 3138 (parts are like cobblestones ;-) -->route 331-->khao mai kaeo-->route 3240-->pong-->pattaya (don't know what you call the area but you come out along the railroad tracks) .

a kml file (google earth) for this route is here: (oops garmin site wasn't cooperating) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/130830/activity_8538323.kml

besides riding the last bit in pattaya, bangkok-chachoengsao along route 304 isn't the most pleasant--lots of debris, kind of steep, not well maintained (bare rebar poking thru) bridges & a bit of traffic but that's only about 50km of which maybe 20-25km are "bad".

an older forerunner 201 can be had for $100US or so. excellent training/tracking functions but no map except a crappy stick figure one but as i said above, works well enough to get you where you're going & back.

i've mounted a couple of "regular" garmin GPS (GPSmap 60 & eTrex) on bikes & both of them eventually ended up w/problems (most often the on/off switch, began turning themselves on & off on teh bike or in my desk drawer). i was told because the of constant vibrations.

i don't think you can really compare an edge w/out maps to the 60C w/maps, if that's what you meant. by the same token the 60C sucks at training. besides the 60C is like 6"-7" long, seemed kind of big to slap on a bike.

i'd still recommend a GPS designed for cycling over one that's not, though i'd rather have maps than not (waiting for the 805 to come out, at worst 705 price might drop).

the Garmin 60CSx isn't really a cycling GPS & seems kind of expensive to be used as one. how did you mount it on your bike?

i ride bangkok-to-pattaya 3-4 times a year. it's pleasant enough except when i get into pattaya ;-)

if you're riding *out* of pattaya i'd say a road bike will do well enough. lots of decent routes once you're out of the city. nice rolling terrain to the north & east.

if you're going to ride *in* pattaya, i'd just get the cheapest POS MTB i could find.

and pick up a good, insulated water bottle or two from back home. really worth it.

i believe it's MTB code for "my bike is ugly" ;-)

sorry to hear about that. please accept my condolences.