Iron Butt Ride

[dave_boo]

Ok, an update for all those concerned.

I had to drop out of the ride. Was going to overnight up here at my house and meet up with Trent, Tony and Sefton at Kampheng Phet or Tak. Unfortunately, going to the local chemist scored me some hydrocodine for the soreness. This resulted in my sleeping until around 1400 yesterday, a wake up eating, shower and then back to bed. Woke up at a reasonable time this morning, but still slightly feeling it in the ribs. But let me back up and tell the story as far as I know it.

0545, rolled out of Bang Pu. Got to the Shell station and filled up (for those who are following the Ninja thread, it seems to have helped out my issues). Dotcom was called, and surprisingly answered on the first couple of rings. Surprising because I was assuming there'd be at least one person who overslept. So far so good. We met up on On-Nut road, and he showed me the way across to where Trent and Tony were waiting. As a side note, those of you who wish to ride with Dotcom(Rick) inside Bangkok do so at your own risk. He rides it through traffic like it's a little Sonic, and yet he can still open it up and leave most everything behind. I had to content myself with a good distance behind him since I didn't know the roads or the driving habits of that area.

We managed to make it to the Shell station in good time. Trent and Tony were there waiting on us, which only brought another smile to my face, nobody had as of yet overslept. The all black Ninja was quite stealthy, a big difference from my attetion whore Kawy green. Trent's bike was gorgeous, sporting Ohlins rear shocks and a nice growly titanium Yoshi exhaust. That exhaust never failed to grab attention where ever we were.

Apparently after conversing with the locals, it was a straight shot down the street to the bridge. Easy enough. We four set out and made it over the bridge. That's when the trouble began. Apparently Trent wasn't in that big of a hurry in town, what with being loaded down with saddle bags and a frame to house his 1300cc engine and we got seperated. The three of us (Tony, Rick, and I) took the side road, and eventually met up with Trent who had taken the fly-over.

This was to be repeated though. A few kilometers down the road Tony and I had opened up and left them behind. We pulled over and waited some 5 minutes, but they never showed up. Of course neither of us had a map, and we were remembering the wrong name for the town that we were supposed to meet Sefton at, so we just started following our sense of direction and those wonderfully vague Thai road signs. We're both red-blooded men, and stopping to ask for directions just isn't in our genes. Granted we tried to call Rick, but no answer. None the less, there was some excitement whilst Tony and I were cruising, he was leading the way and I was some 20 meters back when a car worth less than either of our riding jackets decided to pass the truck that was to the front left side of Tony resulting in the car's front right fender making contact with Tony's left passanger's foot peg. Tony was able to control the bike, which is a good thing because otherwise he would have been ran over, if not by me, than the lorry which was right behind me.

A big old detour (remember we had the wrong town in our minds) resulted in us 1/2 the way to Hua Hin. No big deal, we eventually broke down and bought a map (wife had not brought the mount for the motorcycle and ran the GPS battery down!) and managed to get hold of Rick. We eventually met up, just a bit past where Sefton was taking his time slurping a coffee. Everyone peered over the map, and we discussed making the run out to Kanchanburi. That was not to be, so it was on up the road towards Suphan Buri. Those nice straight stretches were dispatched at 130+, with the guy on the biggest bike going the slowest. Wasn't the bike's fault, with the exception of not having a windscreen. There was several times that Trent would open it up and embarrass us all, only to have to slow down when he started to bob around like a rag doll due to the wind buffeting him.

Tooling along, we discovered some of the limiting factors to the ride, David's stomach (hey! I've paid a lot of this and hope to keep it), and Sefton's range. On his 400 cc Suzuki, it looks like there's a big old tank, but I suppose Sefton could have swallowed more of the go-go juice than that shot glass sized joke. Also, in reference to Rick's mention earlier of stop signs, who actually stops for them at railroad tracks. Apparently Rick does, as I had to do a quick bob to get around him at one point.

We eventually made it to the 333, and this is where I messed up. I was going to take the bypass and then over to Ban Rai, but rather turned off too early. By the time I was able to get everyone's attention that we were going the wrong way, we had put significant distance back towards Kanchanburi.

A U-Turn, and we were back in business. Got up towards Ban Rai and showed them some roads. It was there that Rick decided that chickens didn't belong on roads and decided to make an example of the one that begged to differ. We made it down to a dead end, and it was on the way back to Ban Rai that I had my accident. I was hoping to leave that part out (loss of face and all), but oh well, e. coli hapens. Happened on a turn right after some kids were riding their bikes. Went wide around the kids, and since the grasses in the area weren't cut, was trying my damnedest to get back into my lane. Grabbed a big old handful of brakes which showed just how little grip the front tyre has. Hit a patch of sand in a nearly 90 degree turn, and from there it was all over. Some how managed to high-side the bike, don't know if that was because I saw the end of the guardrail coming up and didn't want to see what an impact with that would be like and so jumped off, or what (plausible since I've jumped off of vehicles before that I've lost control of rather than becoming part of the wreckage). It happened so quickly I'll I can remember is saying that classic American line "Oh shit".

Took four of us to get the bike out of the ditch, and for the nasty stones and crap it had to slide over, the damage wasn't that bad. Busted up the front left indicator, put some gnarly scratches on the fairing front and rear and managed to bend the shifter into a U shape. We tried using a ring spanner to straighten out the shifter, but it was a no go. Fortunately, with big feet come big shoes that have a substantial sole that sticks out and allowed me to shift. I limped back to where Rick took off from us and found a little shop that straightened it for me. I then decided to take care of myself, prefering not to let the fellow riders know how sore I was.

Other than a phone call received which indicated that Sefton's bike puked it's guts somewhere outside Nakhon Sawan, I have no other details. As they become available, I'll let y'all know.

Count:

Iron Butt Ride: 4

Rider: 1

Results:

One side-swiped bike.

One murdered Chicken.

One banged up rider and bike.

One very sick bike.

