The few weeks before this trip I was so busy with
work that I could not maintain my promised training routine. The concept was
simple: to head out into the countryside around Vientiane every Monday to get
my legs and knees working again and to test Charlene, oil her and change her
gears. In the end, I was only able to go out one Monday and parking the truck
in a monastery, set out for about 30 km. Very few hills, easy going, but I
could tell I was hopelessly unprepared for the kind of tribulations the mountains
of Houaphan were going to offer me.
Also, Charlene’s brakes seemed to work just fine.
But I am getting ahead of myself.
One of the miracles of living in Vientiane is the
ease with which you can leave the city and quickly be in another world.
When I got back to the capital I went to change
Charlene’s tires so as to avoid a slipping mishap like I had on my last trip.
Unfortunately, the famous Willy had changed locations and I could not find him
and had to thus entrust Charlene to another’s care, which she did not
appreciate.
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