Bakers day out - Sailing and how to dine in style at 7/1

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Great day out yesterday on the bike.  It's my relaxation day and the distance between Bang Niang and Phuket sometimes does not seem long enough.

Coming back I wait until 5pm or so, load up at Makro and then it's off into the sunset... truly the best time of day to be riding north to the tip of the Island.  The colours come out beautifully and I am promised a camera next month so will back up my claims.  Got the timing wrong yesterday and it was 6:30 when I set off back and I was low on fuel. Bugger.. this means taking the whole mess of bungie cords off the back to get at the tank... gave the girls on the pumps a laugh though and they wondering what I was making with 10 kg of  chicken, 3 tins of beans, fresh parsley and coffee beans!  Give em something to gossip about.

I even had a Billy Liar moment.  As I approached the lights 2km North of Talang...  The ones in the middle of nowhere that are always red and nothing ever coming out of that poxy side road... that one... I noticed the countdown timer was on 14 seconds.  This gave me chance to time my run and hit them at speed.    As this thought entered my head, I was whisked away through space and time to the deck of Switchblade, one of my friends boats.

On the boat, were me, Mike, Lesley, Dave and Adam Bowers (3 times world champion) who we had done some racing practice with years ago.  He was teaching us to arrive on the start line at speed and at just the right split second.  B of bang was how he said it (Pron.  Buh of Bang) .  You need to be on the line as the gun fires.  So it was at the lights, I was coaxing the bike up to it's maximum loaded speed of 75kmph in order to hit the light change at speed.  Could hear Adam shouting at me  B of bang, b of bang, and so it was... The lights changed and I had 50meters head start easily.

After 3 days intensive race training (being shouted at mostly) we had Adam hooked on pies and bread so much so he came and made some with us.  Proud moment and another mind game played in the dark on the road to Khao Lak.  Maybe one day I should try concentrating on the road and leave the dreaming till nighttime.  Maybe.

Missed dinner due to the traffic so I stopped at the 7/11 just before Talang.  As much great food as there is in Thailand, I still love being sat at a filling station late at night, in travelling mode, eating such delicacies as ham and cheese toasties, stale raisin buns a bag of BBQ Max crisps washed down with a cup of scalding 3 in 1 coffee.  Bliss and I paid 68 baht for the lot.  During my youth I had been a drivers mate and indeed a white van man in France 2 years running, so I love the life on the road, eating at filling stations etc.

I really am starting to feel the travel bug gnawing at my ass telling me to hit the road again.  This is surprising me as I was setting this blog up to gain Pie fame in Asia, not to unsettle myself and move on again.  Anyone up for France and then the Transiberean Express back to here?