Edited November 23, 2008 by dave_boo

[Bard]

To bad with your accident Dave, hope you get good again soon. Wish there were a clip of the chicken run though sounds pretty crazy so far the trip, can't wait for the continuation.

Cheers Bard

[JonnyF]

Thanks for the report Dave, sorry to hear about your accident - hope you're not too banged up.

For the remaining riders, take it steady and post your progress when convenient, it sounds pretty eventful so far...

Ride safe chaps...

[LivinLOS]

Brief check in...

Good summay so far from Dave.. Day started under fine skys which was a welcome relief after the day befores wet trip up the gulf coast.. Getting to a destination to discover not only are you wet through but all your luggage is soaked isnt the best end.

We were having fun getting lost and taking wrong turns but the day progressed and the idea of making Mae Sot predicibly got scrubbed.. Then even Tak was looking doubtful.. After Daves ditch dive (unlucky there bud.. Least no real injury and only some costmetic damage) the remaining 3 set off to high tail it as far as we could..

As we went we just kept upping pace.. Average 120 then 130 then 140 then 160.. Then just winding it up full throttle.. Trent was probably in 3rd gear but Tony and I were at the upper limits.. Riding with Tony on that 250 is funny.. He will be riding at pace and then you just see him duck his head down behind the screen.. Tuck his arms in.. And lift his skinny ass up like some kind of primal baboon taunt and hes away laid out on the tank.. Time to wind it up and chase.. Was great fun until it ends in tears, or in this case oil !! Having recently had the top end rebuilt I thought it could take a bit of stick, but I guess shifting me and a full set of luggage at full bore was asking too much. Cant say its anyones fault but my own, just with trent giving it that 'lovin the pace lads' was just a double dare ya that was too hard to resist.. Every time he revs that 1300 and that exhaust howls, I just got that line from Jaws in my head "were gonna need a bigger boat" except this was I am gonna need a bigger bike !!!

So after blowing an oil seal and not knowing until the next lights when she bleed all over the floor we called it a day near nakhon sawan (oh and some truckers strike or some kind of madness had closed the 1 and all the bridges and all ways in.. Total night mare to get into the city) I found a big bike spanner shop and went to worrk to assess the extent.. They thought it was a seal near the oil sensor (it wasnt) but oil topped off (was 1l down from 2300 at this point I was hopeful that it had been caught in time) and water topped off, once running again she still didnt sound healthy.. I got into the hotel around 11 and crashed.

Day 3 with a 6am start to give me a full day, tried limping it to CM on the 1.. Stopping every 75kms or so for oil top offs.. First 100 or so through Kampeang Phet was going ok.. Not healthy but not sounding worse, made the mistake of getting hopeful.. Made it to Tak and was leaving town to try the lamphang leg when the nasty noises got worse, didnt have the heart to just kill it and called it quits falling back on a pickup hailed out of a petrol station..

On route I had contact with pikey for replacement wheels and he was a star.. Said to just bring the bike to his shop and work it out from there.. Within minutes of arrival had shifted bags over, done same with gps mounts and was basically mobile again. He then took time out of his day to take me round to a local spannerman and its due a strip down and diagnosis tomorrow. To be honest I reckon the chances of a rebuild in my limited CM time are mighty slim, and if it is going to be major surgery I would rather it was done by someone I know down our way.. Other option is if a fresh japanese import engine can be found, if so thats an easy (fast) swap. Otherwise the Laos / Cambo leg I was thinking is out of the running.

Today took some short loops round out of the city, had the GF flying in at 2 so couldnt get a long leg in.. Took the samoeng loop in for breakfast and heading out doi inthanon tomorrow, if the GF can handle it I might try the mae hong son loop with a early start as my CM time will be limited as I need to divide it with GF time (its her birthday.. Lucky lass gets to sit on a bike for all daylight hours .. Just kicking myself for getting carried away chasing that XJR !! Pikeys CB is a life saver but would be so much nicer with the little howler I know, all the controls positioned just how I fit em. No ones fault but my own !!! First time I have ever put an engine to the torch !! Worn a few out before but first time I have melted one.. Live and (maybe) learn..

Have to say the roads up here are just glorious, curve after curve of rolling hills.. Mucho grins per mile and nothing like this down south..

Anyway said I would be brief and too late for that.. Off out now.. More instalments to come..

[dotcom]

DB. So you were suffering Montezuma's revenge even before we started?

[LivinLOS]

Another day.. Another superb ride

Now 2 up, and combining ride with touristy stuff.. Went out to Doi Intanon, once off the 108 what a road !! Big wide sweeping curves, a real high speed blaster through amazing, and I do mean amazing, country.. I have said in the past that to own a big sportbike or other fast machine in Thailand was foolish, there simply wasnt the roads for it.. Well that was my Phuket / South frame of reference talking, and thats totally out the window.. How wrong I was !!

So then up at the chedis with the missus, and who turns up checking the sights ?? The other 2 remaining iron butt'ers !! They had massive grins and edge to edge tyre wear.. Singing the praises of various stages of loop roads with the near religious gleam in the eye !! I have no problem admitting that Trent and Tony are probably a step or two up on the skill level ladder than me (the complete lack of even a hint of chicken strips on either of those bikes is exhibit A) and think they probably were able to set better pace for themselves than I would have been in my comfort zone anyway, especially as I was heavily loaded with luggage. It seems like they have had a selection of roads some of which suited the brute power of the XJR and others which suited the precision and lightness of the Ninja, Trent reckoned hanging of that big lump and dragging it round corner after corner was better than a stairmaster !! Those 2 seems like top lads and one of the bigger regrets is not being about to hang out properly this trip, reckon mucho laughs there.. Next time hey !!

After that I did the Mae Cheam road through the national park forest.. Lovely alpine feel under crisp blue skies, then the Khun Yuam road out into Mae Hong Son province.. Seriously underestimating the distances involved here, what looks like 80km on a map is double that once you factor how the roads snake.. Then average speeds drop from cruising levels due to those constant turns so this took all day, our return to CM was after dusk and another 9+ hours in the saddle.. Not checked it but I think I am up to about 2600 kms or so in 5 days. The roads there were a bit more lumpy, getting moreso out to MHS province, but quite rideable.. Probably suited the little ninja due to the constant sharp hairpins.

