Video Collection from Rudi's Off-road trips

Thanks Rudi, good info on the forks bit surprised about the quick have always found them to be the best bang for the buck, but red snot always wins.

Be interested how the rear Ohlins works out, keep us posted.
 
bsacbob said:
Thanks Rudi, good info on the forks bit surprised about the quick have always found them to be the best bang for the buck, but red snot always wins.

Be interested how the rear Ohlins works out, keep us posted.
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Bob, there's nothing wrong with the Quick's just need to get the GR instead of the DM, the DM's are a little too hard, more suited for Motocross, I didn't pay attention, when I changed them. Normally I allways put the GR's on, they are indeed great tires
 
esspressolungo said:
Bob, there's nothing wrong with the Quick's just need to get the GR instead of the DM, the DM's are a little too hard, more suited for Motocross, I didn't pay attention, when I changed them. Normally I allways put the GR's on, they are indeed great tires
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I guess it's all about compromise, the DM's are great for stretches of tarmac in between dirt, with good grip and last well, even run them flat when you have a puncture in those awkward situations too :dirtbike:

Been trying Duro for a while (made by Quick) again its available in different configurations but worth trying.
 
Oh man, what a ride :p . Showed up 9:30 at the Mini Mart just at the entrance of HTT. Was happily received by about 12 riders. Many brand new KTM's and Husqvarnas showed up, but also KDX and SL and two XR's. What a new nice mix of bikes and riders. Wood was the leader and showed us some new sections, that would bring us close to the notorious Erzberg section. I tried to follow two Huskies and must have taken the wrong route at some point. At the Helicoper Platform I had a call from A., who told me to turn around and get back to the bottom of the track. Damn just that section up here was already overkill and now turning around. Some 10 minutes later I rejoined the group. After some pretty cool irrigation channel passages we slowly worked our way into the mountain. It became steeper and steeper and at some point the first rider was not able to go any further, shortly after that I found myself stuck as well. So we tried getting up Zig Zag but the undergound was to loose to get proper grip.
After some time struggling, a guys returned and helped us getting the bikes up. It was insane. As we reached the top it was very clear, that we were just underneath the helicopter platform, from where I left earlier. A few riders split at the bottom and went another route to the heli platform, there they were greeted by Patrols and kindly asked to return. So after this little disappointment we worked our way to Mae Rim, had some food and drinks and went into the rocky waterfall section. As everyone was tired I didn't want to do the last part with another insane hill climb.

To my surprise a few of our guys absolutely wanted to have a go on that section and so we went back into the dried out riverbed and continued to the hill-climb. A big tree was barring the way of the easy section, so it was straight up all the way. Loose rocks and very slippy humus like surface add a lot to the fun. Not one of us was able to make it in one go. We all needed the rope and the help of the others to make it to the top.

Everyone was so happy to be up there. Two more guys had to turn around due to clutch problems. But now there was the next hill climb, that what be peanuts in the dry season, but all overgrown and a little wet, made it all so more difficult. Everyone made several attempts to get up.

It must have been around 5:30 until we came out of the jungle. Totally wasted:ROFLMAO:
 
bsacbob said:
I guess it's all about compromise, the DM's are great for stretches of tarmac in between dirt, with good grip and last well, even run them flat when you have a puncture in those awkward situations too :dirtbike:

Been trying Duro for a while (made by Quick) again its available in different configurations but worth trying.
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Oh damn Bob, just saw this post, forgot to reply to it. Yes the DM are kind of ok, but I still like the GR's better, I had Duro and Camel and wasn't to happy over the gnarly stuff I ride, off course some of the Mitas would be the best, but they wear quick and are very slippery over tarmac and have a huge price tag
 
