The first time is always the best, right? First off road trip, first time in the dirt, first time biking into Laos, first time on any kind of bike trip for Eddie... etc - lots of first on this trip, which is half what made it so much fun.
Phil of Rider's Corner had provided us with a great but as it turned out much too ambitious map and route in his GPS, which should be our only guide. Other than that, two noobs on rented KLX250s. We didn't even have a map of Laos which was a mistake. In return we promised to write a ride report here - my first one.
We thought it would be great because it would just be us - no experts to help, no people with any knowledge about Laos whatsoever...
Planned Route: Chiang Mai - Nan border crossing (heck if I know what it's called) - Hongsa - Luang Prabang - Pakse (?) - Chiang Kong - Chiang Mai.
== Day 1 ==
Phil had promised us that by day 1 we could make the border and into Hongsa. But before that, we first had to get bikes. We got bikes, then had to get all sorts of paperwork to cross into Laos; POP bike rental had given us some, but they were not deemed enough by Phil. We didn't want to take a risk so we got everything we could possibly get, more paperwork from POP, and transport office stamps which we got from C&S bike rental. I recommend C&S, super nice lady there, very helpful even though she didn't have bikes available at that time.
Eddie's bike only got as far as the gas station 100m down the road, then the battery failed. We returned it and got another one.
120 viewpoint. The 120 is an awesome little racetrack of a road up here in the north, but on the sluggish-on-road KLX250 with knobby tires it's not much fun.
We left Chiang Mai afternoon-ish, and going at a rather slow pace were nowhere near the border by nightfall.
In fact we were out in the middle of nowhere on the 1148 (I think). We asked a local about accommodation and he said it's 49km from where we were... we thought that can't be true and did some experimenting with the "find accommodation" feature of the GPS. That lead nowhere, and the villager turned out to be right, we found a guest house after 49km of night riding through unknown territory later. So you see even the 1148 can be an adventure if you have no clue where you are.
While on the twisty curves of the 1148 I found that the KLX250 can be ridden like a supermotard. I was flying through the corners at 80 - 90 kph and thought to myself: I can't believe this slow, weak bike can fly through the curves like that, and was beginning to utterly enjoy myself. Until I hit the limits of the tires, lost the front, and both bike and myself were sliding across the oncoming lane onto the curb.
This all happened rather quickly, and in my adrenaline induced shock state I picked up the bike and was going to go on right away... but then found whoops, the gear doesn't shift.
Eddie arrived and told me to calm down and wait a moment and inspect bike and rider. My wrist was hurting and already swollen but otherwise the impact was all absorbed by gear: Hole in the left knee, right elbow, left shoulder and arm, and helmet. Gloves and boots probably saved me some nasty scratches too. Bike had a bent clutch lever and gear shifter but was otherwise OK.
The gear shifter hat gotten stuck up on the engine but was easily bent back with my bare hands (some leftover adrenaline?!).
Phil of Rider's Corner had provided us with a great but as it turned out much too ambitious map and route in his GPS, which should be our only guide. Other than that, two noobs on rented KLX250s. We didn't even have a map of Laos which was a mistake. In return we promised to write a ride report here - my first one.
We thought it would be great because it would just be us - no experts to help, no people with any knowledge about Laos whatsoever...
Planned Route: Chiang Mai - Nan border crossing (heck if I know what it's called) - Hongsa - Luang Prabang - Pakse (?) - Chiang Kong - Chiang Mai.
== Day 1 ==
Phil had promised us that by day 1 we could make the border and into Hongsa. But before that, we first had to get bikes. We got bikes, then had to get all sorts of paperwork to cross into Laos; POP bike rental had given us some, but they were not deemed enough by Phil. We didn't want to take a risk so we got everything we could possibly get, more paperwork from POP, and transport office stamps which we got from C&S bike rental. I recommend C&S, super nice lady there, very helpful even though she didn't have bikes available at that time.
Eddie's bike only got as far as the gas station 100m down the road, then the battery failed. We returned it and got another one.
120 viewpoint. The 120 is an awesome little racetrack of a road up here in the north, but on the sluggish-on-road KLX250 with knobby tires it's not much fun.
We left Chiang Mai afternoon-ish, and going at a rather slow pace were nowhere near the border by nightfall.
In fact we were out in the middle of nowhere on the 1148 (I think). We asked a local about accommodation and he said it's 49km from where we were... we thought that can't be true and did some experimenting with the "find accommodation" feature of the GPS. That lead nowhere, and the villager turned out to be right, we found a guest house after 49km of night riding through unknown territory later. So you see even the 1148 can be an adventure if you have no clue where you are.
While on the twisty curves of the 1148 I found that the KLX250 can be ridden like a supermotard. I was flying through the corners at 80 - 90 kph and thought to myself: I can't believe this slow, weak bike can fly through the curves like that, and was beginning to utterly enjoy myself. Until I hit the limits of the tires, lost the front, and both bike and myself were sliding across the oncoming lane onto the curb.
This all happened rather quickly, and in my adrenaline induced shock state I picked up the bike and was going to go on right away... but then found whoops, the gear doesn't shift.
Eddie arrived and told me to calm down and wait a moment and inspect bike and rider. My wrist was hurting and already swollen but otherwise the impact was all absorbed by gear: Hole in the left knee, right elbow, left shoulder and arm, and helmet. Gloves and boots probably saved me some nasty scratches too. Bike had a bent clutch lever and gear shifter but was otherwise OK.
The gear shifter hat gotten stuck up on the engine but was easily bent back with my bare hands (some leftover adrenaline?!).
