Wednesday, 10/23/2024
Woke at 6:00am. Showered and put on my light weight riding underwear, longer riding socks, the riding pants and boots as well as the light weight riding shirt. Packed up the rest of the stuff in the room and went up for breakfast.
When done eating, went back to the room for a final check and to pack the last few items I had not done yet in one of the two bags.
Took the bags down to the lobby and checked out of the hotel. Paid for my laundry and the lost card fee (A whole $3). I then went out onto the patio, dropped the bags in the pile with a few others and sat down to wait.
The We Ride Vietnam truck arrived only a few minutes later to collect the luggage and he also had Joe and Mark with him. The van to take the rest of us pulled up shortly after, though was not marked as ours, and another group thought it was theirs and had loaded their luggage and were getting onto the van when the error was figured out by the guide who had arrived on his bike. So had to get them off and us onto the van (without luggage which was already gone with the truck).
The drive to the bike facility took about 35 minutes and we all talked with each other on the way, I mainly talked with Mark who was fairly new having only seen him at dinner the night before.
Once we arrived, we all went to where they had unloaded our bags and all did our own various things with them.
I pulled out the rest of my riding gear (Helmet, gloves and jacket) and then repacked the bags down into a single bag, including putting the 2nd bag inside. This bag would now ride along in the truck each day and I would collect it and use it each night before putting it back on the truck. Of course, all the riding gear, the tank bag and a few odd things would be with me on the bike at all times.
I then went out to the bikes and took the only bike that had not been claimed yet (I had focused on my gear more, where some of the guys worried about bike first.).
We would all be riding Honda CRF250 motorbikes, not sure what year, but most were probably just a few years old. Mine had a custom graphics job done in the plastic, not just stickers or a wrap, and it was yellow, which was an unusual color for the bike, most coming in red or black.
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| My bike (taken later in the day when more room) |
I spent about 30 minutes trying to get tank bag to mount, but technically was too big a bag for the small tank and did not fit that well, was a bit loose. I will have to think more about it later. Also mounted the Go Pro mount on the handle bar so I could put up the Go Pro Max 360 camera to record segments of the ride.
We then had a rider meeting with the guides to get everyone introduced and to get a run down on how the ride would work, with the lead rider, sweep rider and support truck and how we would need to assist at times with hanging back at a turn until at least the next rider took our spot or the sweep rider came into view.
They also handed out our riding shirts that we got as part of the package. This will come in handy for the evenings, but not big enough to fit over my riding gear, and I will not ride without that.
Next was a few group photos and then we got on the bikes and started our trip.
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| Photo taken by our guide Tan |
We got out on the street and regrouped and then took off down several side streets and the highway access road, but avoiding the highway itself. We then crossed a small section of town on small alleyways before reaching another highway access road.
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| Heading out of Hanoi. |
We eventually got out of the Hanoi suburbs and hit the narrow single lane country roads that connected all the villages out in the open spaces of mostly agricultural land. We soon arrived at the canals and flood ways around the Red River and rode on the levee roads and paths.
We followed along several of these, connecting them with small cross field lanes or paths and other village roads, zig zagging so much I lost track of what direction we were heading other than a general southwest direction I knew we had to take to get where we would be going that night.
Quite a few of the roads were paved in concrete or asphalt, but we also had a few gravel or dirt paths and even a few spots where it was just a single track worn into the ground. Some spots were still wet from recent rains, so there was a fair bit of puddles and mud holes as well to navigate.
At one point we stopped for some photos and Joe noticed oil leaking from his bike, the mechanic thought he knew the issue, but not a good spot to work on it. We got back on the bikes and headed toward our first break of the day where we would meet up with the truck and the mechanic could better address the issue.
On the way we stopped along the canal at some buildings where they were processing bamboo into sticks for incense. The entire village and nearby town is a center of incense production. We wandered in and out of the buildings watching them work, then we got back on the bikes and rode a short ways into the town and stopped again at a place that sells the incense. They had massive displays of it laid out in the parking lot next to this small temple.
We took some photos, and then headed out the back way to continue the trip.
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| Bikes at the incense display |
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| Small Temple |
We soon started to pass into an area of large hills and water that was really impressive. We stopped for just a minute to take some quick photos, but did not even get off the bikes.