esspressolungo said:
Oh man, what a ride :p . Showed up 9:30 at the Mini Mart just at the entrance of HTT. Was happily received by about 12 riders. Many brand new KTM's and Husqvarnas showed up, but also KDX and SL and two XR's. What a new nice mix of bikes and riders. Wood was the leader and showed us some new sections, that would bring us close to the notorious Erzberg section. I tried to follow two Huskies and must have taken the wrong route at some point. At the Helicoper Platform I had a call from A., who told me to turn around and get back to the bottom of the track. Damn just that section up here was already overkill and now turning around. Some 10 minutes later I rejoined the group. After some pretty cool irrigation channel passages we slowly worked our way into the mountain. It became steeper and steeper and at some point the first rider was not able to go any further, shortly after that I found myself stuck as well. So we tried getting up Zig Zag but the undergound was to loose to get proper grip.
After some time struggling, a guys returned and helped us getting the bikes up. It was insane. As we reached the top it was very clear, that we were just underneath the helicopter platform, from where I left earlier. A few riders split at the bottom and went another route to the heli platform, there they were greeted by Patrols and kindly asked to return. So after this little disappointment we worked our way to Mae Rim, had some food and drinks and went into the rocky waterfall section. As everyone was tired I didn't want to do the last part with another insane hill climb.

To my surprise a few of our guys absolutely wanted to have a go on that section and so we went back into the dried out riverbed and continued to the hill-climb. A big tree was barring the way of the easy section, so it was straight up all the way. Loose rocks and very slippy humus like surface add a lot to the fun. Not one of us was able to make it in one go. We all needed the rope and the help of the others to make it to the top.

Everyone was so happy to be up there. Two more guys had to turn around due to clutch problems. But now there was the next hill climb, that what be peanuts in the dry season, but all overgrown and a little wet, made it all so more difficult. Everyone made several attempts to get up.

It must have been around 5:30 until we came out of the jungle. Totally wasted:ROFLMAO:
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What a ride, make the most of the extended dry season Rudi.
 
So now just a quick update on my suspension. The Öhlins rear shock works nice with the CRF 250 Rally forks in front. I have the rebound and compression fully open. So it is super soft but still keeps good traction. The front cannot be adjusted I might still play around with the fork oil level to get it just right. But for now I am pretty happy like that. So now the big question, is the Ohlins really that much better than the stock.
In my honest opinion I would not spend that amount of money again on that shock. The OEM shock is just fine and with a little tweaking it can be almost as good as the Ohlins. I spend a lot of money on supension upgrades over the years, but at the end it was a lot money gone down the river for some experience nothing more than that. What I do like about the Ohlins is that it track really nice, it always feels very planted when riding over rough terrain. Don't know if "planted" is the right words to express what I mean, I hope you do understand. What I didn't like about the Ohlins is, that I had to tilt the carb about 15% and make an angled boot so it wouldn't scratch the shock. The clearance on the other side was also not so perfect. The lid of the air filter compartment was hitting the compression dial wheel...not ideal. So actually you have to grind off some of the lid to make it fit perfect. I will report back when I do further adjustments to the suspension.
 
Interesting comments Rudi, your a far more experienced dirt rider then I, but I have found the Showa suspension on my XR and the CRM to be light years ahead of my CRF. I have gone for a lighter fork oil in all of them and it's worked wonders.

Suspension is an individual thing what's good for one is horrendous for another.

Keep us posted.

:jumper:
 
bsacbob said:
Interesting comments Rudi, your a far more experienced dirt rider then I, but I have found the Showa suspension on my XR and the CRM to be light years ahead of my CRF. I have gone for a lighter fork oil in all of them and it's worked wonders.

Suspension is an individual thing what's good for one is horrendous for another.

Keep us posted.

:jumper:
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Very true Bob the Showa suspension on the XR is great, I believe that is the normal cartridge fork and not the Upside Down forks like I used to have. The Kayaba Shock is good to with some tweaks and maybe Racetech Gold Valves it can be made into something pretty close to an Ohlins I think. The CRF shock sucks big time, but the front is not to bad, with the right oil level and viscosity
 
Since Oskar has taken over the camera my job is a lot easier. He is doing great with the camera and the bike. Still having some issues with the KLX 125. Still stalling a lot, which makes it difficult for him to keep the passion going. This trip was already Hard Enduro. We didn't go for very long but I am amazed at how good he get's along. Now we need to sort his bike before we further advance.
 
