Penang to Ko Lanta: a post on water and bonking
After picking up my Thai visa it was time to saddle up and head north. First a gentle ride up to Alor Setar, a nice enough little place, made even nicer by being in mango growing land in the middle of mango season. Yum!
Then twas just a half days ride to the border and another half day to Hat Yai in Thailand. I say "just a half days" but added together it made for a one bloody long day and the weather hadn't got any less hot. However, I did feel like I was acclimatising, which was just as well as I was starting to cover longer distances again.
Didn't take long from crossing the border to realise I was in Thailand.
From Hat Yai it was another long days cycling, some 150km, up to the town of Trang. I mentioned the heat once or twice before, didn't I? I'm sure did. Well, it's OK provided I eat and set off early and can drink enough liquids to keep going. It's the second one I'm going to mention now, the need to keep even vaguely hydrated. I was in the saddle for some seven hours for the day, and I have to admit I did loose track of exactly how much I was drinking. However, I can say it was around 1.5 liters an hour and even so my urine was the day-glo colour of a full on raver under UV lights. 1.5 liters an hour, or thereabouts. You know what that is? That's slightly under a pint every twenty minutes. For seven hours. Plus stops.
I have learned some things now though... when I stop for more water I down a bottle of fizzy drink, and I stop for water often as now matter how cold it is, it's hot within half an hour making it less than palatable. Every couple of hours I'm making up a bottle of hydration solution to keep up with salt loss. Oh, and you know the advice never drink the local ice? Well **** that, whenever they have it when I stop I make sure my water bottles are packed with full of it! Seriously, makes for drinkable water for almost 45 minutes!
Which all meant my long day involved lots of liquid and still I was parched. Then at the 120km mark came the hill stage. Fantastic scenery but bloody hell it was hard work pushing it over a series of undulating hills.
Interesting to see Trang again, I'd passed through back in 1999 and was surprised to still vaguely recognise it. However, I did have one of my darkest moments of the trip so far there, for which I'll be posting a separate entry later
Finally from Trang some 130km to make on the last day to Ko Lanta. Oh boy, now that was a days cycling. I've trying to deal with the liquid intake but I fear I've not been eating that much due to the heat during the day Started late so missed the cooler part of the day. After a couple of hours though I got started to get bonked. Sounds good, no? No. For a cyclist this is not a happy thing, it's what marathon runners call "hitting the wall". You basically run out of glycogen, blood sugar. It's unpleasant. I went for the usual remedy, one of precious stocks of museli bars, a bag of dried raisins, a bottle of coke and peanuts. Didn't really work this time and I spent the next four hours almost literally limping to Ko Lanta, stopping whenever I felt I needed it and not making it off of the ferry until late in the day.
Ah, Ko Lanta. Helen and I were here back in 1999 when it was a lovely little place. Bloody hell though, it's changed! Still, I found the place we'd stayed at (well, the next door place, apparently the other place burnt down four years ago), checked in, grabbed a beer and watched the sunset above. The Sanctuary is still that, but even so I can't help but marvel at the wisdom of Don Henley when he sang "Don't go back you can never go back...". The bit about the Dead head sticker on the Cadillac I can almost relate to, although I'm still waiting to see a Hawkwind sticker on a Jag.
Then twas just a half days ride to the border and another half day to Hat Yai in Thailand. I say "just a half days" but added together it made for a one bloody long day and the weather hadn't got any less hot. However, I did feel like I was acclimatising, which was just as well as I was starting to cover longer distances again.
Didn't take long from crossing the border to realise I was in Thailand.
From Hat Yai it was another long days cycling, some 150km, up to the town of Trang. I mentioned the heat once or twice before, didn't I? I'm sure did. Well, it's OK provided I eat and set off early and can drink enough liquids to keep going. It's the second one I'm going to mention now, the need to keep even vaguely hydrated. I was in the saddle for some seven hours for the day, and I have to admit I did loose track of exactly how much I was drinking. However, I can say it was around 1.5 liters an hour and even so my urine was the day-glo colour of a full on raver under UV lights. 1.5 liters an hour, or thereabouts. You know what that is? That's slightly under a pint every twenty minutes. For seven hours. Plus stops.
I have learned some things now though... when I stop for more water I down a bottle of fizzy drink, and I stop for water often as now matter how cold it is, it's hot within half an hour making it less than palatable. Every couple of hours I'm making up a bottle of hydration solution to keep up with salt loss. Oh, and you know the advice never drink the local ice? Well **** that, whenever they have it when I stop I make sure my water bottles are packed with full of it! Seriously, makes for drinkable water for almost 45 minutes!
Which all meant my long day involved lots of liquid and still I was parched. Then at the 120km mark came the hill stage. Fantastic scenery but bloody hell it was hard work pushing it over a series of undulating hills.
Interesting to see Trang again, I'd passed through back in 1999 and was surprised to still vaguely recognise it. However, I did have one of my darkest moments of the trip so far there, for which I'll be posting a separate entry later
Finally from Trang some 130km to make on the last day to Ko Lanta. Oh boy, now that was a days cycling. I've trying to deal with the liquid intake but I fear I've not been eating that much due to the heat during the day Started late so missed the cooler part of the day. After a couple of hours though I got started to get bonked. Sounds good, no? No. For a cyclist this is not a happy thing, it's what marathon runners call "hitting the wall". You basically run out of glycogen, blood sugar. It's unpleasant. I went for the usual remedy, one of precious stocks of museli bars, a bag of dried raisins, a bottle of coke and peanuts. Didn't really work this time and I spent the next four hours almost literally limping to Ko Lanta, stopping whenever I felt I needed it and not making it off of the ferry until late in the day.
Ah, Ko Lanta. Helen and I were here back in 1999 when it was a lovely little place. Bloody hell though, it's changed! Still, I found the place we'd stayed at (well, the next door place, apparently the other place burnt down four years ago), checked in, grabbed a beer and watched the sunset above. The Sanctuary is still that, but even so I can't help but marvel at the wisdom of Don Henley when he sang "Don't go back you can never go back...". The bit about the Dead head sticker on the Cadillac I can almost relate to, although I'm still waiting to see a Hawkwind sticker on a Jag.
posted by Bill at 7:07 am
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