RFNT Day 5 v2 - 116k

What up

Baby, this is what you came for
Lightning strikes every time she moves
And everybody's watching her
But she's looking at you, oh, oh
You, oh, oh, you, oh, oh
You, oh, oh, you, oh, oh
You, oh, oh, oh, oh

This is what you came for

Rhianna

Just penning this post from my local butchers..

Jumping back to day 5 this is the group getting ready to cross the mighty Mekong river in to Phnom Penh

On the ferry..

View from the ferry

We also got blessed by a priest - it seemed inappropriate to pull out my iPhone during that ceremony so no pics sorry. Turns out you don't have to be an ordained minister to tell it like it is..

All that's left is the 20 or 30k to the hospital tomorrow and that's it for another year. As we've done in previous years we all took ourselves off to the Foreign Correspondents Club for drinks and dinner. I've talked about the FCC in previous posts. It's got such cultural i history significance and longevity it's hard not to have a great time there. Doesn't hurt also only having 20k to ride tomorrow so the pop limits get relaxed a little..

Back with day 6 in a bit..

RFNT Day 5 - 116k

Anyone who has read this blog for a bit knows that I'm a big fan of Oscar Wilde. 

I finished a series of posts following a Cambodia trip a couple of rides/ years ago with a saying of his that had stuck with me since I first read it;

"To most of us the real life is the life we do not lead"

and

"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are other people's opinions, their life a mimicry, their passions a quotation."

He was also responsible for;

"Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow"

He was Irish, a brilliant scholar, author and playwright. He was also married with kids and gay. All this starting in the mid nineteenth century (1854 - 1900)

Some of the above I knew because I've been intrigued and fascinated by his life for quite a while and how it was he came to just "get" and then  articulate shit so well - but some of the stuff in this paragraph I just looked up now for you good folk while I was writing this.

Even guys who sit around for hours genuinely contemplating getting a tattoo of Wayne Barnes* head around the body's natural exit point or Whatsapping Kim Kardashian and one or more of her sisters want to read a book occasionally.

My father was quite a big reader and passed a bit of that on , particularly when we were young. Mum attended to the laughter , entertainment and social departments in our household. 

What's that? What has Oscar Wilde Wayne Barnes or my fathers bookshelf got to do with Day 5 ? 

Quite right. Ring all.

Caught up with Grizzy yesterday for a half a cup. As most of you know the Grizz  man describes himself as a modern man with traditional values. When quizzed about his 2016 reading habits unsurprisingly the big boy's straddling both the old world and the new,with paperbacks not yet a rarity around his Mt Lawley show stopper but with an ever increasing reliance upon the Kindle. 

I'll get day 5 completed shortly. 

*Wayne Barnes is the referee that refused to blow the whistle in the 2007 World Cup for the 5m forward pass thrown by a French outside back with the Tricolours scampering over for a 5 pointer to "win" against the mighty AB's by 2 points. To be fair to him he's been a pretty good ref since.

Phnom Penh airport on the way home.

Maybe 9.30am and that's wine glasses with wine in them - only a problem if you let it be..

L-R - Henry , Matty T and Sarah. Kent had just scuttled off to buy something.

Back with the Day 5 post (this time actually about Day 5 ) very soon

If today was your last day

And tomorrow was too late

Could you say goodbye to yesterday?

Would you live each moment like your last?

Leave old pictures in the past.

Donate every time you're asked.

Would you call old friends you never see?

Reminisce old memories.

Would you forgive your enemies?

Nickleback

I'm not sure Nickleback ever got quite the credit they deserve/d as lyricists.

Now I really am going..

Back in Perth

Home safe and sound via a couple of days in Singapore at Sarah ( my sister) and Iain's.

I've largely finished the post for Day 4 and will have it up later tonight - or tomorrow night at the latest. Have a thousand photos and just trying to match photos with day 4 and then 5. 

Jumping off course for a moment ..

I ain't accepting no excuses baby (no)

Don't brag about it if you useless baby (no)

You better blow me away, make a girl wanna stay 

Better leave a good impression fore you hit the door

Cause you don't want me talking bout your business on the low

Work

Kelly Rowland 

Ex - Destinys Child

Closer to home I went on a bit of a tear in the kitchen 5-10 years ago where I whipped up a few dishes and made a bit of a thing about it..couple of excel spreadsheets and such like that I left lying around with my signature dishes bolded and highlighted. I had always meant to get back to it but got busy at work etc.

Moving back to present day I

saw a recipe on the plane on the way home..

And with a rush of blood..

