When we left the hostel, our plan was to find road bikes Joe Best had mentioned the previous night and take a ride south across the river. Rob, you’ll be happy to learn, this trip, more than anything, has convinced me I should buy a bike. We spent about a half hour looking for the bike rental place before we stumbled upon Mountain Bike Chiang Mai, which ended up changing our entire stay here.
We had done a little research earlier and had been planning to stop by anyway, but The Fat Man (aka outfit owner) convinced us that today was the day to ride Doi Suthep. I ran across the parking lot to grab breakfast for Kerry and I, then we grabbed our gear. As we were getting kitted out, we picked out of The Fat Man’s palaver, “You guys are from California? You can ride with these two.” Thus, Aaron and David joined our crew. In the kind of logic serendipity (or if you’re feeling less starry eyed, emergence) dictates, not only were the two brothers from SF, but David lives maybe a mile from me in the mission.
After a rough ride to the top of Doi Suthep that left all of us feeling a little ill, we hopped on the bikes and started the ride. Turns out Aaron, in addition to formerly play for he San Jose Earthquakes, playing bass in The Neckbeard Boys, surfing, being a physicians assistant….is a badass on a mountain bike. Originally, Kerry and I had gone in asking for the most advanced course Mountain Bike Chiang Mai had, The Eliminator. It was a good thing The Fat Man shut it down because the ride we did, Old Smuggler’s Route (which, given the opium they used to grow in the fields we passed through, and the weed they still do, is appropriately named), kicked our ass. We all ate shit, though no one was really injured. And were it not for wagers of beer that we wouldn’t fall, our wallets wouldn’t have been touched either. Alas…
Aaron and our guide K started talking, which lead to Aaron joining the locals for Foosall following the ride. How they have the energy, I don’t know. I took a nap. After, we all met up for dinner at Loco Elvis, where Thor (which sounds much more like Tom than the dude with a hammer), was playing. The bar serves farang (sounds kinda like foreign) and has several respectable cover bands and karaoke. So we proceeded to tie one on and have a good night.