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John Mac
Trad climber
Littleton, CO
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Jan 22, 2015 - 06:11am PT
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That is one great looking Surly.
I followed your South American trip and will be following this one as well. Good luck and happy travels.
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
sawatch choss
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Jan 22, 2015 - 09:28am PT
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I used to like dogs. but after bike touring I have less and less tolerance for the mean ones.
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 24, 2015 - 12:51am PT
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Bicycle glamour shot.....
The bars are from Velo-Orange. I think they call them 'Crazy Dan bars' or something like that. Basically swept back upright bars with bull horns sticking out front. I think I like them but still working it out. Bought a shorter stem a few days ago to get more of an upright position. I think I could do better myself if I knew how to weld. But these are better than drops for me on long bumpy days. :)
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 26, 2015 - 04:13pm PT
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More Angkor Wat
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Delhi Dog
climber
Good Question...
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Jan 27, 2015 - 05:32pm PT
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Thanks for the info!
And, that place is quite amazing. We were able o rent bikes and ride around when we were there and I'd suggest it for others who plan on going there. It's probably pretty nice to have your on ride there:-)
Seems you're having a grand time-as usual, peddle on and keep feeding us the goods as and when you can!
cheers
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 11, 2015 - 05:41pm PT
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For some reason I'm not feeling the groove this trip. Partly I'm out of shape and pushing a hundred lb bike around the world is f*#king hard work. Partly its dead flat around here and hot and sticky. Partly ..so far .. I don't have any exotic goals to shoot for like climbing into the high Andes on my last trip. So I've been spending a lot of time 'recuperating' in expensive (totally breaking my budget) french cafes with AC and good coffee. Life could be worse.
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thebravecowboy
climber
just banana-jam it
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Feb 11, 2015 - 05:43pm PT
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Keep on rockin' in the (internal comhusfion engine)-free world! F*#k yeah!
And dude, I am sure there are ways to level one's head for an escape from the hot sticky lowlands! You are set up to pedal MONGOLIA, bra. I would trade my princely (ok not princely) year's pay to be in yer boots!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 11, 2015 - 05:47pm PT
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So, have you had still-beating cobra heart yet?
That should get you in the groove!
"How humid is it, Johnny?"
BTW, the geographers here wanna see a map!
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John Mac
Trad climber
Littleton, CO
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Feb 11, 2015 - 05:59pm PT
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Mike,
Keep on turning those pedals and I"m sure you will get into the swing of things...
Thanks for the update.
Cheers
John
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Type 2 Fun in progress? When the wanderlust is purged, come home and join the daily taco addicts!
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
sawatch choss
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Mar 18, 2015 - 04:49pm PT
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Get rid of some of that crap, you're in SEA !
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Mar 18, 2015 - 05:11pm PT
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At it again! Nice seeing you in Patagonia. Get to Iran...the people are very hospitable.
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 26, 2015 - 02:06am PT
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I've been ignoring you guys... but now I'm in China and Facebook (as well as gmail, google, google maps and youtube) are all blocked by the government.... so my facebook friends will have to do without my spray for a while.... and their loss is supertopo's gain. ha
Anyway finished with Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. Into Yunnan province now in southern China. Climate still like SE Asia... tropical rain forest and lots of teak, rubber and banana plantations. And mountains...though not as desperate as those in northern Laos. (Did I mention the day it took me eight hours to push my 100 lb vehicle up an 8 kilometer hill/mountain? Solid 12 percent grade without a break. Have you seen a grown man cry?)
Waterfall near Luang Prabang...the ancient capital of Lan Xang (land of one million elephants) the old name of Laos. Never did see an elephant in Laos though we did see some elephant poop. Was told it was was from a working elephant pulling illegally logged teak trees out of the forest. We also ran across a series of zoo like cages filled with twenty plus full sized tigers. Beautiful creatures and desparately sad sight... most crammed in two to a cage. It wasn't a commercial site but rather out of the way with no visitors and only two guards. We suspect the tigers will be sold for aphrodisiac parts to the Chinese.
Myself and an Australian botanist friend - Gary - who invited me on an adventure searching for some of the last wild teak trees in the remote mountains of the golden triangle in the Burma Thai Laos border area.
Southern China
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
sawatch choss
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Mar 26, 2015 - 07:10am PT
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Thanks for checking us in mike!
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Mar 26, 2015 - 09:29am PT
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Glad to hear you're still chuggin' along!
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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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Mar 26, 2015 - 12:10pm PT
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Very cool Mike!! What a rad adventure! Thanks for the report.
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couchmaster
climber
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Mar 26, 2015 - 12:42pm PT
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Mega ditto on all the thanks everyone else has sent your way Mike. Good to see things going so well! Keep on keepin on!
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
sawatch choss
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Mar 26, 2015 - 12:48pm PT
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Is the dotted line a river section?
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 31, 2015 - 06:40am PT
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No, that is where I was in a pickup while searching for teak. So I missed out on a couple hundred kilometers of riding. Fortuitous actually becuase the highway was under construction and the dust so bad... from a long string of 18 wheelers heading through the steep mountains to China -that you couldn't see the vehicle 40' in front of you. Pretty much un-rideable.
Anyway I'm in China now in Pu'er... the famous tea capital. 10 days of my 60 day visa already burnt and I'm nowhere near the real mountains yet. This is one big country. I think I'm going to have to jump on a bus to get further north. I want to at least ride the Tibetan plateau before my visa expires.
Tea groves
Two Chinese cycle tourists I met on the road. They don't speak a word of English and I have a Chinese vocabulary of about 50 words. ha
Anyway, after exchanging greatings with our smart phone translators they gave me a large jar of honey and wished me luck. :)
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, or In What Time Zone Am I?
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Mar 31, 2015 - 07:33am PT
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Your trip keeps me speechless. Almost anyway.
The only Chinese I know is "jum cha" or something like that for "drink tea". And I was married to a Chinese man for over 20 years!!!
Susan
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