4/6 Downhill Mountain Biking from Doi Suthep

4/6/2013: Before I get into details about one of the scariest activities of my life, I want to point out some functionality to my blog that makes it pretty sweet. First, there's a Daily Puppy gadget I've added on the right-hand side, which provides the goods that I know everyone is seeking whenever they go online. Additionally, you can sign up for email notification whenever I add a new blog, which I'm guessing is what all 6 of you wanted when you signed up to "follow" me. I'm not sure what being a follower means, but it appears to be about as fun as being poked in Facebook. Now you submit your email using the form to the right of the blog text (where it says "Follow by email") and you will get notifications whenever I post, as well as opportunities for fast cash in Nigeria and beautiful wives from Eastern Europe. Puppies, fast cash, and wives - my blog is nearing readable status.

Oh and Ariel, Mom, Dad, Amy, and Devon - I've already added you for email updates, hopefully that's ok.

Oh oh and also I will now be notified if you make a comment on my blog, so you can feel free to comment and it won't feel like you're talking to a wall. I don't know if you'll be notified if I comment back - I suppose you'd have to be "signed in" or something for that to even be a possibility.

I arrived in Chiang Mai March 27 and haven't really done anything noteworthy (as is apparent in my latest posts), so I decided to sign up for a mountain biking trip on Saturday. I'm attempting to do mostly activities that Ariel doesn't feel bad about missing, and saving the other ones for when she arrives. I can say with confidence that Ariel would have HATED this mountain biking trip, so I picked the right activity.

I signed up with a tour company (mountainbikingchiangmai.com), and, thinking that it's a touristy activity and that what they call "expert" is probably pretty tame, I said I wanted to do the expert ride. The trip involved picking me up at my apartment, driving me to their shop, paying and getting gear, and then riding a vehicle up to the top of Doi Suthep, the large mountain west of Chiang Mai that is in a National Park. The mtn. biking company advertised the trails as being old hunting trails used by the hill-tribe people, which might just be a gimmick, who knows. Hopefully they aren't current hunting trails, since we probably would have scared all the game away. I was picked up at 9:45 and we drove back to their shop in the old city. There was a good number of people, all of them signed up for different tours of different difficulty levels. I should have known mine might be more intense than expected when the head guy told me I needed a helmet with a full face mask, but I still thought they were just being over-protective of the loser tourists. We went through safety details, etc., then rode for about 30 minutes up to the start.

On the way I talked to a couple from the US who are engineers in Guangzhou (China), as well as a guy from Scotland. We attempted to talk to a guy from Taiwan but didn't get very far. Once we arrived, I was given my bike, which was full-suspension and very heavy-duty (Kona Stinky is the model). The seat was extremely low, which I took to be a bad sign, since lower seats mean you'll be leaning back a lot so as not to go over your handlebars on steep downhills. Two other guys were signed up for the expert trip, and we would have one guide with us - a Thai with minimal English. Evo (that's how it sounded at least) is from Holland originally but lives in England now, but is maybe moving to Australia soon. Aiden (I'm less confident about that name...maybe Adrian?) is from New Zealand. Both are about my age. Aiden is a pilot for Cathay Pacific and lives in Hong Kong. Both were very pumped about downhill mountain biking and it was clear early on that I would be the slow one, which I hate.

Gapin' it up with protective gear

 We started up, riding a paved path downhill for the first part. Aiden and Evo and the guide were veering off to the side and hitting little jumps, and I was just trying to get comfortable riding a bike with a seat lower than the handlebars. It felt like I was riding a BMX bike. Obviously I wasn't going to be doing much sitting on this ride. Along the way, we took a small detour so the guide could hit a massive jump, a rickety wooden construction that probably dropped the rider about 10 feet from takeoff to landing.

Evo was considering hitting the jump, and our guide did it while Evo was debating. More of the other riders showed up as Evo was considering it, and he decided to bail, which he regretted the rest of the ride. The guide nailed it, though, which was pretty impressive to watch. I tried to get a picture but mis-timed it, so I only got a picture of the ramp:

Top of ramp on the right (I forgot I had my camera on a dark setting...sorry)

 We continued on down the paved path and stopped at a coffee shop for some reason. I'm guessing the guide maybe got some commission for taking the riders to the café, but it was good coffee and the open-air spot overlooked the area where the beans are grown. We finished our coffees, and I was feeling even shakier after adding caffeine to my nerves. Finally we reached the single-track section, and it was very steep with deep ruts, slippery leaves, and tons of rocks and roots. Not having a full-suspension bike would have made the ride impossible. The trail was much steeper and bumpier than anything I've ever ridden. I originally signed up being a cocky Coloradan but was immediately humbled. We were riding over logs, making regular drops off of big roots, and my rear tire was continuously sliding as I tried to get traction on the super-steep, sandy, and leafy trail. Everyone else was much faster than me, although I think they appreciated the opportunity to stop and rest occasionally. Despite not having to pedal ever, it was exhausting. I was constantly standing up on the bike, trying to absorb the bumps with my legs and arms, and gripping the handlebars like my life depended on it. And braking constantly. After our first stop I realized I'd left my water bottle at the coffee shop, so I was now the beginner that was slower than everyone and also borrowing their water. Evo and Aiden were extremely nice about it and offered me as much water as I needed. It was a little cooler up on the mountain, but probably still in the 80's and 90's, so I was sweating profusely. The hot coffee hadn't helped.

We continued on, with the guide in front, then Aiden, then Evo, then me at the back. I rode most of the trail without walking, and even got some air off of a few drops. I rode one steep downhill section that dipped back up quickly as everyone else watched - I had to lean back so much that my butt was behind my bike seat, with the seat being about level with my stomach.

I reached a point about 60% through (according to the guide) where my hands, arms, and legs were so tired that the bumps were becoming too difficult to handle - somewhat comparable to skiing when you do one more mogul run at the end of the day and it's much more dangerous because you're too tired to ski it properly. During one stretch, I went over the handlebars twice, but only came away with some scratches on my upper right arm. I crushed my sunglasses, though, which I'd put in my shorts pocket. I'm happy to have gotten away without a more serious injury.
We stopped briefly at a stream to splash water on ourselves. After that point, I took the steep sections a little more cautiously but still tried not to walk any of it. Evo was having troubles too, and hit a few trees on some tight turns. Everyone was pretty pumped about the ride though, although I was ready for it to be over since I thought I'd injure myself if I kept going much farther. Evo got a flat rear tire, so we stopped for a bit to replace it, then we stopped a little farther down for a photo session. Evo and Aiden rode back up and the guide and I took some action shots when they came back down. I was too tired to go back up (we were low enough now at this point that the temperature was back up above 100 deg F), so no action shots of me.

photo sesh at the end

 

not sure why i chose to stand behind a tree

Reviewing the photo

Definitely a tamer section of the trail

Action shot of Evo hitting a little jump

View back up towards the mountains

We finally got to the road and followed it a couple miles back into town, stopping for some lunch along the way. Overall it was a fun day - I had thought about bailing and doing a lower level of difficulty trail, but decided to give downhill a try to see if I could do it, despite being the weak link in the group. I'm glad I stuck with it, but I don't think I'll be doing much more of it in the future. It was exhausting and terrifying, but pretty fun when it was all said and done (Brady/Chris/Ariel/Kirk/Amy, if you're reading - that would be type 2 fun I believe).

In other news I've acquired a lizard as a roommate - he was hanging on the outside of my door, and when I opened my door to leave this morning, he jumped onto me and then onto the wall in my apartment, then scurried into my apartment somewhere. Hopefully he stays out of my bed.

Ok that's all!