Thailand: for your biking needs

Thailand: for your biking needs

With increasing popularity, cycling is featured more often in the media, both as good and bad news. Recently a unique biking video was posted on YouTube. Shot in New Zealand, it shows two riders racing down a mountainside overlooking a beautiful lake, one dressed as a tortoise and the other as a hare. Unlike most downhill-mountain-biking-themed films, there were not many hair-raising stunts. But what I found very interesting was the fact that it was not a production by bike makers, star pro riders, bike magazines or major race sponsors. It was created by an airline.

Called The Tortoise And The Hare, the video was the latest instalment in Air New Zealand’s “Meanwhile in New Zealand” campaign. The story itself is nothing special — we all know who wins in the end (and how). But the picturesque scenery along the bike track, which starts from a mountaintop accessible by helicopter, is inspiring. And it was intended to be so, judging from the wording shown at the end of the clip: “Make tomorrow epic.” This only confirmed my belief that mountain biking can be seriously promoted as a tourist draw. If New Zealand can do it, why can’t Thailand?

Each year hundreds of international tourists come to our country — Chiang Mai to be specific — for mountain biking. Even without official support, the number is increasing. For downhill riders in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Hong Kong, South Korea and Australia, Chiang Mai is one of the region’s top mountain biking destinations, which they must visit at least once or twice a year.

They usually come in groups, from
a few people to almost 30. Each rider brings his own expensive rig from home, which clearly shows their intention.

The northern province now has two downhill-specific mountain bike tour operators: X-Biking Chiangmai and Mad Monkey. Both are enjoying a growth in business.

But Chiang Mai is not the only place with great downhill and cross-country single tracks. Hua Hin, Rayong, Chon Buri, Saraburi, Prachin Buri and Nakhon Ratchasima, each within an approximate three-hour drive from Bangkok, are also home to mountain bike tracks that need to be promoted to riders overseas. A couple of weeks ago
a friend of mine who runs a mountain bike tour company in Australia visited several DH trails in these provinces as part of his survey trip to Southeast Asian countries to scout new destinations for his clients. He flew back home impressed.

Mountain biking definitely has great potential to become another of the Kingdom’s big tourist draws. The private sector has been doing its work. Even airlines and hotels are becoming bike-friendly; some of the latter now allow you keep your beloved mountain bike in your room. The trails are already in place, built and maintained by local bikers.

And unlike road riding, fatal accidents are rarely heard of.

It’s time concerned governmental agencies like the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Department of Tourism and Sports start paying attention and spreading the word about Thailand as a mountain biking destination.


Pongpet Mekloy is the Bangkok Post’s travel editor.

Pongpet Mekloy

Travel Editor

Pongpet Mekloy is the Bangkok Post's travel editor and a mountain bike freak.

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