You will be picked up from the hotel at 9:30am. After preparations and signup at the shop, a 45 minute drive takes you to the top of Doi Pui Mountain, 5250feet (1600m) elevation.
Your journey start at the Doi Suthep National Park. A safety briefing at the top confirms that participants are ready to tackle this hard XC ride. An easy descent brings with a couple uphills on the way to the coffee plantation, here we regroup and some might choose to switch to a less strenuous and technically demanding ride, for those ready to go, the short break at the plantation gets us ready to head on.
Riding DH on flowing jeep track you will then turn west at the forest intersection, enjoying higher speeds and reach the High Country Royal Planting Project, enter the great divide, a barely used and unmaintained path. What once was double track has over the years turned into very technical single track riding.
We will practice our art of mountain biking, moving in and out of ruts, over rocks and roots, and quickly arrive in the deep jungle gully between the two mountains. Now at 3200 feet (975m) elevation, you will notice the tropical forest emerging from the pine woods, with huge banana leaves and plenty of bamboo filtering the light.
Once at the bottom of the gully we begin a long and rewarding uphill back to 4100feet (1250m), some ride, some walk, concentrating and preserving energy on the way to the summit.
A 200 year old bamboo grove greets us at the top, where a lengthy and well deserved break is taken. Continuing along the high road with fantastic views of the valley below we ride a gradual, long downhill. Warmed up we play in and out of ruts and holes, sand traps and rocks. The challenging terrain forces us to maintain full concentration on riding and moves us into “the zone” of the sport. Soon the Lake appears below us and the final run is all single track to the bottom, where a well-deserved lunch awaits us.
