Doi Inthanon ride - place to park a car at the bottom?

[john_bkk919]

Thinking of doing a Doi Inthanon ascent but I want to drive to the base of the mountain with the bike on a rack. Park the car for however many hours, cycle up and down. Re-rack the bike, drive home. This would be using the 1009 route from Chom Thong intersection.

Is there a place where groups of cyclists meet to do group rides up Inthanon? (and leave some cars)

I see on Strava that some people park at the big temple in Chom Thong. I'd rather skip going into Chom Thong.

'Little Home Inthanon Resort' a few km before checkpoint 1 looks like a prospect, with ample parking. But I'm hoping for a place that's accommodated this kind of thing before and is 'cyclist friendly', or just laid back enough to not particularly care (on a weekday). Would certainly buy something at their outdoor restaurant before I head up.

edit: what about the temple parking lot right before the checkpoint, away from the songthaew 'reserved' area?

Edited January 9, 2016 by john_bkk919

[el jefe]

Is there someplace in Thailand you can't leave a car for a few hours?

Whether hiking or biking, we've left cars at all of your type of options -- temples, petrol stations, noodle shops, police stations, etc.

Sometimes for a day but once in a while for a multi-day trip.

We just ask politely and then tell them when to expect us back. If it's a business, we promise to spend some money there.

Not once has anyone said "no".

If a big group of Thais do the ride, they usually have someone drive the vehicles to the summit to make a fun day of it. I'm sure they can all find a friend who would rather drive than bike the mountain. Then they've got food and warm clothes waiting at the top.

I know the temple in Chom Thong and the resort. Obviously parking at the temple adds a lot of flat riding to your day, but I'm sure both would be OK with leaving your car.

Good luck with the ride.

[MaeJoMTB]

The resort,

Rent a room, have a shower and a lie down before you drive back.

Or stay the night.

[MESmith]

I've never had a problem leaving my truck ANYWHERE when off hiking or biking. Just park up at the side of the road & do my stuff. You got a Lamborghini, or just paranoid?

Btw, do cyclists have to pay the ripoff "whitey" price to cycle the Inthanon climb?

[bobfish]

Few times I've done it, I've just parked [Vigo] under a tree near the 1009 intersection. 8 [+++!!!] hrs later no drama at all.

I do like MaeJo's idea though....

[MrTrip]

What is the normal time for this climb? Bobfish mentions 8 hours.

I,ve only driven it (several years ago) but from memory it's going to be a killer on a bike???

[john_bkk919]

Whitey price for Inthanon: Yeah, I assume that's the case even on a bicycle. Anyone know?

I'll try leaving the car at the resort. Don't fancy leaving it by the side of the road. I used to do that all the time, and came back a few times to random scuffs and scratches like somebody rode a m/c into it. And no, it was well off the verge.

Maybe with a truck you can get further into the grass or not prissy about scratches.

I've also parked places that looked out of the way and fine and came back and had people setting up market stalls or bus drivers wanting a word etc. I didn't get the memo.

Appreciate the views and insights.

[john_bkk919]

Question for el jefe and others: Why does everyone go up 1009 from Chom Thong vs 'the back way' 1013 from Mae Wang?

[bobfish]

What is the normal time for this climb? Bobfish mentions 8 hours.

I,ve only driven it (several years ago) but from memory it's going to be a killer on a bike???

According to strava most people take about 4.5hrs +/- quite a bit to climb from the intersection. Peter Poully claims the KOM at 2:06, but I'm guessing he didn't stop for food, coffee and sightseeing to stretch the legs. Coming back down is rather quicker.

[el jefe]

Question for el jefe and others: Why does everyone go up 1009 from Chom Thong vs 'the back way' 1013 from Mae Wang?

Because "everyone" is a lemming.

I've only done it once from Chom Thong and that was on race day. (imho, 3 hours is a good goal; 3 1/2 is respectable, 4 or more is leisurely. Do the scenic stops and coffee on the way down. But I commend anyone who does it.) I've done it several times from Mae Chaem. The final 9 kms are the same but the approach from Mae Chaem is prettier. It's impossible to say which is harder.

