Northern Thailand MTB Tour

[michaelbiker]

I thought it made sense to start a thread with some of the photos of our trip in Northern Thailand. We’re doing it with Trailhead out of Chiang Mai. 6 days / 6 nights. Each day takes us further north into more remote areas. 

Day 1 is the easiest day and involved crossing a lake and then riding through some of the thickest mud I have ever encountered through the forest. It was tons of fun and we ended it off with a little road section through rice paddies and blue skies. 

Total distance was 46km with 551m of climbing.

[Ripryder]

Nice Mike. Which I was there.

 

[michaelbiker]

Sunset

 

[michaelbiker]

Day 2 was more of a gravel ride and a lot less mud (thank goodness). Most of it went through rice paddies and hill tribe villages. It was really hot, peaking at 35 degrees. All I can say is that having a back up vehicle on a ride is a new but really nice thing to have. Particularly the ice down the back of the shirt and plenty of cold water. Total distance was 50km with 780m of climbing.

 

[michaelbiker]

Day 3 and another amazing ride this time was mostly downhill but we still did a thousand metres of elevation gain. We started in a national park and ended 4km from the border of Myanmar. The mud was epic - to say the least but it ended after 15km thankfully. Total distance was 42km with 1000m of climbing and 1800m of descending!

Edited October 4, 2023 by michaelbiker

[MajG]

Trip looks lekker.

Isn't it very humid?

Is the descending all green and blue single-track 

[CARANXCycleMobile]

Bucket list biking trip ✅ 

Nice pics, good choice of bike….love the ride !!

[michaelbiker]

6 hours ago, MajG said:

Trip looks lekker.

Isn't it very humid?

Is the descending all green and blue single-track 

It is humid but you get used to it. Tuesday got to 35 degrees. Yesterday was cooler because we were at 1800m asl.

Descents are mostly steep jeep track but lots of fun as they aren’t very well maintained. 

[michaelbiker]

Day 4 started out with a visit to the border with Myanmar and then straight into some pretty hideous climbs. I didn’t manage to get a photo of it but we hit 30% at one point. Of course with a lot of climbs we got some rapid descents and I smoked my back brakes on a couple. There wS also a tricky negotiation of a landslide which nearly resulted in one of us falling in the river below. Tons of fun though. 
 

[michaelbiker]

Day 5 was a longer and harder day on paper but was surprisingly easier. We also got to ride some fun singletrack through bamboo forests and rice paddies. The best was left for last when we unexpectedly bumped into elephants on the road to lunch. Total distance 47km 1100m ascent

 

Edited October 9, 2023 by michaelbiker

[babse]

Epic journey and definitely thread worthy... thanks for sharing! 

[michaelbiker]

Our final day turned out to be one seriously long downhill. We drove high up into the mountains at 1400m. Kitted up and rode up to 1700m before descending into the valley below. Most of the downhill could be classed as singletrack - even though it was once a road. It was tons of fun with some good technical bits. Total descent turned out to be 1500m.

Overall I highly recommend visiting northern Thailand for an MTB, gravel or road adventure. The people are warm and welcoming. The food is amazing. The roads and trails are tons of fun. And the scenery is breathtaking. Literally and figuratively. It also won’t break the bank if budget is a concern. Next time I’d like to maybe return with a gravel bike and do a point to point route. There is just so much to explore. 

If anyone is looking to do something similar or even plan a custom route, you can contact Dan Wallace via https://trailhead.co.th The ice cold young coconuts at the end of each ride were better than any beer and the knowledge and assistance of his team on the trip was amazing. I will definitely miss the watermelon and sticky rice mid-ride stops. 


 

 

[michaelbiker]

The company we did the tour with created a pretty cool video of the trip, for those that are interested.