It’s going to be an exciting next two weeks for me and a few of my closest friends. Unfortunately you’ll be stuck in the office, but I’ll do my best to make you feel like you’re part of our journey. Ten of us are going to Vietnam on a man-vacation for the next 16 days. Just us, the bikes, beaches, pho, and cheap massages. Don’t even mention Broken Back Mountain after yesterday’s post. It’s not going to be like that.
We’re landing in the middle of Vietnam and riding down Hwy 1 to Ho Chi Mihn City. Kind of like they did in Top Gear but the reverse direction (we’re going with the prevailing winds). We’ll have domestiques in rickshaws running behind us so we can look as PRO as possible and not have to reduce ourselves to panniers and maps.
I was going to build up my Cyclocross bike with a new groupset to ride but Cycling Edge have been generous to build me up a Parlee Z3 to ride whilst we’re there. This bike as become affectionately known as the “Bitsa Bike”. Bitsa this, bitsa that….it’s basically a mutt that’s been thrown together from parts laying around the shop. I took it for a ride this morning and it’s going to do the job superbly.
To immerse the Bitsa fully into this trip I’ll be on the look out for little souvenirs from every possible place we visit and fixing it to the bike. The more wacky, the better. It should be interesting to see how this ends up. The idea is that we’ll pass the bike off to the next person who goes on a cycling adventure and they can do the same thing.
I’ll be off-line over the next few days while we’re traveling but I’ll be back with 2 weeks of posts from our bikes in beautiful Vietnam. I may not post every day – it’ll depend what internet access is like. Also, I’m sorry but I won’t be able to respond to emails over this time.
If any of you have been to this area of Vietnam before I’d love to hear about things we should see and do.
See you in a few days!
Tim building up the Parlee Bitsa Bike. It’s actually a pretty damn good. Nice carbon frame, Ultegra groupset, Aksium wheels. It’s gonna be bulletproof!
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All i would say Wade is be VERY careful on that highway. It's totally nuts. I was terrified on the bus i was in. In Vietnam, respect on the road comes via the size of the vehicle. You will be bottom of the pack. Have a blast!
If you have time, head a bit further south of HCMC to Can Tho and the floating markets. An awesome experience and hardly a tourist in site!
http://www.terragalleria.com/vietnam/vietnam.ca...
I'm keen to hear about the trip, we're heading off in a few weeks to do the same, but in the other direction. Oh, and on a train lol.
You really are taking that loss in the ice hockey hard!
I'm going as far away as possible to a place where I won't hear wisecracks about Canada's loss every waking moment!
Enjoy your adventure wade…I worked in Phan Thiet for a while and it is a magical place…see if you can go over 50kph on the main highway…we didn't in our van…7 hours from Ho Chi Minn to Phan Thiet…it;s ONLY 300km
Should be a 'KINCROME Professional Quality Tools', Tool Kit.
Just a bitsa Parlee Z3… fark life is tough for some! Have fun!
What! Canada lost yesterday? No way they could lose to the US.
Wow. Have a GREAT time. And I thought I was special getting to spend two days in California at training camp with a PRO, U.S. women's cycling squad. Oh yeah, I get to tour the Specialized factory, too, but I digress…
Anyway, any tips on making every minute with a PRO team worth it? Being cool and making friends? Asking good questions?
USA! USA! USA!
While you are passing through Hoi An make sure you go and check out the Marble Mountains and all the caves, and also China Beach were the US Troops had their R and R. Just don't get suckered into handing over too much Dong to the tour guides in the marble Mountains, you can check it out by your self. Be Very Very careful on the roads, they are CRAZY! Even walking across the road puts your life in danger let alone riding on them, don't make any sudden moves or turns, they will move around you on their motor bikes as long as you keep to your line. Good luck and have fun.
I think the biggest thing is to not act like a groupie and just treat them as regular people (because, really…they are). Cyclists love talking about themselves and what their goals are. Asking lots of questions is good!
same. Every one is going flat out.
I agree. You should never give any Dong at all to any tour guides or anyone else over there for that matter. Some of the STDs in South East Asia are horrendous ;-)
That highway is ridiculous!! Not only do you have to watch out for cars, but animals as well!! There will be some great scenery along the road, and there are some fantastic hills around the Da Nang area which are quite steep. Fantastic views from the top!! Make sure you get out into the countryside as well which is fantastic, especially the rice paddies and also the huge vegetable gardens which are scattered everywhere!!
Also don't make any sudden moves as the traffic will go around you!!
Have a great time!!
Miller stood on his head and Brodeur couldn't stop a beach ball. It was horrible to watch.
The funny thing about traffic in VN is that it maybe chaotic and frenzy but they respect and accomodate you. On the contrary, we enjoyed the traffic in Vietnam. It was where we can actually stopped traffic by just raising our hands. Try doing this on our roads!
We did this tour before and enjoyed it tremendously hence this second tour. We will not be going to all these tourist places as there is nothing I hate more that seeing tourists. So you will not see us going to any places that you have been.
Hopefully CT will bring everyone along on this trip through his blog.
Should a epic and fulfilling, can't wait.
Wade,
Enjoy the trip. Be great if you can do a piece on packing the bike away, type of bag used, what bits come off and how they are stored, whether you check it under or as hand luggage, tools you'll take to put it all back together once there etc etc as interested best method to take bike over to Europe this Northern summer.
Bit presumptuous there dearleader.
Maybe I misunderstand but are you telling us you discovered new places that no one has been to?
Remember, no one likes a travel snob :-)
I am so sorry JIng and anyone else out there, I should be more careful with paraphrasing my view.
Have fun and keep on peddling.
Hi Wade,
Keep an eye on each other when out drinking at night in Nha Trang. Plenty of foreigner assaults there, particularly when there is only one or two of you. When we were travelling we had two or three first hand stories of travellers who had first hand experience of this.
On the lighter side ride a bus if you can even if its a couple of stops – its so funny when you get close to a stop how the bike taxis ride along next to the bus looking and marking out their prey, you the innocent bus passanger getting ready to alight.!
Cheers
Throw caution to the wind my friend – there's ten of you. It's all part of the experience anyway. Have fun, they're beautiful humans in that part of the world.
Did you say MAVIC AKSIUM and BULLETPROOF in the same sentence? I'll bet a $10 – or about what you paid for someones unwanted Mavic pre-builts that they don't last on the fabulously maintained roads.
have a good time but.
looks like the figure skating maybe the new national sport?
We had a great time in VN (although not on bikes) – you should try cooking school in Hoi An as well – Secret Garden restaurant was where we did it, in a lane off Le Loi St.
Lotta bugs that can kill you in Vietnam isn't there?
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