How Your Cycling Guide Keeps You Safe Without You Noticing
Halfway up Hai Van Pass, a 58-year-old accountant from Melbourne starts showing signs that something’s wrong.
She’s flushed, but it’s hot—everyone’s flushed. Her cadence has dropped, but it’s a climb—everyone slows down. What the guide notices is subtler: her hands keep drifting to her temples. She’s swaying slightly on the bike.
The guide doesn’t announce anything. He doesn’t make a scene. He just rides up beside her and says, “Beautiful spot for a photo break, yeah? Let’s pull over.”
Within three minutes, she’s in the air-conditioned support van with ice water and a wet towel on her neck. Within thirty minutes, her core temperature has dropped, her headache is fading, and she’s annoyed at herself for “not being tough enough.”
Cycling Vietnam at 60+: Age Is Just a Number (But Preparation Is Everything)
What older riders actually experience—and why many say it was the best trip of their lives.