SSR Hooligans invade the Golden Triangle!

[TonyBKK]

Been ages since we've been in a good long tour- finally the time has come!

Our itinerary isn't set yet, but here's a rough plan:
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[ronwebb]

Tony, having read much of your informative posts on GRT it would be great to catch up and chat in real time so to speak.
Let us know the final schedule ETA CNX.

 

[Franksmith]

Tony,

when are you planning on bieing in CNX? what date? I will be there arround the 30th...

 

[schackster]

Try and stay longer in Chiang Mai if you can

 

[nikster]

I will tag along if I can, and if not at the very least meet you for beers!

My Pai boys have planned a trip to Nan on the 6th I think, but not sure. Anyway I am crazy busy ATM, so 1-2 days will be the max I can do.

The last SSR outing up here was legend. I only lasted a day. One day meaning 12 hours of almost non-stop riding though, hahaha. I learned a lot, including about helmet sizes, the little Arai giving me a huge headache for the next 3 days...

 

[TonyBKK]

Quick update-

I forgot about the Kawasaki MiniGP on Saturday the 30th so my kind friends have kindly agreed to push back the start of the tour to Sunday May 1st so that I can race on Saturday.

Neil and Tony and hopefully Trent will depart Bangkok at 0600 on Sunday the 1st bound for Loei. Sarge will depart from Surin and Skateboard John from Pitsanulok and we'll all rendezvous in Loei at the King's Hotel.

Next day (May 2nd) we'll ride to Nan where we hope to rendezvous with Johnny, Frank, Franz and Nikster.

From there this is the proposed itinerary-

2nd and 3rd - Nan Eurngum Guest House, Pha Kong 3 Soi, Pha Sing, Mueang Nan 55000 (0-5477-5817), 400 baht w/AC
4th - Mae Salong Shinsane Guest House (053-765026, 0-87185-1978), Mae Salong, 200 baht w/bath in room
5th - Chiang Mai
6th - Mae Hong Song
7th - Mae sot
8th - Return to BKK

 

[Franz]

Hi Tony, as said in an earlier email, as you have backdated Nan by one day I can't be with you on that part but I will ride with you from Thursday 5th onwards, just try to get Nick onto his bike at that time too.......have a safe ride up North & see you in CNX soon. Cheers, Franz

 

[nikster]

I am buried with work and don't really have time but I've decided to ignore that fact temporarily

I'll join up in Nan on Monday coming from CM with Luke and anyone else wanting to join. I'll do 2 nights / 3 days of riding.

I see there are 2 nights booked there... are you guys planning on riding around Nan on the 3rd? I assume so - the SSR don't take a day off!

Franz would have loved to join you again of course but Nan is better for me as I've been around the MHS loop a few times already, and Pai-CM was basically my commute for 2 years so I did that too many times to count. Not a bad commute, mind you, but need to see something new. And explore the wild east.

C U all soon! Excited!!!

 

[TonyBKK]

Woohoo! :mrgreen:

One more sleep! :thumbup:

See you soon! :happy4:

Tony

 

[daewoo]

Hey Tony, empty your flaxing inbox... no one can send you PMs...

 

[nikster]

Just got back from 3 days of awesome riding with the SSR - Luke, West, Haas, and I joined them Monday evening in Nan, went around an awesome loop to Bo Kluea and back, then for a bit on the way to Chiang Rai. Luke and I went back to Chiang Mai.

Pix from day 2 are here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/nheger/SSRGoldenTriangle2011?feat=directlink

Lots of great, fast, furious, riding on absolutely stunning roads around Nan. We managed to miss all of the rain, so we had sunshine and clean air. I wish I had stopped to take some pix of the mountains around Nan... then again, let's keep it a secret, maybe better that way

Bike-wise Supermotos are clearly in fashion these days: Luke on the DRZ400, Johnny on the WR450, West on the SMC 690 and Frank on the SMR 690. They surely are perfect for blasting around the turns in the mountains; the Versys(es) kept up well but it felt a bit fat and heavy behind the motards; Very happy with it as the bike blasted through the mountain curves with ease yet switched to "touring" mode on the open roads, allowing for comfortable cruising at 140, 150, 160. Versatile, indeed. Only on the famed 120 between Chiang Mai and Payao I always wish I was on a big fat liter bike... got her to 180 there, but it's a bit of a slow process. 170 is quick and easy though.

