Day 21 - 'Pleiku' to 'Ea Drang'

After the previous day’s draining exertions (a monstrous 48k... in mild temperatures...on reasonable road surfaces... I jest; of course), the team awoke with a spring in our step - ready for our 100k+ ride to the small mountain village of 'Ea Drang'.
The first 2 hours were spent fighting for survival along the Ho Chi Minh Highway - with narrow, muddy, potholy roads not really suitable for our pristine bikes - not to mention the thick layer of fog limiting our visibility to less than 10 metres. However, we soon found ourselves on a beautiful 30k stretch of downhill road (potholes and aggressive drivers still very much a constant). Five long hours in the saddle took us through some extremely rural areas, and the vast expanse of surrounding flat land meant we were further exposed to the punishing relentless headwinds.

Nevertheless, we saw a road sign indicating 25k until 'Ea Drang', signifying roughly an hour left to go. Blissfully unaware of the huge mountains up ahead, we pushed on. The climb, though very beautiful, was a harsh 400 metre obstacle- not the ideal way to end a day, with our already tight muscles from the earlier 100k.

We finally arrived in 'Ea Drang', after consuming every protein bar, zero tablet, electrolyte gel and anything else reasonably edible at our disposal - at one point a passing motorcyclist even attempted to push Sam up the mountain from behind... but to no avail.

At present, George and Callum are stretching out and trying to prepare for tomorrow’s journey to ‘Buon Me Thuot’- while Sam was last seen splitting a bottle of vodka with Kran our van driver - we look forward to seeing who’s warm-down method is more effective.....

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