My favorite way is via Mae Wang. We usually do it that way a couple of times a year. But I live in CM. That's good and bad. It means I can do it whenever I want but starting and ending in CM adds 60+ ugly flat kms to my ride. I often take a songthiew back from Chom Thong. If you go via Mae Wang there is one short section of road that is steeper than anything on the 1009. When you get to the highest point on the Mae Wang route, you then descend for about 10-15 kms to the main Doi Inthanon Road/1009. It brings you out at Km 16, so there is still a lot of climbing to go. In total you have substantially more climbing going via Mae Wang than as an out and back from Chom Thong. All that said, because of the added climbing and the added distance from/to CM, we almost never go all the way to the summit when we go via Mae Wang. We're done at Km 16, but that's still 2,500 meters of climbing for the day.

We'll be doing it again in early February, but for a change we'll be doing the Mae Wang route backwards: CM to Chom Thong to Km 16 then up and down to Mae Wang and home to CM.

[john_bkk919]

Elevation graph of the final 9km climb, for those interested. Can click on the 2D option for a more straightforward view of the grades.

http://veloviewer.com/segment/3315395/Second+Checkpoint+to+Doi+Inthanon+%28last+9+km%29

And the entire climb (from Chom Thong).

http://veloviewer.com/segment/1586702/Inthanon+climb+from+Chom+Thom

[MrTrip]

Nice one John. I've not seen Veloviewer before. That's impressive and then there's the climb[emoji15][emoji15][emoji15]

I'm using Strava at the moment

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Assurancetourix]

What is the normal time for this climb? Bobfish mentions 8 hours.

I,ve only driven it (several years ago) but from memory it's going to be a killer on a bike???

According to strava most people take about 4.5hrs +/- quite a bit to climb from the intersection. Peter Poully claims the KOM at 2:06, but I'm guessing he didn't stop for food, coffee and sightseeing to stretch the legs. Coming back down is rather quicker.

Don't compare Peter Pouly who is a cyclist pro with us and " Peter Pouly has also served a suspension of 1 year for doping. (12 December 2002 to 12 December 2003) "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Pouly

He doesn't cycle only drinking fresh water as I do ;

and I would like to see Peter Pouly climbing Doi Inthanon when he will be 67 y old as I am and doing 4h and 28 minutes as I did when I was 63 old .

I climbed Doi Inthanom three times; once during the race four years ago and two other times for my pleasure ; last one last year in november.

Chiang Mai downtown is at 730 km from my village in Issan so I cannot go there as often as I would like.

About the question, do as MaeJoMTB wrote !

[bobfish]

Well done A-x! Keep it up.

Doi Inthanon is a bit far away for me too, so just rates a once-a-year ride.

Regarding Peter Pouly: my understanding is that he was busted for EPO. This was at a time when retrospective testing of the '98 TdF found that 35 out of 38 riders tested were positive for EPO! The UCI 8 year statute applied so that no backdated action was taken. And, remember the Festina Affair from that year?!! While I can appreciate the context of the times, it of course does not make drug cheating acceptable. In PP's case he served the time and went on to take UCI sanctioned MTB championships. I'm guessing he was subject to testing.

So, PP is an Ex-Drug-Cheat and no longer a Pro. He served his punishment. Whether he is still using banned substances is an unknown, but I think [hope] that is highly unlikely. I'm happy to let him get on with his life in Thailand. I would also like to see him climbing Doi Inthanon in his 60's, and wouldn't at all be surprised if he posted a sub 4.28. I'm sure you'd be happy for him too!

[moonoi]

Well done A-x! Keep it up.

Doi Inthanon is a bit far away for me too, so just rates a once-a-year ride.

Regarding Peter Pouly: my understanding is that he was busted for EPO. This was at a time when retrospective testing of the '98 TdF found that 35 out of 38 riders tested were positive for EPO! The UCI 8 year statute applied so that no backdated action was taken. And, remember the Festina Affair from that year?!! While I can appreciate the context of the times, it of course does not make drug cheating acceptable. In PP's case he served the time and went on to take UCI sanctioned MTB championships. I'm guessing he was subject to testing.

So, PP is an Ex-Drug-Cheat and no longer a Pro. He served his punishment. Whether he is still using banned substances is an unknown, but I think [hope] that is highly unlikely. I'm happy to let him get on with his life in Thailand. I would also like to see him climbing Doi Inthanon in his 60's, and wouldn't at all be surprised if he posted a sub 4.28. I'm sure you'd be happy for him too!

Isn't PP still a pro though, the Singha Infinite Cycling team is (or was) registered as a UCI Continental team.

Anyway, we shouldn't go comparing ourselves to Pros or ex-Pros, there are some supremely fit 60/70 year old riders within my club and they would easily beat A-x's time, ride for yourself and your own pleasure and don't worry about how quick someone else is.

Now I'm off out to go KOM hunting :-p