Monday 18 January 2010 

After lots of anticipation and a very early start, much to Jack and Kels disgust, we set off for Petchaburi to start day one of the 800km journey.

On the bus on the way to Petchaburi we got a briefing from Chris, the tour leader, to give us an insight into the next 9 days on the road.  There will be motorbikes coming at you on the wrong side of the road; there will be dogs chasing you; there will be large snakes that you need to avoid, it will be hot and it will be humid, and there will be hills that will challenge everyone.  Gotta love that!!

We left Petchaburi waving goodbye to a bunch of school children who came out to see us off and rode 25kms to our first water stop. 

Doyley, Ed Jackson, Michael Jackson (no they're not brothers), Darren, David and Bobby set the pace at an easy 40km per hour!!  Thank god the next stop came quickly as we rounded the corner to enjoy a yummy Thai lunch on the beach.

Day one proved rather uneventful with no accidents - well not if you don't count Tony falling and hitting the concrete from breaking a plastic chair! Note to the rest of the riders, stay far away from Tony!!

Dan did a wonderful job pulling a trailer full of things for the orphanage and carrying a backpack with more goodies.  All in all he has to pull an additional 30kgs for nine long days.  Hats off to Dan - he did a stellar job today!!

The kids on the ride did really well, keeping up with the adults and sometimes leading the way (think it was Maddie's long legs that set the pace).

90kms down and everyone is in good spirits.  Lots of laughter and sighs of relief from a lot of the new riders from experiencing a flatter road than anticipated. Bums are a little tender but not too much to complain about.