So another absolute beaut of a day, am loving this up here, the cool air, the scenery, the loads of outdoory pursuits.. I have been to CM before but it was on a busy mission and just had a couple of days in the city.. Now with time to explore I am really digging it. I am getting a bit frustrated with the direction of Phuket and theres all kinds of ideas going round in my head.

More to follow..

[BigBikeBKK]

Hi All! What an AMAZING trip!

Ok- let's back up and start at the beginning:

DAY ONE:

As you've heard, things really didn't go too well on day 1... We all met up on time at the Shell Station and from there things fell apart rather quickly...

Our group didn't stay together in the morning rush hour traffic and we got separated and lost and wasted a fair amount of time trying to find one another and rendezvous. I got side swiped by a sleepy Somchai who couldn't be bothered to check his mirrors or use his turn signals... I thanked him by knocking off his mirror since he obviously didn't need it NOTE TO SELF: Always be OUT of the city before the morning rush hour.

We finally all managed to meet up at an ESSO station near Kanchanaburi-

You can see the two Ninjettes, plus Sefton's 'classic' Bandit 400 which he rode all the way from Phuket and Rick is back there behind the water bottles on his CB4. Can't see Trent as he's over on the other side filling his XJR1300 beast with 95.

From here things got pretty silly. Poor communication, worse navigation, a few close calls which finally culminated in Dave's slide off the road.

Dave's crash was preceded by a number of near misses, including almost rear ending Rick at a rail road crossing (how is that Rick's fault?!) and almost rear ending Trent on a crappy road near Ban Rai.

I don't want to hurt your feelings Dave, you're a nice guy and I like you, but man- you need to take a serious assesment of your riding skills before you kill yourself or someone around you... I know you have a wife and baby who depend on you, so please, for their sake, sign up for a riding course and learn the basics. I hope you will learn from this crash. Please don't blame your crash on your tires or the road. You need to learn from your mistakes or you will be doomed to repeat them. It's a good thing you crashed out on day 1 when we were going slow on mellow roads. If you'd made it to day two a crash in the mountains would have been a lot more serious.

I'm very happy that no one got hurt on this trip. (Except perhaps Dave Boo's pride...)

Fortunately pride and scratched up bikes can be fixed This Ninja 250R had only 681Km on the odometer when it went into the sugar cane

I can tell Selton loves his Bandit very much, but it does have some range and reliability issues that must be addressed before it is taken on long distance rides in sparsely populated areas-

~130km on a tank... You could easily find yourself stranded somewhere between Mae La Noi and Khun Yuam, for example...

So- after wasting most of the day getting lost and then getting Dave's bike out of the ditch Rick headed back to Bangkok and the remaining three riders, Tony on the Ninja, Selton on the Bandit and Trent on the XJR decided we needed to haul a$$ if we were going to salvage the day and cover some distance before dark.

As Selton explained, his aging Bandit did not appreciate the ensuing high speed dash and decided to puke its guts on the superhighway somewhere near Chai Nat Luckily there was a bike shop right there and the plan was to have the bike trucked into Nakhon Sawan to see if it could be fixed. Unluckily it just so happened that that very evening the local sugar cane farmers decided to protest falling prices by dumping truckloads of dirt on the superhighway, then parking their trucks on the road and camping out on the main bridge across the river. Trent and I were able to sneak past their blockade on our two wheeled vehicles, but the pickup carrrying Selton's Bandit was less fortunate.

Trent and I stayed at the Asia Hotel- a simple, clean affair for something like 700THB (already I'm forgetting...) including an unimpressive breakfast. We did go out and found a nice place for dinner and beers and less nice places for 'dessert'

Summary- Day 1 was a disaster, but fortunately no one was seriously hurt and looking back on it Trent and I have had many laughs.

It took us a full day and ~540km to finally get to Nakhon Sawan. We could have done the same in less than 3 hours had we taken the direct route...

Stay tuned- DAY TWO is coming up next!

[BigBikeBKK]

The Iron Butt Massacre- DAY TWO!

After the mayhem of Day One it's just Trent on his XJR 1300 muscle bike and Tony on his Ninja 250R. You would think that that would be a weird combination of bikes and make for a difficult trip, but I think we were both pleasantly surprised by how well out riding styles matched. I'm lucky Trent doesn't have a screen on his bike because I know that thing could easily cruise along at 200km/hr or more with power to spare. I'm also lucky that Kawasaki builds such incredibly tough bikes. We took off and averaged 140-160km/hr from Nakhon Sawan to Tak. At 160km/hr the Ninja 250R's parallel twin spins at about 12,000RPM. I used to keep my hand on the clutch at all times thinking surely the engine would come apart, but I'm now up to 7350km on the odometer and am starting to believe that yes, the little Ninja can not only handle it, but likes it!

We covered the 185km to Tak in about 90 minutes- this beautiful high speed dash from Nakhon Sawan in the early morning cool washed away the frustrations of the previous day, and once we turned West on the 105 towards Mae Sot we soon found ourselves blessed with one of the most amazing roads I've seen in years and it was just a preview of things to come-

Endless sweeping turns took us high up into the mountains past Lan Sang and King Taksin the Great National Parks before winding down, down, down into sleepy Mae Sot- the gateway to the Burmese gem traders.

Breakfast, coffee, and a stroll through the gem market and it was time to saddle up and push on.

We were deep in hill tribe territory now- I've honestly thought that the hilltribe peoples of Thailand only wear their traditional clothes for tourists, but I've now learned otherwise- In their villages they still build their homes in the traditional fashion, thatched walls and leaf roofs. We saw them harvesting rice by hand. I really should have taken some pictures... Guess I'll have to go back!