We arrived at the café/karaoke bar for our first break stop, though not much going on in the mornings, we were only customers there. We all had coffee or tea and some packaged rice cakes while the mechanic, Long worked on Joe’s bike. Though I never did hear what the problem was, he did fix it.
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| Our first break for the day. |
We got back on the road, nice paved back highways with lots of slow truck traffic to navigate around. But that was not too hard as the trucks were very SLOW, so bikes made easy work of getting around them.
The scenery was becoming hillier and rockier with lots of green lush plant life and more water around as well (some may have been natural areas, others I think were man-made lakes).
Unfortunately, we seemed to be keeping a fairly determined pace and were not stopping much for photos in some of the cooler areas, something that I might have to talk about later or find out how much stopping we can do on our own without falling too far behind or causing delays that might create issues.
We reached our lunch stop about an hour later at a local restaurant that must have been notified we were coming and they immediately set out large amounts of food for us (almost too much if you ask me).
We all grabbed a beverage from the cooler which the guide would pay for at the end. We were just instructed to leave all the empties in a single spot so they could add them up when we were done.
We all took time to use the restroom as well and sit and talk while we relaxed a bit. The staff of the restaurant were very friendly and a few of them came up to get selfies with a few of us as we started to go back and and get bikes ready.
We then got back onto the bikes and headed down the highway, but only for a short distance. We then turned off and started up a narrow road into the hills. The road was very steep in spots, but still mostly paved at this time. Also, some nice tight corners to play with, though the big knobby tires definitely do not corner as well as street tires on a bike do.
Soon the road turned into a gravel/dirt track, which then became a double track trail which then increased the frequency of standing water puddles, a few small creek crossings with no bridge and lots of MUD!
My God was it muddy in spots. I had never ridden in mud before, so this was a new experience, and a bit challenging at times as the bike basically does what it wants sometimes regardless of how much you try to change that action to what you want.
Some of the puddles and creeks were getting between 15-30 cm deep (6-12 inches), and while only a few meters/feet across in many cases, still made a mess of our legs and the bike, coating everything in a fine layer of mud which dried later.
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| Made it through the mud (photo by rider behind me) |
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| Lots of this today (photo by rider behind me) |
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| Some muddy trails. |
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| A few of these large mud swamps as well. |
We soon reached a downhill section that was very steep, very uneven and very muddy, like snot slick mud. You tended to slide more than roll, and hitting the brakes would induce a slide for certain.
Halfway down our lead rider, Tan, went down in slick nasty spot. A few of the guys rode down to assist him and made it okay. I then tried and about half way down hit a bad incline where the back wheel slid forward faster than it should and got me slightly sideways and another bump dumped me over.
Was going slow, so was more of a fall over sideways thing, but now I am covered in mud down my right side! I got my leg out from under the bike after wiggling it and the bike around a bit.
I then tried to stand up and my foot just went right out from under me and I crashed back to the ground, hard this time, and think I may have landed on a rock too, was a bit painful!
Jerry had been just ahead of me, so by now he had walked back up to help me lift the bike up and then since he was on the better side to mount it, he got on and coasted it down a few feet to a bit less steep section where I then got back on.
The road pretty much stayed muddy from here on and eventually became just a single-track trail to follow through the jungle. It was a blast!!
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| Group photo on the backroads and trails. |
We rode for a few hours before pulling back on to pavement and going into a village for a break and to buy some drinks. I had a cold lemon ice tea while we talked for a bit and took photos of our muddy bikes and bodies.
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| Just a little mud here and there. |
The next section of trail was mostly single track, muddy as before, more remote and hilly and we enjoyed several water buffalo walking the trail or grazing alongside of it. They tend not to move for much.
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| What you staring at two legs? |
Hit another big steep slick hill, only going up this time! Long got to the top, then Atti tried and went down about half way up.
Joe and I were still at the bottom, so walked up to help lift the bike, then Long arrived and he got behind and pushed Atti until the tires could bite in enough to give traction so he could get going up the hill again.
I went next. I did not fall off, but ended up sideways again and stopped about half way up. Guide was waiting in that area, so he just did the same and pushed me until bike grabbed and I was able to reach the top of the hill.
Jerry and Joe both made it up without any problems, so once the guide got back up to the top we continued onward.
Later on, we stopped at a spot to let the group get back together as we had gotten strung out a bit along the trail. Long, Atti, and myself were waiting for quite a bit. Turns out Joe had taken a big spill after we had gotten ahead of him and none of us saw it, but Jerry was bringing up the rear and helped him get the bike up and going again.
