Wiang Haeng Loop Ride - 1322 / 1178 Jan. 2021

[The Bigfella]

This was the weekly Ulysses Club Thailand ride on Friday 22 January 2021. The original plan had us doing the 1001 / canal road (4034) / 1414 / 107 / 1178 / 1322 / 1178 / 3002 / 1150 / 1001 / 4031 / Suspension Bridge / 118 - with a decision to be taken at the 1178 / 3002 junction as to whether to cut the ride short by 50 km or so and just blast back down the 107.

As it turned out, we arrived at that junction just before 4pm and a couple of weary souls pleaded their case for the shorter ride home - and the figure 8 ride became a figure 9 ride. We headed down the 107 and back across the 1414 and did the 4034 / 1001 into town. Having set out at 8:15am, we were out for 9 hours and 9 minutes, of which 5 hours 39 was riding time. Average moving speed for me was 63 kph, riding a CRF 250 on knobbies.

The ride up was cool... and Chiang Dao area was definitely cooler than anywhere else. We stopped earlier than planned, for a coffee at the Black Bear on the 107 Chiang Dao bypass.

Bikes at this stage - from the left. Honda CRF250 Rally - Deere; Royal Enfield 650 - Jae Tea; Honda 150 ADV - Dino; Honda 500X - Lachie; Kwacka Vulcan 650 - Andrea; Honda CRF 250 - me; Ducati Scrambler 803 - Glen and Honda 500X - Bert. We were joined up near the border by Eddie & Joy on a 500X and Neil on his Forza.

The 1322 is a lovely road, but it continues to deteriorate. There was a lot of left-side subsidence and the usual potholes and bumpy stretches.

A stop at the top

There's a bit of smoke in the air.

The people who run this teahouse are lovely and they have some nicely packaged local foods for sale. The green tea was free (but I left them 20 baht under the tray)

Sad to see birds on a chain

Looks to be a female Grey-headed Parakeet

We only got stopped once - this lot took a photo of the group and recorded one phone number

Its nice up in the pine forests

Drivers in Thailand never cease to amaze me. This was on a straight stretch of road.... but there's a corner just behind me, so maybe lost it and over-corrected a few times before arriving at the scene of his lament.

We saw another one on a straight road up at Piang Luang. There were three scooters parked on the road. As I went past, I noticed they were straightening out a bent basket, mirrors, etc. Yep - fell off on a straight, slow road.

Helmet? Nah... but, hey, she's got her Covid mask on, so she's safe. About 2 months ago, we got directed around a dead guy on the road - a Grab rider - dressed the same way. Had a Covid mask on, but no helmet. I'm guessing based on what I saw.... checking delivery address on his phone, ran into the back of a truck, fell off and cracked his skull. Dead. Hadn't even been knocked away from his scooter, which he was still astride. Didn't catch Covid though.....

This lot were far less cautious - no masks

Funnily enough, the two passengers weren't hiding their faces - when they saw me with the camera, their first response was to brush their hair back.

As for this lot.... oh well, three masks out of four

We did the usual stop for a photo at the former border crossing point - closed years ago

Then up the hill to the lookout over the Burmese army post

I've been there several times, but never seen soldiers camping up top before

The shed below is in Thailand.... then it is Myanmar

And with that, it was off to our usual haunt for lunch. The restaurant on the left as you arrive at the gateway over the road, entering Piang Luang, the Huen Kingkhala Resort... not that we've stayed there, just eaten at the restaurant a few times.

Looking the same way on Sept 11 last year. It was a bit more verdant then

Only had the one....

 

[The Bigfella]

After lunch, we backtracked down the 1322 about 4km and turned left at Ban Jong. This used to be the 1178 here, but is now the 1322 according to the road signs. Google still has it as the 1178.

The road was a notch or two down in quality compared to the lower section of the loop, but still enjoyable. There was a bit of loose gravel on more corners. Most of us had encountered gravel on the lower part of the loop... so were well primed for this.

The surface deteriorated completely for a couple of kilometres, but I let the Ohlins do their thing and cracked the throttle open

Those pesky 500Xs with double the power were easy meat - but I did pause to get a couple of photos of Lachie before feeding him some dust

Eddie's still talking to me too

Lachie again

Glen

Jae Tea

Deere, making more dust than anyone.... he'd been riding sweep but decided to have some fun for a couple of minutes

A local on a Frankenbike

Forzas go anywhere, eh Neil

Dino

Andrea and Bert said they didn't like the dirt

and were happy to see the end of it. Don't let a couple of km of dirt put you off what is a really enjoyable loop

This was about the worst of the smoke

So far, its better than the same time last year - but burning has been banned, I'm told

Its lovely up on the northern part of the loop

..... and at that stage, my SD card filled up. Some slack bastard hadn't freed up space. I've got some video from Deere - but its only good for clipping some stills from, as he mounted the old non-stabilised GoPro 4 Black to the screen of the Rally. Too much vibration for good video. I've also got some video from Dino to process, but I have to find time for that later. My GoPro has a cracked lens cover - which is on order... so none from me.

Good ride - worth doing, even if there's smoke in the air.

 

[Captain_Slash]

It never ceases to amaze me how they wear the face masks but dont bother with a crash helmet.

Another pleasant ride on twisty fun filled roads.

 

[The Bigfella]

Here is a quick flight over that Burmese army camp, back in August 2015