Today Bluey went into the Longkang.
The day started like any other day in a town in Thailand. Daytrip for the day once I have set up nest in a hostel for two nights and this time I was heading for a ride along the coast of Chumphon towards the south.
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| Bluey In a Ditch in Chumphon |
The day started like any other day in a town in Thailand. Daytrip for the day once I have set up nest in a hostel for two nights and this time I was heading for a ride along the coast of Chumphon towards the south.
The actual route was still a blur, unplanned and improvised along the way. Day trip was always like this ... a general direction a formation of a loop and decision along the ride to detour to see stuff off the main road
Eventually I end up trying to climb another view point at Khao Phang Pang Viewpoint in the Mu Ko Chumphon National Park.
It was a steep climb. 1st gear slowly ... go up and up switching to second on more gentler slopes but the final stretch was a long straight uphill steep slope almost 40 degrees I think of 10%. who knows but it was steep.
I was going and all the time I though yes Bluey you can do it ... slowly ... ugh the screech was so loud I felt bad for Bluey and slow down the throttle. Bad decision for once Bluey slowed down there was no picking back up again.
Eventually I end up trying to climb another view point at Khao Phang Pang Viewpoint in the Mu Ko Chumphon National Park.
It was a steep climb. 1st gear slowly ... go up and up switching to second on more gentler slopes but the final stretch was a long straight uphill steep slope almost 40 degrees I think of 10%. who knows but it was steep.
I was going and all the time I though yes Bluey you can do it ... slowly ... ugh the screech was so loud I felt bad for Bluey and slow down the throttle. Bad decision for once Bluey slowed down there was no picking back up again.
I was nearly at the top, 25 m at most and Bluey slowed to a stop. I jammed the brakes before Bluey started rolling backwards and the tire locked nicely with the brakes and for a moment, just a moment Bluey and I was stationary.
Then we started to slide backwards ... f*ck.
The slope was so steep that with Bluey weight, gravity was pulling us down the slope and the friction from the tires to the road was not enough to stop us from sliding back. It was a long way down this steep slope and I tried to turn the front wheel to rotate the bike sideways where it would stop sliding backwards inline but alas I turn the wheel left side.
Well it was natural to turn left side ... you park left side, steer left side so when you turn in emergency to stop sliding it would be left side ... but left side means I would now gostan towards the leftside too which was a longkang and a ditch.
Better a ditch than sliding high-speed downhill which who knows what kind of damage the impact will do to me and Bluey. We slide maybe 2m backwards before we ended up dropping into the ditch and I lost control on impact to the shrubs and branch along the cut wall of the mountain.
Bluey stopped now ... safely jammed in the longkang and I got a big punch to my left side rib-cage from the shrubs and roots.
Intentional entering of the longkang is what i tell people now. Best decision at that time. The fact is ... at moments like this whatever decision is the best decision for there is no time to react more than that immediate action.
Then we started to slide backwards ... f*ck.
The slope was so steep that with Bluey weight, gravity was pulling us down the slope and the friction from the tires to the road was not enough to stop us from sliding back. It was a long way down this steep slope and I tried to turn the front wheel to rotate the bike sideways where it would stop sliding backwards inline but alas I turn the wheel left side.
Well it was natural to turn left side ... you park left side, steer left side so when you turn in emergency to stop sliding it would be left side ... but left side means I would now gostan towards the leftside too which was a longkang and a ditch.
Better a ditch than sliding high-speed downhill which who knows what kind of damage the impact will do to me and Bluey. We slide maybe 2m backwards before we ended up dropping into the ditch and I lost control on impact to the shrubs and branch along the cut wall of the mountain.
Bluey stopped now ... safely jammed in the longkang and I got a big punch to my left side rib-cage from the shrubs and roots.
Intentional entering of the longkang is what i tell people now. Best decision at that time. The fact is ... at moments like this whatever decision is the best decision for there is no time to react more than that immediate action.
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Bluey now has a broken mirror and apart from that he’s ok. Back brake light was not really working, faulty connector but the local people at downhill where I rested after coming down helped me modify and fixed it to good working order.
Myself, I have scratches on the left side of my body near the kidney and under the arm. No broken bone I think since there is no pain unless I try to move and even then if I move frequently the pain subsides. It feels more like a bruise and hopefully that's all it is.
I have to mention that thanks to another Thai lady rider riding a 150 cc Yamaha bike sight seeing the same route I was going, she was able to help me go downhill and get help from the locals at the national park. A whole bunch of them came and helped carry Bluey out of the ditch.
I never made it to the top of Khao Phang Pang Viewpoint. This will be one place that is now unfinished on my list. I never planned to see it, it was a day trip and a decision on the road to detour to the viewpoint but now it has become a list where I will visit someday in the future to know if the hard effort of trying to climb that steep road was worth the view.
Myself, I have scratches on the left side of my body near the kidney and under the arm. No broken bone I think since there is no pain unless I try to move and even then if I move frequently the pain subsides. It feels more like a bruise and hopefully that's all it is.
I have to mention that thanks to another Thai lady rider riding a 150 cc Yamaha bike sight seeing the same route I was going, she was able to help me go downhill and get help from the locals at the national park. A whole bunch of them came and helped carry Bluey out of the ditch.
I never made it to the top of Khao Phang Pang Viewpoint. This will be one place that is now unfinished on my list. I never planned to see it, it was a day trip and a decision on the road to detour to the viewpoint but now it has become a list where I will visit someday in the future to know if the hard effort of trying to climb that steep road was worth the view.
In my mind ... it must be a one of a kind view ... but for now I’ll not know till I come back and see it again.
Traveled on : October 2018
Traveled on : October 2018
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