Cyclo Tour

2010-03-13 Saturday

Awoke at 07:15 feeling like I had not slept much. I had thought of running but with the Cyclo tour today I didn't run.

Our Cyclo tour headed off in two groups. To see photos of a Cyclo and the tour take a look at my Flickr account

Our itinerary was

• Central Market
  
• Wat Phnom
  
• Royal Palace
  
• National museum
  
• Lunch
  
• Russian market
  
• Back home
  

At the central market I purchased a hat, I did not find my glacier hat in the suit case so I needed a hat to cover the almost bald spot.

On the way to the Royal Palace one of the Cyclos had a flat and we waited about 20 minutes for him to join the group. It was hot waiting in the sun.

From the Royal palace and museum it was a good long ride to lunch. About ½ way I asked the driver to stop and we switched places. I gave him my camera and he sat in the passenger seat, I drove.

Anatomy of a Cyclo.

• It is a single fixed gear. That means when the back tire goes around, the peddles go around. You can use the peddles to slow down but they still go round.
  
• The brake is a round ring behind the driver's seat. It is not hard to reach once you become accustomed to it but the first time it is hard to find.
  
• Steering – it's very sensitive.
  
• It is easier to peddle at higher speed than lower speeds but it is much harder to control at higher speed.
  

When I took over as the Cyclo driver there was straight stretch on which to get my legs.


As we went along, there were hoots and hollers from other Cyclo drivers and people along the street not to mention the hearty laughing of the other volunteers.

The first traffic circle! How did the original driver do this? Rather than going directly across the line of traffic, I went right and hoped to merge in with the traffic and then cut out again. Luckily there was not much traffic. I got through but not in great Cyclo style.

Another straight stretch. This one had some bumps to slow traffic down, now I see why the driver would slow down for them. You can really feel them as the driver. I picked up a little speed my feet came off the peddles. It was quite tricky at this speed to get my feet back on the peddles while they were spinning around.

Oh MY God the biggest and one of the busiest traffic circles in Phnom Penh. I was trying to steer, watch out for cars, motor bikes, people, find the brake, and keep my feet on the peddles. I looked around, all of the other Cyclos were on the very left of the lanes and I was on the right. I saw their logic; they had many less lanes of traffic to cross. Slow and easy, I started to turn left across what looked like 10 lanes of traffic. I came close to one motorbike. I just about fell off when I saw the driver waving at traffic to stay away. Three more close calls. A motorbike stopped in front of me, I missed it by only millimeters. Whew. Somehow I made it across the intersection onto a slightly downhill road with much less traffic. After the intersection I decided to go slowly.

I pulled up at the restaurant and hopped off, lifted the back wheel of the Cyclo up about 18 inches, this tips the front down to the passenger can get off easily. The driver was impressed. He congratulated me. I think he may have kissed the ground once I went inside for lunch.

While pushing the peddles I did not notice how hot I was. At lunch they came around with bottles of water. WOW did I need that. I had only peddled two kilometers but I was roasting. Everyone in the group was complementing me on having made it in one piece.

After lunch we all got back into the Cyclos. I did not try to drive. I planned to head back to where I was staying. Everyone including my Cyclo headed to the Russian Market. I do not speak any Kmier so I went along.