 

[TonyBKK]

Woohoo! What a tour! I think I'm going to call it "The Best of the Best" tour of Northern Thailand :happy5:

May 1st Neil and I escaped from the Big Smoke bright and early and blasted up to Loei in record time to rendezvous with Sarge, Skateboard John and Marc at the King's Hotel-

Snapped a pic of this amazing Thai Disco Bus at a gas stop along the way-

All those speakers are real and you could hear this beastie coming from MILES away! It was around 9 in the morning but the passengers were dancing and I think more than a few were already on the sauce- Amazing Thailand! :lolno:

The 203 from Lom Sak to Loei is an awesome road!

King's Hotel is an amazing deal for only 500 Baht with big clean rooms and free WiFi. The restaurant was closed for the holiday and unfortunately it seems the Queens Massage next door has gone out of business?

Amazing food and Erdinger on tap down the road at Chris's Steak House (I don't actually know what the real name is of that restaurant- but the food is amazing and very cheap!)

Sarge and I wandered about looking for some nightlife but Loei was very quiet, perhaps due to the holiday? After the Erdinger it was hard to go back to Thai beer but you gotta do what you gotta do!

To Be Continued!

 

[TonyBKK]

May 2nd, Loei to Nan via 1295, 1268 and 1083- Amazing!!!

Parts of the 1295 along the Lao border were REALLY rough but we made it through...

Skateboard John sporting his high tech head gear ;-)

Neil, Sarge and Marc-

1268 is a stunning road in perfect repair with barely any traffic that follows the Lao border and passes through some beautiful countryside.

The curves never end- what a road!

There is a beautiful park though I've already forgotten the name...

Unfortunately no food, but MacGuyver John busted out a big block of cheddar which really hit the spot!

A couple pics of the waterfall-

There is a trail and you can hike to more falls higher up.

The 1083 is almost spooky- it's a BIG road with wide shoulders and completely deserted! You can ride for miles and miles without seeing another vehicle. What is the purpose of this road? I have no idea!

We were very lucky with the weather- a few spots of rain but nothing heavy.

Big muddy river-

Then up up up to this view point-

You can't tell because I'm using an old iPhone but the air quality this whole trip was just amazing- all the rains have really cleaned the air making for clear visibility and gorgeous views.

Blasted on to Nan where we met up with Luke, Hasse and Nikster who had arrived a bit earlier from Chiang Mai.

It was a very nice touch when we rolled in to the hotel / resort a pretty young thing with a lovely smile ran out to meet us with our keys - Amazing Thailand indeed!

TBC!

 

[TonyBKK]

As luck would have it our resort in Nan was stumbling distance from the Channel X Disco, Filth Club and some other night spots- wow, kudos to Skateboard John for finding this fantastic place!

A pleasure to meet Hasse and good fun catching up with Luke, West and Nikster as well. Luke knows Nan like the back of his hand and had some great ideas for a challenging and rewarding day ride the following day.

Here's what we ended up riding-

1168 - 1225 - 1257 - 1081 - 1256 = a solid day of road bike nirvana!

Snapped this pic at the junction of the 1168 and 1225-

The 1257 is crazy little roller coaster of a road, quite rough and very tight, but rewards you with spectacular views. Of course you can really only enjoy the views for a moment because if you mess up on that road you're likely to plunge off a cliff

Luke and West tore up that road on their motards while Nik and I gave chase on our Versys. (Versi?) ;-)

The 1257 is the type of road where you really notice and are grateful for the higher spec suspension of the Versys compared to the ER6n / Ninja 650R.

The crazy 1257 then dumps you onto one of the most fantastic sport bike roads in all of Thailand- the 1081:

Route 1081 in Nan, Thailand has to be seen and ridden to be believed!

I think Nik agrees

Totally deserted as usual- I was tempted to lie down and take a nap in the middle of the road

Nik, Luke and West:

Despite what some may think, this is the only "knee down" action I get on public roads

Wringing the poor Versys' neck but she's still going strong. What a view!

Chilling out while waiting for Sarge, Neil and Jungle John to catch up-

Enjoyed a fantastic lunch at a beautiful resort in Bo Klua

Then hammered up the 1256 through Doi Phu Kha National Park and on to Pua and finally back to Nan.

Exhausted and exhilarated and ready for more!!!

Dinner at Da Dario's then got a call from Johnny and Frank that they had arrived from CM so off to meet them in the parking lot of Channel X and then five of us partied until the wee hours at the Filth club- woohoo!

To Be Continued

 

[nikster]

^^ That day trip from Nan was truly a perfect day of riding! AWESOME!!

 

[HTWoodson]

:thumbup:

Wow, clear skies and everything. Wish I was there.

 

[Ian Bungy]

Great Pictures and Post! I did that Run from Loei to Nan with Pikey and some others not so long ago and it's Great! Only Complaints were from Con Who missed Breakfast and as You say there is NO Food on that Stretch so was Starving by the time We made it to Nan! Good Stuff!

