Why we Need to Develop Mountain Biking Trails in Thailand

The potential for MTB in Thailand is endless. Bangkok itself and the surrounding provinces like Nonthaburi, Suphanburi and Ayutthaya are ultra flat but travel just a couple of hours in any direction and the mountainous terrain is amazing. Unfortunately for most Bangkokians don’t even know what all mountain or downhill mountain biking is all about and although I don’t want to knock XC MTBers the locals spend most of their biking time riding on flat boring dirt roads traveling as slow as possible and stopping now and again to point at and pick fruit from trees.

As well as these flat dirt roaders there are others that think mountain biking means riding a mountain bike on tarmac roads dressed in their best Sunday spandex with racing slicks on their 24,000 baht Mavic Crossmax, when it would be fair to say that that’s road biking and you can use a sports cycle with rigid forks for that.

Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand is the established Mecca of downhill mountain biking. With a handful of downhill and all mountain trails, great trails but still none of which are of a world-class standard. The hype for most mountain bikers who travel to Chiang Mai to have a go at the trails there is simply to say that they had a go at the sport in a country warm enough to call it jungle single track.

With tourism at a 49 years low in the kingdom it would be great to see the MTB Tour companies who operate in Chiang Mai and its surrounding areas investing more time developing tracks and promoting the sport more with XC and downhill races and maybe some even some 4x and slope style competitions.

The 2007 Asean Downhill competition was held near Lam Tha Khong Dam on the outskirts of Khao Yai National Park in Nakhon Rachasima Province which gave mountain bikers in Central Thailand some hope that the sport had reached a new level and more trails would be built but after a visit to the site where the event was held just a few months after the trail had gone back to being an unused overgrown path and the locals had forgotten all about it.

There is some great potential for mountain biking trails in Central Thailand too but the locals and expats who live there don’t seem to get the time or feel the need to go out and build more trails just keep riding the same old trails at Khao I-to in Prachinburi and Tamp Pra Toon in Chonburi. Again, these are two great trails to get your teeth into but become boring for the people who ride them all the time and are quite difficult for those who are just getting into the sport with their awkward and steep uphill sections being very punishing in the hotter months.

What mountain bikers in Thailand would like to see is more purpose built trails developed in the area. Locations such as Kanchanaburi, Phetchaburi and Khao Yai would be perfect locations for mountain bikers in the country to get together and develop some world-class trails with manageable uphill sections and great downhill sections to cater for all MTB disciplines.

M.T. Hill Tours encourages the growth of Mountain Biking and Eco-tours in Thailand and our Mountain Bike Tours Thailand website is a free information site with free GPS waypoints for all central Thailand trails and information about mountain biking in central Thailand and Chiang Mai. Our all new English MTB forum has been set up to encourage groups of mountain bikers to get together and help to develop new mountain bike trails all over the country.

Bangkok, Phuttamonthon XC Single Track Trail

Bangkok, Phuttamonthon XC Single Track Trail

Bangkok MTB Cross Country Territory?

If you’ve ever visited Bangkok then you would be forgiven for writing the city off as cross country mountain biking territory. For one the city is a giant metropolis with traffic so bad and so many roads that public parks are scarce and national parks or country parks are non-existent.

The Thai Idea of Mountain Biking

But even though the roads seem far too dangerous to ride on you will see plenty of the locals riding around on their hundred thousand baht plus mountain bikes dressed in their spandex with narrow road tires on their full suspension bikes and the first impression is that the Thai idea of mountain biking is our idea of road biking.

An MTB-XC Track Close to Bangkok?

But there is a great XC single track not too far away from the hustle and bustle of city in beautiful Phuttamonthon Park, Phuttamonthon Sai See (Sai 4) just an hour away from Sukhumvit and only 30 minutes away from the Khaosan Road area that's easily reachable by taxi or tuk-tuk or even better if you live here and have your own transport.

Phuttamonthon Park MTB XC Trail

The trail is 7 km of flat single track but don't let this put you off. The trail which is well looked after is purpose built for XC mountain biking and is a nice fast track. It consists of switch backs and rises and dips in places with small burms that weave in and out of the trees and small plank bridges that connect the track over small becks. The trail is a great introduction to single track mountain biking and a good bit of exercise, often used for training by seasoned semi pros. This trail is great fun and only about 30 minutes to one hour drive (depending on the traffic of course) from the center of Bangkok.

Wildlife in the Park

The park is full of wild life including giant terrapins and a protected species of giant Malaysian monitor lizards known as Tua Thong Tua Nguen (gold body, silver body) in Thai which should not be provoked as according to Bear Grills of ‘Man against Wild’ Fame once these beasts get hold of you they don’t let go. However do not be afraid of the giant monitors they often lay basking on the track but are used to the MTB traffic and will soon move when they see you coming.

Finding the Trail

The trail can be quite difficult to find but you can find a map of the park on the Mountain Bike Tours Thailand website. To find the trail go to the far end of the park (the opposite corner of the park from the entrances). There is a straight canal running parallel to the road near the trail and the start of the trail across from the canal, look for a small sign nailed to a tree showing the start of the trail. Once you have found the start point the trail is easy to follow and it is marked every so with signs showing the distance to the end of the trail