As many of you might know, I had a broken Fibula not too long ago. I recovered fairly fast and couldn't wait to go riding again. After a couple of small attempts I was sure I was bullet proof again. For a little change I was riding the CRF250L of my friend. I must say I really start to like it engine-wise. 11 am we met in front of the reclining Buddha just in front of
Wat Doi Thaen Phra Pha Luang
วัดดอยแท่นพระผาหลวง
As we had a new rider with us we tried to take it easy. Not too far into the jungle after waterfall section with slippery rocks the KLX250 made a small back flip and the result was bent Disk Brake Rotor as we discovered later on. This forced us to make plans about turning around. But then we decided to split, so two returned and two continued. "Ron's Loop" is a fairly new loop that we discovered recently. It is for sure a lot of fun riding on this track, but it also involves using up all your Energy. Half way into the Loop there was a steep climb over a rocky Platform. Half way up I was forced to turn around for another attempt. The engine stalled and after that, it made a crazy clanking sound from the engine. Not good at all! We decided to leave the bike in the jungle and I was forced to walk back. By the time it was almost 4 in the afternoon I had to hurry to get back in time. While walking I tried to think of a solution how to get the bike back. Before arriving at the Jungle Camp site I managed to loose my Smart Phone. Oh shit so back up the hill with my Buddy's phone, calling myself every other minute to find my phone again. To my surprise it worked out and I found my phone after 10 minutes. Now I still had half the way in front of me. My Buddy gave me his bike and said we could swap here and there. Around 5 we were able to get out of the Jungle. What a day. The next day the rescue started and this is what the Video is all about, hope you enjoy and get a little from our sweat and tears while trying to get this heavy bike out ther.
 
esspressolungo said:
As many of you might know, I had a broken Fibula not too long ago. I recovered fairly fast and couldn't wait to go riding again. After a couple of small attempts I was sure I was bullet proof again. For a little change I was riding the CRF250L of my friend. I must say I really start to like it engine-wise. 11 am we met in front of the reclining Buddha just in front of
Wat Doi Thaen Phra Pha Luang
วัดดอยแท่นพระผาหลวง
As we had a new rider with us we tried to take it easy. Not too far into the jungle after waterfall section with slippery rocks the KLX250 made a small back flip and the result was bent Disk Brake Rotor as we discovered later on. This forced us to make plans about turning around. But then we decided to split, so two returned and two continued. "Ron's Loop" is a fairly new loop that we discovered recently. It is for sure a lot of fun riding on this track, but it also involves using up all your Energy. Half way into the Loop there was a steep climb over a rocky Platform. Half way up I was forced to turn around for another attempt. The engine stalled and after that, it made a crazy clanking sound from the engine. Not good at all! We decided to leave the bike in the jungle and I was forced to walk back. By the time it was almost 4 in the afternoon I had to hurry to get back in time. While walking I tried to think of a solution how to get the bike back. Before arriving at the Jungle Camp site I managed to loose my Smart Phone. Oh shit so back up the hill with my Buddy's phone, calling myself every other minute to find my phone again. To my surprise it worked out and I found my phone after 10 minutes. Now I still had half the way in front of me. My Buddy gave me his bike and said we could swap here and there. Around 5 we were able to get out of the Jungle. What a day. The next day the rescue started and this is what the Video is all about, hope you enjoy and get a little from our sweat and tears while trying to get this heavy bike out ther.
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What do you do on the easy days Rudi, bloody I'm tired just looking at it and considering you are still under doctors orders, respect mate.
 
it is not likeI seek this adventure, it is more like the adventure is seeking me, seems like we are all magnets, we get what we think...555, in this case I didn't expect anything like this would ever happen to me, the spirit of my mates and the brotherhood of my biker mates made this all happen at the end, I am not looking forward for another one. I am no more under Doctor orders, because I decided to let Nature do the healing, I am all good now, no pain
 
So Oskar and Nong Ice are doing better every time, this time I took a long bamboo pole and tried to make a drone like effect with it, seems like it worked here and there.
 

