Grant (Grubman) and myself , had some catching up to do from earlier days. And since grubman got himself a ninja 250 and i could arrange a little time out , we both had 2 wheels and time to ride the area too. We decided meet in petchabun and planned 2 day ride .
1st day: i left from Nakhonsawan at 6.00 AM and heading towards Petchabun where i was meeting Grant who started his trip from Khon Kaen at the same time. Meeting point was Burapa Hotel where we stayed. During the first part i had some fuelstop at Esso Nongbua, about 50km later i stopped and paid some respect for some VX800 that lost its frontfork on that place ( lucky the Rider was unharmed)
At appr 8.30 i arrived at Burapa Hotel in petchabun and shortly after me Grant as well.
We checked in and dropped some luggage . Had a Breakfast an off we went. we went north on route 21 towards lomsak and joined then Route 2372 / 2331 for a curvy climbing road up to Phu Hin Rong kla
while there at viewpoint we had a 30 minutes medium strength rain forcing us to have "Espresso" a la Allessandro
when the rain slowed down we went on into the National Park onwards on route 2331. This road is , specially at the beginning, in a not so good condition. However the surroundings are green and beautiful.
we still had rains coming on and off even wanted to stop for a while but when we were ready to stop the rain was gone too:
it was also time to "mark" Grant's Ninja 250 with the "Tiger/Sachs Club" Sticker.
At the beginning where route 2331 was in rather poor condition , but it came better the further we progressed.
Here at a view point without a view
we then went on back to route 12 via route 2013 , my Lady (virago 750) was starving for some fuel which we eventually found by entering a village off the route 12 . We then went on and made the obligatory stop at Route 12 Coffeeshop...geez this place keeps growing and growing, evrytime i pass they have something new added. Great Entrepreneurship by making their own Tourist attraction.
After some cold drinks we went on until Khaem Song and entered route 2196 to Khao Kho passing the "Little Switzerland".
Always a joy to ride there and amazing to see all the ongoing developments there too.
we went on until Khao Kho Palace...and even i was there before i never really noticed that this "Bungalow style" Building was the Khao Kho Palace
The "Army" Coffee Shop at Khao Kho Palace viewpoint
Here's Grant at the viewpoint on Khao Kho Palace.
The best road and road condition was then the Route 2258 back to route 21 and back to hotel. It was some real great riding that day and had shower some meal and beers.
2nd day: I woke up hearing thunder and rain...no good news. Went downstairs for breakfast and it is pouring. We decided to wait out a bit and see if any improvement . But it didn't so we aborted the plan doing Route 203 towards Loei.
About 11AM we both left to go back Home the most direct way due to rain. i went out on route 21 south while Grant went on the same road towards lomsak to join route 12 going east to Khon Kaen.
I was out of petchabun Town and the road strted to dry up. When i was on route 113 it was all dry and very nice riding.
While riding back home i was wondering if it was the right call to abort the ride on the 203 but from the situation we saw in dowtown petchabun this what we thought was right.
I got back home 1.16 PM and Grant was back home at 2.45pm, reporting that he came into some hard rains near Lomsak.
He got wet but made it home safe, but it also made clear that we did make the right decision for aborting the trip on route 203. Hope for better weather next time but considering the time available it was some great ride and meetup with an ex - collegue at work.
Grant is relatively new on Bikes and did exceptionally well, never was out of my mirror and could have overtaken me the one or other times too...but this wasn't about who is fastest anyways, still we did the riding in normal speeds , good pace. it shows also what a Ninja 250 is actually capable . The only thing that is different is his Acropovic exhaust which gives great sound, but no other mods, even on IRC stock tires
My Virago did well for her age but it needs a new throttle cable , not much more to say...oh and she has a new starter but needs a few times pressing the starter to have the starter actually move...oh what the hell can't have it all can't we? The road we have done on day one would have also been great on the Boxer 250 me thinks....
happy trails,
mbox
1st day: i left from Nakhonsawan at 6.00 AM and heading towards Petchabun where i was meeting Grant who started his trip from Khon Kaen at the same time. Meeting point was Burapa Hotel where we stayed. During the first part i had some fuelstop at Esso Nongbua, about 50km later i stopped and paid some respect for some VX800 that lost its frontfork on that place ( lucky the Rider was unharmed)
At appr 8.30 i arrived at Burapa Hotel in petchabun and shortly after me Grant as well.
We checked in and dropped some luggage . Had a Breakfast an off we went. we went north on route 21 towards lomsak and joined then Route 2372 / 2331 for a curvy climbing road up to Phu Hin Rong kla
while there at viewpoint we had a 30 minutes medium strength rain forcing us to have "Espresso" a la Allessandro
when the rain slowed down we went on into the National Park onwards on route 2331. This road is , specially at the beginning, in a not so good condition. However the surroundings are green and beautiful.
we still had rains coming on and off even wanted to stop for a while but when we were ready to stop the rain was gone too:
it was also time to "mark" Grant's Ninja 250 with the "Tiger/Sachs Club" Sticker.
At the beginning where route 2331 was in rather poor condition , but it came better the further we progressed.
Here at a view point without a view
we then went on back to route 12 via route 2013 , my Lady (virago 750) was starving for some fuel which we eventually found by entering a village off the route 12 . We then went on and made the obligatory stop at Route 12 Coffeeshop...geez this place keeps growing and growing, evrytime i pass they have something new added. Great Entrepreneurship by making their own Tourist attraction.
After some cold drinks we went on until Khaem Song and entered route 2196 to Khao Kho passing the "Little Switzerland".
Always a joy to ride there and amazing to see all the ongoing developments there too.
we went on until Khao Kho Palace...and even i was there before i never really noticed that this "Bungalow style" Building was the Khao Kho Palace
The "Army" Coffee Shop at Khao Kho Palace viewpoint
Here's Grant at the viewpoint on Khao Kho Palace.
The best road and road condition was then the Route 2258 back to route 21 and back to hotel. It was some real great riding that day and had shower some meal and beers.
2nd day: I woke up hearing thunder and rain...no good news. Went downstairs for breakfast and it is pouring. We decided to wait out a bit and see if any improvement . But it didn't so we aborted the plan doing Route 203 towards Loei.
About 11AM we both left to go back Home the most direct way due to rain. i went out on route 21 south while Grant went on the same road towards lomsak to join route 12 going east to Khon Kaen.
I was out of petchabun Town and the road strted to dry up. When i was on route 113 it was all dry and very nice riding.
While riding back home i was wondering if it was the right call to abort the ride on the 203 but from the situation we saw in dowtown petchabun this what we thought was right.
I got back home 1.16 PM and Grant was back home at 2.45pm, reporting that he came into some hard rains near Lomsak.
He got wet but made it home safe, but it also made clear that we did make the right decision for aborting the trip on route 203. Hope for better weather next time but considering the time available it was some great ride and meetup with an ex - collegue at work.
Grant is relatively new on Bikes and did exceptionally well, never was out of my mirror and could have overtaken me the one or other times too...but this wasn't about who is fastest anyways, still we did the riding in normal speeds , good pace. it shows also what a Ninja 250 is actually capable . The only thing that is different is his Acropovic exhaust which gives great sound, but no other mods, even on IRC stock tires
My Virago did well for her age but it needs a new throttle cable , not much more to say...oh and she has a new starter but needs a few times pressing the starter to have the starter actually move...oh what the hell can't have it all can't we? The road we have done on day one would have also been great on the Boxer 250 me thinks....
happy trails,
mbox
