Ride Report: BikeHedonia rides the world (one way or another)

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

11 hours ago, Grace (BikeHedonia) said:

First episode of the live roadtrippin is up... it's a blog post here... https://bikehedonia.wordpress.com/2021/12/05/road-tripping-in-real-time/?fbclid=IwAR0lzBLOVdrMGJSkzpC-kwtpc_CTmBuPpvqF2JLJ_RGnmgIDv5A9nABNSNA

Good stuff. Look forward to the next instalment. Hope you have a good time.

[Grace (BikeHedonia)]

On 05/12/2021 at 19:19, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Good stuff. Look forward to the next instalment. Hope you have a good time.

Thank you! The updates are rolling over on Youtube but I forgot what the hell my password was for this site so couldn't log in from my phone lol. I really must reset that password.

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier this whole contemporaneous sharing thing is all new to me, I usually only share highlights well after the fact. So I am keen to find out if my waffling hits a chord or not. All thoughts on this much appreciated.

 

 

 

 

[Grace (BikeHedonia)]

Here is my day 2 route, I love these roads. Twistie and deserted. The only ones I like better are the ones heading north across the Sirikit Reservoir (you need to take a ferry). On the opposite side of that ferry trip is 22km of what I consider some of the most fun roads in Thailand. *chef's kiss"  Perhaps I will head back that way. 

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Muang+Uttaradit+Municipal+Office,+Tha+It,+Mueang+Uttaradit+District,+Uttaradit/17.7267532,100.6853329/17.5001601,101.0760344/Saloon+Loei,+Ruam+Pattana,+Kut+Pong,+Mueang+Loei+District,+Loei/@17.6230145,100.6304016,10z/data=!4m18!4m17!1m5!1m1!1s0x30df303d8d1d0f95:0xe0f1ba4b7b2c0315!2m2!1d100.0960692!2d17.6229023!1m0!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x3121474ad0c225b1:0xb58d154cd003e0d9!2m2!1d101.7262631!2d17.4885646!2m1!2b1!3e0

[XTreme]

Looks great Grace!

[Grace (BikeHedonia)]

Day... um.. 3?  Road tripping does tend to erode one's sense of time.

 

[XTreme]

1 hour ago, Grace (BikeHedonia) said:

Day... um.. 3?  Road tripping does tend to erode one's sense of time.

 

Excellent Grace! Weather looks damn good!

[Grace (BikeHedonia)]

1 hour ago, XTreme said:

Excellent Grace! Weather looks damn good!

Yes indeed, we have entered the season of perfect weather. It should be delightful until Feb/March when it will turn into a smokey hellscape 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

@Grace (BikeHedonia) Great stuff. 

If youre after feedback and tbh Im not sure Im comfortable giving it (cos people who dont produce content should just shut up and appreciate that other people do) then the day three stuff was up a level. Pictures and footage with an interesting story and a bit of factual stuff thrown in. I like the sound quality of that voiceover. 
I didnt know rubber was transported as goop, never given it any thought! 

[Grace (BikeHedonia)]

On 09/12/2021 at 23:57, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

@Grace (BikeHedonia) Great stuff. 

If youre after feedback and tbh Im not sure Im comfortable giving it (cos people who dont produce content should just shut up and appreciate that other people do) then the day three stuff was up a level. Pictures and footage with an interesting story and a bit of factual stuff thrown in. I like the sound quality of that voiceover. 
I didnt know rubber was transported as goop, never given it any thought! 

Thank you SO MUCH for the feedback, it is really appreciated. It's hard to know when you're on the right track sometimes - please continue to give feedback as freely as you feel comfortable. Gratefully received.

[Grace (BikeHedonia)]

So a bit of a hiatus there, couple of days just catching up with my mate over beers. Really (apart from motorcycles) this is what life is all about. Also, deliriously happy to get cuddles from the giant bulldog (staffy cross?? who knows) Jackie, who is the biggest teddy bear of a dog despite looking scary as hell and having the physique of a large boulder. 

