Cycle Tour Day 1 - 75km, average 25km/h, showers and storms in the afternoon. Great early brekky in the motel followed by an 8am briefing by our Tour Leader, Bouen, who looked after the tour most of us were on in 2012 (Bangkok to Saigon). It was then onto the bus for a transfer out of this bustling city of 11 million people. Riding a bike in Bangkok would be close to suicidal. Stopped at Saraburi, about 2 hours out, where we were issued our bikes, brand new straight out of the box. After pumping up tyres, fitting our SPD pedals, adjusting seat heights etc, away we went. Fairly busy road but nice and wide with plenty of verge to keep us away from the traffic. 20km out we stopped for lunch at a road-side local restaurant. Very tasty and filling. After lunch we were directed onto a quiet, potholed road but we continued to make good time. Passed a lot of paddy fields and lots of other rural stuff. Several military bases including their academy and some very fine looking golf courses. A great ride filled with interesting sights all round really. Everyone was over the moon about our new bikes and very happy with the ride today. Our pad tonight is The Forest Home, a resort which caters for the National Park visitors. Our room is about 3m from the pool. Very flash. All our kit was wet and soggy when we pulled up and like is needed a good scrub. We hung it all around the room which ended up looking pretty untidy. Suspect we will be putting on wet shoes in the morning. Lovely traditional Thai food in a local restaurant for dinner. Early night.