Downhill Mountain Biking Cm On Sunday'S?

[gowdy]

Hey guys

Someone was telling me that on Sundays a bunch of mountain bikers meet

up at the park near Chiang Mai zoo to go downhill mountain biking??

Is that true? If so what times and how does it work?

Thanks

[bangkokcitylimits]

Check your brakes !

How does it work ? Well to go downhill perhaps it's useful to start at the top of the hill ??

Same this cat but different.

Edited November 25, 2010 by bangkokcitylimits

[gowdy]

Check your brakes !

How does it work ? Well to go downhill perhaps it's useful to start at the top of the hill ??

Yes I'm wondering if they catch transport up to the top or ride up. Also if people actually do meet on sunday, if so which times...

[bangkokcitylimits]

Check your brakes !

How does it work ? Well to go downhill perhaps it's useful to start at the top of the hill ??

Yes I'm wondering if they catch transport up to the top or ride up. Also if people actually do meet on sunday, if so which times...

Don't ask me name or office, but they do bring you to the top yes, price incl. rent a bike or take your own, they transport them on a pickup, prices are ridiculously high, 1,500b or so it's more for tourists.

Better organize a private initiative, just share the petrol. I don't have a pickup but a Volvo 240, buy many foreigners have one.

No response, it seems TV members are not that active

Edited November 25, 2010 by bangkokcitylimits

[bangkokcitylimits]

dbl

Edited November 25, 2010 by bangkokcitylimits

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

go to the park across from the police station and before zoo. Around 8 am seems popular.

Riders will share a Songthaw up from there. Not sure about the price.

I always ride up.. Could not live with the shame.

[ianf]

go to the park across from the police station and before zoo. Around 8 am seems popular.

Riders will share a Songthaw up from there. Not sure about the price.

I always ride up.. Could not live with the shame.

Absolutely. Ride up you lazy peeps. Takes me 46 minutes and good competitive cyclists about 32 minutes.

[flying]

I always ride up.. Could not live with the shame.

Plus climbing on any ride is at the end of the day always the best part.

[Puwa]

I don't know about a Sunday group, but if you want to ride downhill, there are a few choices. Sounds like you want to go off-road, which means you need to get far enough up into the Suthep-Pui national park to hit the trails. If you just want to coast down the paved road, just ride up until you're tired, turn around and ride down. In my opinion the best off road trails start high on the mountain, at either the Doi Pui forestry checkpoint or the Hmong village.

Climbing up the mountain is doable but if it's your first time, be prepared for a grind. You can hire a songthaew to take you all the way up for about 300 baht.

If you ride down from Pui, you'll start on a paved road which later becomes gravel, then dirt, then a combination, and you'll spill out at Huay Thung Tao reservoir just north of town. But remember to keep to the right, because the trails that branch left go into the mountains in Mae Rim and take you, eventually, to the Samoeng Rd and up behind the Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden at Ban Pong Yaeng in Mae Rim. Probably not a good idea to ride there solo.

If you start at the Hmong Village, you cross through the village and then start on an almost entirely downhill road through fruit plantations until you finally spill out at the Sri Sang Val waterfall and the southern (Hang Dong) part of the Samoeng Road, which you can follow north back to town. This is a nice ride but the last stretch of the dirt road was very rocky last time I rode it.

Tour agencies in town run daily downhill rides, so you could always join them or find out what time they leave and just follow them downhill, so as not to get lost.

In any case, it's a great place to ride and this is the best time of year. Enjoy it. (Oh and wear a helmet and bring a tire patch kit).

[LivinLOS]

go to the park across from the police station and before zoo. Around 8 am seems popular.

Riders will share a Songthaw up from there. Not sure about the price.

I always ride up.. Could not live with the shame.

Absolutely. Ride up you lazy peeps. Takes me 46 minutes and good competitive cyclists about 32 minutes.

Have you ridden a fully setup specialist downhill bike ??

My brother has one and its way to burly for riding up them !!

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

go to the park across from the police station and before zoo. Around 8 am seems popular.

Riders will share a Songthaw up from there. Not sure about the price.

I always ride up.. Could not live with the shame.

Absolutely. Ride up you lazy peeps. Takes me 46 minutes and good competitive cyclists about 32 minutes.

Have you ridden a fully setup specialist downhill bike ??

My brother has one and its way to burly for riding up them !!

definitely 32 to 46 minutes to the top is on a road bike. Forget about riding one of those on the trails.

I ride a light full suspension and figure 60 to 75 minutes all the way to the top (Doi Pui turnoff) with a refreshment break at the temple.

Those tricked out full suspension bikes. If they are only going to be ridden downhill then why not just get a trials motorcycle? Okay maybe not I don't want to breath the exhaust in the woods. Still kind of pointless if you have to put your bike in a stinky vehicle to get to the ride.