Went down to the village high school and did some guest teaching. This is not a part of Thailand where the kids have any real opportunity to practise with native English speakers, so we spent a couple of hours with them, mostly just building confidence. At around 13 years old, all the kids have been studying English for years, but were more hesitant on the speaking and listening than reading and writing. So we just spent some time having a laugh, finding out about what they like to do for fun (I learnt a lot about k-pop, anime and video games) and getting them used to speaking English with people who have wildly different accents: Australian, and a Louisiana accent which comes straight from the bayous. (Truly an awesome accent, and surprisingly, one which the kids found really easy to understand.)

I also decided that my tyres were going to kill me soon. They aren't worn out but manufactured in 2016, and tyres don't last in this climate. (Obviously I didn't buy these tyres - they were on the bike when I bought it this year.) Anyway the rubber was going off, it was hard and dry with no grip. So that became my new mission: find good tyres in Issan and try not to die...

[XTreme]

7 hours ago, Grace (BikeHedonia) said:

So a bit of a hiatus there, couple of days just catching up with my mate over beers. Really (apart from motorcycles) this is what life is all about. Also, deliriously happy to get cuddles from the giant bulldog (staffy cross?? who knows) Jackie, who is the biggest teddy bear of a dog despite looking scary as hell and having the physique of a large boulder. 

Went down to the village high school and did some guest teaching. This is not a part of Thailand where the kids have any real opportunity to practise with native English speakers, so we spent a couple of hours with them, mostly just building confidence. At around 13 years old, all the kids have been studying English for years, but were more hesitant on the speaking and listening than reading and writing. So we just spent some time having a laugh, finding out about what they like to do for fun (I learnt a lot about k-pop, anime and video games) and getting them used to speaking English with people who have wildly different accents: Australian, and a Louisiana accent which comes straight from the bayous. (Truly an awesome accent, and surprisingly, one which the kids found really easy to understand.)

I also decided that my tyres were going to kill me soon. They aren't worn out but manufactured in 2016, and tyres don't last in this climate. (Obviously I didn't buy these tyres - they were on the bike when I bought it this year.) Anyway the rubber was going off, it was hard and dry with no grip. So that became my new mission: find good tyres in Issan and try not to die...

That's a great thing to do with the kids Grace!

Seems like everybody's wearing masks as well.....what's the Covid situation like there now?

[Grace (BikeHedonia)]

16 hours ago, XTreme said:

That's a great thing to do with the kids Grace!

Seems like everybody's wearing masks as well.....what's the Covid situation like there now?

There is only a little bit of covid in that particular province, but it's around and nobody wants to catch it. In Bangkok and Chiang Mai the risks are much higher. But mask wearing in public places like shops, markets and schools is quite prevalent because Thai people are very polite, so it's become second nature to wear masks when in settings like this, unless of course eating or drinking. It's expected of you - not wearing a mask would be considered very bad manners, a sign that you don't care about the public good.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

Great stuff. Thats a nice thing to do. Not surprised they dont want to speak English, I can remember dying of embarrassment being made to speak french in front of my classmates  

Love the bike pic, interested to hear when the new tyres are worn in if you notice much difference 

[boboneleg]

Fantastic writing Grace, you have a way with words.

Good luck on your trip

[Sir Fallsalot]

20 hours ago, Grace (BikeHedonia) said:

There is only a little bit of covid in that particular province, but it's around and nobody wants to catch it. In Bangkok and Chiang Mai the risks are much higher. But mask wearing in public places like shops, markets and schools is quite prevalent because Thai people are very polite, so it's become second nature to wear masks when in settings like this, unless of course eating or drinking. It's expected of you - not wearing a mask would be considered very bad manners, a sign that you don't care about the public good.

In most places you just have a load of morons that think their rights are being taken away when told to wear a mask or do anything else that helps anyone other than themselves for that matter. its so refreshing to hear when people follow the guidelines set out for them because they believe it benefits everyone instead of questioning everything.

 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

43 minutes ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

In most places you just have a load of morons that think their rights are being taken away when told to wear a mask or do anything else that helps anyone other than themselves for that matter. its so refreshing to hear when people follow the guidelines set out for them because they believe it benefits everyone instead of questioning everything.

