TRAINING IN PARADISE
A Mini Journey in Phuket, Thailand

Another mini-journey report, this time from the shores of Phabulous Phuket.

First a little background on how I found myself here. Last week the whole office was at an international conference in Cannes. Some of the guys took holidays before the conference and others took holidays after the conference. Me, I took no holiday. Seeing as I am taking July and August off, I felt it would be a little presumptuous to tack on a few extra days. However, it sure was tempting after enjoying that little piece of roadie-heaven. It turned out that the whole Singapore office decided to take this week off and therefore, I was drafted to go sit in Singapore in case "something" happened. We weren't quite sure what "something" was but if it happened then I had to be on the scene. As it turned out, it was a very useful few days and I managed to get quite a bit done.

I brought my bike to Singapore for the first time and as it turned out there is good riding to be found, if you don't mind getting up before dawn and riding while bathing in your own sweat. I did a great brick session where I rode out to the airport and then did a few laps on the airport service road. Street lights the whole way, next to no traffic (at least from 5-7AM) and two lanes in each direction. I have been training mainly hills on my road bike, so it was an excellent opportunity to dust off the KM40 and do a little head down and hammer work. Actually, it turned out to be more like a moderate power endurance session but it was still fun.

Seeing as I am not heading back to Hong Kong until Tuesday, I thought that I would spend the weekend away to get a little more interesting terrain for my weekend ride. My boss owns a villa in Phuket at a hotel called Amanpuri, probably one of the finest places in the world. Truly spectacular. He was kind enough to offer to lend me the use of his place for the weekend. Just me, my portable and my Kestrel. Needless to say, the hotel management thought it was a little strange for a young guy to turn up with a bike rather than a date. Still, the KM40 is a fine machine and we will be taking to the streets early tomorrow morning.

So I am sitting here at the desk in the villa looking out through a floor to ceiling glass door. The villa is on a slight hill looking down to the water through the palm trees. The water is calm except for a steady ripple running towards me. About two finger widths about the horizon an orange sun is setting into the Andaman Sea. A fan-tailed boat is cutting through the water and the ripples are catching the orange from the sun. Below the sun there is a little cloud on the horizon and it is a mixture of maroon and purple as the sun heads down for the night. This villa is sweet. The desk is located behind the bed so you could lie in bed and snuggle while watching the sun go down. To top it off, the bedside table has some purple orchids on it.

Today was lots of fun. My jet lag is sticking with me, not surprising as I have been going to bed at 8PM and waking up before 4AM every night this week. This morning I packed, wrote and arrived at the airport at 6AM. I was going to check in early and head to a pool close by for a morning swim. Turned out that I couldn't check in until 7:20. Well, I sulked for about 90 seconds, thought about binning the swim and then said screw it. I found left luggage left my gear behind and went for the swim. ***Nice things are happening out the window now, it looks like the sky is burning. It is the orange and red colour that you see when you look into the flames of a campfire*** The swim was only fair and I guess that I was still a bit tired from my epic session on Thursday. Back to the airport...

In Asia, my bike normally flies free. This time I had packed a little extra in the bike box. I made a strategic error and put my bag on the scale before the bike box. As a result, she was very quick to point out that I had 40kgs, double my allowance. A smile and an offer to carry on my other bag seemed to do the trick and I was in for no extra charge (particularly good as my ticket was a free one using points). I have had this happen before and it strikes me as a particularly Asian solution to a problem. You have too much baggage to check in so just carry it onto the flight and everything will be OK. Sure enough, it was OK as there was tons of storage on the flight and I even managed to snag a whole row of seats to myself - they were the ones that don't recline to nobody bothered. I spent the flight having a philosophical debate with my journal about the merits of marriage. I think I almost have enough for an essay. It is a little tough to debate yourself and I'll have to find someone who disagrees with my point of view to stimulate some additional ideas.

Arrived at the airport and found my ride. They had been warned that my bike was bike and arrived with a van. We tied the bike onto the roof rack and were off. The transfer to the hotel takes about a half an hour and I used the time for road surface reconnaissance. Things look very good for tomorrow. Clean and pretty good pavement throughout. I have been to Thailand lots of times before but unless you are thinking about riding, road debris is normally not something you remember.

A nice lunch at the hotel and then three hours of work before heading out for a long run. My run started late afternoon and the first half was killer hot. By the end, the sun was low enough to offer some shade and I even managed to find a guy selling Gatorade while I was running beside a golf course. He was riding a scooter with a sidecar. His scooter was pretty old and the sidecar was pretty heavy. I managed to catch him on a straightaway and he pulled over to set me up. He was even nice enough to give me a deal on the Gatorade, couldn't be bothered to make change.

