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[BigBikeBKK]

The stunning roads around Petchabun, only 350km from Bangkok, are guaranteed to put a smile on your dial!

Khosit Hotel is pretty nice-

Highway 12 heading east of Petchabun is an amazing high speed road that cuts through a national park-

Great spot for views and refreshments at the Route 12 Cafe-

And the 2331 to Phu Hin Rongkla National Park has to be seen to be believed!

Petchabun is only about ~350km from Bangkok. Can get there before lunch, drop bags at the hotel and blast some fantastic roads that same afternoon. ;D

Plenty of awesome roads to keep us busy for a few days!

Here are the routes we did over the weekend.

Friday's route- over 800km!

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Thanon+Khum+Klao&daddr=Unknown+road+to:Unknown+road+to:Route+12+to:Route+201+to:Route+201+to:Route+225+to:Unknown+road&hl=en&geocode=FbuF0gAdlNQBBg%3BFfa91AAdRz7_BQ%3BFbV3-gAdImkHBg%3BFSY7_wAdHtUIBg%3BFQhi_AAdvwsWBg%3BFYjb8AAdqtEUBg%3BFe6L8QAdR0sFBg%3BFYN3-gAd6GgHBg&mra=mi&mrcr=6&mrsp=7&sz=17&dirflg=t&sll=16.412683,101.151713&sspn=0.007678,0.016512&ie=UTF8&ll=15.10925,104.210815&spn=3.95551,8.453979&z=8

Saturday's loop to Phu Hin Ron Kla National Park via the 2331 and back via Nakhon Thai and Highway 12:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Unknown+road&daddr=Route+2331+to:17.0214634,100.9769679+to:Route+12+to:Unknown+road&hl=en&geocode=FYN3-gAd6GgHBg%3BFePGAQEdW6YGBg%3BFRe6AwEdR8kEBin7UGmpzoogMTFRgnGEVPsEEw%3BFciyAQEdsxYCBg%3BFTR3-gAdjmgHBg&mra=mi&mrcr=2&mrsp=4&sz=17&via=2&dirflg=t&sll=16.411407,101.146713&sspn=0.007678,0.016512&ie=UTF8&ll=16.82426,101.206055&spn=0.490311,1.056747&z=11

Most of the guys were nursing serious hangovers on Sunday am and wanted blast straight home on Sunday but I wasn't in a hurry to get home and wanted to re-visit route 225 to Chaiyaphum. Some fantastic scenery along that road! Stopped to take some pictures and videos and smoke a bowl with a nice guy from California who was touring around on a little Kawasaki Kaze. Thanks for the bowl Toby!

This route was just over 600km and would have been perfect had we not got such a late start out of Petchabun. As it was I got home right after sunset, exhausted but happy This is the route I took:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Unknown+road&daddr=Route+225+to:15.70165,102.01479+to:Route+304+to:Thanon+Khum+Klao&hl=en&geocode=FYN3-gAd6GgHBg%3BFXaI8QAdHmgFBg%3BFZKW7wAdRp8UBikPHeZJmjMfMTEQyiOZz2kEEw%3BFWaV3wAd6JQUBg%3BFY2G0gAd39QBBg&mra=mi&mrcr=2&mrsp=4&sz=16&via=2&dirflg=t&sll=13.797553,100.794003&sspn=0.015546,0.033023&ie=UTF8&ll=15.045601,104.024048&spn=3.956693,8.453979&z=8

Big thanks to John from Pitsanulok aka MacGuyver Wow- he's got every bike tool and gadget you could imagine and he sure saved my ass when that slow leak in my rear tire slowly got worse and worse. That little air compressor is a cool piece of kit. I think Trent should buy one and carry it "for the team" on future rides

Here's our route on Day 1, about ~850km!

Was a funny surprise to roll into the rendezvous point at the PTT near Don Muang and find Bananaboy aka Trent hopping around and ready to rip!

Slight delay because the Spud kept missing the gas station but we eventually caught up with him down the road a bit.

No pics that morning because we were on a mission to reach Petchabun as quickly as possible so that we could drop our bags and enjoy a good ride in the afternoon.

