- Joined
- Aug 15, 2012
- Bikes
- KTM 613 EXC, BMW R90S & Dakar, MZ250, Norton 16H, Honda - 500 Fs & Xs, DRZs, XLs XRs CRFs CT110s etc
What's that, you say? Ten Nation(alitie)s? We will get to that.
We're just back from a good one - a trip up Doi Soi Malai. This isn't a big one, as mountains go, being only 1,629 metres tall. Not huge, but certainly worth doing.
That's Bhumibol Dam down below - for the Aussies, it is four times the surface area of Warragamba Dam - at 300 square kilometres - with an almost identical dam wall height 154 metres vs the Aussie's 145 m. Big dam. The view from that rock is stunning, and I'd have taken another step or two out, but a couple of mates had just disentangled my left leg from my bike - and it wasn't working too well. I busted the chain guard when my foot got sucked into the swingarm too.... but more on my faceplant later.
Ten Nation(alitie)s? So our Operations Manager, Deere, and myself put the ride proposal up and when we set off, every participant was from a different nation.
Ten committed, but only eight nations actually went. A Kiwi dropped out after a positive Covid swab, an Italian booked - with specific bike requirements which we set up - but he hasn't been heard from since. Those who went were : Ian - me, an Aussie; Deere - Thai; Neil, English; Stu, Scottish; Pol, Belgian, Larkin, American; James, Canadian. We awarded honorary national status to the bikes as they were all Japanese (well sort of, if we can call CRFs Japanese). We had Stu on an Africa Twin the first day then a CRF from Day 2). Neil was on his T7 Yammie - but he had to return to Chiang Mai after the first night out. The rest were CRFs - mostly ours, but Pol was on his own Rally 250.
We did our usual back roads exit from Chiang Mai - local roads that are scenic and fun to ride, rather than mixing it with the commercial traffic and traffic lights on the 108. We had an early, light lunch at a small village just before we hit the dirt, southwest of Hot - and it was into the hills between Chiang Mai and Omkoi. This area used to be a major opium growing region and there's still patches - but you won't see them, nor encounter problems with the locals flowing from that.
We go through this village fairly regularly and it is good to see the people have emerged from the shadows as Covid diminishes. Last July and October, we didn't see a single face in this village. This lady gave me permission to grab an image (it's a clip from the GoPro)
We were almost through the dirt when Neil discovered his navigation phone missing. Have I ever mentioned that I hate phones being used for nav purposes? Four of us backtracked, looking for it. After near on an hour, I called it and we blasted back through the dirt, with Neil continuing the search and sweeping around the sealed road loop to catch back up to us in Omkoi. A word of advice. If one is in the region, one has to be careful how one pronounces that town name. Thai is a tonal language and if you pronounce it the wrong way it means "suck" and - well you can guess the second word. Let's just say "dick".
Coffee and a snack later, it was time for the most delightful roads. I've run video of pretty much all of it... but it will take time to extract some shots of it. Here's a couple. It is the 3054 now - but is on the North Thailand Onroad / Offroad map but as an unsealed road. It's been done for a while, but because a couple of the bridges got washed out last year, the official opening was delayed until last week. It isn't on Google maps yet.
That's Stu in the lead on his Africa Twin, me next on a CRF 300L and then Pol. I'd stopped and then decided to try and reel Stu back in. He said it himself "next time on this road, I'll take the CRF, its much better when you need to avoid things". He'd met us in Omkoi, as he lives near our overnight stop - so he got to do this delightful road both ways in one day. The smaller bikes are just so much more fun in Thailand. I haven't ridden my Ducati for months and I often take a 250 or 300 in preference to the 500s. I agree with Stu - its a perfect road on a CRF.
A leg stretch and getting a bit of culture, up in the hills
Another leg stretch and checking out a potential campsite on the river
Pretty sure that was before the start of the 3054... Just before there, I'd been filming Pol through the mountains and a small Iguana had committed hari kari. With no traffic for miles... it chose just the wrong moment to dash across the road. Bugger.