Back to the hotel, swim, shower, shave and now it is time to head over to dinner - just as the sun dips below the horizon.

It takes about ten minutes to walk over to dinner and I enjoy the walk through the palm trees. The restaurant area is also very special. The restaurants are alongside a large pool. The Italian restaurant is off to the side at the top of a short climb above the beach. You can look down on the sand and see the waves breaking on the beach. There were about a dozen people sitting around the pool enjoying the last of the sunset. This left me with pole position for the restaurant. I get the best table in the house. Sitting parallel to the sea, right beside an open window so I can hear the waves and enjoy the last of the sun's glow.

The last time I had dinner here was in my pre-IM days. Things have really changed since then. I wondered if I would be melancholy coming back to the restaurant but I felt fantastic. In reviewing the menu, I had a momentary panic when I was searching for the appetizer that I wanted. Fortunately, it was still there - deep fried calamari and zucchini. For a main, I selected the fish of the day - which turned out to be red snapper. Now the big decision, the wine. I scanned the list for half bottles but they didn't have any. I also thought to myself - why is it that they only sell shitty wine by the glass and never the good stuff. I then went back and forth between the wine list and the menu for a while - trying to make the wine call. I even considered having a beer instead. Then all of a sudden, something went and I thought to myself, "you didn't come all this way to drink beer or shitty wine." I flagged the waiter over and asked the year of the Amarone. 94 he said. I have no idea if this is a good year but at least it wasn't 99. I tell him to fire it up and order the rest of my meal.

They bring me a huge basket of bread. Tempting me to break my no evening starchy rule. Well, I didn't even think about it and dove straight into the basket. Warm bread, straight out of the oven. I was in heaven. A good selection as well. I an steadily moving through the basket when the wine arrives. Fantastic presentation. They have the bottle in a wine basket with a lotus flower beside it. These guys understand service. My wine is poured and... heaven. It rocks and I have scored.

I kick back and survey my surroundings. Sipping my wine I notice a little gecko climbing the palm tree beside my window. I give him a little toast and smile. I close my eyes and listen to the waves break on the sand. I can feel a breeze against my skin. I worry that they might think I have nodded off - and come back to the restaurant.

Soon my calamari arrive. They are perfect. I can never figure out how they get them so tender at this restaurant. They are juicy and not greasy at all. My Dad is a connoisseur of fried food and he would have described it as a "light" deep fried, not overbearing at all. I think of Dad and toast him with a calamari. Knowing that this could be my only time all year to savour really kickass calamari, I am eating them slowly, one at a time. In fact, this is probably the slowest that I can remember eating in a long time. My buddy, Rob, has been telling me to eat slower - says it is the secret of his phenomenal abs.

Sometime during the starter I slip my watch off so I don't feel any pressure to get to bed for my long ride in the morning.

I could go on and on about the food - it really was that good. My main arrives after an appropriate break, where I managed to get a little more bread and a glass of wine down. High Fives to the man on portion control. It is a triathlete sized filet, covers most of the plate and is real thick. Once again, cooked to perfection and I get to work. The waiters are great and my glasses (wine and water) never get much below halfway before being topped up. I think to myself, "Gee, you must have had a fair amount of wine." I don't feel blasted and am having a great time. Perhaps it is the absence of the warm-up beers that I would normally have before a glass of wine. I make a mental note.

My fish runs out a little after I am full. Just the right amount.

I have a look at the dessert menu and consider the sherbet with fruit compote. The word compote really makes me smile for some reason. Even now (after the wine has worn off). Thinking that I have had enough, I wave it off down a glass of water. I ask the waiter about my bill and he tells me that there is no need to sign, they just place it on my room. He asks if I would like to save the wine for tomorrow night but lifts the bottle and finds it amazingly light. We laugh and I head off back to my room, with a fairly solid buzz happening.

My alarm goes off at 4:30AM but I am not really in the mood and blow it off. I wake up on my own at 5AM and hop out of bed. I feel a little slow but not bad at all. Legs are good, well hydrated and ready to rock and roll. Phuket does not have street lighting on the scale of Singapore so I have to wait until it gets light before heading off. Write my journal, sort my gear out, eat a huge amount of fruit and get a liter of fluids in me. At 6AM, it is looking good and I roll out.

My sunglasses are cold from the aircon of my room and fog immediately. No need for them just yet in any event. My plan is simple. Ride the entire island. No idea how long this will take but it seemed like a reasonable goal. Right off the bat, I am into rolling hills. My legs aren't all that warmed up and I am out of the saddle in my 44-23 (small wheels). I'm thinking to myself that similar gearing on my road bike is normally adequate but I don't know these hills so perhaps it is just me.