 

[TonyBKK]

May 4th some of us woke up with pounding heads and for a while it seemed we might lose a rider or two :crazy:

Nothing like some good coffee and excellent food at Nan's HOT BREAD to get the day started :thumbup:

Nik and Luke above, Elvis erm, I mean, Johnny and Neil below :lolno:

Quick gas stop-

And we're off! Today's route would take us to Chiang Rai via the fantastic 1148 to Chiang Kham and a detour to amazing Phu Chi Fa-

Luke, Nik and West left us at Chiang Kham and headed home to Chiang Mai while Johnny Elvis , Frank, Neil, Sarge and I continued on to Phu Chi Fa and Chiang Rai. Skateboard John was in desperate need of a new tire and had one sent to Chiang Rai so he headed out well before us and headed straight to Chiang Rai.

See why I call this tour the Best of the Best?

Frank let me take his KTM 690 SMR for a spin through some of the twisties- wow! what a weapon! :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: I didn't really want to give it back... :lolno:

The road to Phu Chi Fa-

Original plan had called for a night in Mae Salong, but upon hearing that there is ZERO nightlife there we quickly agreed to overnight in Chiang Rai instead, (but we forgot to tell Skateboad John, so he ended up in Mae Salong by himself... Oooops! SORRY John! :sick

CR was a good choice as we did indeed find some entertainment and kept the Lamyai bar open until 3am :clap:

TBC

 

[johnnysneds]

Yup great times, looking forward to the next one....

 

[johnnysneds]

A collection of photo's from the iPhone...

Hot Bread in Nan, great breakfast. Appears they are still celebrating New Year!!!

First stop for a wee break. Cleaning oil out the air-box for me though..lovely

Erm another stop for a break and noodles..

Frank checking in!!

The skies opened up, thankfully we found this wee place for some beer and shelter.

Cheers

Some friendly locals

The rain from Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai was relentless.

 

[TonyBKK]

Good stuff Johnny! What an epic trip! Looking forward to the next one! T

 

[TonyBKK]

Sorry, I never finished this trip report!

Riding Phu Chi Fa was fantastic but we did get caught by a passing storm-

Fortunately found a nice spot with friendly locals where we could hang out until the rain passed.

Overall we were very lucky with the weather on this trip. The only really wet day was our ride from Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai where we had to battle through heavy cold rain all the way from Fang to Mae Rim. No pics, but we were all looking and feeling like drowned rats by the time we rolled in to Ian Bungy's X-Centre. The rain was so heavy that parts of the 107 north of Chiang Mai were flooded and closed.

Original plan had been to do the route below plus a loop of Doi Ang Kang, but with the weather we skipped the mountain and continued on to Chiang Mai-

Highway 109 between Mae Suai and Fang is an awesome road:

But we were about half way through there fantastic twisties when the skies opened up and we took refuge beneath a roadside shelter.

Day of rest and relaxation and more rain in CM-

Some of the fellows were suffering from a bit of cabin fever?

Ha ha ha!

Franz, always known for his amazing hospitality invited us all over to his place for a fantastic breakfast- THANK YOU FRANZ!

Original plan was to ride from Chiang Mai to Mae Sot via Mae Sariang-

Neil and Sarge were worried about bad weather on the deserted and sometimes rough roads between Mae Sariang and Mae Sot and therefore decided to ride to Petchabun via Pitsanulok, but I still wanted to hit the 108 to Mae Sariang and the 105 to Mae Sot so I twisted Franz's arm (I didn't have to twist hard

) and he agreed to join me as far a Mae Sariang on his Super Tenere. Wow- what a BEAST that bike is! It doesn't look so big in pictures but when you stand next to it you realize just how huge it is. Fits Franz perfectly!

The 108 to Mae Sariang was fantastic! What a road!

Great to catch up with Franz over a fantastic lunch at a riverside restaurant in Mae Sariang, but the clock was ticking and soon we had to be on our way or risk getting caught out in the dark. So I headed south to Mae Sot and Franz headed north to Mae Hong Song. Thank you again for everything Franz!

The 105 was in better shape than the last time I rode it.

In some places you feel like you are completely alone-

A few spots of rain but nothing too bad.

Some roadworks as well, but again, nothing the Versys couldn't handle-

I reckon in another 2-3 years when they finish all the road work that the 105 will be yet another addition to Thailand's long list of fantastic sport bike roads.

Rolled in to Mae Sot right around sunset and checked in to the good old Pornthep Hotel- secure off street covered parking for the bike and big room with AC for 300 Baht! Then wandered over to Bai Fern for a fantastic Paneng Curry and then across to street to Aiya for some great live music. Awesome!