More later.... but suffice to say that with the time lost looking for a phone, the last little bit of day 1 was done in the dark. Only 20 or so km, but we felt it.
We're just back from a good one - a trip up Doi Soi Malai. This isn't a big one, as mountains go, being only 1,629 metres tall. Not huge, but certainly worth doing.
That's Bhumibol Dam down below - for the Aussies, it is four times the surface area of Warragamba Dam - at 300 square kilometres - with an almost identical dam wall height 154 metres vs the Aussie's 145 m. Big dam. The view from that rock is stunning, and I'd have taken another step or two out, but a couple of mates had just disentangled my left leg from my bike - and it wasn't working too well. I busted the chain guard when my foot got sucked into the swingarm too.... but more on my faceplant later.
Ten Nation(alitie)s? So our Operations Manager, Deere, and myself put the ride proposal up and when we set off, every participant was from a different nation.
Ten committed, but only eight nations actually went. A Kiwi dropped out after a positive Covid swab, an Italian booked - with specific bike requirements which we set up - but he hasn't been heard from since. Those who went were : Ian - me, an Aussie; Deere - Thai; Neil, English; Stu, Scottish; Pol, Belgian, Larkin, American; James, Canadian. We awarded honorary national status to the bikes as they were all Japanese (well sort of, if we can call CRFs Japanese). We had Stu on an Africa Twin the first day then a CRF from Day 2). Neil was on his T7 Yammie - but he had to return to Chiang Mai after the first night out. The rest were CRFs - mostly ours, but Pol was on his own Rally 250.
We did our usual back roads exit from Chiang Mai - local roads that are scenic and fun to ride, rather than mixing it with the commercial traffic and traffic lights on the 108. We had an early, light lunch at a small village just before we hit the dirt, southwest of Hot - and it was into the hills between Chiang Mai and Omkoi. This area used to be a major opium growing region and there's still patches - but you won't see them, nor encounter problems with the locals flowing from that.
We go through this village fairly regularly and it is good to see the people have emerged from the shadows as Covid diminishes. Last July and October, we didn't see a single face in this village. This lady gave me permission to grab an image (it's a clip from the GoPro)
We were almost through the dirt when Neil discovered his navigation phone missing. Have I ever mentioned that I hate phones being used for nav purposes? Four of us backtracked, looking for it. After near on an hour, I called it and we blasted back through the dirt, with Neil continuing the search and sweeping around the sealed road loop to catch back up to us in Omkoi. A word of advice. If one is in the region, one has to be careful how one pronounces that town name. Thai is a tonal language and if you pronounce it the wrong way it means "suck" and - well you can guess the second word. Let's just say "dick".
Coffee and a snack later, it was time for the most delightful roads. I've run video of pretty much all of it... but it will take time to extract some shots of it. Here's a couple. It is the 3054 now - but is on the North Thailand Onroad / Offroad map but as an unsealed road. It's been done for a while, but because a couple of the bridges got washed out last year, the official opening was delayed until last week. It isn't on Google maps yet.
That's Stu in the lead on his Africa Twin, me next on a CRF 300L and then Pol. I'd stopped and then decided to try and reel Stu back in. He said it himself "next time on this road, I'll take the CRF, its much better when you need to avoid things". He'd met us in Omkoi, as he lives near our overnight stop - so he got to do this delightful road both ways in one day. The smaller bikes are just so much more fun in Thailand. I haven't ridden my Ducati for months and I often take a 250 or 300 in preference to the 500s. I agree with Stu - its a perfect road on a CRF.
A leg stretch and getting a bit of culture, up in the hills
Another leg stretch and checking out a potential campsite on the river
Pretty sure that was before the start of the 3054... Just before there, I'd been filming Pol through the mountains and a small Iguana had committed hari kari. With no traffic for miles... it chose just the wrong moment to dash across the road. Bugger.
More later.... but suffice to say that with the time lost looking for a phone, the last little bit of day 1 was done in the dark. Only 20 or so km, but we felt it.