First stop is the town of Patong. This is a party town and there is a lot of my least favourite things about Asia going on here. Fortunately, it is 6:20AM when I arrive and most of those things are sleeping off impressive hangovers rather than clogging the roads. I make a wrong turn and end up doing a three mile detour up a hill that must have been up to a 20% grade. Getting ready for Old Stage Hill in July! How did I know that it was the wrong way? Well the paving ended and the road turned straight into the jungle. Definitely not the way to the south end of the island. Soon I am back on track and my sense of humour is wearing thin with the KM40. It is a great machine for racing but steep rolling hills and winding descent are not its forte. Two hours of this later, I am at the bottom of the island and the view is great. There is a lookout and the water is a deep blue. There isn't a cloud in the sky and the wind is blowing softly. I stop for a PowerBar and soak up the view. There was one highlight of this section of the ride and that is my spotting a Thai squirrel. Cute little guy at the side of the road. Tough place to be covered in fur.

Then it's back to work. Need to head north. The island is shaped like a very tall oblong. I had started at about 9:30 on the clock and now needed to ride up to 2:30 before turning right to get to the eastern most part of the island. This was new ground for me and I was hoping that it wouldn't be another case of steep rollers. I picked up some main roads and before long was happily down on my bars, pushing a solid gear, heading north and pretending I was back on the Queen K (the heat was there but fortunately no wind). The bit through Phuket Town wasn't great but I needed an excuse to sit up. Soon, I was back on the main road. Three lanes in each direction, shoulder and no road debris. They must sweep their roads a lot. The surface was excellent. Far better than you would expect for Thailand. I guess this has something to do with the billions that come from the tourism industry. I was one happy camper. Another thing is that there are bikes and scooters everywhere so the drivers are pretty good. Everybody gave me a wide berth - even when I was hammering along in the outside lane of the highway. No one honked, no one cut me off, everybody acted as if it was normal for someone to be on a freeway with a tricked out tri-bike.

At the junction for my turn east, I reloaded the bike, grabbed a coke and ate some yoghurt. The next 19K were great. Mildly rolling, big ring-able and I was able to stay on the bars. Great practice. There must be a pool somewhere on the island and even if there isn't you have huge open water opportunities, I think this would be an interesting place to spend a week getting heat adjusted for a hot race. The temps here are about on par with Hawaii, maybe a touch more extreme.

As usual, I hit the 3.5-4 hour mark and wanted to go home, pack it in and/or abandon ship. Fortunately, I was close to the northern tip of the island and told myself I could go home once I hit that point. I rode across the old bridge to leave the island and hit the mainland. It is a divided highway so the new bridge took me back to Phuket. I was heading home. One last stop at a gas station to reload and soon I was getting close enough to start thinking about my run. [It wasn't really that quick and took an hour but I did start feeling a lot better.]

Back at the villa, lace up the shoes and head out into some seriously hot weather. I have run around the hotel a little bit and know a route that is 40% shade. I get to my turnaround time and feel great. I debate going longer but then remember a tip that several successful athletes have given me... finish every workout thinking you could have done more. That was all I needed, I spin and head for home. This time for good. Back at the villa, my body is in full sweat mode and I treat myself to some fresh fruit, ice water and sitting in the shade. The pineapple in Phuket is the sweetest that I have ever tasted. Really delicious stuff. The sweat is still pouring off me 20 minutes later so I head for some aircon.

A few monster servings of R4, lots more water and I spend the next hour puttering around cleaning my kit. Lunch followed my shower and it was tasty. A solid feed of Pad Thai, Chicken Curry, Mixed Veggies and White Rice. Back to my room for a nap. Wake up pack the bike and **ta daaaa** I find myself at the end of the report.

A few notes... Phuket is bike friendly. People coming from colder climates will really suffer in the heat and I would advise starting at first light. I am heat adjusted from training in the tropics for the last four years and still lost a lot of water. Salt tablets can help some people. I used a few today. Also, remember to screen up with the strongest stuff you can buy. I use factor 50 surf stuff - stays on no matter how much you sweat. If you are running then late afternoon is also not too bad. The last two hours before sundown.

There are two monsoon periods when rain can be expected. Nov-Jan is peak season and has the best weather.

2 December 2000 - Laguna Phuket International Tri - Swim 1800m, Bike about 50-60K (hills), Run 12K. A great event and I may be back for it. IMOz qualifier race this year, lost its Hawaii slots to the new IM races.

gordo - 25 June 2000

Back to General Writing