We eventually reached paved roads again, and while the mud got knocked off the tires we headed toward the hotel, which took us back onto dirt roads, but mostly dry.
We came upon the other group sitting alongside of the road as Mark had gotten a flat on his rear tire and Tan was working on repairing it.
We all stopped and hung out while Long jumped in to help Tan get the bike fixed which only took about 10 minutes more, but was a great spot to view the nearby valley and hills.
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| Mark gets the first flat of the trip. |
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| Great view though while we waited. |
We then headed onward down more narrow paths of pavement to another small highway which then took us up into the hills again which were very steep now. (I saw a few signs today claiming between 6 and 18% grades).
We were on the edge of Pu Long National Park, so was very lush vegetation around here as well.
The last steep section took us up into an area where we would be staying tonight. This place is called a homestay, but was more of a cross between that and a lodge.
While a traditional homestay will have you sleeping inside the actual home in many cases, this time we had lodging built onto the owners’ property near some fields. It was a large dorm style place with a common area on the main floor open to the outside on 2 sides, and with some showers/bathrooms on one end.
There were a handful of cabins as well which is what I got as I had paid extra to have my own room along the way. Each cabin was just a small wood hut with a bed on the floor and an attached bathroom and some fans (roof was partially open to the outside, so A/C was not an option).
We parked the bikes in a flat space among the buildings. I then spent about 20 minutes trying to adjust the straps for the tank bag as it was so loose it would fall over to the side of the tank and was getting in my way while riding. I was able to get it a bit tighter and bit more up on the tank, but still not sure this will work.
I then took off the gear and grabbed my bag which had been pulled off the truck and found my cabin.
The bathroom was down a small flight of 3 steps, a bit narrow and will probably kill myself going down at night, but was a nice large tile floored bathroom with a few holes in the wall at head height to let in fresh air.
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| My room for the night at Mr. Ba's Homestay. |
I got my riding gear off and decided to use the shower to wash off as much of the crusted mud as I could, without getting them completely soaked. This made a bit of a mess, but worked for the most part, jacket should be good, pants might still be wet in the morning, but just the lower legs which will be over my boots anyway.
Once done, I then took a shower to get the mud and sweat off me.
Afterwards, I found the humidity was so high, I could not really dry off, even with both fans blowing on me. Also made me wonder if my socks which were damp from sweat and bit of water that got into the boots would dry. Laid them over a small wall near the steps that both fans would get good air movement around.
I sat down on the bed which was just lying on the floor, so will be a bit fun getting up and down. Only outlet I could see was low down by the bed, so got all the batteries charging and swapped out memory cards in the various cameras I had used that day.
I then went to stand up and collapsed back to the bed as my lower back exploded in pain!
Not sure what happened. I suspected that the fall earlier in the day might have bruised me a bit, but why did I ride for 5 more hours without issue and even walk around for an hour at the homestay before it suddenly started to hurt?
Pretty sure my core muscles got a workout today as well, but nothing that should cause this kind of pain, and it was the area I fell on.
I took some pain killers, managed to get myself off the bed on the floor, finished dressing and went out to the large community space under the dorm building to meet up with the others.
Grabbed a Coke to wash down my pill and did my social media updates while waiting for dinner.
The family had a large kitchen they prepared food for us in, and it was all local cuisine and pretty good, similar to what we had for lunch. A large bowl of white rice, several vegetable options (cooked and raw), chicken and either pork or buffalo usually (though usually with the bones still in), a few sauces to dip in, and perhaps some kind of sweet desert and fresh fruits.
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| The group at dinner (photo by Tan) |
The driver then came over with a bottle of some kind of alcohol and poured everyone a drink. I do not drink for the most part, but decided to do the one shot as this seemed like a traditional thing going on and they seemed excited for it. Horrible tasting stuff, whatever it was, had to grab a 2nd Coke to wash down the after taste!
After some more conversations, we wandered off to our rooms, most of us quite tired by now.
I checked on my batteries, swapped in a few that needed charged still and did the days entry in the journal.
Going to read a bit till I am ready to sleep, but only about 9:00pm now. Breakfast is at 7:00am and wheels up at 8:00 or 8:30am. It will be another day of off-road trails and mud tomorrow, so a good rest is needed.
Goodnight!
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