Ok here we go, day 3 of biking and the biggest day on the plan. 90km today although, the general trend is downhill all the way with a few bumps here and there.

As with MYANMAR CYCLE TOUR – DAY 4: BAGAN – POPA it was a shame to leave this hotel. The views from the room are by far the best I have ever seen.

Breakfast was good again, a similar choice to yesterday. I opted for a bowl of cornflakes and 6 danish. Breakfast of champions, just missing a cinnamon swirl.

The plan today is to take the bus down the mountain so that we can go to view the Taung Kalat Monastery. We could see this from the hotel infinity pool last night and it looked stunning from afar.

The monastery sits on top of a volcanic plug from the nearby Mount Popa volcano. To reach the top you have to climb the 777 steps. Even at 8:30am, the sun was beating down and it was already pushing 30’c with 90% humidity.

Yep, it was a hot and sweaty 30 min walk to the top.

We were warned to keep our things out of sight whilst on the way up. Not from the usual pickpockets, but from the monkeys. They were out in force looking for things to take from passers-by.

They take things because they know the locals will throw rolled-up paper contain peanuts at them to try and get the items back.

The climb up was hot and hard work. It was crowded which slowed the pace down, the steps got quite steep in places.

As with the previous days here in Myanmar, we are the only foreigners here which meant lots of selfies. What once felt strange and “foreign”, now feels like the norm.

After 30 minutes of climbing, we reach the summit and were greeted by yet another stunning vista. We are kinda starting to get used to these stunning views now but still breathtaking looking out over the jungle for miles and miles. True unspoilt beauty.

The monastery itself was ok, certainly looks better from a distance but what did amaze me was the fact it had been built up here, nearly 800m above sea level with no natural access to the summit, it is all man-made steps. How on earth did they get the materials up there hundreds of years ago?

The climb back down was just as demanding as the climb up. More hard work on the quads and 100% concentration where you are putting your feet. One missed step would result in you cartwheeling down the tiled steps.

Once we got back down to solid ground it was time to take the bus back to yesterdays lunch stop and hit the saddle for 90km.

After a cloudy but humid ride yesterday, today was looking like a very hot and sunny one. Only answer to the heat is to make your own breeze on the bike.

The first 25km to the feed station was all down hill, the first part coming down off the mountain then a gradual downhill with some bumps along the way.

I decided to take the first 15km steady and stayed towards the back of the group. After topping up the water at 15km, I thought I would push forward a bit and see if I can catch up to those down the road. Our guide at the water stop said they were about 15 minutes ahead so that seemed like a good challenge.

It was a fast section, I was averaging around 25mph as I soon started catching and passing people. I got up to the front group after a few miles and decided to ride with them until the feed stop. We were taking it in turns leading the peloton, dragging the group along and sharing the load.

I noticed that on the hills the pace would really drop so when we hit a steep hill at around 23km I thought I would just push on at my pace and ride in to the rest stop. If anyone can keep then we can go as a group, if not, I will do it solo.

Nobody went with me so I coasted into the feed station about a minute ahead of the group.

It had felt good stretching the legs a little this morning. I had enjoyed riding at the back chatting with people I hadn’t spoken to that much and had also then enjoyed riding at my usual pace to come through the group and catch the leaders. Kinda getting the best of both worlds by helps those at the back and then having some fun riding hard.

It was a further 30km to the lunch stop. I decided that I would go hard straight away and see how quickly I could ride it on a mountain bike.

Some people had set off before me but I soon passed them and then had the road to myself.

15km into this stretch we were supposed to have a water stop but as I had gone off so fast I had passed that stage before the water stop had been setup, I was in for the full 30km on two bottles of water. Usually I can do 60 – 70 miles on two bottles of water but out here in this heat and humidity I was sweating a lot, even more so with riding hard.

I stopped under a tree for 20 minutes to see if anyone came up behind me, I thought maybe I could get some photos of the group riding by but nobody came through.

I reached the lunch stop just as they were setting up. Today we were having lunch cooked for us by the guides. Not the restaurant quality we had been getting from the previous days but it was good enough. Sandwiches, egg and tuna. Enough to fuel us for the afternoon ride.

I was there for an hour before the last person of the group got in. Everyone seemed pretty tired from a morning in the sun and 60km of riding.

I wanted to crack on and get it done, but we didn’t have such a nice hotel waiting for us tonight so not much incentive to get there early. It was nice to sit and chill for a few hours.

After my solo effort before lunch, I thought I should ride further back with the group this afternoon. Give some people a tow through to the hotel and let them draft off me.

We had a good train going by the time we reach Myingyan. There was myself, Luke, Ken, Laura, Daisy, Justine, Sarah & Ali all coming in together. Hopefully, by drafting me and Luke they all saved some energy.

As expected, this hotel wasn’t great.

Our bathroom was down a few steps, more like a wet room. The shower was on the wall just in front of the toilet, in fact, you could probably sit on the toilet and have a shower. Multitasking Myanmar style.

We went out to a local restaurant for dinner, the food wasn’t the best we have had on this trip but it was a great atmosphere. The group were starting to click more and get on really well. It was a great night with lots of laughs.

Day 3 of riding is in the bag. 48.27 miles, 1,240ft of gain in 3hrs 5mins. Another fantastic effort from the team. Some people smashing out their biggest rides, other battling the heat to get the job done.