How good to ride a Honda XR250 ok, standard bore and the normal cartridge forks. Still a little wobbly in the front, but it feel so light compared to riding with the CRF250L. Pivot turns and technical exercises are so much more easy on this bike. Off-course the brakes suck and you need to modify the bike a little in order to be able to get the best out of it. My riding buddy is in great shape and his 62 years of age doesn't seem to be any hurdle for him. His riding skills are remarkable for his age. I probably have loose a few kilos before I can compete with his riding style.

Our Idea was to do the "Ron Loop" half way and then turn off towards Mae Khuang Dam. So far it's been only a lot of hiking but we are getting closer to yet again another ride-able loop. We are always looking for some gnarly tracks, that one still can ride. It is for sure a lot of times Technical Hard Enduro, but I honestly believe we are getting good at it. So half way into the loop and riding thru big bush fires I had a flat beyond repair. We tried to fix it but it held up only a couple of minutes. I wasn't too unhappy about turning around 'cause the thermometer was showing temperatures in the upper 30 region. The dry terrain and dust all added to this. Getting back with a flat was not too bad and I only encountered on obstacle that I didn't manage to get thru. Great day in the office it was. Next time we will be completing the loop and will report back. Hope you enjoy
 
Nice video Rudi, know what you mean about the XR vs the CRF I have both and XR maybe be slower as mine is stock, but I go for it every time.
 
Damn, what a ride!! This was too much fun in one day. As many of you know the Burning Season is in full bloom right now (dunno if that makes sense 555). The air is hot and the forest looks like the surface of some planet. After a couple of rides with the CRF I am now back on the good ol' XR. Lighter and overall maybe the better bike, for what I do. We took off direction Jungle at 10am and managed to find our way thru the mild traffic at Mae Jo in no time. We entered "Ron's Track" and as usual it begins to throw all kind of terrains at you from the very beginning. So no pause and keep going thru this Theater of Pain. About 30 minutes later we were half way into the loop, this is were the video starts and were it got really interesting riding-wise. Some may say we are nuts, but I think we consider this more as a compliment....555. After a few climbs thru some rock gardens, we faced a gnarly downhill that was littered with obstacles and rocks. One more time one can see how much beating this bikes and tires can take. After the downhill we entered the creek, which was a pleasant amusement to all the hard stuff before. We followed this creek until we found our way to our hidden Jungle Pool for a dip in the cool water. Really refreshing. Half an hour later we hit the track again and entered the Mae Khuang Reservoir from it's backside. A couple of kilometers along the lake side until another nasty hill-climb, that lead us the track in the forest, that would now carry us for some miles before reaching the beach, where we went for another swim in the water. I had forgotten to take my knee pad off, but Acerbis seems to be bullet proof in this matter...555.

After the swim we entered the last section of this track. On a steep hill climb some doggies jumped into my way and I had to stop. I rolled back a few meters and was able to continue the climb. On the other side of the climb another rock garden awaited us and riding down-hill was not much of an advantage here. Still cannot believe we once rode up there, maybe a year ago. So here we go....a new loop, a new day. Hope you guys enjoy the video. Cheers
 
Great video Rudi

I am sure 11:30 onwards was far more tricky than it looked!
 
Thanks Ally, the footage never does reflect the real thing. Nevertheless I enjoyed it a lot. This track is one cool loop but it needs some basic skills to get thru it. Not for everyone for sure
 

What is better than being back on the bike? Rebuilt the mighty XR, it was a lot of work but I finally got there. Now need to change the Float valve needle and I should be back with a nice scrambler. Yesterday's ride took us to Mae Joe Area. A beautiful long gnarly hill climb, so much fun but than the carb failed and we had to turn around
 
esspressolungo said:

What is better than being back on the bike? Rebuilt the mighty XR, it was a lot of work but I finally got there. Now need to change the Float valve needle and I should be back with a nice scrambler. Yesterday's ride took us to Mae Joe Area. A beautiful long gnarly hill climb, so much fun but than the carb failed and we had to turn around
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Carbs appear to be the Achilles heel for your XR hope you get it sorted Rudy.
 