[drtreelove]

Gowdy, I don't know about a group, hopefully someone will inform you if they are doing that, but some of the replies have basic information that could get you started riding on your own or with a friend or two. I usually ride alone because I like to be on the mountain top at sunrise and there are not too many people like to get up and out that early.

Puwa's information is good on the off road trails, but its not always quite that easy to find the route without being shown the first time. I wrote a series of articles on mtbiking trails for Chiangmai Mail a few years ago, and there is a book by Pete Devakul with GPS coordinates on the trails Puwa mentioned and more. Mountrain Biking Chiang Mai runs trips on several of the best off road routes in the national park and it might be worth paying the price for an introduction. It's not cool to follow them like someone suggested, without respecting and paying for the service that they provide; besides it would be very difficult to anticipate their dropoff points and timing.

Riding up Doi Suthep is a good workout if you are only going that far and back down or taking the downhill to Huay Tueng Tao or Samoeng-Hang Dong Road, but I often payed the price for a songtiew or shared with a buddy or two and saved our energy for the challenging technical uphillls on some of the long cross country routes from the Doi Pui summit out to Mae Sa Valley or Mae Rim and the ride back. For those who only ride up to Wat Doi Suthep, they miss the best part of the mountain, which in my opinion starts there or above Pu Ping Palace. There is a lot more asphalt roadway at the top of the mountain and the Huay Tueng Tao downhill than there used to be, but still a lot of dirt road beyond, cool clean air, beautiful forest, jungle trails and stream crossings, hilltribe farms and villages, and mountain-valley vistas for those of us who like it that way.

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

Hey Treelove

Do you have any directions for a ride past the Hmong village via Maesa valley and coming out above Mae Rim.

The times I have gone then I think I have made wrong turns.

I am not so interested in technical because it beats the crap out of the bike.. More interested in smoother surfaces for a good workout.

I usually ride up and stop around or past the Hmong village and then back down the road to Phuping etc.

Isn't that repaving nice on the ridge road now? can make much better time before the campground.

If someone is up for it like Puwa, T-dog or the Tree Dr. then would be a cool contribution to have maps, gps or directions for the deep rides.

[drtreelove]

Hey Treelove

Do you have any directions for a ride past the Hmong village via Maesa valley and coming out above Mae Rim.

The times I have gone then I think I have made wrong turns.

I am not so interested in technical because it beats the crap out of the bike.. More interested in smoother surfaces for a good workout.

I usually ride up and stop around or past the Hmong village and then back down the road to Phuping etc.

Isn't that repaving nice on the ridge road now? can make much better time before the campground.

If someone is up for it like Puwa, T-dog or the Tree Dr. then would be a cool contribution to have maps, gps or directions for the deep rides.

Cobra, the route you may be looking for is the Doi Pui to Pong Yaeng Nok, I think it's number 5 in Pete Devakuls book "Fun and Genuine Mountain Biking..." But it is not smooth riding by any means, it was always rough and grueling, especially the section from CMU Site B down the washed out old road into the jungle canyon and up the awesome 4 K uphill to the top of the ridge and to Ban Mae Sa Mai. and the last time I was on it over a year ago it was almost completely washed out below Site B. T-Dog may have an update, or Aidan of Mountain Biking Chiang Mai. There is another that takes off the HTT downhill and goes cross country to Mae Rim and comes out near the Four Seasons. That is one of the best routes on the mountain, but you definitely need a mountain bike and a guide the first time.

There are two Hmong villages near the Doi Pui summit, Ban Doi Pui is the main tourist trap 2 K paved downhill at the left turn .8 K past Puping Palace. This is the trailhead for the downhill route out to the Samoeng - Hang Dong road. The other is Ban Khun Chang Khian just past the CMU Site A coffee farm. That village is more remote and is the trail head for two or three great routes that I know. But all are to be considered fairly technical off-road mountain biking and not suitable for road bikes.

The hiking club is using some of these routes and has GPS coordinates on their website. I haven't checked it out yet to see which ones they have, but that work may be already done.

Smooth riding at the summit can include the paved 2 K from the gate at the left of the checkpoint to the actual summit, just duck under (or lift and replace) the pole gate and ride on, I've never been stopped. Other than that there isn't much smooth surface beyond what you have described. Mae Rim area has some nice road routes described in Pete's book. The trails behind 700 yr sports up to Huay Tueng Tao and roads around the lake are good too.

[FMFK86]

good post puwa. to add to this discussion: does anyone know of "flow tracks"? i mean offroad or singletrail but less steep and less rocks. i guess the terrain here just doesnt allow it. what comes closes to that in my opinion is the standard offroad just following the main road from doi pui national park all the way down to the lake