Even where the road was not paved it was still beautiful-

The world's most powerful dirt bike?

A splendid, challenging and rewarding ~500km ride.

We reached Mae Sariang shortly before the sun set-

Looking west into Burma-

Our luxurious accomodations at the Miramit (sp?) Resort-

I'm beat- I'll pick up from here in the morning.

Good night and happy trails!

[BigBikeBKK]

The IRON BUTT MASSACRE continues- DAY THREE!

400km of twisty mountain roads!

We left Mae Sariang fairly early and passed this stunning temple where I just had to stop for a quick pic-

I've never seen this type of architecture in Thailand- anyone know what it's called?

We rode north up into the mountains on Route 108-

We had the road almost entirely to ourselves all the way to Mae Hong Son. As we climbed it got cool (even cold) and quite foggy in areas-

I took a lot of these pics holding the camera in my left hand while riding- probably not the safest thing to do, but the results aren't too bad.

I'm still trying to figure out a good way to mount the camera to the bike. I did buy a generic mount at Pantip before the trip but found that the camera bounced around too much and the videos I took this way are all annoyingly jumpy.

I rather like the 'tunnel vision' effect this pic has as a result of taking it at speed-

Another one of these unusual temple-like buildings. (This one's in a park/scenic overlook, so not a temple)

Lunch in Mae Hong Son. Introduced Trent to the joys of Khao Soi- so good in fact that we each had two servings!

We stopped for coffee and people watching in the trippy little hippy town that time forgot- Pai.

Didn't really get any good pictures, but definitely want to go back and spend some time in this funky little town. It's got a cool vibe like nowhere else.

Noticed a bit more traffic between Pai and Chiang Mai- I imagine Pai is a popular destination for day trips or one day rides out of Chiang Mai. Kicking down gears to pass traffic on the twisties only added to the fun

We rolled into Chiang Mai in the late afternoon and I was happy to discover that I still remember my way around. Went first to one of my old favorites, the Galare Guest House on the Ping River, but they really did jack up their rates- asking for 1150THB/night NOT including breakfast... Even we told them we wanted two rooms for 2 nights they'd only come down 10% and still no breakfast... The friendly girls at the front kept going on about "High Season"; crazy, considering how empty the place was...

So we went around the corner and got big rooms at the Tawan Court Hotel for just 7000THB/night. The Tawan Court also has underground parking for the bikes and the rooms are unusually large.

To be continued...

Edited November 26, 2008 by BigBikeBKK

[Meridian007]

Damnit, I knew this would be epic! The pics are great!

Can you remember the road quality for different parts of the trip? I saw the pic with the road work, and while you guys can go all "dirt bike" on it, my old beast sits too close to the ground for that.

Sounds like a great trip!

[Bard]

Sounds like a ton of fun and I wish I made it, great photos and trip report. Day one sounds like something out of a fairy tale, good to hear all of you are doing well.

Have a safe trip home.

Cheers Bard

[PeaceBlondie]

Thanks, man. Great pics and story. It makes me want to take a few two day slow trips and stop along the way.

[bobbin]

BigBikeBKK

A nice road report so far tho I think a little unfair to critique Dave's riding skills on the forum. A quiet word would be much better and less "aggresive".

I did follow the lead-up to this trip with interest. I hoped it would go well with all having fun and no untoward incidents.

Five years ago, a group of us in Pattaya decided to ride up to Chiang Mai for Bike Week. We had all gotten together to ride around the Pattaya area and after a couple of local 2 hour+ rides, we decided that going up to CM would be a good adventure. Since we were all local, we were able to organize a "shake out trip" to Ayuudaya to prepare. That went well and we were getting used to each other' riding syle. For the most part, we rode well together.

As the date drew nearer, our group of 15 split on the time-frame for the trip up to CM. Some of us wanted a more leisurely trip and some wanted an "iron butt" experience and do it with only one overnite stop. Our failure to agree caused some hard feelings and we split into 2 camps.

I opted for the 2 overnite stop group. So 7 of us headed out a couple of days earlier. Our trip up went well. Bike Week was fun and never expected to see so many bikes of all types.

On Sunday, the last day, there was a group ride on a loop out into the hinterlands and back to CM. There were hundreds of bikes on this ride. The trip out was great. Police escort out of town. As you can imagine, it did not take long for the hard riding to start. After a gas-up at the halfway point, we set out for "home".

Here is where it went horribly wrong.

As we set out, I would estimate I was in the first hundred or so riders. Not because I was riding so hard but because I left a touch earlier. Almost immediately it was a different ride. I had been riding pretty hard on the way up due to group excitement. But the route back was on smaller, less good roads. Lots of "pebbles" on the tarmac. I backed off a touch. About 10km into the return leg, I came around a bend to see about 30+ bikes parked alongside the road. I thought it strange to stop to sightsee so soon after the gas-up but stopped anyway. This was in the middle of a bunch of S-bends so the view was fantastic over the valleys.

Oh oh. Not sightseeing. Someone had gone off the road. Over the embankment. 100 meters down the slope through light forest. Rescue operation launched. Down the slope slowly. Much confusion. Oh no, the injured rider one of our group of seven. Almost 2 hours to get him up to the road. Although an ambulance had been summoned almost immediately, none had arrived by the time we got our friend up to the road. So we loaded him into a pick-up bed still strapped to the flat base of wood we had strapped him to on the slope before hauling him up to the road. We passed the ambulance on the way back to the little hospital in the town we gassed up in. It was not much of a hospital. More like a first aid station with nurses. An ambulance from CM was called and another 2 hours passes.

It turned out 2 of our group were riding more or less side by side and coming around a bend, had come upon a downed rider in the middle of the road. Those damned "pebbles". They had split left and right to avoid. Our friend who went left had no room and went off the road. It looked like he would have just gone into the bushes but they hid the drop-off.

He was paralyzed from the waist down for life. He had been living and working in Thailand for 18 years at that point. His quality of life since then has been terrible. At least he was fully insured through his work and finances aren't a problem but even so it has been a horrible thing to become fully dependent on others.

