It was, however, our last day of riding (and sixth day straight of pretty big rides) and none of us really felt like being in the saddle again. It didn't help that it was also raining - not very heavily, but enough to make the roads wet, muddy and slippery. Ryan was lucky that the muddy spray from his front tyre hit him in the chest, for (slightly shorter) me the muddy water hit me directly in the face. Needless to say, we very quickly became very muddy, and even more of a novelty to the locals we passed.
At our lunch stop, we got our bikes hosed down by a lady with a corner house that appeared to be set up as a car wash. I don't speak Vietnamese, but I'm pretty sure she wanted to hose me down as well. I managed to escape with an impromptu bath from a basin of cold water instead.
The last 20km of riding was rolling and fast (and thankfully a lot less muddy). We finished on an arbitrary hill once we had covered the planned 80km for the day. The Brit was the last to arrive and appeared down the road with an entourage of teenage girls pacing him on local bikes.
Done :-)
The Brit and his schoolgirl escort (who are all beating him up the hill at this point)
We loaded up into the van and drove the rest of the way into the city. This was the biggest city in the province and we stayed in the biggest hotel in the city. I can't imagine what the receptionists were thinking as our muddy and disheveled group tramped into their pristine white marble foyer. What I do remember, though, was how amazing the hot shower was that night :-)
One of the nicer hotels we stayed in
But the view out the window was typical Vietnam...
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