Painful cramps
Mileage
| Date | – | 10/13/2019 |
| Travel From | – | Liajiang, China |
| Intermediate Location | – | |
| Ending Location | – | Kunming |
| Starting Odometer | – | 37,525 |
| Ending Odometer | – | 37,525 |
| Miles Driven Today | – | 0 Miles |
| Total Trip Mileage | – | 12982 Miles |
| Countries visited Today | – | |
| Countries visited on trip | US, Canada, UK, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland, Estonia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China |
I woke up feeling better, but had once again, suffered with diarrhea during the night, visiting the toilet as many as 40 times over the course of the night. So it looked like I was not in any shape to ride, so I once again deferred, and rode in the van.
Today’s ride
Departure
8:00 AM departure. But what’s more important is that, for the second day, I rode in the van, not on the bike. Today’s trip was about 400 Km, or 270 miles.
About last night
Last night was one of the worst of my life. At least, it felt like that. You see, after feeling like I was in the recovery phase, I ate a bowl of fried rice at dinner, and expected to feel better. But, the fried rice had some ham in it, and perhaps it was the ham to triggered a reaction, causing horrible diarrhea again.
It seemed that to ride the bike, in my weakened state, would simply be a bad idea. So, I notified the guides that I would keep the bike in the van for another day.
The ride
When we left the hotel, we knew that the roads would be very slippery. But, we were surprised exactly how slippery they were. About 5 K or so into the ride, on a rural road, Charles tried to pass a car, and found himself on some of the slicked roads that we had seen so far.
While applying light acceleration, he found that the front tire stepped out on him, and he went down like he was riding on Ice. When the van came upon him, he had already gotten some help from his fellow riders, but it would take him a short bit of time to regain his confidence.
At this point, the entire group slowed way down, as Charles’ incident was not the fault of the rider, it was simply what happens, when a two wheeled vehicle tries to ride on surfaces like this.
Lunch
Since I was riding in the van, sitting next to Tom, I could begin to do research on what to eat when you have diarrhea, and Tom took it all in stride as I asked hm for grilled chicken, plain rice, oatmeal, and things like this.
In the end, he delivered the goods. he got me 3 boiled potatoes, some boiled chicken, and some rice. Just what the doctor ordered.
The afternoon ride
We finished the ride, finding numerous delays, including a bridge that had collapsed just moments before we arrived. We attempted to reroute around the bridge, only to find ourselves 40 miles from the hotel, again.
Along the route, I had begun to experience cramps, which became quite painful, and debilitating. Arriving at the hotel, I did my best to find a bathroom, to see what I could do to resolve the problem…
What happens next?
Well, exactly what happens next is complex, and it involves some topics that are not for the faint of heart. So, I’ll stop the story here, and begin again with tomorrow’s post.
