ISAN 2024kms (Mesmerizing ride through heartland of Thailand)

ISAN 2024:

Thailand’s longest LRM covering 2024kms around the ISAN region. In the 1st edition many BR riders participated and had provided their valuable inputs. Monish’s blog came in handy to plan our ride. Mohan sir spent a lot of time to provide detailed inputs on what to expect during the ride, food options, heat/ice, 7-11. Mohan Sir was constantly motivating us in the WhatsApp group created to coordinate during the ride. He was alerting us about tough sections ahead and how to approach. Thanks to Mohan Sir and Bangalore Randonneurs for all the inputs.

Thank you note to ISAN team:

Thanks to Anoop and energetic volunteers at ISAN. You rock! The event was a huge success and the credit goes to you guys for elaborate planning and your selfless contributions. Every control was very well managed, smiling volunteers, quick stamping, food and accommodation arranged to save time for riders. So many charging units that we can easily complete the ride with just 1 power bank. And charge all devices at control point.

"The Gang"

Swamy-Sushma-Prasad

Route Map starting with Pak Chong

Elevation graph

Pre-ride:

We had booked taxi service from and to airport arranged by organizers, the van carried 3 each. We requested Anoop (Organiser) if the van can stop briefly at Sangaroon Bicycle shop in Saraburi about 70kms before Pak Chong, which he convinced the taxi driver. Gulzar had visited prev day and had given inputs on availability of bike parts and accessories. We did quick shopping of Vittoria RubinoPro tyres and other spare parts. There was a pet dog in the store, I carefully crossed it and the variety of stems was interesting to me, meanwhile the dog decided to warn me about "Thai dogs" and gave a hard bite at my right foot. It was still a warning as it's teeth had not gone in yet. And then started approaching me with more warning, my scream brought in the staff and they got him out. I checked my foot, there was no blood, the Woodlands leather floater was strong. I realized the Thai dogs can attack anytime unwarranted and without any provocation.

Ban Mai Resort

Ban Mai Vintage resort was such a lovely place to stay, soothing, nature at its best, a lovely stream next to the resort and restaurant was across the stream, so a hanging bridge to cross, probably a collection of a million showcase items cars, dolls, cutlery. A lovely swimming pool attached was an added advantage. 

Hanging Bridge

After initial exploration of mini world at resort, we unpacked our bikes and got them fixed and Grinny's footpump came in handy. We planned to do a 50kms ride next day by first visiting start point and then a short recce on the ride path. We all woke up a bit late due to tiring journey and ate breakfast at resort which gave us an idea of how difficult veg food is going to be. Everything at the display was either chicken/pork/shrimp, I was joking that it's like tomato/onion/garlic!! We settled with bread/egg and corn flakes. The recce ride started and we reached start point, from there we headed to initial 25kms route. This practice ride was much needed one, as it exposed our preparedness. First, Gulzar had a flat only to realize both his wheels had very old rim tapes and he would have been in trouble had he not replaced rim tapes in time. Then Prasad had a bulged tyre, we ended up replacing both his tires since we had bought at the cycle store. Then I had a flat, and then ended up changing my tyre to ensure a newer tyre to avoid further punctures. Shettappa and me both had an issue with handlebar which we fixed at another cycle shop near to start point called Mountain Bike store. Dhananjaya sir fixed mirror. After all the niggles were fixed, we were about to reach resort and it started raining cats and dogs. This was a surprise as we never anticipated rains during this season, we were not prepared for a rainy ride. We all managed to reach a family run restaurant to eat favorite egg fried rice (without any meat), Satish Addanki sir called up and wished all of us the very best and was shocked to hear about rain. 

Practice ride and a 7-11 store to explore food

Next day, we all packed 6 drop bags with jersey/shorts, tubes/tyres, towel, coconut oil etc in each of them and handed over to volunteers.

On the prev night before the ride, we planned to explore 7-11 what all veg food options were available: Veg Noodles soup, Veg protein rice, Jasmine rice, Zero Meat rice with veggies. Only 3! Which meant we will have to repeat these 3 for next 8 days. We immediately rang up Sundeep and asked him to get Adukule Gojju Avalakki and lots of Bahts currency as "cash is the king" as Dhananjaya sir says. Indeed it was, 7-11 takes card only if the bill is over 200 Bahts and almost all local shops take only cash. This was a surprise for us.

