Day 14: A Lưới to Prao: On the Road of the Mountain King

“I remember it now, just one more little climb and then we’re almost there” so says our fearless co-leader, Atowne.  

Sidenote: Have serious discussion with Atowne on what actually constitutes a “little climb”. Point of consideration: a “little climb” does not contain >6% incline nor does it last more than 1 km.

Take the right fork and have a short cycle to Laos.  Take the left fork and be on the mountains forever.  We took the left fork.

Naomi enjoying a final cold drink and snacks!

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Today’s story starts in a little town called A Lưới, nestled in the mountains near-ish to the Laotian border. It promised to be a doozy of a day with 105 km of cycling through the mountains with limited to no options for food or drink in the last 70 km. Ten years ago, this day earned the moniker “Evil Bitch Day” because it’s hands down the hardest day of cycling on our journey, but it’s also the best day. The scenery is grand, the road is in fairly good condition, the downhills generally match the uphills, and the swimming hole is a refreshing stop.

As every H2H morning begins, we did our group stretching after eating breakfast and looking over our bicycles. Also per usual, we got a later start than intended (though we did successfully leave a bit earlier than usual owing to the difficulty of the day’s ride. We made the requisite stop for cold beverages and last minute snackage prior to really beginning our mountainous ride.

The cycling was hard, but after crushing the first climb of the day and traversing two tunnels, we had a lovely downhill into the swimming stream (Suối A Pát) . The Caboose Crew’s time at the stream was cut short by the thunder rolling in and visible lightning in the distance. We had around 55 km to go and had to push hard to make it to Prao before dark as H2H is a daylight-only ride. We traversed the remaining mountains partially inundated by the rain, but we all had brightly colored raincoats (that didn’t really keep us dry, but did keep us visible). Like all rainstorms, it eventually broke to far cooler temperatures and misty clouds that hugged the mountain peaks. It kind of felt like being in Jurassic Park, which I’ve since downloaded on Spotify to continue jamming to. It was especially fitting given that according to signs, we were in a Primeval forest. I was low-key on the lookout for the critically endangered Sao La because we were cycling through it’s territory, but also dinosaurs because primeval forest (fyi, this was a reference to the fantastic show Primeval).

We rolled into Prao and had very little time to do anything aside from eat and sleep and rest our weary legs.

-Justene

Sasha is on the road to the Frontier Area

Be on the lookout for the elusive Sao La!

Actual road hazards

Mid-ride swimming break

Beautiful roadway!

Mountains for days

Cycling into Jurassic Park

Roadside snacks with the lying liar herself

The road goes ever on