This event caused us to seek out the other group of Pattaya riders, who we had not met up with yet. Only to find out that on their blast up to CM, one of them had crashed in the mountains on a curve and a Thai girl riding pillion had been killed.

One killed. One paralyzed.

I stay closer to home now.

[Bard]

That was a very good point bobbin, I am very happy to see that Dave was not seriously hurt. Long haul trips on bikes in unknown areas is high risk, aggressive driving is extremely high risk no matter what, which is why I do my hard driving on Bira circuit and not on the road.

Of the original gang of bikers from back home in Europe, we were 9 guys and 2 girls first one died at age 19 he split a VW Golf in half with his 1100 bike, next one at age 29 hit a moose and now only 5 of us still drive bikes and all of us have had some injuries along the way, all of us are now careful defensive drivers on roads though and had been without any serious injuries for years. When driving on long trips I do recommend to join up with experienced riders on the route, GT-Riders have tons of knowledge and very helpful riders who can either join on the trips or tell you what to be careful of where etc.

Cheers Bard

[BigBikeBKK]

BigBikeBKK

A nice road report so far tho I think a little unfair to critique Dave's riding skills on the forum. A quiet word would be much better and less "aggresive".

I did follow the lead-up to this trip with interest. I hoped it would go well with all having fun and no untoward incidents.

I'll apologize up front if I'm coming off as 'aggresive' or downright rude- it is not my intent to insult or pour salt on open wounds- my comments come from genuine concern for Dave, his family, and the people he rides with.

I've had the last 5 days to think it over and Trent and I talked and joked about it a lot during the rest of the trip, so I have put some thought into what I've said. My advice to Dave should be taken as constructive criticism and it's advice that any new rider should take to heart.

Perhaps a PM would have been more diplomatic, but there are lessons to be learned from this incident that can benefit anyone wishing to ride a motorcycle in Thailand.

As a general rule I am reluctant to go on multi-day road trips with people I've never met. This time I made an exception, telling myself that if the group didn't 'gel' that I'd just take off and do my own thing. I'm not an 'expert' rider like DotCom says, though it's quite nice of you to say that Rick I prefer to think of myself as an 'experienced' rider, but certainly not an expert. IMHO I think the minute you start thinking like that you set yourself up for disaster...

You know the old saying, "There are old bikers, and there are bold bikers, but there are very few old bold bikers". It's really quite true!

If you read this tale from the beginning you'll recognize that the planning was quite poor from the start and the proposed itineraries were pure fantasy.

Signs of trouble: There were hints that there 'might' be a support vehicle, which in the end never materialized... Getting lost while riding to Dave's home town... The leader taking us on a 'home town' loop of his choosing and getting lost... Again... Riding on terrible, potholed, dirty and dusty roads and ending up at a dead end (lost...) and having to backtrack on the same crappy roads... Dave crashing on that very same road...

Even if he hadn't crashed we would have been lucky to make it to Kamphaeng Phet on that first day. At that pace we could have perhaps made it to Mae Sot on Day two, Mae Hong Son on day 3 and maybe to Chiang Mai on day 4. That would have been fine with me- I don't HAVE to ride hard and fast. I approached this trip with an open mind, willing to go along with the will of the majority. But when I see a trip turning dangerous my instinct is to to say thanks, but no thanks, and go off on my own.

In this case I was fortunate that Trent joined our group at the last moment, because he does know how to ride, and has an incredible bike too. Once it was just down to Trent and me, we picked up the pace big time, knowing we could trust one another to not do anything reckless.

Several thousand km on the stunning mountain roads of northern Thailand did wonders for both of us. I feel truely blessed to live in this part of the world- the trip we did defies description, but anyone who has ridden any of those roads will know exactly what I'm talking about. Trent and I couldn't get the stupid grins off our faces- it just kept getting better and better and I can't wait to go up again for the CM Bike Week on December 5th to do it all again!

Ride Safe and Happy Trails!

Edited November 26, 2008 by BigBikeBKK

[BigBikeBKK]

IRON BUTT MASSACRE Trip Report - Day 3 continued---

So, Trent and I got ourselves settled in to the Tawan Court Hotel and then I decided I wanted to go to The Kafe, which I'd heard is the preferred hang out of the Golden Triangle Riders.

http://www.gt-rider.com/thailand-motorcycle-forum/

I've had the pleasure to ride with some GTR members to Kanchanaburi a while back and was singularly impressed. Great guys and skilled riders all around. The GT Rider forum is probably the single best source of knowledge, advice and information on riding in SE Asia.

I had no idea that Davefl, the head of GTR even knew about the Iron Butt trip until he offered some sage advice on this Thai Visa thread suggesting gently that the proposed itinerary was perhaps a bit overly ambitious.

Naturally I wanted to meet the man and the legend, so off we went to the Kafe. David wasn't there but the friendly staff said they expected him later so we had a few beers and snacks out on the sidewalk and watched Chiang Mai come alive after dark.

Trent was on a mission (talk about a one track mind! ) so I wrote a note to David with my number and off we went. I'm really not sure how many hours we spent trying to find what Trent was looking for, but all's well that end's well and I learned a little something new about Chiang Mai too

It was getting late and I was thinking about calling it a night when David called! Cool! Back on the bike and over to the Kafe where there were about a dozen GT Riders hanging out having drinks and trading stories. I really enjoyed getting to meet David and some of the other GT Riders and I hope I'll have an opportunity to ride with them some day. I'm SOOOO terrible with names... A very nice guy from Malaysia was there with his wife/gf, I met Mark, Rex, Silverhawk, Klx?, Veronique and her husband whose name eludes me, but whose stunning tricked out CB 1300 I will not soon forget- Wow!

Trent and I still hadn't made a plan for the following day so I asked David for a suggestion and he recommended Doi Inthanon to Mae Chaem. Brilliant recomendation- the road up to Doi Inthanon was so much fun we did it twice!