So, our plan of reaching start point 2 days ahead was bang on, it gave us ample time to address the niggles and to do route recce and find out veg food options. 

Sushma had a clavicle fracture in Jun'23 and she was still on the recovery, our biggest worry was what if the pain appears mid ride. So she did strength training for 2 months to counter this problem, which did help a lot. Plus Volini! Sushma was determined to get above the pain and conquer the ride.

Prasad as usual, cool as cucumber was simply enjoying the long ride with ease, occasional bursts during climbs and then he would wait for us. He has a superb knack of dealing with dogs, they will be at peace with him.

Ride Day (24-Feb-2024)

We woke up early at 5:00am and got ready by 6am as the organizers had instructed us to reach by 6:30am to complete formalities and collect the GPS device. Prasad managed to get coffee at start point, we all had clicks both official and personal cameras. 

Startline:

Startline with 100+ riders

100+ riders were lined up into the small ground next to the start point and a group photo and then the whistles and trumpets to start the ride. 

Day-1 (24-Feb-24 07:00am):

Plan was simple, Sushma, me and Prasad would ride together and create a buffer of around 24hrs by 1400kms which was expected to be relatively flat stretch and use then use the buffer to do big climbs in the last 600kms. Plan-to-reality always differs and we were ok with that. 40kms easily passed through almost unchallenged, then came the 1st big climb, it was the first taste of what "the walls of ISAN" meant. With the highest gradient of 11%, it was a very tough climb for about 2kms. Added to it, the road was under construction, Danny Sir messaged in the WhatsApp group to be careful during downhill. We had created this group to have continuous communication to ensure we all benefit from each other on terrain, food availability and what to expect at CPs. We reached CP-1, a 7-11 store, it was already 1:30pm and Sun was challenging us. 7-11's have charging points and we could charge power bank, mobile/device with a 4-port adapter. We grabbed veg food, yoghurt and some juice. By now we knew ice is for free, so filled our bottles with ice cubes. We met a few Thai riders and who also mentioned it's super hot this year. We met Sundeep here who mentioned everyone else left 10 mins ago after an hour's break. We had already created a buffer of 4hrs and decided to rest here for 30 mins before heading out. From here it was going to be frequent and short hydration breaks, we stopped at a local store, ate ice cream, cool drinks, filled ice cubes in bottles and in jersey and quickly started off. We created a plan to take hydration break at every 30-kms.

2-wheeler, its an entire shop on the go

Countryside of Thailand had some surprises, Honda Wave motorcycles are the most common 2-wheelers which are geared but clutchless, so 8yr old kid to 80 yrs old grannies would ride. Many add-ons including a 3rd wheel and frame to hold at least 3 adults or even a shop would be attached to these bikes. 

Another interesting thing was Pickup truck, if they are slightly rich, then they own pickup truck. Toyota Hilux and Isuzu D-Max are the most common ones. Mitsubishi, Mazda, Nissan, Honda, Ford were few other brands. Biggest jugaad we saw was a tractor and Lorry made out of Tiller engines. 

Jugaad!! Tractor using a Tiller engine??

All along the 2024kms route we never faced rash driving, rather cars would leave ample space and overtake. Not a single honk! As the sun set and it was time to cool off, dog chase started, but at the same time, we got to see partying either in front of the house or a ground where orchestra was played with dancers as it was weekend. The interesting part of Thai culture is their dining table right in front of the house (not inside). Entire family gets around the table at dinner time and it was such lovely sight.

Abundant rubber plantation

We could find sugercane, paddy fields and rubber planation in abundance in the entire stretch. Around midnight, we caught up with Nakul, Sundeep, Dhananjaya sir, Shettappa and Gulzar. The 5 were riding together and had taken breaks during the day due to severe heat. From here on it was almost catch up game with the rest of the gang. We were riding with almost 1-hr gap all the way till 1400kms point. 

Sleeping in front of a 7-11

At 2am, we found a 7-11 store and we all slept in front of it for an hour. This was much needed break as it was a long day and we were still getting used to the conditions.

