Well, well is all I can say after a fantastic ride, that had to end to soon. But I don't want to take away the excitement we had anyway. We started at 10 am on Huay Keaw Road and moved direction 700 year stadium. At the first intersection we turned left towards the mountain. A little road carried us to the foot of the mountain monument and some concrete stairways connected us to some fun off-road trip.
5 minutes later I knew better. Felix fell of his bike while trying to make it over the staircase. O.k turn around and help him out. After that one more delay. The rear wheel of his bike came lose. They must have forgotten to tighten the bolt at Mr. Mechanic. It is terrible for me to see, how bad the conditions of some bike are and this one was indeed dangerous and we considered our self lucky, that it happened on a slow track and not a high speed passage.
After we had solved this problem we were ready to encounter the next one. A water pipe covering the whole mountain. I didn't want to destroy this pipe and we tried our way around it, but no connecting track. So we lifted our 4 bikes over the tube at a very steep passage and continued riding. Felix fell off his bike again and I had to help him out. He's a small guy and he couldn't reach the ground with his
feet.
Finally we got going again and the view from here was gorgeous and paid back for all our effort.
Felix fell down one more time, but was back on the bike in a second or two. I wanted to try some new track and we found some promising playground. After a couple of kilometers the mountain got steeper and steeper until we reached some flatter area. It was nice and cool here and I really hoped for some more tracks to discover. …...And there it was in all it's beauty a nice hill climb about 75 degree or maybe more.
Andi was the first to try his luck. With a nice portion of speed and enthusiasm he carried his bike half way up the hill before he ended up in some bamboo. After that Felix. He managed to make almost half way up before gravitation called him back. Bug had a nice attempt but didn't quiet succeed either.
So now everyone was waiting for me, I passed Felix, Andi and the Bug still going at good speed. I could see the top now. A big fallen tree didn't allow me to continue and with a big unexpected wheelie I was flying from the bike and rolling down the mountain. After that misery I collected my bones and my bike further up the hill. Wasn't it cold a minute ago? Now it seemed like I was somewhere in the Sahara. I was breathing deep, could feel my blood pumping in my veins and hear my heart beat in a fast rhythm. After a little time of relaxation I tried to carry on around the tree log. But instead of going more up I was slipping down the hill more and more. Every attempt trowed me back a couple of meters.
I was at the end, out of breath and finally decided to turn around for the sake of the others.
It wasn't that easy either to just turn around up there and my descend took me maybe 10 minutes. Felix had broken his front break lever. So he decided to swap bikes with Bug as he had more experience.
I knew an alternative route and we decided to try that one instead if Felix was comfortable with it.
So at a very small crossing in the jungle I took the alternative track and I told Felix and Andi to wait for Bug.
I was speeding up a little bit and had a lot of fun on this rotten track, then I stopped and waited for the others. 10 minutes later Andi and Felix arrived, but no trace of Bug. Felix and Andi thought that Bug must have passed them because they waited for so long and he didn't come. That was absolutely the wrongest thing to do in the middle of the jungle, but what can one do. I told Andi to go look for Bug.
He searched him everywhere but couldn't find him. So I made my search and send the other two riders down to where it all started.
But my luck wasn't good either and I couldn't get hold of Bug. He was gone. Then out of a sudden Felix remembered he still had his back on Bug's bike. So we tried to call him. A friend of Bug picked up the phone and said Buck doesn't want to speak to anybody and is pissed of with the whole group.
Well, I do understand that. When we had tar mac underneath our tires we split. Felix and Andi drove back to Chiang Mai and I went to the X-center for some lunch and coffe.
We agreed to continue riding after we solved the problem with Bug, but then my battery of my mobile ran out of juice. What the f.u.. Not being able to do anything about this whole situation I rode home and made best friend with my pillow for some hours.
5 minutes later I knew better. Felix fell of his bike while trying to make it over the staircase. O.k turn around and help him out. After that one more delay. The rear wheel of his bike came lose. They must have forgotten to tighten the bolt at Mr. Mechanic. It is terrible for me to see, how bad the conditions of some bike are and this one was indeed dangerous and we considered our self lucky, that it happened on a slow track and not a high speed passage.
After we had solved this problem we were ready to encounter the next one. A water pipe covering the whole mountain. I didn't want to destroy this pipe and we tried our way around it, but no connecting track. So we lifted our 4 bikes over the tube at a very steep passage and continued riding. Felix fell off his bike again and I had to help him out. He's a small guy and he couldn't reach the ground with his
feet.
Finally we got going again and the view from here was gorgeous and paid back for all our effort.
Felix fell down one more time, but was back on the bike in a second or two. I wanted to try some new track and we found some promising playground. After a couple of kilometers the mountain got steeper and steeper until we reached some flatter area. It was nice and cool here and I really hoped for some more tracks to discover. …...And there it was in all it's beauty a nice hill climb about 75 degree or maybe more.
Andi was the first to try his luck. With a nice portion of speed and enthusiasm he carried his bike half way up the hill before he ended up in some bamboo. After that Felix. He managed to make almost half way up before gravitation called him back. Bug had a nice attempt but didn't quiet succeed either.
So now everyone was waiting for me, I passed Felix, Andi and the Bug still going at good speed. I could see the top now. A big fallen tree didn't allow me to continue and with a big unexpected wheelie I was flying from the bike and rolling down the mountain. After that misery I collected my bones and my bike further up the hill. Wasn't it cold a minute ago? Now it seemed like I was somewhere in the Sahara. I was breathing deep, could feel my blood pumping in my veins and hear my heart beat in a fast rhythm. After a little time of relaxation I tried to carry on around the tree log. But instead of going more up I was slipping down the hill more and more. Every attempt trowed me back a couple of meters.
I was at the end, out of breath and finally decided to turn around for the sake of the others.
It wasn't that easy either to just turn around up there and my descend took me maybe 10 minutes. Felix had broken his front break lever. So he decided to swap bikes with Bug as he had more experience.
I knew an alternative route and we decided to try that one instead if Felix was comfortable with it.
So at a very small crossing in the jungle I took the alternative track and I told Felix and Andi to wait for Bug.
I was speeding up a little bit and had a lot of fun on this rotten track, then I stopped and waited for the others. 10 minutes later Andi and Felix arrived, but no trace of Bug. Felix and Andi thought that Bug must have passed them because they waited for so long and he didn't come. That was absolutely the wrongest thing to do in the middle of the jungle, but what can one do. I told Andi to go look for Bug.
He searched him everywhere but couldn't find him. So I made my search and send the other two riders down to where it all started.
But my luck wasn't good either and I couldn't get hold of Bug. He was gone. Then out of a sudden Felix remembered he still had his back on Bug's bike. So we tried to call him. A friend of Bug picked up the phone and said Buck doesn't want to speak to anybody and is pissed of with the whole group.
Well, I do understand that. When we had tar mac underneath our tires we split. Felix and Andi drove back to Chiang Mai and I went to the X-center for some lunch and coffe.
We agreed to continue riding after we solved the problem with Bug, but then my battery of my mobile ran out of juice. What the f.u.. Not being able to do anything about this whole situation I rode home and made best friend with my pillow for some hours.
