Now that is a breakfast!!!

After about and hour and thirty kilometres, we stopped, prepared the bikes and set off. At least I did with Cong; the fair Nello decided that, with a wonky knee, she would skip the early uphill sections and join us later. From where we started, we could look back over the green pine-clad hills to Lang Bian Mountain and forward to the steeply curving asphalt road winding for 2km up the next hill. I suspect that the guides use this hill to assess the fitness/ability of their clients - anyway, I must have received the tacit seal of approval as we crested the hill and pedalled on.

The first ten kilometres traversed gently undulating hills lined with pines and crops of hill tribespeople. We rolled through the local village, just as the school was playing the Vietnamese national anthem - it was a good opportunity to stand up and give my backside a break from the saddle.

More pines and crops for a couple of kilometres and we reached the rainforest to skirt by a fast westward-flowing stream - we were entering Bidup Nui Ba National Park, where in parts the rainforest was uniformly young - courtesy of agent orange. It was also fairly easy to work out that if the stream was heading west and I was heading east we were climbing again.

Ahead, the pass to the coast loomed and we began a steady and increasingly steep 5km climb -  I went into Tour de France daydreaming mode, got myself into a steady rhythm, just enough to keep Cadell Evans, Carlos Sastre and the Schleck brothers at bay, but unfortunately Cong still beat me to the top.

The pass was at the 20km mark and, after a break to admire the view and recover a bit of energy, the fair Nello joined for the most exhilarating part of the ride, a 25km descent down the steep and winding road carved into the steep-walled rim of the Central Highlands which took us from 1625m to 100m above sea level with barely a need to pedal.

It was heady stuff as we free-wheeled down, with one hand hovering over the brake lever, past many waterfalls on the road side; some of these were natural, plunging several hundred metres down the maroon and tan rock walls, other much smaller ones appear to have been created by slightly larger than expected blasts when the road was built. The blue-hazed mountains faded off into the distance and the cool air rushing by gradually became warmer as we rapidly lost altitude.

Soon we were near the lower slopes, looking back up the deep valley to the top of the pass and over the green valleys, rivers and conical hilltops of the coastal landscape. The road flattened out and, in the now hot and sticky weather, we rode the last 2 km sedately into the village of Khanh Le, a good place for lunch. The fair Nello then wisely decided to call it a day while on top, while the macho part of my character obliged me to push on for a further 13km along increasingly narrow and undulating roads. This section took us through several villages, where school children lined the streets cheering on the "Tour" riders as they passed (one can dream, but there were lots of "hellos" and high-fives). One last steep climb, one last brisk descent and we reached  and the town of Khanh Linh. It was a good point to call it a day - the roads were getting busier, my backside was getting sorer and 60km is a nice round figure. Thanks, Cong, for a great day.