We covered a distance of 325kms on Day-1. I was expecting that we might reach 347kms (1st drop bag point) by 4:00am, but soon realized it's going to be very tuff due to severe heat, so we took it easy and reached by 8:00am. By now we had 11hrs of buffer. We did not sleep at the drop bag point instead freshened up, changed clothes, ate breakfast, filled bottles and started off, all this still took 45 mins. We then cleaned up the chain using alcohol based wet tissues and lubed it. 

Day-2 (25-Feb):

Beautiful Wats!!

With 1 day's experience and having covered 347kms, confidence was growing, but fatigue started hitting, lack of sleep and harsh sunlight, but  we were determined to ride for 30kms at least before we take next break, so continued with 30kms plan. We stopped at a 7-11 and quenched thirst, by now it was evident that 7-11 was the lifeline in Thailand, and no wonder why many CPs were 7-11's. Our initial plan was to cover 607kms (2nd drop bag point) in under 37hrs total, but we ended up taking 44hrs, which was still alright since we had sufficient buffer. The 2nd drop bag point was a Wat (a Buddhist temple is called a War, in Kannada - mata). The final climb to Wat Phu Prao was a tough 3 km climb. 

Wat had 2 large canopies which were made as sleeping points, 3 big fans, plenty of charging points, pillow and blankets, we decided to sleep for 2hrs, then freshen up, change of clothes, breakfast, applied coconut oil to avoid saddle sour and it really helped all along, we planned to apply coconut oil at every drop bag point. We cleaned the chain using alcohol based wet tissues and lubed it. 

Day-3 (26-Feb):

Leaves to the rescue from Severe heat

We were super fresh after the good 2hr nap and bath, soon we came out of Wat, we had good rolling terrain, but the long downhills were encouraging, it felt like a rollercoaster rider. Soon we were on plain roads, and it was again break at 30kms plan. We were now riding next Camobodiya border, we could spot many immigration centres and border police stations. The road here got really worse, for next 50kms it was horrible time, it was almost spikes and we couldn't escape anywhere but to ride. It slowed us down as we were worried about possible punctures. This was a hard section due to heat, climbs, bad roads and cross wind. 

600 to 750kms was going to be super hard as there was not much support available and the shops were very few, it was super hot as well. Nakul called up to tell its best to fill water at 630kms as there was no shop until 650kms, we stopped at 628kms mark at a convenience store and then plucked few leaves from a tree and placed them between cap and helmet. We had found it to be helpful. 

There were 2 short climbs and then good rolling terrain, we reached Nam Thong Police Station CP by afternoon, water and restrooms were available. We proceeded ahead to find food, in next 2 kms we found a hotel, but i was wary of asking veg food or even egg fried rice, to my surprise the host was super friendly and she understood our requirement and asked her mother to prepare egg fried rice, she then suggested we shift to their family dining table as there was good shade from a tree and cool breeze, we devoured the delicious food. We then requested if we can take a short nap in the hammocks next to the table, she readily agreed, we had a deep sleep for 30 mins. We then hit the road again having refreshed. Soon the sun set and the dogs were out chasing at every 100meters. By now, we were used to their behavior, the moment they bark, Prasad would whistle, me and Sushma would talk to them asking why are they still awake, did they finish their dinner. Dogs would be so confused they would look at each other's face as if asking each other "BTW, which language did he scold us"? Love story with dogs would continue all night until sun rise.

690kms to 730kms - rough road

After a good lunch, we were hoping to speed up, but our plans went out of order with bad road stretch. It was tough time, cross winds/bad roads/climbs/severe heat. Probably the roads were laid several years ago, it passes through the Pha Taem National park. 

Rare bad roads of Thailand

It was as if the spikes were setup to trap the tires. Out of nowhere a guy was standing offering us ice cream and some ice cubes to cool us down, he tried to explain that he was there at CP-4 to support us. I thanked him for this gesture as it was badly needed since there was no sight of a single store nearby. Once the bad roads ended, we stopped at a village to take a break. Sushma’s shoulder (due to clavicle fracture) was paining due to the bad roads, bit of Volini spray she was all set.

8:00pm - 746kms - Lae Kong resort (dinner) - first clear view of Mekong river

It was a mesmerizing resort, first clear view of the Mekong river and a singer singing in the background added glamour to the evening. Dinner was arranged here, and we ordered egg fried rice. By mistake I added fish oil assuming it was chilli, I could not eat that portion. Sundeep took a room here and rested for a few hours, but we all continued to ride hoping to get a nap at some 7-11, but were unlucky.

