I Sweat Therefore I Am

Written by Amy Lyon

The training miles we racked up during the spring and early summer helped our bodies get used to having our butts on a little narrow padded seat for hours at a stretch, and got our muscles familiar with the rhythm of cycling. I passed through several stages during our training. First my neck needed to adjust to being crooked forward, which it did; then my legs came to understand the endurance part of cycling. We also learned techniques that helped us employ our core body strength instead of relying solely on our leg muscles. And all the training gave me confidence, that I really could go to Vietnam in the middle of the summer, ride 500 miles, and survive.

Then there is the on the job training - which is 75%. One of the reasons to go bicycle in Vietnam RIGHT NOW is that it is not yet a country in which every citizen has a car. What we had to learn was how to bicycle with the motorbikes, how to blend into the moving traffic, how to circumvent rotaries, how to cross streams of oncoming motorbikes and how to pass slower moving cyclists, pedestrians, and animals while being passed ourselves. When we started in Ho Chi Minh City we were relieved to be transferred by bus out of town before we started riding. After 10 days of this on the job training, while riding through a congested town, Jonathan yells, “Bring on Ho Chi Minh City, I’m ready!”

The heat. We had it and had to constantly manage it. This became apparent after the first full day of cycling left us sunburned having sweat off all the suntan lotion. We were our own personal saunas, cleansing our pores non stop day in and day out.
On day four I had a bit of sunstroke. By kilometer 50 of an inland loop off Route 1, the only major north/south highway, I felt like I was riding with an extra 50 pounds strapped on my back. With only five kilometers to go I climbed into the bus. Stick a fork in me, as Jarrett, Jonathan’s trainer would say, I was done.

I was more than done. I poured water on my head, down my back, cooled off my feet, and drank more water. We, the driver and assistant and me, followed the rest of the group for the final bit and picked everyone up and headed to the coastal town of Qui Nhon, to a beautiful resort on the bay. Jonathan too was feeling unwell and after dragging ourselves to lunch, in order to make sure to eat, we spent the afternoon napping in the cool and dark hotel room. At dinner we were slightly better, and by morning, pretty much recovered.

Rebecca, having light freckled skin, donned herself as the Vietnamese women do, with long gloves, dubbed wedding gloves, that go entirely up ones arm. The Vietnamese women, despite the heat or because of it, cover themselves from head to foot. At the top is their conical hat. They wear long sleeves and long pants and masks over their faces. We tried the masks, but they interfered too much with our breathing.

It was impossible to avoid the hottest hours of the day (11:00 am to 4:00 pm) and still get in all the miles that Mike had conjured up, Tanh so well orchestrated, and Shari demanded. So we learned. Our bodies learned in their inexplicable way. By the end of the trip, we seemed better adjusted to the heat, although the third to last day when we left the state forest and rode for hours over levees in the fullness of the sun, we became fatigued. Tanh suggested the reason it affected us so much that day was that in late morning, after a tough eleven kilometer uphill climb, we all pressed to get back down in time to visit the primate center before lunch. The downhill, did include three good inclines, and we pushed ourselves over them. This, he said, took a toll, and if we had not pressed, if we had rode at a comfortable pace, we could have ridden forever. He certainly could.

We were fortunate to have Tanh as our guide. Due, in no small part, or perhaps totally, to Mike’s insistence that we have a good one. Tang came in second in an all Vietnam race between tourist cyclists. Small and wiry, he never seemed to change his gate, and although he did at times admit he was tired, it was not often. And, as he told us, he sleeps well every night.