Grace (BikeHedonia)

Gravel traps like the ones on the outside of the corner at the race track? I'm great at those. Once highsided and flipped an R6 right into one. 10/10

Well I'm not sure I'd go so far as mastered.... but survived, yes!

As soon as I came back to Chiang Mai I was planning my next adventure - some off road exploration around Pattaya, down south. Up here in Chiang Mai we have beautiful (and kind of vertical) mountains but down there they have the great and the feared SAND. Oh yes, Pattaya is basically a sand hill planted bars and rubber trees and palm oil. I have never ridden sand before, so I did the obvious thing - drove 700km in one day and booked myself a dodgy CRF300L with slightly crappy tyres on which to fling myself head first into this new challenge. I knew the basic idea was to use throttle and body position to keep the front end light, but putting that into practice is a terrifying leap of faith. And guess what? I DID IT. I followed this local guy on his KLX as he throttled through the sand trails he rides every weekend, and I prayed to the gods of motorcycling that I wouldn't stack and break a collar bone. It wasn't pretty, not least because the CRF had fifty-fifty tyres instead of something aggressive enough not to deflect off the sand contours so easily. But I doggedly followed, and although I managed to kiss the ground a couple of times that day, it was NOT ONCE in the sand. Anyway, I finished that day's riding still terrified (and messy) in the sand, but resolutely upright. I took a day to recover from the adrenalin overdose and then - well, it's the old dogs who know all the old tricks, and the new ones too. I got in touch with a bloke who'd been riding this stuff for longer than I've been alive, and asked him if we could head out. He was up for it, and dang, I hit the jackpot, because this man not only rides like a champion but knows how to coach. Not only was he able to explain what I was doing wrong and what I was doing right, but he also had the knack of doing it in a way that inspires confidence in the student. I cannot overstate the importance of this. So we hit the trails together for two days. Coming back into town from the last day, we were chasing the fading light, because two out of three bikes didn't even have lights. So the pressure was on, and we hit race pace. Oh my gawd, you should have seen me smash those sandy tracks, even though I was wrung out from a day of chasing this insanely bike-fit bloke. In three days I had gone from cannot to definitely can. Which is not to claim that I'm any good at it, but the hardest step is always that first one, that binary one from cannot to can.

Sorry I got distracted by the next adventure.... short attention span haha

Well I made it back from my road trip, so if you're incapacitated by overconsumption of Christmas goodies, there are a couple of videos to watch while you digest!

Yeah, the hyperactive stress response is a really typical symptom of long-term or complex post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Basically you get so sensitised to danger that your monkey brain - amygdala, hypothalamus - kicks into overdrive at the slightly provocation, even if your analytical, conscious part of your brain (pre-frontal cortex etc) knows that you are actually safe, or that the threat is not that bad, or that you are not in fact about to be eaten by a lion. If that makes sense? It's a bit of a pain to live with, can be pretty exhausting, but at least all that extra adrenalin and cortisol usually makes me more useful in an emergency rather than the other way around!

You're quite right, it does take some time to wear off, especially for me - I tend to have a hyperactive stress response, which doesn't really help. I stay switched on for days and then I kind of collapse a little bit, and like you say, I just need to give myself the time and space to process that. Thanks for the wise words. You'll be happy to know that old mate has had surgery is doing much better. It will be a long road to recovery but he's going to be okay.

Ha, where did I get to... there's been some excitement, some good some bad. I took a 600km detour to go meet a friend of a friend, which was awesome, we had beers and pizza and talked for hours. Turns out he runs a podcast called Inspirational Living, which is basically just the wisdom of centuries of thinkers - on how to live a good life - condensed into 20 minute chunks for our easy delectation. The conversation was definitely worth riding 600km for, even if it took me into the flatlands. As usual my tiny week-long jaunt turned into a rather more lengthy roadtrip; you know, I get distracted and before I know it, it's day 11 and my friends in Chiang Mai are all wondering if I'm ever coming back. Anyway sobering story now, while riding back up one of my favourite mountain ranges - it puts you on top of the world, or so it feels - I came across a very bad accident and spent some time assisting to scrape old mate off the road. Poor fella, his legs are toast. But I think he'll be mostly okay. I mentioned in the video how everyone says never to stop at the scene of an accident in Thailand, and how the other foreign motorcyclists just went past, and signaled for me to do the same. The reasoning behind this is that people say never to stop at the scene of an accident because, as a foreigner, you will immediately be blamed and sued/extorted for money, even the accident wasn't your fault and had nothing to do with you. So everyone says you should just keep going and leave people bleeding on the road. Well, my conscience won't let me and I also choose not to take such a jaundiced view of the world, which is probably naive and may get me in trouble sometime; but you have to live by your convictions.

There is only a little bit of covid in that particular province, but it's around and nobody wants to catch it. In Bangkok and Chiang Mai the risks are much higher. But mask wearing in public places like shops, markets and schools is quite prevalent because Thai people are very polite, so it's become second nature to wear masks when in settings like this, unless of course eating or drinking. It's expected of you - not wearing a mask would be considered very bad manners, a sign that you don't care about the public good.