Day-4 (27-Feb):

5:00am - 832kms - Wat Phu Manoram - 1km of tough climb with about 15% gradient

As usual the Wat was on a hill. It was a steep climb. We were hoping for a sleep but thanks to mosquitoes. We rather went ahead and stopped by a 7-11 for a coffee, it was almost day break, and the people were all geared up to donate food grains to monks.

Dream destination to eat breakfast

Around 7am, we were too drowsy, and requested a convenience store owner if we can take a nap for 30 mins. And then the old lady next door helped us find breakfast point. A beautiful farm hotel on a sunflower field. We ate yummy egg fried rice.

Shettappa and Dhananjaya Sir informed us about the tender coconut 30kms ahead. We stopped by to drink tender coconut. I was curious about what the family was eating and was it vegetarian. “Mangswirati??” Old lady said nodded yes, a small girl said it’s banana :-). 

This family offered us banana fry and smiles!!

Banana fry!!! Yummy!

It was a fried banana sweet, lovely, we ate a few pieces. We said “Khop Khun Khap” (thank you in Thai) and continued our journey.

2:00pm River hotel (937kms) - We planned a 2-hr nap and 1-hr for bath, food and getting our bikes ready, same sequence to clean and lube chain and pump air. We started off at 6:00pm, target was CP-10 (111kms) by 1:00am, plan was to effectively use evening hours instead of riding in the hot sun. It worked well.

8:00pm - 965 to 970kms - Mobile phone episode - Nakul had posted that watermelon was available around 965kms, so we planned to stop there, with tailwind we were cruising, we stopped at last store which was about to shut down, we ate 1 full watermelon. 

Watermelon to the rescue!!!

Our request for salt was not fulfilled again as they don’t use nor they understand what we wanted. We stopped for a quick break in next 2kms after watermelon and headed to 1000kms mark. It was already 8pm, and Nakul had warned us that we may not get anything ahead, so we stopped at a convenience store and requested for hot water since we had a packet of Adukule gojju avalakki. We all ate and we were talking to store person who was able to speak English. Sushma wanted to take a selfie and then she realized her iPhone was missing. We thought she must have kept it in one of the bags/jersey, but to our surprise, it wasn’t there. We realized that it must have fallen enroute, but Prasad was following at the end and would have noticed. We then realized mobile must have fallen during the break after watermelon. I had noticed a green color board and knew approximately between 965 to 970kms. We thought of Sundeep and called him up, but we realized it would have been very difficult for him to locate the phone. We checked with the convenience store owner if we could get some help with a car from one of the neighbors, but she mentioned most of them sleep early here. We got a wild thought why don’t we approach local police station, and luckily there was one a km away. She stopped a 2-wheeler and asked the boys to guide me to the police station. I parked my bike in front of station and spoke to a police, he called upon a younger officer. 

Honest Police dept of Thailand

Using Translator, I explained him that we are from India and cycling here and we left our mobile 22kms behind and if we could get help in car to fetch it. In less than a min, officer guided me into his car and we were on highway, I used BikeGPX to back track the route and kms, I stopped at 965kms and to my luck the phone was lying on the road side. I was thrilled to get the phone back. Police officer quickly turned around and got me back to station. We took a few selfies for memory and exchanged Line contact to stay in touch. While there was a language barrier, I was astonished at how quickly the officer could respond and decided to help without any questions. Police Officer since then continued to check our progress and how we were doing till the end CP. Meanwhile Shettappa called up and mentioned even Dhananjaya Sir had dropped his mobile and they rode back to get it. Seemed like mobile was heavier in the night for us!!