So, while I initially thought I'd get to bed early, in the end I didn't make it back to the hotel until after midnight~~~ Who should I run into on the way back to the hotel- why it's Trent picking up a late night meal so off we went to consult the maps and plan the following day

Edited November 26, 2008 by BigBikeBKK

[davidgtr]

Big wide sweeping curves, a real high speed blaster through amazing, and I do mean amazing, country.. I have said in the past that to own a big sportbike or other fast machine in Thailand was foolish, there simply wasnt the roads for it.. Well that was my Phuket / South frame of reference talking, and thats totally out the window.. How wrong I was!!

Livinlost

Glad to know you’re having a good time & are learning first-hand how great the roads & riding in the North is. You will be able to speak from experience after this short trip.

Sorry to hear about your bike blowing up, but on the positive side if it is in the hands of Joe at Joes Bike Team, there is probably no better mechanic in the North to look at it. On the negative side we won't get to hear about your Lao / Cambo adventures or whether you ever got that International Carnet you were going to get issued in Thailand for your bike to do Indonesia et al.

Take care, have fun & ride safe.

Edited November 26, 2008 by davidgtr

[nakedAIR1300]

BigBikeBKK

A nice road report so far tho I think a little unfair to critique Dave's riding skills on the forum. A quiet word would be much better and less "aggresive".

The truth of this matter is, we should never been on these roads in those conditions at all. It was poor planning and this was the result unfortunately.

"He who fails to plan, plans to fail"

I think Tony is doing a great job of describing our adventure, so ill add once Tony is done

I have some pretty funny pics !!

[BigBikeBKK]

I have some pretty funny pics !!

Aha! There you are Trent! I've been hoping you'll fill in some of the stretches where I got so caught up in riding that I forgot to take pictures. I know you know what I mean! Once we're in the ZONE it's just so hard to stop

You're not the only one with funny pics! I had to make a hidden folder on my laptop so that the missus doesn't find your collection of boob shots! Debating whether any would be appropriate for the ThaiVisa... I'll burn you a CD of all the pics and vids from the whole trip and get that to you next time we hook up.

Actually I'd like to run down to Fastcorner and get another can of chain wax to replace the one that blew up under my passenger seat probably as a result of our runs up and down Doi Inthanon- what a freakin' mess that made! 3 days and I'm still getting blue wax out of the Ninja's nooks and crannies

I'll try and finish the trip report this evening- been a busy busy day catching up with work that piled up while I was gone.

Cheers!

[nakedAIR1300]

does anyone know the name of the track at Nakon Pathom ?? i need another buzz... not that this one is wearing off but i need a refill

before Tony posts the photos of me kissing the ladyboy at Amazon Cafe on Day 5... i swear i only kissed her for a free coffee (great legs) !

Trent

p.s i think boob shots and motorbikes go hand in hand...post em

[Travelmate]

There was how many riding? 4, 5?

[nakedAIR1300]

There was how many riding? 4, 5?

lol.... there were 5,4,3,...... 2. Rick went for only a day trip, Dave hit the sugarcane early on in day 1 and Seftons bike blew up on day 1.

There was Tony on his awesome redline Ninja 250 and me on my overpowered flying fridge XJR1300.

Sefton is still enjoying the roads in the north, the lucky bugger.

It was terrible coming back into Bangkok, we hit the demonstators out near the old airport on the way back into town then I got pulled by the cops for going over a bridge. I normally am pretty good with roads rules but sitting in traffic fully geared up at 3pm is a little hot after coming serious distance on day 5.

Edited November 26, 2008 by nakedAIR1300

[BigBikeBKK]

The Iron Butt Massacre- Day Four!

While we'd initially planned to spend two nights in Chiang Mai, we also both wanted to get back to Bangkok on Tuesday. (Well, I don't think either of us WANT to be in Bangkok) It's more like we need to get back to make sure our employees have not run amok during our absence. Quite funny that Trent and I own similar type businesses, so we understand each other quite well.

Anyway- taking into account DavidGTR's recommendation of Doi Inthanon and Mae Chaem Trent and I looked over the map and found an interesting looking road that went south from Mae Chaem to Hot and then on to Li. Didn't know anything about it but it looked promising, so that became out new plan.

First we rode south out of Chiang Mai on the 108 to the 1009 and the entrance to Doi Inthanon National Park-

Happy happy joy joy- I flashed my Thai Drivers Liscense and Trent and I both got in on the Thai price. (One tenth the Farang price...) The farang gouging pricing schemes here still bug me, but I'm always happy when I can avoid the scam.

You may notice that our bikes have less luggage at this point. While it was hard to get Trent to part with his 5 pairs of extra jeans, face cream, sneakers, Maxim collection and family pack of condoms etc etc I convinced him that we might be even more comfortable riding if we lightened our loads and mailed back our dirty laundry and excess baggage. Just keep an extra pair of socks and underwear and other basic necessities for the last night before we blast back to the Big Mango.

So I mailed my 2 kilos of dirty clothes while Trent mailed 11 KILOS?!?! of kit he'd been dragging along. I taught Trent that only people with hair actually need to use shampoo and conditioner

Nice thing about riding in Thailand is that if you need anything you just have to hit a village market or a 7-11 and you'll be able to find just about anything you could possibly need.

So, with our loads lightened we set off to climb the ~2500 meter tall Doi Inthanon. WOW!!! I'd ridden to the top years ago on a dirt bike and the only thing I really remembered was how cold it was.

This time, with a proper sport bike and sunny weather I discovered a completely different Doi Inthanon- a beautifully maintained high speed road that curves back and forth up and up and up to the Roof of Siam.

It's the PERFECT road for high speed carving- so good in fact that we 'accidentally' rode all the way down from the peak to the 108 and nearly all the way back up a second time Unbelievable how stable that little Ninja 250R was in the corners no matter how fast I hit them.

