Kevin decided that he didn't want to go riding with the girls and that he was going to ride to Marble Mountain after he had breakfast. I suggested that he take his swim gear to the beach and drop it off on the way so as to reserve a deck spot. I headed off first to meet Monika and JA. It is again a very hot day 38C and very still. We rode out Cam Ta way and through to Tra Que Vegetable Village. We stopped at a new resort in Tra Que that was beautiful as it looked over the River and the outdoor greenery and shade was special. The rooms appeared to be quite large as well. We asked the price US$51 a night which is good. Could be it is a special opening price as they have only been open 2 months. We only saw 2 guests. We then rode to AnBang and stopped at the same café for breakfast. I had the Pho Ga which is chicken noodle soup. From here we went to Soul Kitchen and set ourselves up for a lazy morning at the beach. Kevin arrived at around 11am and his round trip was 40km. The girls this morning only did 19.2km as it was so hot. We ordered lunch at Soul Kitchen before heading back around 1pm. The wind had finally changed to a cooler Easterly and so I rode like the clappers along the Hai Ba Trung segment of the Strava Challenge to record a time of 5min 13 sec which is only 13 sec behind Kevin's best time. I was quite impressed as I had only riden this one other time at 7min36sec. Goes to show that when the winds are right anything can happen. Kevin had decided to cut across the rice paddies and when he got back and saw my time he was pissed as he would have recorded a good time sub 5min. Monika came over just before 3pm and looked at our room and then Andrew arrived to take us to Mr Tan Bamboo Bike at Cam Thanh. We decided to go on the scooters and not the bikes due to the heat. Just as well as the road out past Red Bridge is all under construction all the way to the new Bridge and is not in a good condition. Mr Tan operates from his Homestay premises and speaks good English. Kevin got measured for a bike with gears and Mr Tan will try and source all the components (wheels, group sets and so on). The price is US$600 + $100 for lighter from spokes and then the components. Could be looking at US$2k. Mr Tan will liaise with us via email and we will place the order after Xmas so that the bike is finished in May 2016. Monika spoke to Tan about getting a tandem bike made and he is so excited as this is a first for him. She will come back to see him once Ashley Caruthers an Aussie who races tandem bikes in Canberra is back in November as he works closely with Tan. Kevin's bike will be similar to the one Ashely has just had made. Everyone was excited from our visit. We headed back a different way to miss all the road works and came back via Bale Market. We all had a cold beer before everyone headed home. Kevin went for a short walk later to get a few supplies, cheese and lemonade for me. We decided to stay in and had a shake. Kevin then went out for Kem icecream to finish off the day.