Hallucination for a co-rider:

We then continued with increased pace since we had lost ~1.5hrs in the mobile episode. We wanted to gain back that buffer. During all this, we found a Thai rider who was looking for directions and asked if he could join us. We were ok. After a while, the Thai rider started hallucinating, he would repeat “Dog, Dog”, “Sleep, Sleep”, “water water”, I asked if he would like a Halls, initially he was reluctant but later he got the taste of it and was asking for more. While he was slowing us down a bit, but we didn’t want to leave him in that state, so we kept talking to him. Around 1:00am, we were super hungry and Nakul/Shettappa confirmed over phone that no food was available at Police station or anywhere nearby. So, we were badly hungry and didn’t know how to ride through the night. Exactly at this time, we reached a town and the Thai rider stopped us at a stall where 3 elderly people were preparing sweats for the morning. We were super happy, the sweet was very special made of pumpkin and egg. 

Sweets at midnight!!

We packed 2 sweet boxes for later and headed to Police station, we asked the Thai rider to rest here to avoid hallucination. 

Cute bus stops of Thailand!

3 of us slept for an hour as Nakul had mentioned no place to rest for next 50kms. Despite a good rest at police station, between 3:00am to 6:00am we were riding slow due to sleep deficiency, we slept again for 30 mins at a bus stop, and the day broke.

Day-5 (28-Feb): 

50kms of tough stretch next to Mekong river:

Early morning 6am, we were enjoying the perfect view of riding in the hills next to Mekong river, it was rolling terrain, birds chirping, sun rise it was lovely. 

Lovely resort in the banks of Mekong river!!

But lack of food was bothering us, every village on the route only served non-vegetarian food, and they didn’t know how veg food looks like, we finally stopped at a town hoping to get egg fried rice, Prasad and me explained her what we wanted without meat and slept for 15 mins, when we woke up, food was ready but she had added chicken/mutton soup on top of it. We were disappointed and said, we can’t eat it, and give us only egg to eat. The lady wasn’t happy either since she could not give us proper food!! Sundeep stopped by and suggested nice watermelon nearby. Prasad got us parcel and we ate under a tree shade.

11:00am - Wat Thong Silawat (1143kms)

We just wanted to reach the next drop bag point at Wat so that we can rest here instead of enroute. We caught up with Dhananjaya Sir and Shettappa here, they were ready to start to next CP. Sushma, me and Prasad freshened up, and took a short nap for 15 mins in the A/C hall.  Dhananjaya sir posted a pic of watermelon, so we planned to stop there. We ate our lunch at a 7-11 and steadily progressed with severe heat stroke. We planned to reach next CP only by late evening as it was too hot to ride.

7:00pm - Nong Khai Culture Park (1258kms). 

Nong Khai is a model city representing Isan culture, famous for its serpent statutes and sculpture park. We took pic in front of 2 giant serpents. Street food was easily accessible, volunteers helped us find a store. Prasad and Sushma could guide a lady to make good omelettes and rice, that was filling. Next route was to pass through cycling track in the waterfront park, it was lovely sight to see the fun and festivities along the Mekong river. Next CP was about 84kms away, we chugged along to reach there by 2:00am. 

Day-6 (29-Feb):

A short nap and we headed to Chiang Khan which was 100kms away. We reached there at 2:00pm, we planned a 3-hr nap, we ended up starting by 6:00pm.

Mekong river view from Chiag Khan Riverside Resort

2:00pm Chiang Khan - Riverside resort (1442kms) - It was a loverly resort next to the river. We again caught up with Dhananjaya Sir and Shettappa and we all started together from this CP.

First 3kms was fun riding through cycling lanes watching all the festivities and cool restaurants. Shettappa and Sushma took off early and Prasad, Dhananjaya sir and me were trying to catch up with both of them. From here, it was a fun ride for next 50kms until we reached next CP (Hen-Om Coffee), Shettappa at his best, it was a laugh riot. Shettappa explained how the song “Kari mani maalika Neenalla” was adopted by Vicky Pedia and “Bellulli Kabab Chandru” got together and how “Rahulla” became “Kari mani maalika”. Since Shettappa works in Electricity department, he was telling us how conversations with customers go and how he got an award for handling tough customers over phone calls as part of his duty.

Roadside chatting in the midnight!!!

Shettappa is such happy go lucky person, he was loving every moment of the ride. He has tons of fans and almost every 10 mins he would be on call talking to them. Lively and down to earth. Never under pressure rather live the moment, his conversation with Thai people was super fun to watch, yet he was the only guy who could do this successfully and still get what he wanted, while all of us used to struggle.

Lovely hosts at Hen-Om cafe and the BR team!

