Here is the start of another mini-tour with friends Tim and Koen:

Sometimes the porch doubles as my bicycle workshop.
Today I was on the road on my Giant TT, and (bugger) got 2 punctures! 2 punctures is not good as I carry only 1 spare tube! I had to get a lift home, after waiting in a coffee place for an hour for Na's brother in my car.
Tubes with 80mm Presta valves are not common in Thailand, so the bike is out of action until I find replacements...60mm are not long enough, as I discovered by trying to use one on the carbon wheels.

I might have to consider carrying a patching kit.

Audax Randonneurs Surin held a 300km  event on 24February. It was their usual well-organised event, that pretty much circumnavigated the Province in a clockwise direction. Around 1400 the temperature had reached 38degC, but otherwise conditions were about perfect.

Audax events are not intended as races, but the randonneurs events involve recording of finishing places and times of all participants and so many treat it as an endurance race.

The usual good organising by Surin Audax Randonneurs club made this a memorable experience. The event sheet is written in Thai, which means I cannot understand a word of it. I was riding fairly quickly so ran out of riding partners by the halfway point and, inevitably, got lost...at the next checkpoint the club official would not stamp my passport until I had made up the 20km I shaved off with my accidental shortcut, but he offered me a perfectly good route to achieving the fix, and was so good humoured about it that he cut through my exhausted exasperation [180km already ridden] and I was pleased with the opportunity to back-track and repair my mistake.

A lesson for me...try to ride less hard so I don't run out of Thai language riding partners.

I was 8th finisher out of about 200 participants, and was quite pleased with my performance. The Gipiemme road bike worked fine, and I had no worse damage than a mildly sore bum and a few blisters on my hands. This was 50% longer than my previously longest ever ride, but did not feel like I was at limit.

Many of the riders used aerobars, and some rode high-end TT bikes...next time I might try that!

Here is the Strava record of the ride:

And, here is a Relive 2 minute recap:

A 65km race that attracted many top riders from around Thailand. There was a big crowd of enthusiastic on-lookers at each of the many villages on the route...there were pretty "pit girls"...the organisation was very professional.

Rode to Prachon Chai, then Prasat, then out the Surin highway to an interesting shrine, then home via Ole's coffee shop.

Met a Prachon Chai rider 15 km East of his city, and towed him home...resulted in more effort than I was intending to put in at this stage of the ride, but enjoyed the task.

Quite a tough 60km into a stiff breeze, but the return trip was easy.

At Surin I did 2 laps of the Bike Track...I was going the really push the pedals on the second lap to see if I could improve on yesterday's PB on the Airport Sprint...unfortunately, just as I hit the start of the sprint a small truck appeared on the path and right in my way...I slowed to less than 20kph to get safely around the truck and then accelerated...time equal to PB but I think the truck cost me 2 or 3 seconds.

​Still feeling the effects of the flu and asthma.

This morning I rode a gentle 113km on my MTB. I stopped a couple of times to make pictures, once to greet Na who was shopping in a town I passed through, also stopped for a coffee at my favourite Prasat Bike shop which also has the best coffee in town.

It was a mostly uneventful ride except that I was struck by a motorcycle, who clearly mis-calculated how fast I was travelling when he passed me at speed and then stopped on the shoulder of the road, tried to make a U-turn from the shoulder right across my path, and without looking or using turning lights...I was struck fairly hard on the left knee but managed to stay upright by grabbing the shirt the young rider was wearing...I said some fairly harsh words to him, and he wai'd me while scrambling out a string of "Sorry"'s. 

Here is  a 1 minute vid of the ride:
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And here is how Strava has analysed it:

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Olie Lim, proprietor of the best cycling/coffee shop in Prasat City is working on setting up a social cycling club. He invited me to participate in the first group ride.

So. today, a ride in 3 parts: 
#1 Ride in the dark from home to Prasat [23km]
#2 Meet about 40 friends for a gentle Group Ride [30km]
#3 Ride from Prasat to home [23km]

​Plenty of pictures were taken by two guys who did not ride bikes but accompanied the group in a support vehicle...

I participated in my first Audax event today...commenced at 0500 in the dark, and it was a eerie feeling in a tight peleton of strangers, on a road that was in fair to poor condition and shared with drying rice from the farms, with only fairly weak lighting from bike headlights.
My picture is of the first stop at Prasat Ban Pluang (Khmer ruin site) after riding for 45km...very enjoyable breakfast of rice porridge with the sun just risen.
The ride covered 211km total...the longest ride I have ever done. Organisation by Audax was excellent, and my fellow riders were friendly...I cannot blame organisers for me taking a wrong turn and riding at least 10km extra, or for a motorcyclist riding off his farm without looking and knocking me off my bike at about 190km from the start! I have a bit of skin off both legs and feels like the right shoulder AC joint is separated again...bike needs some work and helmet is wrecked.
​Anyway, I finished in a respectable time...now feeling satisfied, but knackered!
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Here is a slideshow of some images made by the Official Photographer for the event...

Here is an image of an 8 years old but still perfectly functional MTB saddle, after it has been modified by a family dog...
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And, here is an image of a saddle that had to be purchased and fitted before the bike could be ridden again...

Dogs are very helpful critters!