I'm still hoping that the knee will just get better on its own. There is nothing in my cycling history or life history to suggest that there was a looming problem. No arthritis or inflammation or anything like that. I'm still just hoping that I strained something and given time, it will heal. Though I spent quite a few days off the bike in Pekanbaru, and when I started cycling again, the pain came right back. That was disappointing. I rode for just one day. And now I'm staying off the bike for two days. Then try again. Rinse and repeat and maybe things improve... You make an interesting point about how our brains seem to filter out the hardships and keep only the good memories. I've experienced that myself. And I think that led to me embarking on this cycling trip so casually. I'd forgotten just how hard it is and how tough it can be. I just sailed off to Sumatra with my bicycle and figured I'd ride it up the mountains to Bukittinggi. Why not? I've ridden the bike longish distances in the past. I remember it being very rewarding. But once you are on the bike, you remember that it wasn't all roses. And now I wonder to an extent what could have possessed me to think I could go from almost total inactivity to riding the bike in this heat and record the experience on video? That's a challenge, and my brain may have conveniently filtered out those challenges. 😀

I have been telling that Doug for a while, to no avail.

It's a weird thing, though. There is no actual swelling or inflammation or any pain at all when I'm off the bike. I don't feel a thing. I can walk normally and even run and do anything I like. The pain only kicks in when I'm on the bike and pedalling. I'm not an expert in how knees work, but this doesn't feel like anything that a hot or cold wrap or compress would help with. It doesn't feel like a brace would do anything either. Anyway, for all I know, one of those things would help, but it didn't occur to me to even look for anything like that. If the problem continues, I can try one of those remedies and see what happens. 🙂

@PlanetDoug That is indeed odd to be occurring while only pedaling. I'm of the mind that at this point, what have you got to lose to try. So, I would try at least pain patch product like IcyHot patch temporarily to see if it helps or not, to give it a shot.

I used Booking while I was in Thailand and before that a little bit. It was my main online site. But then I started having trouble using my credit card on Booking. The payment kept getting blocked by my Canadian bank. It seemed to trigger their computer's security systems. That's when I tried Agoda, and the payment has always been accepted. I've just had less hassles with them in terms of payment. It's only recently that these Oyo-connected hotels have presented problems. Hopefully, the problems don't continue. I'm looking forward to seeing Bukittinggi. 🙂 That's assuming I manage to get there...

They aren't leg cramps, I don't think. I don't feel any pain in my leg muscles or anything like that. And my right knee feels perfectly normal again. The pain there lasted just a few days and then went away. Now I'm just dealing with a very specific pain located right around my left knee. It's not inside the knee cap, I don't think. So I don't think there's damage to cartilage or anything like that. Maybe I just put a big strain on the ligaments and tendons holding the whole thing together? I honestly don't know what it is. I'm still hoping that my left knee will heal itself over time. It's just taking longer than my right knee. 🙂

I definitely miss the scooter. Especially if you want to shoot some video along the way, traveling around by scooter would likely be preferable. A full bike tour would probably take pretty much all of your time and energy, and it would be tough to do anything with video at the same time. At least with a scooter, you can get places faster and have more energy when you get there. Riding the bike, it kind of takes everything you have just to get somewhere. I think I kind of forgot just how demanding it can be. I remember when I first went to Taiwan quite a while ago, I had this same bike with me, and I did a few short bike rides around the island. And then I bought a scooter, and it was like my life was transformed. It was actually a lot more fun because it opened up the entire island. When I was on my bicycle, I kept passing all kinds of interesting looking roads going up a mountain or down somewhere, and I would have to pass them by. But on a scooter, I could just turn down any road on a whim and roar up to the top of the mountain and look around and then go back down again. I could take any detour in any direction because the scooter engine was doing the work. Of course, there are benefits to cycling. I enjoy the slower pace. And I like being more in touch with my surroundings. You hear everything and you interact a lot more with what's around you and with the people around you. On a scooter, you just ride and keep your eyes on the road. But that is with just cycling. The wild card here is trying to shoot video at the same time. Combining that with bike touring feels like too much right now. There just isn't enough time in a day or energy to do both.

If I had a time machine, I would definitely go back and rethink this trip. I don't think I would try to do it on my bicycle. It was a LOT of work just getting the bike organized and tuned up and ready to go. It was a lot more work than I expected and took much more time. And then the conditions I've encountered here with the narrow roads and the constant flow of heavy trucks and the heat are a bit much. Cycling doesn't make a lot of sense in these conditions. But I'm not sure to what extent renting a scooter would even be a possibility. It's very common in Thailand, and even in Mae Sot, I would see scooter rental signs everywhere. It's a concept that everyone is familiar with and it's easy to organize. But I doubt it would even be possible to rent a scooter in Dumai. Maybe in tourist areas around Bukittinggi and Lake Toba, it's more common. But I don't know how I would do it here. It could be possible, but I'd have to figure out how.

I wondered about that. I kept passing the entrances to the toll highways, and they looked like nice highways for trucks. I assumed a lot of the trucks still took the local road to avoid paying the toll. I just wasn't sure if that was true or not.

For cycling it’s worse than Vietnam, much worse. In Vietnam there are thousands of small roads you can use rather than the main highway and if you do get stuck on the highway there’s a nice shoulder. Sumatra just doesn’t have a good network of secondary roads.

Ive cycled from HCM to Chow Doc .. that was Rugged .. Busses are unreal along that Stretch .. Cycling is Gr8t in Hoi Ann though😳🚴

No, I don't have anything like that. I don't even have any type of power bank. I just try to have enough batteries charged up each morning to get me through a full day. And then I assume I will be spending the night at a place where I can charge them back up again. I guess if you went on a really long bike tour and you were camping out a lot, some kind of special solar panels or a generator hub on the bike would be handy. But I don't have anything like that.

Yes, that's me changing gears. The gear shifter clicks when I gear down into a lower gear. I don't think you hear the click as clearly when I go up to a higher gear. So if you hear a series of rapid clicks, it usually means I've hit a spot on the road that starts to go uphill, and I have to go down into a lower gear.

It's a 27-speed. Yes, it's an old-fashioned set. When I had the set I'm using now put on, it was even hard to find. It's way out of style and out of date now.

Btw you should say 'khabar baik (I'm good) when someone ask 'apa khabar' (How are you?).

That's interesting. I didn't hear anything about an earthquake. But I haven't been tuned into the news either. Thanks for the tip about saying "khabar baik." I'll try to work that into my daily routine. 🙂