A Bump in the Road
April 15, 2018 § Leave a comment
By this point in the vacation I am starting to sleep better. It isn’t what I would like, but I did manage solid hours before the alarm awakened me on time at 4:30. I had saved some bananas from yesterdays breakfast, so I was good to go on the food front. I believe I even laid everything out the night before so I was ready as Eddie to go. Dressed and out the door, I was well within the time window necessary to catch the ride at 6.
Recovery Day 3 – Alarm Mistake
April 8, 2018 § Leave a comment
When you are 12 hours East of your normal timezone, I suppose it can be easy to make a mistake. My intention was to arise at 430 in the am, and be on the road by 445 so that I could make the 6am ride in Cheong Thele. What I got however, was a realization that light was pouring through the windows, and I was still in bed. Bolting up right, and grabbing my phone, I could clearly discern it was well past the time I wanted to get up. Hell, the sun appeared to be up. I checked the alarm. 4:30 was still set with the indicator showing “I will wake you!”, however, further concentration revealed I was to awake by 4:30 PM. A major blow. Too late to leave, I resigned myself to another rest day.
Second Recovery Day – Phi Phi
March 27, 2018 § Leave a comment
Up early we needed to be today. The agenda was a boat trip to some islands. In our particular case the Phi Phi islands, but I didn’t know what they were, or where they were for that matter, or even what kind of a trip we were in for. Susan came out to the pool on Monday and said she signed us up for a boat trip. See, we have had some pretty good luck with boat trips in the past. In Ketchikan, Alaska Susan and I took a Salmon fishing excursion during a cruise ship stop. We caught 8 lovely Pink Salmon, one of which we had the kitchen on the ship prepare for us. The envy in every other table around us when our dish came out was priceless, but really what they thought didn’t matter. What we had did, and what we had was deliciously awesome.
The 6 AM Weekday Ride & Scooters
March 23, 2018 § Leave a comment
After the Sunday Club ride was over and I was back in my hotel room, long after the incident in the massage parlor, and long after the sun had gone down, I was cruising through Strava, and noticed that guy that I had reached out to a few weeks back concerning riding in Thailand and where to get a bike, had been on that ride. If you recall, I arrived just as the ride was pulling out, and so failed to introduce my yankee ass to anyone who gave an F. The whole ride I was pretty much front group, and I was constantly evaluating my ability to even do the damn ride, so I was surprised to find that I failed to find Mark, this guy, and introduce myself. So I did the next best thing and left a comment on his ride that I had reached out to him a few weeks back and see now that we were on the same ride and apologized for not seeking him out.
First Recovery Day – Cooking Class
March 17, 2018 § Leave a comment
Though I have the bike for the entire week, I can’t ride every day, and with the club ride yesterday, and my fiasco at the massage place (that poor young woman), I needed a day off.
During the research of “What to do in Phuket?” Susan came across a cooking class which she signed us all up for and as it happens that day is today. We had a scheduled pick-up at our hotel at 9:30, so even more reason not to go out on the bike, as anything could happen and I wouldn’t want to miss this class.
The Sunday Club Ride – A Wanker Rides in Thailand
March 12, 2018 § 1 Comment
The question I went to bed with was this “Do I want to try and make the Sunday ride?” The pro was I would get to ride with a group, and I could just sit in and let everyone else do the work and reap the rewards. The main con being that the ride was 100K and I had to ride 30K to get there and 30K back, AND that is 60K that contains some very obvious in your face climbing. I had already ridden back over those climbs in the heat once. I wasn’t to eager to repeat that performance. So I made a plan. I would ride there and meet them and explain my plan which was to ride as far as the mainland, and then turn around and do my own ride back. Seemed simple enough. There was one wee little problem with this plan, and being almost 59, I should be well informed regarding what my real personality traits are.
Operation Get The Bike! Day One
March 10, 2018 § 2 Comments
To say that “When we awoke the next morning” is a little misleading about traveling to the other side of the world where the local timezone is exactly 12 hours ahead of the timezone you left. If I said I went to bed and awoke early would be a lie, because I never really fell asleep that first night. The same went for Susan, and when 6am finally rolled around, and the breakfast buffet opened up, we were eager, and hungry to get started. Our girls had a week of Vietnam in them, so they weren’t about to stir for some time.
We’re Going to Phuket This Year
March 9, 2018 § 2 Comments
Two years ago the family was given a choice. Let’s rephrase that. Two years ago, Susan and I decided that instead of spending money on Christmas and everything that goes with it, “Why not have a really low key Christmas, and spend that money on a vacation instead?”. We put that question to the girls, and their first question was “What kind of vacation?” Skepticism is good trait to have, especially with the current occupier of the White House and the proliferation of bullshit, and our daughters were expressing theirs. “How about 2 weeks in a warm climate? Doesn’t have to be this country, take your pick, however do the research, present options, and then we all agree? Agreed?”. That year we rented two different places in Barbados and spent 2 weeks. This past October we were all together in San Francisco and we were looking at options. At that time Columbia was on the table, but research wasn’t turning anything up that appealed to those doing the looking, and then the idea of Thailand, and more specifically, Phuket came up. It didn’t take long to decide “Thailand it is!”
Big Bird's Adventures 