10:30pm Hen-Om Cafe (1503kms) - Most of the BR gang was here: Dhananjaya Sir, Sundeep, Shettappa, Sushma, Prasad and me. We all had a delicious egg fried rice and a strong coffee. We did not take a nap here, rather preferred to continue hoping to ride to next CP (64kms) before 2:00am. 

Plan didn’t work out, we ended up reaching by 3:30am. We were amused to see street food market with hustle and bustle at 3:30am!! Nakul had rented a hotel 1km from this CP. He indicated its best to get some rest ahead of climbs. I found it to be a good suggestion. Rather than struggling in the hills, it’s good to rest and attack. We rented 2 rooms and rested for 3hrs at the same hotel.

Day-7 (1-Mar):

1607 to 1690 - the critical part of the ride:

This stretch was the most feared one due to tough climbs with gradients ranging from 14 to 20%. Almost 30kms of climb and 20 kms of rolling terrain and rest was downhill. We still had 12hrs buffer and it was sufficient to get across and yet retain 8hrs buffer.

1st Climb (6kms):

The first climb was about 6kms, similar to Nandi but with more gradient. 

Bamboo rice!! Yummy!

7:30am: With 3hr nap, we were fresh and energetic, Sushma prepared Coffee for 3 of us, and we then headed to climbs, it was barely a km away and we saw the giant wall ahead of us. With about 14% gradient, we climbed slowly, on the way up, I noticed a store where bamboo was burnt. Took a closer look to realize it was rice cooked inside bamboo. As usual I used translator to reconfirm its indeed rice and rajma only. 3 of us ate at another hotel. And then stopped for watermelon break. Since it was downhill we were cruising, then we met a Malaysian rider by name Tze Seng trying to stop me. He was shouting tire..tire. He showed me his Corsa tire, the upper skin had peeled off, so the tire could burst anytime. 

Spare tire helped a fellow rider: Tze Seng

He asked if I had a spare one. Luckily for this ride I was carrying a brand new 700x25 tire and it would fit his wheel perfect. He was so excited, he thanked us and we kept meeting him all along. At the end point he came back to meet me and said his tire indeed burst and the spare tyre was super critical. Meanwhile I messaged Nakul to keep his spare tire into my drop bag so we can carry that for rest of the ride. Our thought was since we were 3 of us, cumulative ~6000kms had to be run and potential tire issues could haunt us, so we carried a spare tire all along which was helpful for Tze Seng.

2nd Climb:

There was one last 7-11 before big climb, we stocked up, just ahead of climb we stopped again as it was terribly hot. Again familiar sight of Sundeep relaxing in his trademark Vishnu pose with his hand supporting the head. Sundeep is such cool rider, he landed prev day to the event and had very simple approach, ride strong, eat well and sleep well. He almost role solo in the entire ride, but in complete control of the situation despite long naps. A small pet dog was furious at us and was telling "you are not welcome into my house". We gathered leaves again to protect ourselves from severe heat. We started the big climb, toughest part of this entire ride. 

Forget climbs, look at the beauty!!

One 10kms long climb, then 4kms and then three shorter climbs of 2.5kms each, almost about 20kms of climb. Distance wise similar to Yercaud, difficulty wise it was way tougher due to gradients varying between 14 to 20%. Each climb was challenging us more than the prev one, we were enjoying every climb. 

Some 19% gradient!!

We stopped by for a few clicks of the mesmerizing hills and the gradient. It was almost the feeling of riding Anchetty, jumping from one hill to another albeit with crazy gradient. It started to drizzle, we packed our electronics stuff into plastic covers to protect and continued to climb. I thought the mild shower was blessings pouring down from good wishes of friends in Bangalore. We reached last bag drop CP at 8pm. 

Day-8:

2:00am - we woke up after a good 3.5hr sleep, now that all the major climbs were done, it was time to ride with ease, with good 6hr buffer we started descending the climb, next 15 kms were downhill, switched on both headlights and we were still wary of dogs hence we had to descend with caution, occasionally slowing down if the dogs were too close. Roads were very smooth, so it hardly took 45 mins, we now turned left for the highway on the plains, with easy rolling, no headwind we were cruising, idea was to ride as hard as possible until day light breaks. Nakul messaged us about the Lotus store at the junction, it was midway to the CP, we took an hour's break here, ate bakery items and tried to sleep for 30 mins. It was early morning hence the people were in a hurry to set up their stalls. We got ready and started rolling and the s

smaller highway was full of life, sun was about to rise, we were bit relieved that dogs won't chase now. Since it was almost last day of the ride we wanted to thoroughly enjoy every moment of the day. We stopped by a 7-11 and ate breakfast, and then stopped at a watermelon shop as Sushma wanted to take a short nap. 

