Ally
Well-known member
Jb had this fascination with making the connection between the trail he found off the 1230 through the forest & over to the known track that he rode this week. He had been on about it all week & today when he said he wanted to ride, there was no doubt in my mind what he intended.
I met up with Jb at the fuel pump near 1006 & 1317 and we headed up over the Mae On mountains on the 1229. At the bottom we joined the 1230 & headed north past the massive construction of the buddha at Wat Mae Takrai and onto the end of the tarmac where the fun starts with lots of loose rutted gravel & a bit of hard pad.
At the spot Jb found the new trail, we agreed we would go to where he had previously ridden & then take a look, he was keen to make the connection.
The trail wasn’t too difficult, a typical forest hardpad route covered with leaves. We stopped at the point he had previously turned back & walked down a little to assess the trails progression down the mountain. I Immediately understood why he had previously turned back. The trail disintegrated into undergrowth with bamboo laced across what path you could see and the angle of descent was increasing to about 40dgrees and no sight of the end of the trail, let alone the trail itself.
Jb on his trusty Lifan said “Lift that bamboo, I am coming through”, I couldn’t believe it. I said, “If you go down there, your mad!” He said, we should meet at the next junction, let out the clutch & proceeded down the mountain side.
Meanwhile I went the long way round, via the View Point and then onto the agreed meeting point which I shared with one or two spiders !!
After waiting an hour at the junction, about 3 km’s further up the 1230, I was now regretting not shouting my claim louder, perhaps he didn’t hear me with his earplugs in, perhaps he thought I was a wimp, perhaps I should have waited at the top before leaving, what if he was speared by a bamboo on the way down & lay dead in the jungle ? I reasoned that down was where I should head, rather than back up to where I last saw him. I am glad I did, there I met him walking towards me, red in the face, boiling in the midday heat & looking slightly disheveled.
I left Jb in the shade below a bridge with a wet t-shirt wrapped over his head, trying to beat off the exhaustion. For the next hour I walked through the forest, up & down steep bamboo slopes and through rock filled streams at the foot of the mountain trying to find where Jb left the bike. I failed to find it despite having his gps with me, coming from the bottom, the place was just so un-navigable, trying to climb steep dry cliff faces was impossible.
So there we have it, there is a Lifan in the jungle, it’s stood upright awaiting collection, Jb now has a task of finding some willing folks to help him go in & recover it
Here is a short video clip of Jb dissappearing into the bamboo.
[VIDEO]http://vimeo.com/38724585[/VIDEO]
Poor Jb, his ego slightly dented but able to put a very brave face on it 8-)
Ally
I met up with Jb at the fuel pump near 1006 & 1317 and we headed up over the Mae On mountains on the 1229. At the bottom we joined the 1230 & headed north past the massive construction of the buddha at Wat Mae Takrai and onto the end of the tarmac where the fun starts with lots of loose rutted gravel & a bit of hard pad.
At the spot Jb found the new trail, we agreed we would go to where he had previously ridden & then take a look, he was keen to make the connection.
The trail wasn’t too difficult, a typical forest hardpad route covered with leaves. We stopped at the point he had previously turned back & walked down a little to assess the trails progression down the mountain. I Immediately understood why he had previously turned back. The trail disintegrated into undergrowth with bamboo laced across what path you could see and the angle of descent was increasing to about 40dgrees and no sight of the end of the trail, let alone the trail itself.
Jb on his trusty Lifan said “Lift that bamboo, I am coming through”, I couldn’t believe it. I said, “If you go down there, your mad!” He said, we should meet at the next junction, let out the clutch & proceeded down the mountain side.
Meanwhile I went the long way round, via the View Point and then onto the agreed meeting point which I shared with one or two spiders !!
After waiting an hour at the junction, about 3 km’s further up the 1230, I was now regretting not shouting my claim louder, perhaps he didn’t hear me with his earplugs in, perhaps he thought I was a wimp, perhaps I should have waited at the top before leaving, what if he was speared by a bamboo on the way down & lay dead in the jungle ? I reasoned that down was where I should head, rather than back up to where I last saw him. I am glad I did, there I met him walking towards me, red in the face, boiling in the midday heat & looking slightly disheveled.
I left Jb in the shade below a bridge with a wet t-shirt wrapped over his head, trying to beat off the exhaustion. For the next hour I walked through the forest, up & down steep bamboo slopes and through rock filled streams at the foot of the mountain trying to find where Jb left the bike. I failed to find it despite having his gps with me, coming from the bottom, the place was just so un-navigable, trying to climb steep dry cliff faces was impossible.
So there we have it, there is a Lifan in the jungle, it’s stood upright awaiting collection, Jb now has a task of finding some willing folks to help him go in & recover it
Here is a short video clip of Jb dissappearing into the bamboo.
[VIDEO]http://vimeo.com/38724585[/VIDEO]
Poor Jb, his ego slightly dented but able to put a very brave face on it 8-)
Ally
