I have been back home now for nearly two weeks.  With a bit of perspective, I would like to take one last look back at my cycling adventure “by the numbers”:

1,079 – Give or take a few this is how many kilometers I road on my tour.  Add another 25 km to that to account for a day trip I took to the White Temple in Chiang Rai.  That works out to an average of 98.1 km per day.

11 – Days of riding.  That is not counting the short day ride I took in Chiang Rai.  An additional 2 days were spent on a golf course in Chiang Rai, and one true rest (and laundry) day in Nan.

10 – Number of mountain ranges crossed.  On two separate days, from Chiang Muan to Nan, and Phrae to Lampang, I had to cross 2 ranges.  For 3 days, from Chiang Rai to Chiang Khong to Thoen to Phayao, I rode on the mostly flat terrain of the basins.

2 – the number of times I had to get off my bike and push it up a steep section of road.  Both of these were on the same day, between Phrao and Fang.

1 – the number of other touring cyclists I saw during my trip – it was a European woman I saw in Chiang Rai with a bike so laden that I am pretty sure she was riding back to Europe.  I don’t count the locals pedaling their cruisers around the many small villages and farms – these were too many to count.

2 – The number of times I crashed my bike.  I already wrote about the first time here.  The second time was even more embarrassing than the first, but two weeks on and I can now write about it without blushing too much.  I was coasting to a traffic light on the outskirts of Lamphun on my very last day of the trip.  I was looking at google maps on my iPhone which was mounted on my handlebars trying to find a pleasant route through the Chiang Mai basin.  I was not looking at the road.  I ran smack into the rear end of an empty trailer being pulled by a motor scooter being driven by a grimy construction worker.  Fortunately I was going slow enough that I didn’t fall over.  Smashed up one finger bloody good (literally), with only a small scratch on a break lever, and no damage to the very sturdy trailer.  A huge gash to my ego.  The only person more startled than I was the driver of the scooter his look needed no translator, it cried out W.T.F.!!!, are you $#@&^ing blind?!!! I tried laugh it off which was difficult with blood dripping down my arm.  I finally got to pull out my carefully equipped first aid kit, and I was back on the road again in 10 minutes.  I put my phone away for the duration.

398 – Number of dead snakes seen on the road.   Ok, I didn’t really count them, but there were a lot, as I discussed here.

1 – The number of live snakes I saw.  A 4-5 footer curled up on the shoulder.  I just missed running over it at 25 km/hour.  By the time I realized that it was a snake I was far enough down the road that I didn’t bother to go back and take a picture.  Now I wished I had….

0 – This is the most amazing number.  This is the number of flat tires I had.  I reckon this is because I was so well prepared with patch kits, tire irons, and spare tubes.  I never even put air in the tires.  This must be a testament to the quality of the tires that come stock on my bike, the Marin Gestalt 2.

-1 – My weight change from the day before leaving to the day after returning.  Thats right, negative 1.  I actually gained one pound.  I would like to think it is because muscle weighs more than fat, but I now the truth: No day’s ride, no matter how long or over how many hills, can make up for the prodigious amount of food I ate and beer I drank while on this trip.  I am talking 3 Thai food dishes with a plate of rice washed down with a large Singha beer, and chased by 2-3 Kit Kat and Snickers candy bars.  That is just an example of one of my 3-4 daily meals.  It was sure fun while it lasted; now I am struggling to eat only 20% of that amount and can still feel my paunch growing.

My cycling tour already seems like ancient history.  I am back in my usual routine of pleasant retirement.  But the itch is still there, this week I booked my next adventure, a 21 day trek to the base of Mount Everest.  Stay tuned!