Monday, September 26, 2005

I Want to Ride my Bicycle


Most of you that know me, know i've always been into bikes. Whether its riding, racing or tinkering with them. When I moved to Thailand I knew I would have to buy one.
Although i've not ridden much in the last three years, I have always had a bike lurking in the background to remind me what I did in the past. I bought the above bike in the first month I was over here, its a Trek 4300 Mountain Bike, its OK, maybe not as good as the bikes i've had in the past, but I dont need much for now. Whilst i'm a long way from being fit, I still enjoy riding as though I was still taking it serious. The route I take is only about 15KM, but when you think of the heat and humidity in Bangkok, its like riding 50KM.
Also as some of you know, especially the guys at AMS, I love to draw maps, not just quick squiggles, but quite intricate maps to get people from A to B. So i've put my topography skills to use and drawn a map of the route I take.
After getting the bike down to the ground level, and riding past the bemused Security Guard at the Condo, its a quick right down my local Soi! Bear in mind, that all you learnt about the highway code counts for nothing in Thailand, as I expalined in a previous post,"Its the law of Size" Buses are King, cyclist are only slightly better than shitty pedestrians.
I soon come upon the first hazard, Ferrell Soi Dogs are a complete menace, they will chase you, and they will bite you if they catch you, there are three very bad places I have to get speed up for. The attacks fo the Soi Dogs are nothing compared to the other hazards. Firstly, the pollution is so bad that you feel like you are chewing it, you can see like a yellow mist in the air, how good this cycling is for me is debatable. Secondly, Thai drivers will knock you off if they think they could get away with. This would go some way to prove just what a hard bloke they are, as for the women, well!

(Click on map to enlarge)
A couple of the stretches on the route are down right dangerous, you must get the picture, as you ride along, you'll look up and there will be a moped deciding to take a short cut on my side of the road going the wrong way. It happened last week, I looked up with just enough time to take evasive action. Taxi drivers love to nudge your back wheel while you wait at red lights. Red lights are weird, if the light is red, but there is no traffic coming the other way you can go! However if the law see's you do this, then he'll pull you over for a Tea Fund contribution. I've seen this happen to a taxi, when Plod saw me looking at what was going on, he made the driver pull up 100M up the road, so he could take the bribe in private.
Anyway, when I move, i'm hoping to be nearer the open countryside. Which will mean i'll be able to get more riding in.

1 comment:

BangkokRam said...

Yep! And I dont mean any woman from Hull.