Kanchanaburi, Thailand 80km mountain biking

It all started from just a tweet coming from Jan (@bm_), a link to a route of 180km bike ride that cover across a province called Kanchanaburi in Thailand. A couple of tweets more which include Matt (@orengeelise) and we managed to plan this trip. So happened I have to fly to Bangkok for a business trip too, I take this opportunity to bring over my bike, which really a pain in the ass to carry such a huge luggage.

We made a plan to have a dinner, a so called carbo loading meal on the Friday night, together with our spouses to get together and some very good food indeed from my hotel, a big buffet feast I must say. Load up our bikes into Matt’s Forturner so we do not need to bother for the next day early morning drive to Kanchanuburi. We left about 7.30am from my hotel and arrived at the The River Kwai Bridge Resort about 10.00am. Unload the bikes, set up our phones and GPS devices and there we are all ready to go. Our plan is to cover the route below:-

Basically a loop around the province that covers some scenic area of the surrounding mountains, villages, plantations and farm, and we managed to cross the River Kwai twice (across a proper bridge). The route basically a mixture of majority road and some little off-road. I was hoping for more off road trails but I think it is already quite a challenge to ride with my Nomad for 80km and there is a point of time that we need to climb a continuous 15km of uphill, which follow by a long long downhill (10km!) which I have managed a max speed of 59km/h. That was one of the highlights of the ride and it was so satisfying.

In the earlier ride, we ride through a plantation estate which is full of plants that have thorns! Both me and my bike suffered from it. First one of the thorn pierced my right arm, and later after 3, yes THREE punctures, I found in my tires full of tiny little thorns. Jan and Matt checked their bikes and they too found a few in their rubbers. Lucky for them, they did not get any punctures.

Me and Jan was also testing our newly acquired GoPro Hero 3 black edition! Unfortunately to our disappointment, battery was out quickly. Maybe because we did not charge it completely. Videos will be posted later.. when I can find time to edit it. Didn’t capture much though…

But here are some pictures that I managed to take 🙂

Three bikes all loaded to the huge space Toyota Fortuner, with our personal luggage, three big guys. Not a bad vehicle. Thanks Matt, for the transportaiton arrangement.

 

We pass by the main town, which is such a change comparing to Bangkok city. But still full of people though.

 

 

Parked our car in the front of the resort, while Matt head to resort lobby to make sure we got the right place.

 

Quite a nice welcoming lobby, with a gazebo for the guest to chill and relax.

You don’t get to see horse roaming around freely all the time, but over here… its EVERYWHERE.. and cows too. There were a long of dungs everywhere.

 

Matt and Jan, riding along the village road…

 

I am taking a photo of him, taking a photo of us..

 

And Matt posed 🙂

 

 

Jan’s turn…

 

The River Kwai, surprisingly the water is very clear and clean looking. Almost wanted to take a swim…

 

Some of the plantations that we passed by, with very nice mountains in the backdrop…

 

Stopped at a place to grab some food, and two bikers can’t stop admiring a kid’s bike..

 

Matt enjoying his MAMA cup instant noodle…

 

 

And Jan is enjoying his… that’s the only food available unfortunately…

 

And this is mine… chicken soup flavour

 

Green fields and mountains, with blue sky (okay, I color enhanced a little bit)

 

My cockpit during the ride…

 

Entering another village road… lots of trees side by side of the road…

 

A panoramic shot of the fields that we passed by…

 

Matt saying cheese!!

 

After the long ride, just chilled out at our room.. how cool to have a balcony. We chat a little before heading for dinner..

 

This is the front of my room, and basically like a small village kind of enviroment…

 

Shots taken by Matt, do I look exhausted? Nah.. its just camera trick…

 

We actually hit a little bit of rain that day…

 

Matt and me, having some ‘local tea’…

 

We had some local Thai food in the nearby floating restaurant at the River Kwai…after a long ride, food was amazing… And three of us had an unforgetable foot massage, especially after a long tiring ride..

 

The next morning I took a ride back to the famous railway bridge. This is like 6.30am and there wasn’t any tourist around. The best moment for me to snap some pictures…

 

 

 

This bridge has some kind of war history, later after googling and wiki-ing, this is what I have found…

“The notorious Burma-Siam railway, built by Commonwealth, Dutch and American prisoners of war, was a Japanese project driven by the need for improved communications to support the large Japanese army in Burma. During its construction, approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died and were buried along the railway. An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians also died in the course of the project, chiefly forced labour brought from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, or conscripted in Siam (Thailand) and Burma. Two labour forces, one based in Siam and the other in Burma worked from opposite ends of the line towards the centre ”

 

 

My bike, awaiting a train to hit it… lol. How often can you do that? To place a bike in an operational railway line… And I, standing in the middle of it.

 

Another shot on top of the railway bridge with the River Kwai on the back. Some floating restaurant on the side..

 

Tried another panaromic shot of the entire bridge. This was my view at the time…

 

Went back to the resorts to have breakfast, and this is the exact view I had while enjoying my English breakfast…

 

After breakfast, it is time to head back to Bangkok.

We had a lot of fun riding this one, and manage to catch a lot of scenic places, a fresh perspective of what Thailand can offer, an escape from all the skyscrapers and asphalt roads we face every day in our life. It is kind of a funny feeling when we arrived back to the city, it’s like we have just woken up from a dream to face the reality of what life really is. I wish it was the other way round, life shouldn’t be about day to day trying to survive and chasing the dream of greeds and wants , if given the possibility, I wish life was about just laying back a little with a slower pace of enjoying the natures of what our Earth can offer. Virtually slapping myself now and saying to myself.. “Wake up bro… and go back to work!”

Summary of my ride

Distance:	78.00 km
Time:	4:12:03
Avg Pace:	3:14 min/km
Avg Speed:	18.6 km/h
Elevation Gain:	369 m
Calories:	2,127 C
Avg Temperature:	31.5 °C

Timing

Time:	4:12:03
Moving Time:	4:11:21
Elapsed Time:	6:32:59

Avg Speed:	18.6 km/h
Avg Moving Speed:	18.6 km/h
Max Speed:	61.8 km/h

Avg Pace:	3:14 min/km
Avg Moving Pace:	3:13 min/km
Best Pace:	:58 min/km

Elevation

Elevation Gain:	369 m
Elevation Loss:	357 m
Min Elevation:	31 m
Max Elevation:	199 m

Heart Rate

Avg HR:	137 bpm
Max HR:	158 bpm

Avg HR:	74 % of Max
Max HR:	85 % of Max

Avg HR:	3.4 z
Max HR:	4.6 z

Cadence

Avg Bike Cadence:	74 rpm
Max Bike Cadence:	162 rpm

Temperature

Avg Temperature:	31.5 °C
Min Temperature:	27.0 °C
Max Temperature:	40.0 °C

For more information, please go to my ride data at
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/342318687