We covered the 350km from Bangkok to Petchabun in about 3 hours. Not bad as that included a stop for gas along the way.

The good old Kosit Hotel-

We had a haggle a bit over prices but eventually got them down to 800 Baht / night with breakfast.

Met up with John who rode his ER6n from Pitsanulok to meet us in Petchabun.

Heading north out of Petchabun towards Lomsak on the 21 there is a lot of road construction going on- slowed us down a bit and we decided to go the LONG way around to avoid returning through that construction again. Had lunch at a nice place on Highway 12 and then enjoyed the fantastic road through Nam Nao National Park. A bit of rain but son on the other end. That was the weather for most of the weekend. Nothing too terrible and always sunny on the other side

Hung a right at Chumphae and headed on down to Chaiyaphun where unfortunately Spud and I made a wrong turn missing the 225 and lost the rest of the group. We weren't sure if they ahead of us or behind and I didn't have any luck trying to reach anyone by phone or SMS... Oh well- Spud and I continued on the 225 which I have to say is a FANTASTIC road! Gorgeous scenery and I felt like I was up in the Golden Triangle on that road, not 300 km from Bangkok.

Beautiful views from the Phao Pheng Heuy overlook on the 225-

The 225 is a bit rough in spots and under construction in others, but all in all a fantastic road!

Turns out the rest of the gang was in front of us and they took a short cut back to Petchabun so we reached the hotel about 20 minutes after them right about sunset.

We met up with "Sarge" who rode from Surin on his brand new ER6n-

It was a long fantastic day! Showers, beers and blunts and then off to dinner in Petchabun. Fantastic food, great live band, adorable waitresses and sexy beer girls and when the bill came we couldn't believe how cheap it was

We were all pretty beat so went back to the hotel fairly early that Friday night so we could wake up well rested for more fantastic roads on Saturday.

TBC

[BigBikeBKK]

SSR Tour to Petchabun Day Deux

Decided after the FULL day on Friday that we should slow down a bit and check out the scenery and take some pictures! Saturday's easy loop was only ~250km, but it covered some fantastic roads! The 2331 to Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park and the always perfect Highway 12-

Took our time at breakfast (which I must say, while perfectly adequate it isn't what it used to be...). After brekky discovered my rear tire was FLAT!

<deleted>... I'd plugged a leak about a month earlier and figured that now the plug was leaking. Rolled the bike over to a service station next door, inflated the tire and couldn't find a leak... The plug wasn't leaking and I spun the tire and didn't see any other punctures. (Turns out I didn't look hard enough...)

Well, I figured it must be a slow leak and John from Pitsanulok (aka MacGuyver) had a very cool little electric pump with him so I decided to go for it and see what happened.

Half way up the 2331 I could feel my rear end getting mushy so pulled over at a scenic spot to take some pictures and borrow John's pump.

The rear tire was down to 15psi Yikes! We talked about replacing the plug, but decided not to risk it because if we weren't able to plug the leak on that road it would be a royal PITA to get the bike sent back to Petchabun.

So, while the boys snapped pics and enjoyed the amazing views I pumped up the tire-

What an amazing spot!

John's little tire pump saved me! I gotta get one!

Blasted on up to the viewpoint and coffee shop at the top of the road- Spud, Trent and Neil with the 2331 behind them-

Then a couple of pick-ups rolled in full of uni girls Trent was a happy camper

He made some money charging the tourists to take pictures with his Fizzer

Route 2331- Awesome!

To be continued!

[LivinLOS]

WOW route 2331 does look great.. Didnt know Chuyaphum had such great roads.. Got a buddy who lives in the boonies up there near Chumpae..

[Zzinged]

Nice RR TOny~! That road looks fantastic. I see you didn't hit any rain though... last month I took a trip up to Rayong and I was in foul weather gear all the way. And even then I wasn't spared a soaking as the water came in from anywhere it could Having said that though, it was totally great and it reminded me what I loved about biking in the first place.

Also I think Trent got jipped with his 'uni' girls

Edited September 30, 2010 by Zzinged

[moe666]

Looks like a great ride.

[Leckyman]

Great article. Well done.

Looks like some fantastic riding is to be had up there.

[nikster]

Awesome report! Jealous!!