Well done lads! Good effort everyone. Bike's are running great so far. No issues right now...great :-). This is one of the nicest loops towards the Mae Khuang Reservoir entering from the back. Downside, you need good stamina, riding skills and some technique to get thru this. The downhill section will soon become a hill climb, but will have to wait for the rain...so everything gets more compact. At the moment it is a battlefield of rolling rocks and hard to do uphill without getting stuck. Looking forward to ride this the other way around, this would be great fun for sure. Enjoy the video.
 
Busy all week and finally Friday is there. Talked to my riding buddies and we decided to take it a little easier today, somehow this plan didn't work out. Not surprised at all.....haha. It is allways the same story with us, start easy and then it's getting wild and crazy. Today we were joined by our Dutch friend on his WR250 2-stroke model with Rekluse, nice little bike, but a lot of smoke. Me as camera man had to fight against the clouds of white smoke, inhaling those was not fun and gave me a funny sensation in my stomach.

So I kept a little distance. Some parts of the track I knew from previous rides, but after a short time it was all new and very exciting ride along the steep mountains towards the Mae Khuang Reservoir. Many tracks lead to the dam and there is still plenty to explore. Very steep downhills and uphill sections make it a little difficult for the average rider here. The river bed was very slippery because it had rained a lot the day before or was it because my knobbies are down a lot, who knows. Got home about 5 in the afternoon, had a quick shower and immediately went to the restaurant for the weekly Motorcycle Meeting every Friday
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So it was Thursday night and I felt pretty exhausted and what would be better to wake up and go out riding. So I sent my buddy a message around midnight and got a quick reply from him. So it's Friday morning and time to jump onto the bike and get out there and create a little bit of unusual music in the Jungle. Today only me and my buddy, because nobody was able to improvise with this short notice.

After the heavy rain the weather was just perfect and the grip was very good on the loose rock sections. A lot of fallen trees barred our way thru the Jungle, but nothing that could not be jumped or cleared immediately. My tires were down to almost Zero profile but I still managed to get thru all this without to many spins. At two sections I took a dive because of that.

It is always good to ride on new trails and I enjoyed it a lot. On dried out waterfall section I finally managed to break off my frame with the foot peg still on. The frame was previously welded but not professional enough. So now I had to face a gnarly ride back with just one foot on the peg and the other sitting on the edge of the bash plate or hanging loose. Not easy to keep balance that way and pretty exhausting too over the gnarly terrain.

An hour later we were out of the jungle again and it was beer o'clock for my friend and Soda time for me. Hope you enjoy the video
 

out with the boys today. Oskar did extremely well. You're getting there buddy. Maybe time for a bigger bike soon. This is a very long video, didn't cut it or edit it. It was shot in 2.7k 30fps. Hope you enjoy
 
Our latest discovery in the deep Jungle's of Chiang Mai, is what we call "Dinosaur Park" from now on. The section to get to the "main entrance" of the Park is a super steep drop off downhill. Best thing is not to look down and just let go while pressing both brakes with very little effect....hahaha.... We called it "Dinosaur Park" because it reminded us of another time and we could very well imagine Dinosaurs being around that area, that was filled up with giant boulders and massive rocks. Today we took a slightly different route and this was even more challenging, but that's where all the fun is found.

When leaving the Park section, there is a very steep cliff and the sides are supported by some roots and planks that we stuck in there to prevent us from falling down there. Once we cleared this section we had to balance our bikes on the edge of this trail. Last time I slipped down there for about 30m, but nothing happened to the rider and bike. It takes a lot of guts to get going in those situations. Finally we were out of the hardest bits, another hill climb before we will connect this track to the riverbed that will bring us to the farm nearby. But it all ain't easy, still a lot of obstacles to clear, tired and exhausted we leave the river bed section to encounter some nice muddy bits on our way out....Hope you guys enjoyed it as much as we did. I composed the music for this video, but unfortunately the organ solo is totally out of tune, there a glitch in my DAW, that I have to fix when exporting the music to MP3, I didn't realize that until the movie was up to YouTube already.
 