And for anyone out enjoying the peace and quiet of the National Park on that day I think they probably had visions of the bellowing Jurassic Park T Rex, because that's just what Trent's XJR 1300 muscle bike sounds like when he lays heavy on the throttle and all 130+ horsepower come screaming out of that Yoshimura Titanium exhaust!

Even better though is when he throttles down and engine breaks- then you could swear his bike is talking- it sounds like the T Rex just swallowed a bus full of tourists and is busy chewing them up, snapping bones like toothpicks and clearing his throat. I'm not making this up- that bike sounds absolutely amazing, and you have to hear it to really understand it.

sounds like:

What a pleasant surprise to run into the only other surviving member of the Iron Butt Massacre at the Royal Chedis near the peak! All of a sudden there was LivingLOS and his cute as a button gf. What were the chances of that?! Sefton seemed in fine form- despite blowing up his Bandit he was making the best of the trip, having rented a CB400 from Pikey and I'm sure he'll continue to have a wonderful time exploring the northern roads and look forward to hearing about his continuing adventures.

His gf snapped some pics of the 3 survivors of the Iron Butt Massacre and I'll be looking forward to seeing those! We should make some T-shirts too- "I SURVIVED THE IRON BUTT MASSACRE" on the back. Hopefully this will not be the last Iron Butt Ride, but hopefully next time we'll need more T-shirts!

The views from the top were of course breaktaking-

Our plan was to ride to Mae Chaem, but we missed the road (easy to do) on the way down from the peak and we got all the way to the 108 before we u-turned and rode nearly all the way up again. Turns out the road to Mae Chaem is a tiny little winding forest road that branches off of the 1009 30km after the entrance to the National Park. It was steep and full of hairpins- a blast on the little Ninja, and I could only imagine it must have been a real workout getting the XJR1300 around those incredibly tight bends.

Finally made it to the adorable little hamlet of Mae Chaem where the majority of the people appeared to be hilltribe villagers and Trent showed off his hilltribe/Al Queda look-

Continuing south toward Doi Tao Lake we discovered a beautiful road that follows a winding river- amazing scenery but we had to keep our eyes on the road as we were really moving!

Stopped briefly at the lake- Trent chose to have his pic taken with the man-beast...

Hey Trent- whatever floats your boat buddy

Naturally I prefer the female version-

We'd thought about trying to stay on the lake but it seemed very quiet with no obvious resorts.

So we pushed on to the little town of Li where we found some cute cheap guesthouses-

Walked across the road to a nice little Thai restaurant where he enjoyed our final dinner of the trip. I don't know if it was the fresh air or the sense of a perfect ending but that simple Thai restaurant was probably the best meal of the whole trip.

Hit the 7-11 for beers and had a great time getting to know the ladies behind the counter. (Mind you one of them was a man, but Trent didn't seem to notice...)

Got back to the cottages and reliazed that neither one of us has mastered that uniquely Thai talent of opening beer bottles without any kind of bottle opener. I tried a brick, I tried the rear set on my bike, I tried one bottle on the other like I've often seen Thais do- no go...

Fortunately one of our neighbors happened to wander by and he took pity on the poor Farang and opened our bottles for us

Khob khun khrap!

Trent kept seeing shooting stars- I didn't see any, and so ended day 4 of the Iron Butt ()Zzzzzz

[Bard]

Where's the pics of nightlife we were promised... ???

Cheers Bard

[nakedAIR1300]

Let me start by saying this was one of the best experiences of my life...and ive done loads! jumped out of planes, scuba diving to ridiculous depths in some of the most beautiful reefs around the world, raced 400 hp spring cars in Australia, bungy jumping, rock climbing.. but this was something else. The feeling of both being that low to the ground at high speed and also the scenery has kept me on a high since day 2 of the Iron Butt Massacre.

Im not a poet like Tony and he covers most of the trip pretty well but ill try to fill in where needs be.

DAY ONE:

A complete mess. Met up at the shell petrol station like planned right on time and headed to meet Selton at the next meeting point. Since it wasnt an early meet (7am) we got stuck in traffic and as you will see from my pics I am carrying saddle bags on my already oversized flying fridge and its not easy to zig zag since it was new gear and im not used to it. We got seperated and spent some time sitting around until we met again at meeting some hours later. With all 5 bikes together at last we were off, where i dont know but we were going somewhere.....cool!

PIT STOP

We ended up at Dave Boos home town doing loops around some dodgy backroads and all came unstuck. All i can say is we should never have been there in the first place.

Quite funny, everytime we did a few km Selton had to fill up!

Actually the Asia Hotel was only 550 baht for the night, great value for money. I was on a mission and managed to find myself some 'dessert' so I was quite happy.

DAY TWO:

Headed straight for the highway 1 all the way to Tak and then the plan was to take the 105 all the way to through Mae Sot and keep going until we felt we had enough.

When we turned left on the 105 and headed towards Mae Sot and within a few km the road got quite twisty and only owning my 1300 for 2 months I was still getting used to it so I took it quite easy and rode within my limits. Even at quite slow pace I was loving the left to right corners and the feeling was quite something else… I felt ontop of the world. All my worries and problems were gone and I felt invinsible as we cruised ontop of the world around the 105 highway.

Tony by this stage was way ahead as he powered his little ninja gracefully through the corners at nice speeds every so often stopping to see if I was still with him. At first it was a little embarrassing as Tony was on a 250cc and I was on a 1300cc and he was powering away from me at every opportunity, hats off to Tony as he is a nicely competent rider.

We passed through Mae Sot which to me is an interesting place as the bulk of rubies, sapphires and jade is brought across the border from Burma and sold at market there. If you know what you are looking for you can make a lot of money!

Day two ended with huge grins on our faces from the 500+ km we did. We sat across the road from our hotel and enjoyed a BBQ and a few beers. Went looking for dessert but Mai Sariang is Thailands sleepiest town L

DAY THREE:

After a great nights sleep and fully recharged after the 500+km dash the day before we set off on the 108 and before long found ourselves back into beautiful windy roads. After warming up I don't know what happened but I got into this state where I found myself hanging off my bike carving up corners and being totally relaxed mentally and physically, I was in the 'zone'. I didn't want this feeling to EVER end, it felt amazing!

