Sep 2013

Kanchanaburi, 28/29 Sep 2013

Ride report

Venue: Kanchanaburi, Blue Sapphire Golf ClubHares: Julian 'Moose Sperm' B, Roger 'Hot Flashes' E and Laura 'Loose Zipper' EDates: 28/29 September2013I've been a hasher for just over 2 years and I feel 2013 is a great hash year. We've only had amazing rides so far and this month was no exception. On Saturday, the weather in Bo Phloi - Kanchanaburi was slightly worrying: Dark clouds as far as we could see. But instead of the usual rain we get at this season, they only provided us with some very welcome shade, keeping the temperature down for the whole ride.The ride briefing was short and to the point with an unusual hornet warning: If you're not fast enough, they will sting! I haven't seen any and am assuming that was just a way of challenging the hashers to keep the pace high.And indeed, the first twenty kilometers were quite fast, only interrupted by what appeared to be a bottomless pit over which hashers had to throw their bikes. Shitty Shitty Bang Bang found a way around it through mud, but seemed to judge Kanchanaburi mud not up to his standards and climbed back up promptly. Also, it appears that we were all dreadful checkers (or slightly lazy )over the week end, with several checks being solved in 15 to 20 minutes. One of them even got us in a loop, when a hasher 'solved' it by going back to earlier trails.The following part of the ride brought me back to reality: Until then, I had not been riding fast because I was in good shape. I had been riding fast because the trail was flat. The mid-ride mountain (a 3km uphill on a dirt road) challenged us and took us high enough to allow for a mostly downhill second half. I think we all enjoyed very much the fast rolling hills, slightly technical single tracks and beautiful landscape. The second water stop (one after 10 and one after 35 km) was a welcome break before the last 10 km of equally great fast trails. I was tired, but still enjoying every moment!The circle saw the usual 'culprits' brought in as well as a new hasher who was taught how to swallow after being deemed to slow with her first down down. 8 visitors and 6 new members joined, but only about half of them made it back for the circle. Will we see them again?Last but not least, THE badass of the month was congratulated for his... some call it braveness, others call it insanity: He rode the hash on a road bike, wearing Crocs shoes.Sunday ride was as enjoyable as Saturday ride: same ingredients, slightly toned down difficulty. We were once again very bad at finding paper: Finding themselves victims of the first false trail, some gullible hashers followed a local farmer's instructions and led the pack straight to a closed gate, away from paper.Later on, we were given the choice between a regular and a family trail. The regular trail was a blast with plenty of single track. Once again: uphill first and then fast downhill interrupted by another tough check solved in 15 minutes..The last 10 kilometers were the same as on Saturday and I found it a lot of fun to go through the trail with a bit more confidence, remembering some of it.I did not attend the circle as I had to head back to Bangkok early so I'll leave it to someone else to write about it!On OnFrancois (Explosive Diarrhea).

Saturday

44.26 km, 399.0 m
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Sunday

23.27 km, 251.0 m
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