So a bit of a hiatus there, couple of days just catching up with my mate over beers. Really (apart from motorcycles) this is what life is all about. Also, deliriously happy to get cuddles from the giant bulldog (staffy cross?? who knows) Jackie, who is the biggest teddy bear of a dog despite looking scary as hell and having the physique of a large boulder. Went down to the village high school and did some guest teaching. This is not a part of Thailand where the kids have any real opportunity to practise with native English speakers, so we spent a couple of hours with them, mostly just building confidence. At around 13 years old, all the kids have been studying English for years, but were more hesitant on the speaking and listening than reading and writing. So we just spent some time having a laugh, finding out about what they like to do for fun (I learnt a lot about k-pop, anime and video games) and getting them used to speaking English with people who have wildly different accents: Australian, and a Louisiana accent which comes straight from the bayous. (Truly an awesome accent, and surprisingly, one which the kids found really easy to understand.) I also decided that my tyres were going to kill me soon. They aren't worn out but manufactured in 2016, and tyres don't last in this climate. (Obviously I didn't buy these tyres - they were on the bike when I bought it this year.) Anyway the rubber was going off, it was hard and dry with no grip. So that became my new mission: find good tyres in Issan and try not to die...

Thank you SO MUCH for the feedback, it is really appreciated. It's hard to know when you're on the right track sometimes - please continue to give feedback as freely as you feel comfortable. Gratefully received.

Yes indeed, we have entered the season of perfect weather. It should be delightful until Feb/March when it will turn into a smokey hellscape

Day... um.. 3? Road tripping does tend to erode one's sense of time.

Here is my day 2 route, I love these roads. Twistie and deserted. The only ones I like better are the ones heading north across the Sirikit Reservoir (you need to take a ferry). On the opposite side of that ferry trip is 22km of what I consider some of the most fun roads in Thailand. *chef's kiss" Perhaps I will head back that way. https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Muang+Uttaradit+Municipal+Office,+Tha+It,+Mueang+Uttaradit+District,+Uttaradit/17.7267532,100.6853329/17.5001601,101.0760344/Saloon+Loei,+Ruam+Pattana,+Kut+Pong,+Mueang+Loei+District,+Loei/@17.6230145,100.6304016,10z/data=!4m18!4m17!1m5!1m1!1s0x30df303d8d1d0f95:0xe0f1ba4b7b2c0315!2m2!1d100.0960692!2d17.6229023!1m0!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x3121474ad0c225b1:0xb58d154cd003e0d9!2m2!1d101.7262631!2d17.4885646!2m1!2b1!3e0

Thank you! The updates are rolling over on Youtube but I forgot what the hell my password was for this site so couldn't log in from my phone lol. I really must reset that password. Anyway, as I mentioned earlier this whole contemporaneous sharing thing is all new to me, I usually only share highlights well after the fact. So I am keen to find out if my waffling hits a chord or not. All thoughts on this much appreciated.

First episode of the live roadtrippin is up... it's a blog post here... https://bikehedonia.wordpress.com/2021/12/05/road-tripping-in-real-time/?fbclid=IwAR0lzBLOVdrMGJSkzpC-kwtpc_CTmBuPpvqF2JLJ_RGnmgIDv5A9nABNSNA

About two or three thousand, depending on how the fancy takes me

Going on a road trip! Leaving tomorrow on the CBR. Gonna ride across half of Thailand, going solo again, can't wait. I kind of wish I had the KTM with me here in Thailand so that I could go explore some sketchy dirt roads up near the Laos border but you can't always get what you want; and the CBR will be a bundle of fun on those twisties. And...I just can't wait to get back on the road, even if it's just for a short (week, maybe?) outing. The second wave of covid here in Thailand has kept me confined to Chiang Mai province and sheltering up on my mountain for months now, and it's an unfamiliar feeling to stay in one place.

Lovely photos! Sounds like you made the most of the day. Definitely doing it right

I've decided that after five years it was time for a new introduction video - since wow, things have not turned out the way I predicted! I thought I'd be in Paris within 18 months... now it's been 5 years, I haven't made it to Paris and the destination has changed anyway - from Paris to everywhere...

Hey, have you tried Scribd? They have a great range of ebooks and audiobooks for a flat $8.99 USD per month. You can stream or you can download the books onto your phone/device for offline reading. I loooooove it. The audio books are really good too, the nonfiction ones are usually read by the author and I love that. Here is an invite link - full disclosure, if you use it I get a free month of subscription - but I think it also gives you a 28 day free trial. https://www.scribd.com/g/93z13v (If it doesn't give you the free trial, have a look around on the homepage, because the free trial is definitely a thing.)

Indeed it was. Thanks for reading

Oh and yes, definitely unhinged, the evidence is beyond refutation

Actually it is not, I have to admit to being somewhat dubious as to the legitimacy of the word strikhedonia, although naturally I love the sentiment. It's not in any dictionary except the urban dictionary; perhaps it will be included in due course. Nothing wrong with a good neologism. But bikehedonia is simply a portmanteau of bike and hedonia - hedonia being pleasure, specifically of the more earthly sensation kind. This is the type of feeling that riding - and riding away - gives to me. Hence the name. In retrospect, I think it is very poor branding because half of the english speaking population don't seem to know how to pronounce hedonia or know what it means, but I made it up years ago and it's too late to change it now. It does have the benefit, however, that if anyone searches bikehedonia on the internet they are unlikely to be confused by an overabundance of results unrelated to myself