We were up early and away, stopped for breakfast further down the road. It was a 10km uphill climb and then drop back down to the coast, I was feeling a lot better finally and this was going to be the kill or cure ride, if I survived hopefully it would get rid of my cold. We all had BBQ pork with rice and I had a couple of yogurts as well, hopefully this would give me the energy for the climb.
We had ridden around the bay away from Danang so we had a fantastic view of the area as we started the climb, I could feel it was going to be slow going for me today, the legs did not feel that energetic at all. Zach shot off into the lead and would not be seen again till the top, Mike, Kat and I dropped into low gear and started the climb and Elise shot off with Zach. I stopped and did some photo’s and also some video for Mike and Kat of them ridding, the temperature was climbing and the cold was differently getting sweated out, in fact by the end of the climb my sweat was sweating. I had a constant drip off my arms all the way up.
I had to have a few stops on the way to catch my breath but I was feeling better the more I climbed, it was kinda weird really. The road finally looped away from the Danang bay and we came across these small coves many feet below us with golden sands, god I wished I could go for a swim, you know just a quick dip, bit of a splash around then back on the bike, but by now the water was a good couple of hundred meters below.
I slowly pulled away from Mike and Kat and ended up catching up to Elise(on single speed) on the way up, I could not even see Zach he must have hit warp speed. The road wound up into the hill and the top to my delight was not that far off, thank goodness for that is all I can say. I arrived at the top to find the usual drink and small trinket sells and got clapped over the line by Zach, Elise was only just behind me.
We had to wait a bit of time for Mike and Kat to arrive, Kat had an extra two bags on her bike and was giving Mike a tow, this was not looking good, he had not really recovered from his stomach problem and was finding it pretty hard going with the heat and not feeling well and I have to say he was looking a bit white at the top. After a stop at the top and some photo’s of old American bunkers and refreshments it was time to head down the other side and carry on the journey towards Hue.
As we started the decent, o yes the decent, we stop not too far from the top to have a quick chat with a couple of bikers coming the other way, they kinda looked how we did not so long ago, socked with sweat. They seemed to be in a hurry to carry on so we let them go and headed on down the hill. Now I keep going on about how stunning the coast line is, well it is stunning. Come look for yourselves.
The pace was good and I did some filming for Mike and Kat of them riding together and some Video with my camera so could not really let the bike go, even though I could feel it wanting to go faster, or that just could have been me. I had to peddle at one point which I was not expecting, how dear I have to peddle on a downhill stage will have to write a letter to the Vietnamese Government.
As we reached the bottom of the hill we were greeted by Aquamarine seas and crystal clear waters of a picturesque lagoon, the gold sands stretched down the coast in a spectacular flowing carpet, I stopped and took pictures of the coast line, the beach was screaming my name, drawing me towards it but alas it was not to be, we rode through the town and stopped for lunch, I was hoping we could stop somewhere by the beach for lunch and enjoy this stunning view for a bit longer, instead it was a road side eatery and it was some dodgy sea food with rice. After leaving the Restaurant we carried on the road north.
The road snaked inland and away from the pristine coastline, so long golden sands, hello flowing green rice paddy fields, we had commented ourselves to the inland route, there was a coastal route but it would have added an extra 20km to the ride and we weren’t sure if we would be able to get the bikes across the harbor, it would have meant finding a boat ride, also Mike was still not feeling the best so the straight run it was.
The road as it does seem to go on forever as peddled our way through the heat of the day, by the afternoon Mike seemed to be struggling more and more, it was not looking good for the rest of the day, Kat had been towing Mike for a while, we stopped once more when Mike felt like he was losing his balance, not really good when you’re on a bike, makes it difficult to keep going, we pulled off the road and ordered some Sugar cane drinks, and everyone stripped off the bags off Mikes bike and we shared them around. I dropped to on the trailer so it was really pushing it over its weight limit, as we started off again I could really feel the weight on the back now. Kat was still towing Mike, we were going to make it come hell or high water.
We finally trundled into Hue, sanctuary was close at hand, Mike seemed to have improved a bit, I could not complain about having the extra weight, when we were coming into town we passed a cyclo rickshaw carrying two big truck tires, yep shut up and just keep on going, the locals are tough buggers. The fellow ship had arrived, still together with no loss of life.
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