so here we ago again, my son had a pretty long break from riding and he wanted to go and try out the new track we found just a week ago. It is hard to believe that we are still able to find new tracks after so many years of riding. This track took a little bit of bush waking beforehand to clear it from the bamboo, but this a pretty normal thing here in Thailand. Oskar did very well until we approached the North Face climb. It is a tricky little climb and needs total commitment and full throttle in Order to clear this section. If you don't have enough momentum, there's little chance you make it. Well our 62 year old Enduro Wizzard from Austria showed me last time how to do it and it seemed to be not that difficult at all if you are committed. Oskar somehow hesitated but, after convincing him for some time he wanted to try it all by himself. This is a brave attempt for a still 14 year young man. He did everything right until the top, but then the front came up to high and he had to let go off the bike on the very top. (6:30 in the video). The bike tumbled down the cliff like a dice and luckily it didn't fall any further. The second cliff was about 10m of height and probably would have wrecked the bike. The brake lever made a small crack into the engine housing, but after checking the oil we decided to plug the hole with some bamboo and continue our ride. There was still plenty of obstacles to clear on this track but the Kawa KLX 125 hold up nicely. This track is very demanding and require full concentration and smart planing while riding. The rider has to decide while riding which way to go to keep the flow. Nevertheless we all had plenty of fun and were all happy to be returning our bikes with only minor damages. Hope you guys enjoy. Keep the power up and see you out in the bush.
 
Cool video, Oscar is getting really good at the hard stuff ;)
 
My Austrian 62 year old friend still finds more and more trails around here. Being retired must be fun, especially when you almost ride every day...haha. This time a cool trail that just starts at the Reclining Buddha around the Ang Keb Nahm Mae Jo. A very steep climb and descend, then a pretty fast single trail section before we enter just another dried out river bed that carries us for another 5 or 6 km. On the exit another climb and we ride into another valley, around burning wild fires here in there as every year this time of the year, there's not much we can do about it and might also be dangerous at times if you hang around there for too long. So we keep the speed going until we reach a small lake just before the Mae Khuang Dam. From there the trail takes us to just another hill climb. The underground is so loose and powdery so Oskar, my son and me are struggling a bit. Oskar mostly due to ground clearance and me fighting with an old tire and my weight to get going. Shortly after that my e-starter doesn't work no more and very quickly I found out the contact broke loose. It couldn't be fixed at the spot, so Oskar and me turned around here to get the bikes home. The rest of the gang continued the ride. Then I realized I had lost my phone. I searched the whole mountain but no success. I went back the next day but also without success. It wasn't until 4 days later that I decided to have another go, this time with my Dutch mate on his Husky. I was able to find the phone



 
Good work getting a phone back after 4 days
 
Can't believe you found your phone... I was on a trek and lost my phone, I knew I'd lost it in the last 500m and still took 3 of us half an hour to find it. It had fell under some leaves and even ringing at max volume we couldn't find / hear it!
 
MastaMax said:
Can't believe you found your phone... I was on a trek and lost my phone, I knew I'd lost it in the last 500m and still took 3 of us half an hour to find it. It had fell under some leaves and even ringing at max volume we couldn't find / hear it!
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I think I am very lucky with lost things, always find what I loose on the tracks, last time Oskar lost my GoPro and it was found from some riders from the other group. I must have lost the GoPro about 5 times now. It really looks beaten up now, but don't want to throw it away yet
 
Oh man, how good to ride again. Quick rebuild of the XR and I am good to go again. My GoPro had to be in an enclosed housing because last time Oskar broke of the holder. In that box it sounds terrible, so I muted most of the video and just put some overdub recording onto it. Hope you enjoy. Be safe
 

I am astounded how many local riders are riding, the relatively new tracks we discovered a couple of month ago. This thing seems to go around. The "Lost Phone" trail brings out more and more riders, even with big bikes, crazy as this is a pretty hardcore track. Nice to see so many joining in now. Lot of credit goes to my Buddy Erich who is restlessly searching for new tracks and also making the effort to cut the bamboo and clear some of the fallen trees etc. This Sunday we knew already we will bump into some Enduro riders at some point. About half way into the "Lost Phone" trail we joined with the first group, that followed us without hesitation. One of the guys had a flat and as they didn't bring any repair tools they were forced to split. So for a couple of minutes we were alone again before we bumped into the next group carving their way into the mountains with their bikes. Not too long and I myself was forced to turn around and go and repair my tire. Erich decided to stay with the group get them up the hill climb, ride the peak and then rejoin with me at the bottom.