Day three was turning out to be one of the best days of my life and we had so much more yet to do.

Tony looking pretty cool

Me and my flying fridge

Tony introduced me to cow soi and we ate 2 servings each it was that nice. When driving through town in Mae Hong Son I couldn't help but notice the overabundance of beautiful women and took my mind off the job and nearly ran up the back of a pickup (at very low speeds).

We were covering good ground comfortably and continued onto Pai which was am amazingly beautiful little hippy town. We didn't stay for long, just a coffee and some refreshments but I will be definitely heading back to Pai to check it out!

Arrived safely into Chiang Mai day three and I got off the bike and could hardly walk as I dragged my huge flying 1300cc fridge around so many corners throughout the day.

Shower and straight down to The Kafe for some refreshments and a bite to eat. I needed a little more relaxation so not knowing the area I dragged Tony around until I found what I was looking for and Tony headed off to bed…or so I thought.

DAY FOUR:

I was pretty physically tired after day three but when we arrived at Doi Inthanon the pain seemed to go away as we climbed the steep roads leading to the highest point in Thailand. Amazing views, cool cool temperature and grins from ear to ear after riding such nice roads all the way to the top!

It makes you realized just how small a world it is when you run into people out of the blue. We met up with Selton and his cute as a button girlfriend up at the Chedis, we exchanged stories for a while and then continued on our way. I got a bit lost which worked out ok as I got to do the mountain a couple times over as we tried to find the small turnoff to Mae Chaem. Once located the road suddenly turned into this narrow steep declining winding road with sheer cliffs either side along the ridges of the mountains towards Mae Chaem. A couple of near misses from cars coming the up the mountain on the wrong side of the road overtaking around corners! This was an experience but I would never want to do this road again on such a heavy bike again, maybe when I get a little more experience my confidence in the bike will change and I can manage it.

Another amazing day completed and as we arrived at Li in the late afternoon. A well deserved rest was needed for the journey ahead. Again I could hardly walk after a pretty full on day cornering.

[nakedAIR1300]

DAY FIVE coming soon !

[BigBikeBKK]

Awesome pics Trent! And you've filled in some things I left out, so good on ya mate!

Here's my Day 5 of the IRON BUTT MASSACRE!

We rolled out of sleepy Li at an early hour and immediately we were rewarded by a last twisty road to Thoen. Wow- the surface was crap in spots, but what a fun road that was! Who needs coffee when you've got a road like that for breakfast! Once we reached the Superhighway at Thoen it was time to turn on the warp drive and get back to the Big Mango in record time.

Average cruising speeds home were ~140-170kph. Once again, you've got to love Thailand- light traffic and not a single speed trap the entire way!

In fact- on this entire 2600+ km trip we only got pulled over by the BiB once! And that was for a routine check of papers and photo op-

These guys were awesome! They didn't even notice (or care?) that my liscense was 3 days expired or that Trent's was an antique!

We left Thoen at exactly 0900 and I reached home in Bangkok shortly before 1500. In fact we would have made it home even faster if we hadn't stumbled across the Yellow Shirt riots at Don Muang that had the roads into Bangkok backed up to past Rangsit!

We stopped for a good breakfast and coffee. Trent was hoping for fresh milk and I didn't have the heart to tell him it was a lost cause

But trying to pay for your coffee with a kiss and getting denied... Now that's GOTTA hurt!!! 55555

How nice to get home at such an early hour. Gave me time to strip down the little Ninja and reward her a well earned deep clean-

Now that she's all squeeky clean it's time to put her back together again for this weekend's Bangsaen Bike Week!

So, Bangsaen Bike Week this weekend and then it will be time to start preparing for the Chiang Mai Bike Week next weekend! Does the fun ever stop?! Life is GOOD!

Happy Trails!

[BigBikeBKK]

IRON BUTT Volume II

We had so much fun we're going to do it again!!!

Depature from Bangkok on Friday December 5th at 0700 from the Beverly Hotel on Ratchadapisek.

We will cruise to Chiang Mai in one go. Planned cruising speed ~130-150km/hr will get us there in about 7 hours with stops for breakfast, lunch, gas, etc. Folks who want to ride slower or take longer can make it a 2-day ride, stopping in Kamphaeng Phet or Tak or wherever you like.

Be gassed up and ready to ride at 0700 so we can blast out of the city before the traffic gets too thick.

Happy Trails!

Tony

[Pikey]

Just stumbled across this one as I didn't realize it was morphing into a trip report. F'ing excellent guys!!! Tip-top report and great pics. Shame that there were casualties but nothing too severe. Dave_Boo beat my record of trashing a new bike - I managed 483 miles on my new Bonnie last year before getting taken out by 3 kids on a scooter Hope you and the Ninja are all healed up now Dave.

It will be good to meet you guys next week for the CNX bike week. Ride safe.

Cheers,

Pikey.

[dave_boo]

Just stumbled across this one as I didn't realize it was morphing into a trip report. F'ing excellent guys!!! Tip-top report and great pics. Shame that there were casualties but nothing too severe. Dave_Boo beat my record of trashing a new bike - I managed 483 miles on my new Bonnie last year before getting taken out by 3 kids on a scooter Hope you and the Ninja are all healed up now Dave.

It will be good to meet you guys next week for the CNX bike week. Ride safe.

Cheers,

Pikey.

I'm ok, but this rib is still bothering me; looks like the only pieces that I'll be replacing are the plastic under the pillion and the front light.  The rest will be sanded down and resprayed.  Adding in some graphics and layering on some clearcoat until everything's smooth is the plan.

The bike itself isn't trashed, but it sure isn't pretty anymore (least ways from the left side).  If y'all remember, I was bitching about the grip from the tyre in the other thread; I think that was a major factor by not letting me spill speed as quickly as possible.