What a conversation with this family!!!

Prasad was on his phone and I didn't know what to do, so I started conversation with the family. It was so much fun, all the dialogs were through translator. Soon, they all got curious and I ended up sharing about cycling and randonneuring life. They felt so nice, they offered us sticky rice they had prepared for their family.  We bid farewell to this family and headed out to next CP-18, a 7-11. 

4kms climb at 1808kms:

While the Garmin had alerted about the one last pending climb, but most of us had ignored this one, Gulzar first mentioned about it, its a 4kms climb and we were climbing with the red hot sun over the head (11:30am), though an easy gradient but due to heat it looked quite tuff.

At mid-point Sushma wanted a short break, we met 2 Thai riders and I was curious to know the age of senior rider, he mentioned 61yrs and he looked so strong, inspiring. 

Sandwich Ice cream!!!

They suggested we try sandwich ice cream, it was amazing. They bought us banana and we all started together to climb 2nd half motivating each other. We kept meeting the 2 Thai friends all along the route and even at the end point. At CP-18 7-11, we met Ve Sengsuk, a Thai rider with fluent English and exchanged pleasantries. And we connected on FB.

Sushma wanted to take one more short nap, so me and Prasad roamed around the market. We ate banana fry and mangoes, clicked a few pics. Sushma was ready and we proceeded ahead. 

Street food is so nice in Thailand!!

By evening we hit the highway stretch of 55kms, with tailwind and easy rolling, we were flying. I called up Shettappa to check if food is available at CP, he mentioned they were the last ones and the Owl Cafe would close by 6:30pm. So we planned to eat at the last 7-11 on Highway. We took a 2 hr nap after dinner and woke up to read messages. Shettappa called right then and mentioned they were close to end CP and Nakul was bitten by a dog, around 30kms before CP. He called up again and mentioned the same dog bit Sundeep as well. That rang the fear bell in us as we were next in line, I was mentally preparing to settle the score with the dog by hitting with water bottle or pump. We were 20kms to Owl Cafe, we came up with a safer plan, instead of rushing at night to end CP and probable dog bite, we thought of delaying our arrival. We slept again at Owl Cafe for 2hrs, there was bread jam, coffee available arranged by volunteers. We started by 4:00am so that we reach 30km mark by early morning 6:30am. We saw this black dog sleeping peacefully and didn't bother to chase, Prasad was joking that dog's quota for the day was done. Sundeep was later saying, dog probably bit the pedal as well and it must have hurt its teeth.

Day-9:

Sushma, me and Prasad with just 30kms left were cruising to the finish line, we called up Shettappa to enquire how were Nakul and Sundeep doing and if they visited any clinic. We reached end CP at 8:45am and were applauded by the volunteers, still a good 8hrs ahead of the closing time. And then the Malaysian couple, and then 2 Thai friends reached the CP. We all took photos with ISAN background. End CP was well thought out, volunteers knew we would have salt craving, so they kept guava, Oranges, apples and rock salt and chilli powder. Coke and Coffee were available. We waited for rest of the BR gang, and everyone arrived in ISAN jersey, we took group photos with tricolor in hand. What a wonderful ride ISAN 2024 has been, giving us a close look at Thai culture, beautiful nature, the Mekong river, king and helpful PEOPLE.

BR team and finish line with the volunteers of ISAN!!

Bangalore Randonneurs (7) and Hubballi Bicycling Club - HBC (2), Mysore (1), Hyd (2), Indore (1) and Rajkot (1) completed ISAN-2024 within the time limit, it was 100% completion rate for the Indian contingent.

Anoop (Organizer of ISAN event) came to the resort and met all of us, listened to our stories and we took pictures before bidding adieu. We invited him to ride in Bangalore so we can return the hospitality.