Comin' DOWN THE MOUNTAIN!!!!!!!!!

Dalat - Nha Trang
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I spent two days pedaling to Nha Trang. I think I could have made it in one if it wasn't so darn hot on this ride day. By the time I made it to _____***EDIT: ADD CONTENT***_______, I was totally wiped. It was ok, though, because on the first day, many great things happened.

First, taking the suggestion of a kind Dutch woman I met in the market who lives in Dalat with her husband, I took the new road. This was a total blessing because the new road is so new it's not entirely finished yet and, hence, not a major transportation corridor (YET...bicyclists, get on your iron horses and get to Dalat!!!)! This route is so incredible, I agree with The Dulwich Boy (http://dulwichboy.blogspot.com/) when I say this route BY BIKE is by far the PREFERRED method of transportation for anyone with even a hint of physical fitness traveling from Dalat to Nha Trang. It's possible to rent a bike, a guide and a van that follows you down this hill and scrapes you off the pavement when the temperatures in the low lands melt you into a puddle.

Second, the day was monumental because I got to experience it for the first time with another westerner (two in fact) by bike! Sure, I've ridden with countless Thai, Lao and Vietnamese kids and youth in the countryside, but this was the first time I felt like I was experiencing the ride with someone else. For this, I say, I had my first cycling partners of the tour, Fred and Daniel from London. Mostly, we just confirmed with each other over and over that, yes, this ride was so epic it was nearly beyond belief and, no, we weren't dreaming! I needed confirmation, truly.

Third, I'm awarding this ride the "Best Brake Burner Award" for my tour. I've ridden some killer downhills on this tour, but this one is just so epic and so fast and such good road quality and such unbelieveably expansive scenary and so little traffic (cyclists: read, " reroute your tour to hit this downhill! and do it soon!") and such good visibility for oncoming traffic. At 30km on the nose, this was truly truly a decent downhill. Starting at 1500 meters and dropping to I'd say near 50-70 meters at the bottom over a 30km decent that comes in several sections and traveling down a valley whose canyon walls are so steap, one would not thing a road travels through it....WOW...what can I say. Even thinking about it in hindsight exilerates me!

Fourth, as I said, the scenary was just phenominal. The downhill isn't until 50 or 60 km into the ride from Dalat. In that span leading up to the descent is some lovely lovely pine forest. The road skirts the shoulder of Mt. Longbian and travels through coffee lands and other ag lands before setting out into forest. In my imagination, I was continually transported back to the Plumas, a pine and cedar filled land in California now sacred to me. Fortunately, for the 20km uphill leading up to the descent, I had company which made the climbing SO much easier!

THE DESCENT

From the pass, I looked down on verdent green forests filling a steep ravine that dropped in the far distance into tree covered foothills and then a flatlands. That was if I craned my eyes and peered through the thick, moist air. In the foreground, there was nothing except space. The canyon walls are so steep, I spent most of the time looking off at the canyon floor down below, ocassionally getting a glance at the road WAY WAY down below and laughing that that was where I was heading. In some cases, it took five or ten minutes to get to that location because of switchbacks. There was so little traffic and such good visibility, I spent most of my time tucked and hauling, rarely touching the brakes. The road switches back across a cascade I later discovered falls over 3-400 meters down the limestone canyon wall and there are plenty of opportunities to stop for a photograph or a quick dip. There are several long sections of rapid descent followed by flatter or slower descent, as well as the ocassional hairpin switchback. Looking up canyon, it's just lush, dark green forest and jungle. Falling 500 then 1000 meters, temperatures began to substantially rise and the lovely pine forest turned into lush low lands jungle. Ciceda sound like I've never heard before emanated from within the trees (not ordinary cicedas, I'm sure, they sounded four times louder!). I stopped a few times to get shots up valley, but mostly enjoyed what I called "desert." Hey, I deserved killer downhill after all that climbing! This had a cherry on top because I didn't have to listen to horns or look out for mad truck drivers...there weren't any!

Arriving at the bottom, the river squiggled away down toward the beach, out of reach for swimming because of a steep embankment. The road began to go up and down the foothills and in the heat, the uphills were nearly unbearable. I broke my own rule to never ride after 11:30 as we continued on to a lunch spot picked out by my friends' guide. We stopped for drinks and lunch followed by 12 more kms and then my friends hopped in their van and left me for the sands of Nha Trang. I'd have to ride on for another 3km to find a place to stay (a total rat hole, let me tell you...for 100,000 dong? What?). It was just a place to sleep. I woke at sunrise and hit the pedals to find there was little to no climbing remaining. A short 35km of flat land and back in traffic landed me on the beaches of Nha Trang. I made it by 9:30AM.

Let me add one last thing. There is one unfortunate thing about this route. The "New Road" dead ends in the flat lands in the "Old Road." I'm having a hard time believing that the two roads have anything to do with one another, but it's true. Buses will eventually travel (if the road is not upgraded) at outrageous break neck speed (I did see a few buses do this) on a one lane, potholed, smashed concrete partial dirt piece of trash road that is in miserable condition for about 15kms or so. If your touring this way, don't say I didn't warn you! (it hardly matters, though...the downhill would make 35kms of nasty dirt or gravel road worth it!)

The sun was out in Nha Trang when I arrived. The water was glistening in the bay and around the offshore islands. It was hot! I took some time to mellow out before contacting my friends' family where I was invited to stay, still reminiscing Dalat.