Winter - ROAD TRIP - Competition

[AllanB]

Anyone fancy doing a road trip this winter, I thought:-

"Road of a Thousand Hairpins", better known as the Mae Hong Son loop. Starting Boxing day, or January 2nd.

We live in Khon Kaen and plan on trucking one or two bikes to a Chaing Mai hotel, doing the trip over 4 or 5 days and meeting back at the same hotel, with stuff to do en-route. Try to get a bit of sponsorship for stickers and prizes then do it every year,.maybe some of the local bike shops could get involved, earn a bit fixing things, publicity, etc. Plenty of places to stay en-route, not to mention watering holes.

Make it a competition, but not a race. I organised a few off-road events in the UK, France and Africa and they went okay.

Interested....???

[AllanB]

91 viewings and 0 replies, nobody adventurous out there, are there any road trip events in Thailand over the winter months? Having done part of the loop in my truck, this road seems an ideal bikers road.

[KRS1]

Try posting it here : https://www.facebook.com/groups/chiangmairiders/

people on this forum are afraid to meet cuz they talk so much shit to each other ...lol

[RubberSideDown]

I plan on making that ride sometime in 2014, but not as early as January.

[ll2]

did that road before.

winter i am all busy unfortunately.

happy rides.

[BSJ]

I have a wedding to go to in Phuket on the 4th....but if you can move it to the 20th.....

[zyphodb]

I might be interested, a bit too close to the new year though a week to 10 days later would be better for me...

PM me if this sounds good..

[DualSportBiker]

Too close to the hols... UK Family still likely to be here, so would not be free.

More adventurous of you would be to drop the cage and ride from KK to Tak, then hit the lower loop by riding through Thoen, Li, Hot, Mae Sariang. The Thoen-Li section has been repaved and is intense; tighter twisties than any road I can remember here save Mae Sot-Umphang.

Enjoy.

[AllanB]

Too close to the hols... UK Family still likely to be here, so would not be free.

More adventurous of you would be to drop the cage and ride from KK to Tak, then hit the lower loop by riding through Thoen, Li, Hot, Mae Sariang. The Thoen-Li section has been repaved and is intense; tighter twisties than any road I can remember here save Mae Sot-Umphang.

Enjoy.

My bike is 30 years old and newly acquired, if I have the truck in Chaing Mai, I can get the wife to scrape me up and get me home, if I have a problem. The trip from KK to SM is not very interesting and I have done it twice before, albeit in the truck.

I did the leg between SM and Pi in the truck earlier this year and swore I would be back when I got a water cooled bike.

A few years back I did a rally from the London to Venice in a £185 Toyota Celica piece of crap (all cars had to cost less that £200) and it was really good fun. Kind of inverse snobbery, the guy who got there in the worse car was the hero. We had about 10 stops to fix things, but some were worse and some never made it at all.

We had to dress up James Bond and that was fun.

[DualSportBiker]

great pic!

makes more sense now... the road from KK to Tak only gets interesting 50+ km past Chum Phae, but is fun thereafter. I highly recommend you look at the Mae Sariang to Thoen option at some stage - you will be glad you did.

[KRS1]

im still trying to grasp the concept of it being a competition but not a race - i dont get it, i do the loop in 2 days (1 day if i leave early), so i dont understand how its a competition?

seriously i dont get it.

[DualSportBiker]

Can't be anything that encourages speed - that would be stupid. Having said that, 2 days is a tad long - might help prove one can flatten tires even on the MHS loop

If I had to organise something like this, I'd go for timed arrivals at check-points that encourage a safe pace; bonus points for accuracy, and heavier penalties for arriving early than arriving late.

[zyphodb]

I was thinking more like taking 3 days + if anything as I like stopping & taking pics + don't like leaving too early or riding too late as hate getting caught up with the schoolkids going to & from school, 11-14 yr olds up to 3 up on a scooter... nightmare, freaks me out no end when I do it on wide, fairly safe country roads around my part of Isaan,hilly with lots of hairpins? sounds v.dodgy at school run time...

[EBF]

Rode to Pai from CM the other day. The road it just getting worse and worse. There's literally sections of bitumen that have been cut out and left huge chunks of mud to ride over. Pot holes big enough to swallow a medium sized dog.

Is the rest of the MHS loop as bad?

[AllanB]

Okay I will start with the competition part, obviously racing is not on, if you want that sort of thing go to the TT's where it is properly organised. The competition is a peripheral part of the event, almost like a treasure hunt, the event is purely a social one using the road as a venue.

A bit like the Crumball Rally we did, it is a combination of relaxation, fun, a little demanding too, but essentially about comradery, so leave the testosterone at home.

When we did the Crumball Rally there were 100 cars, so we split up into groups of 4 and helped each other. With bikes maybe 2 or 3, so if you break down you have help, maybe tools at hand and also you have a couple of mates to socialise with during the day then meet up with everyone in the evening.

Some of the more experienced bikers could help out those who are not, perhaps lead their small group through the tricky stages. That way, organisation is less important, since this is a "free to enter" event, with no reconnaissance done and no marshaling necessary.

If it is done over 4 or 5 days that leaves plenty of time for pictures and video, where one rider will need to stop, unlike the car version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsQVU1tTg_o unless you have a head-cam or similar.

Edited October 8, 2013 by AllanB

[AllanB]

With all that time in the saddle, I have a name for the event... "The Numb Ball Rally"

I am new to this biking scene, so anyone fancy lending a hand spreading the word, I am pretty open to dates, just before Xmas, or after NY would be fine by me?

Edited October 8, 2013 by AllanB

[DualSportBiker]

Rode to Pai from CM the other day. The road it just getting worse and worse. There's literally sections of bitumen that have been cut out and left huge chunks of mud to ride over. Pot holes big enough to swallow a medium sized dog.

Is the rest of the MHS loop as bad?

Hence choice of dualsport bike...

There are no 'good surfaces' that last for long here. eventually they all get potholed and eroded. Last thing you need on a street bike is to round a corner into a dog-sized pothole! Having said that, the Thoen-Li road was like that when I first rode it in 2010. I used all but 1 inch of the range of my front forks...

[DualSportBiker]

Were it not to clash with visitors...

I have two rides coming up; Bkk-CM-CR-CM-Bkk over 4 days this month and Bkk-Chumphae-Nong Khai-Bkk over 3-4 days in November. That will keep me sane for a month or two... Then my work gets busy and I'll be entertaining family so sorry, can't assist.