 

Questioning everything is ok by me but the idea of considering the greater good (ie other people) just being polite is simply lovely. 

[Sir Fallsalot]

3 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Questioning everything is ok by me but the idea of considering the greater good (ie other people) is just being polite is simply lovely. 

Yes questioning things is ok but when people have been asked to do something like wearing a mask to help everyone people should do it even if they think it doesn't work its not difficult and it costs feck all these are the morons i refer to 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

27 minutes ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

Yes questioning things is ok but when people have been asked to do something like wearing a mask to help everyone people should do it even if they think it doesn't work its not difficult and it costs feck all these are the morons i refer to 

Morons is a bit generous, selfish pricks fits a bit better me thinks. 

[XTreme]

2 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

pricks fits a bit better

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

18 minutes ago, XTreme said:

Thought about using a different insult but I gotta throw you a bone every now and then.. what? Did she say bone?..

[XTreme]

1 minute ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

I gotta throw you a bone every now and then

[Six30]

On 13/12/2021 at 20:33, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Questioning everything is ok by me but the idea of considering the greater good (ie other people) just being polite is simply lovely. 

Yes it is a great thing , and fortunately something I am blessed with 

 

nice ride reports by the way @Grace (BikeHedonia)

[Grace (BikeHedonia)]

Ha, where did I get to... there's been some excitement, some good some bad. I took a 600km detour to go meet a friend of a friend, which was awesome, we had beers and pizza and talked for hours. Turns out he runs a podcast called Inspirational Living, which is basically just the wisdom of centuries of thinkers - on how to live a good life - condensed into 20 minute chunks for our easy delectation. The conversation was definitely worth riding 600km for, even if it took me into the flatlands.
 

As usual my tiny week-long jaunt turned into a rather more lengthy roadtrip; you know, I get distracted and before I know it, it's day 11 and my friends in Chiang Mai are all wondering if I'm ever coming back.

Anyway sobering story now, while riding back up one of my favourite mountain ranges - it puts you on top of the world, or so it feels - I came across a very bad accident and spent some time assisting to scrape old mate off the road. Poor fella, his legs are toast. But I think he'll be mostly okay. 

 

I mentioned in the video how everyone says never to stop at the scene of an accident in Thailand, and how the other foreign motorcyclists just went past, and signaled for me to do the same. The reasoning behind this is that people say never to stop at the scene of an accident because, as a foreigner, you will immediately be blamed and sued/extorted for money, even the accident wasn't your fault and had nothing to do with you. So everyone says you should just keep going and leave people bleeding on the road. Well, my conscience won't let me and I also choose not to take such a jaundiced view of the world, which is probably naive and may get me in trouble sometime; but you have to live by your convictions. 

 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

@Grace (BikeHedonia) oh dear that sounds like a nasty one.

In the vid your shock is very evident, we all know youre a resilient sort but pls make sure you allow yourself time to acknowledge just how bad the situation was for you too. Hope youre ok.

Adrenaline is a marvellous friend, the cocaine of the natural world- you’re fast you’re fearless you’re impervious to pain but when it wears off (it can take days for it to wear off completely) and your brain decides it’s safe to process what just happened remember to be kind to yourself and cut yourself some slack. Forging ahead hardcore styley is admirable but as Im sure you know somethings are better out than in. 

Really hope he gets the surgery he needs quickly and his legs salvageable, sounds likely they are going to find more injuries, poor fella. 

[Grace (BikeHedonia)]

15 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Adrenaline is a marvellous friend, the cocaine of the natural world- you’re fast you’re fearless you’re impervious to pain but when it wears off (it can take days for it to wear off completely) and your brain decides it’s safe to process what just happened remember to be kind to yourself and cut yourself some slack. Forging ahead hardcore styley is admirable but as Im sure you know somethings are better out than in. 

You're quite right, it does take some time to wear off, especially for me - I tend to have a hyperactive stress response, which doesn't really help. I stay switched on for days and then I kind of collapse a little bit, and like you say, I just need to give myself the time and space to process that.

Thanks for the wise words. You'll be happy to know that old mate has had surgery is doing much better. It will be a long road to recovery but he's going to be okay.