Surprise!

[pagallim]

On Sundays, I do a fairly long, solo ride of about 100Km from south Phuket to the Phang Nga side of the Sarasin Bridge (where I take a 15/20 minute break) and back to my home in Chalong.

As a solo rider, in what is a fairly popular route for cyclists, I sometimes get attached to one or two other riders, and of course the empathy and stimulation of riding with others is always good.

Today, going through Thalang, I met a couple who by their equipment were quite serious (the lady was riding a Specialized S Works road bike). I didn't know that they were just starting their ride (I'd already done circa 25k) but they were strong fast riders. For a novice like me, it's great to have experienced riders to follow, and there's no doubt that riding in a group improves your stamina. What a pleasant couple these two were, and hopefully I will cross tracks with them again.

Lesson of today. It doesn't matter the bike that you ride, it's the rider on the machine, and maybe even more important, the smile that you have when you wake up in the morning.

[chiangmaiexpat]

It doesn't matter the bike that you ride, it's the rider on the machine...

Generally that is true of course, but there are reasons why people spend $$$ on bikes. For me it's mainly the confidence to know that the bike will perform just fine when I slam it into mud, rocks and roots. While robustness and handling are quite important for mountain biking, I am not yet quite sure why I should spend $4000 on a road bike instead of say $1000.

Cheers, CM-Expat

[bobfish]

It doesn't matter the bike that you ride, it's the rider on the machine...

Generally that is true of course, but there are reasons why people spend $$$ on bikes. For me it's mainly the confidence to know that the bike will perform just fine when I slam it into mud, rocks and roots. While robustness and handling are quite important for mountain biking, I am not yet quite sure why I should spend $4000 on a road bike instead of say $1000.

Cheers, CM-Expat

Road bikes follow the same purchase rule as MTB's:

Light, robust, cheap = Pick any two....

[ianf]

You know this highlights why cyclists, when seeing other fellow cyclists on the road, should always acknowledge the other rider. It amazes me how often you see cyclists around Chiang Mai who totally ignore you. A few years back, one guy (farang) came storming past me and totally ignored me. A bit further up the road he'd punctured. Waved me down and asked for help (ie a spare inner tube etc). I gave him a bit of a lecture, but I did help him. A few days later he popped a replacement inner tube back into the local coffee bar for me. Always acknowledge another rider.

[chiangmaiexpat]

You know this highlights why cyclists, when seeing other fellow cyclists on the road, should always acknowledge the other rider. It amazes me how often you see cyclists around Chiang Mai who totally ignore you.

Depends a bit on the situation. When in dense traffic I rather keep my eyes on the road and the UTMs (*) in front of me. But I always greet cyclists I meet on country roads and in the forest. Occasionally, you meet them later and start an interesting conversation.

(*) unpredictable Thai motorists

Cheers, CM-Expat

[pagallim]

Actually, since my original post, I've discovered a group (not really a club as such), who ride together regularly, and have a healthy mix of sport and social. Not without some irony, that the group that I found, was on Facebook (which I'm not partularly keen on and in fact had to join to get further information from them), but with my wife helping translate their posts, I've found some great people who love cycling, and through their own challenges and the use of Strava, have a really good spirit.

Three weeks into this group, and I've really come to appreciate their knowledge of good routes, and their sense of humour.

Two weeks ago, I did a ride of 172km, which I seriously didn't think that I'd manage, but being with a couple of other riders made it possible. I regularly do rides of 100+km around the Phuket area, always starting early (circa 0530) to get the k's in before the real heat, and it never stops surprising me the number of cyclists in groups or on their own that I see early in the morning. Great.