December 3: Ban Phonkho to Nhong Song – 42.69 km
Day 51
No more chills and no more fever! With our chains well lubed and everything in order, once again, we were roaming on the road again ready to conquer whatever lie in front of us. I laughed at myself for almost considering taking a bus, as we steadily peddled up the zigzag road.
After one big climb, we eased into more gentle terrain. We met 2 cyclists going in the opposite direction, and stopped to exchange travel info for the road ahead. One of them started from Bangkok, planning on going through China and eventually reaching Europe. I guessed that he would head north and cross into Yunnan, China. Growing up in Yunnan, I’m very much aware of the elevation awaiting him. Hopefully his lightweight luggage and diamond-frame bicycle will make the journey easier.
Chopper’s trike started to make an clicking noise. It sounded like it was coming from his rear cassette, or possibly the hub. Either way, it would not be fun to end up with a broken trike in Laos. We stopped several times trying to find the problem, but even after Chopper tightened the lock ring on the cassette the clicking noise still persisted.
After lunched at the Route 8 and 13 intersection, we decided to call it a day. A nap is on my agenda, and Chopper has the clicking noise mystery to solve. Hopefully we won’t need ICE to ship any replacement parts.