Got to be honest I wasn't expecting the response..served up that piece of inspiration tonite only to be met by Joey barking  out "Don't You Dare not visit the kitchen for nearly a decade and then slot straight back in with something of that quality. 

" Inch perfect" she went on to add.

 I'm paraphrasing but it was certainly supportive stuff.

Right, I need to get my nose in amongst those pictures and get Day 4 finished

Until next time ..from the kitchen ..

RFNT- Day 4 - 213k

Long day but an awesome day - in the hotel car park 6.30am and didn't get off our bikes til the next hotel car park around 6.30 that night - if not actually a little later.

Two options "today" - 130k or 213k. 

My brother in law Iain and I were doing this ride in NZ last year so we missed  the 213k day last year. Was fairly brutal last year by all accounts including head winds and rain so thick it impaired vision. Only two of the group did it last year.. 

Happy to report nothing like that this year. After some cross winds during 130-140k we had the wind mostly behind us for the rest of the way and all highway road ...bliss for those of us on our cyclo's 

Big Matty Talbot turned up today - ( my roomie in previous years)  he's been ridiculously busy with work so went the shorter 3 day version of the ride this year Not one ride in training but still smacked out 130k day 4 (day 1 for him) and 116k day 5. Impressive. Losing none of his individuality is our Matty T and the ride and charity is always the better for his presence. The big boy has started up Sidecar Sausages in Singapore where he lives which are gluten free and nitrate free etc. As my sister observed the only thing about them not free are the actual snaggers themselves. They are taking off..get on them..

Quite a big recovery session in the pool of Spring rolls and a few Tiger beers after the ride

One more cup of coffee for the road

One more cup of coffee before I go

To the valley below

Your daddy he's an outlaw

And a wanderer by trade

He'll teach you how to pick and choose

And how to throw the blade

B Dylan.

I caught sight of one of the girl in the groups Sarah's pictures of the day and couldn't believe how great they were so deleted mine and asked her to send me her whole days output..outstanding..seriously , how cool are these...I had to include them all - she's missed her calling..

Here's one of Henry and I getting our bill from the tuk tuk driver..

Back with day 5 shortly...

RFNT - day 3 - 115k

Leaving from the Hotel day 3

Pulled over for this snap

Some of the roads. The cyclo's (6 of us) actually gobbled this sort of stuff up.

One of the guys in the group spotted a large hole a little after this calling out "hole " fairly loudly. Unluckily for him he wasn't listening to himself as he then rode straight into it...

Rooftop bar after ride, left to right  Jonesy, Brad and Snowy .

If I get a chance I'll add to this..

RFNT - Day 2- 123k

Little bit cooler today - but 122k was still plenty!

Spills and thrills.

Hopped on behind the local equivalent of a Jims Mowing guy. His "trailer" of grass behind his motor scooter was perfectly shaped to draft behind.

This sort of terrain was fantastic for cyclo cross and mountain bikes alike 

Jonesy paid his optometrist $15 to adjust his sunnies to his exacting specifications.

One of the group needed to use the facilities. Went into a rest room out the back of a stop. Went inside and the securing of the door involved a string system versus the more traditional lock. Got the door tied down, bib shorts off and it was more your floor level set up. Took care of the next step as quickly as they could manage in the pitch black and 40 degree heat but in an effort to get out of there asap to rejoin the group back in the fresh Cambodian air has cramped pretty badly. After gutsing the cramp out and looking to wrench the door open to get some light, fresh air and freedom the opposite has unfortunately happened pulling the string / pulley system tighter. After some cries for help a local has responded to the SOS, using a carving knife to cut through the string. Good times..

I'm posting this at the end of day 3. There's some quite cool pics on day 3 and scenically the highlight of my trips to Cambodia to date..

Next post is half finished...

RFNT day 1-130k

Well..we know we're back in Cambodia.

Super hot. 

Bit of carnage out there today.

26 riders - bit of a medical unrelated to the ride meant 24 starters.

Hopes were up as forecast was only 33 but wasn't to be and got to 38 and 39 for a lot of arvo.

Some new faces and new characters which,  important cause notwithstanding ,is a large part of the appeal 

There's Aussies, Kiwis, Singaporeans, American (1) , Scottish (1) Dutch, English (2) and South Africans here..how awesome is that when it started with three unpopular Aussies. OK , three tolerable Aussies. 

Apols it took so long to get this up - just got knocked around by the heat and didn't want to get started with a listless post..writing this by the up rooftop bar - Having a Cambodian (beer)and are reasonably confident I'll be back talking a fair bit of shit within the hour! 

A lot of great characters and some little anecdotes starting to compile - this is building people!!!

From the desk of the King