In the tire repair shop I crossed Mr. Bank and his Team of about another 15 riders. Bank asked me if he could come along with the group. Minutes later we all took off to the meeting point, but no Erich in sight, so I thought it was a good idea to do another hill climb with this group.

I went all the way up, but most of them struggled to get up. So I sat there waiting for everyone for about 20 minutes plus. Some had very old bikes, in absolute insane conditions and a big respect goes their way for their attitude to ride, no matter what.

Then Erich came down from the top and we rejoined and finished the loop all together. One of those guys had a massive fall from a cliff, but was not insured at all, but exhaustion was written all over their faces. Some older guys (my age 53 plus...haha) begged me to finish this torture, but there was no way turning back now and we had to finish. We approached the last section, which was another steep down hill section. My front brake started failing here and there and I was no more in my comfort zone with this, nevertheless I had to keep going no matter what. Luckily I got a very short first gear and the engine brake worked pretty well.

Finally we arrive at the lake side at about 5pm. I immediately jumped into the lake in full gear, later some more riders went for a swim too. Bank drove into the lake with the bike, put the bike on the side stand and started spinning the rear wheel to give us a nice deserved shower (very end of the video). By 5:30 I lead the group back towards Mae Jo, after that everyone went their ways.
 
and yet another day in our second home the Jungle around Mae Jo/Mae Faek. Erich told me already about this new insane hill-climb, that would bring tears of joy to my eyes :p. He didn't disappoint me as usual and it was for sure
an insane climb. The trail was named after a trail in Romania, the local rider's referred to as "Christopher Weg" or in English Christoper Trail. Last time riding I ran out of juice and didn't have no power in this crazy heat. Today the riding temperature was near to perfect . Before getting to that climb we had to cover a couple of kilometers of tarmac and some fast gravel roads, before we landed on the small single trails that brought us to the hill of no return.

Happy, as I just fitted a new Quick rear tire to my XR the day before, I was ready for this adventure. But you cannot be to sure about the overall condition of the track, because of the ever-changing weather here in the North. Today the grip was better then expected, but the loose rocks were still a bit of a hurdle to take. Slowly those old 4-stroke vintage machines carved their traces into the mountain moving slowly forward without regret. The Honda XR's are like tractors, they just keep going forever with little maintenance. We carried on for quiet a bit over the top of the hills until we reached a very long down-hill section. We had stunning views over the surrounding neighborhood, almost a 360 degree view. As we reached a very nice rock formation it was time for a crazy descent, at one point we had to push our bikes, because the surface was too loose to get grip and we didn't want to risk falling down there. In the video it doesn't look steep as usual and one can only wonder if there;s ever gonna be a solution for this. How can it be, that having a slop between 45 and 60 degree and still everything looks flat like a mattress.

After leaving all those climbs and down-hills it was time to hit back towards Mae Jo over yet another single trail, but to our surprise the track was so insanely overgrown, that we just couldn't make out the trail. Nevertheless I insisted of pushing through this. It's always a bit of a risk when doing this, because you cannot make out the underground and many times we got stuck in swamp like conditions, that costed us valuable time. But not today we just tracker-ed thru all that mess without regret. After 20 minutes plus in that condition we finally found the entry of the single trail. Happy Days! Ah not just yet...Damn! The Bamboo had overgrown the track in most places and we had adjust our speed accordingly. After fighting with, small gravel, little stones, hard rocks and big boulders and spiky Bamboo we had enough of all this for today and we had some Kao Soi on our way back home.

 
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