I chalked up another 50+ kilometers on my bike this morning with Team Dai. We rode out of the city center and then turned on to the smoothest paved road I’ve seen in Laos. It was built for the Southeast Asian Games (which took place in Vientiane in December) and led to one of the stadiums. Now that the games are over, big concrete blocks prevent cars from accessing the road, and work is under way to extend the road all the way to the Friendship Bridge that links Laos and Thailand across the Mekong River.

We wriggled our bikes through the barrier and enjoyed a comfy, flat, scenic, traffic-free ride for a few kilometers. Once we passed the turn-off to the stadium, though, the road turned to dirt. Still, it was relatively smooth dirt. Soon we encountered the road workers and their heavy equipment, which kicked up lots of dust, but the riding was easy and the views were spectacular. In this photo, I’m posing in front of an expansive rice paddy where a farmer was “herding” hundreds of ducks.

Eventually, the dirt road intersected with the main artery leading past the Friendship Bridge and back into town. Although one rider argued for staying on asphalt, she was outvoted by others who wanted to pedal along the canal. I had never done the canal ride, so I just kept my mouth shut. I quickly realized why she had lobbied for the paved road. The canals were lined with farms, trees and friendly locals, but the path was a series of packed-earth craters. At one point, I shouted out, “Are we riding on the moon?”

These rides have brought so much bliss to my weekends.
Exhaustion, a sore bum, ears full of dirt, and bugs in my teeth, as well, … but mostly bliss!
Why am I doing it? See my other posts about Team Dai.

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