January 4, 2026
The Routes
I started thinking about my next big trip not long after finishing my ride in New Zealand. For me New Zealand was always somewhere I wanted to travel and when I found out they had an already defined route I was sold. It appealed to me because it was difficult riding but with the logistics already set; I hadn't done much GPX work at that time.
This trip, in theory, is less difficult for the riding but significantly more challenging logistically.
I had a similar vision where I wanted to ride somewhere warm during our winter. I looked at Central America briefly but didn't fall in love with any destination. I knew a few friends who had good experiences in Thailand and a few colleagues from Vietnam. I was nervous about navigating around Vietnam until I met up with a former colleague who sold me on the idea.
From the idea I had to plan a route and that's more challenging than my other tours where the GPX route was already established and readily available.
For this trip I'm using Ride With GPS to create my trip, as well as some AI assistance, and general google searches. I've used bike touring companies general routes to help guide me to the desirable locations, although I'm not following their GPX files because they weren't shared.
This trip presents a whole new challenge for me as it's a complete culture shift from my other trips. I'll be traveling solo and not camping so every night I need to find a safe place to sleep. The food is also going to be completely different but that has me excited.
It is going to be a completely new experience redefining what's for breakfast, snacks, and lunches. I plan to eat dinner wherever I arrive and on this trip I'll eat out for most of my meals as it's very affordable.
I fly into Ho Chi Minh City from Vancouver with my bike. From there I'll likely grab a hotel for the first night to recover, reassemble my bike, and possibly explore the city depending on how I feel.
I'll then loop around the region South of the city before returning through the city (not sure about riding through it yet). I'll then head inland and through a national park before heading to the coast and riding up to Da Nang where I'll finish my riding in Vietnam. Originally I was planning to ride/fly to Hanoi and then ride Northern Vietnam but the air quality isn't appealing so I'll head from Da Nang to Thailand.
In Thailand I briefly considered riding in the north, but again the air quality made my decision easy to focus on the peninsula area where the air quality is much better.
I decided to start the furthest south I could fly and then make my way back to Bangkok where I'll fly home. I mapped the route using AI, as well as google searches to figure out the best places to tour by bike. Generally I'm following well defined bike routes that most touring company would use. I'll enjoy sections of both coasts, as well as some of the interior regions as I'll cross over twice.
On this trip I plan to slow down my internal engine slightly. This doesn't mean that I won't log some big days (possibly 150 km) but generally I'll likely reduce my saddle time as I'll have to find accommodations and I'll eat more of my meals in restaurants/food trucks. I'm still hoping to start my days early to avoid the heat and the daylight hours are roughly 12 hours so a bit shorter than other trips.
The riding itself should be easier than other trips as most of the riding is on pavement, with some dirt road sections. There are hills on both tours but generally I should be under 1000 m of elevation gain on average which is entirely manageable.
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