For my three-day motorcycle tour of the northern part of Thailand, I packed a backpack, rented a Phantom 200 CC bike (think small, Japanese Harley) and headed north.

The driving in Thailand is similar to what you might expect on a go-cart track near a high school boys dormitory - no rules and very aggressive. I could pass people anytime I wanted on the right or left and didn’t have to bother with signaling or speed limits.

Leaving Chiang Mai, I survived an hour of city/highway driving before turning northwest and heading for the hills. Here the riding was spectacular: good quality asphalt, few cars, great views of the jungle and lots of turns. I stopped in the small town of Pai. Killer food. Then I walked around the two or three streets that made up the “downtown” and decided it was too late to head to the next town until the following day.

The next morning I saw a Canadian on a dirt bike - always a good sign.

He started telling me about the dirt biking in the area and dropped enough f-bombs to make Dresden feel safe. I was sold. I changed my plans, booked my room for another night and rented an XR 250 for the day. When I headed out with the Canadian and his friend - both sported riding gear - I was wearing running shoes and a helmet that didn’t even cover my ears, let alone my face.

After 30 minutes on the main road we turned north and went through a military checkpoint. We had to sign in and tell them our plans (luckily, the Canuk’s friend spoke Thai).

After the checkpoint the riding got interesting: steep double track with crumbling pavement mixed in almost at random. I followed the dust cloud and kept up reasonably well.

The trails were awesome! Imagine the coolest Forest Service roads in the states relocated to the jungles of Thailand with steep terrain and tight corners. These roads weren’t made for heavy logging vehicles but for the scooters and small trucks the Thais drove everywhere. I’d often see up to three people on one scooter bumping their way up the trail.

After an hour of red-lining, we stopped at a hill tribe village for lunch and a couple beers. After we motored off and eventually hit the single track, my new friends wanted to explore.

They’d been riding in the area for the last month trying to link up a loop ride back to Pai without backtracking through the military checkpoint. After some quick beta from the locals, we ripped down a steep, crazy single track and eventually spit out near some farming fields and asked a farmer for directions. Thirty minutes later we got to a village and gassed up our bikes. The “filling station” was a wood shack with two 55-gallon drums and hand pumps on top with surgical tubing to get the gas in the tank. Another round of Chang and we headed back to Pai over a couple steep hills with 2,000 feet of relief and more sick riding.

Post Script: The Next Day

Riding alone the next day, I met a couple of large guided groups of off-roaders who were doing a similar loop to me but using dirt roads to connect the dots. I talked to the guides and they all had been running moto trips in Thailand for several years. They hadn’t met each other in person but knew each other’s blogs and online names from the forums on Thai off-roading websites. The underground riding community seemed to trade GPS tracks and secret riding spots like baseball cards.

Besides the tour groups, during my solo day I saw very few cars, new asphalt, steep winding curves, dramatic vistas, funky little towns and lots of smiles.

Recent Boulder transplant Tim Nickles works in Jackson as little as possible while trying to keep his finances in the black. He enjoys nights in front of the fire, walks on the beach - I mean, fast skis on the Pass - and sushi.