FREE WHEEL
I haven't been to every bike competition this year but I've heard from quite a few racers at last Sunday's Singha Mountain Bike Thailand Open Championship that the course used for the event was definitely the year's most scenic.
Having seen it with my own eyes, I was readily convinced. The Singha Park, the venue of the final competition of this mountain bike championship which included five race events held in different provinces throughout the year, is breathtakingly beautiful. The hilly terrain of the vast park, also known as Boonrawd Farm, was covered in many parts with fields of sunn hemp flaunting bright flowers that glowed like gold under the sun.
Actually, the sunn hemp is a green manure crop grown to cover the soil and increase fertility. In a couple of months the plant will be ploughed under and incorporated into the soil. However, during the Sunday race, the stunning beauty of the flowers obviously outshone the plant's other benefits.
Now let's get back to the competition. It was attended by hundreds of racers, many of whom have also taken part in the championship's four previous races. The course for the final event mostly followed the farm's dirt roads winding up and down the hills with short sections of singletrack. The distance for a full loop is 14.32km. Racers in the A Class had to do three rounds, those in the B Class did two, while participants in the C Class rode a shorter loop.
Peter Pouly finished with the best time in the A Class: 1 hour and 43 minutes. He was also the overall winner of the championship in the men's 35-39 age category.
That is not much a surprise if you know this guy was on the French national team, has won five French national MTB championships, is a two-time winner at the famous Roc d'Azur event, and finished among the top 10 at the World Cup.
He is now a resident of Chiang Rai and races for the Bikenet team.
Of course, there were other winners at the Sunday event because like other bike competitions, the racers in each class were categorised into different groups, according to age and gender. My salute goes to all of them because I know full well that I would not survive if I had to sprint non-stop through even half the loop.
The final race of the Singha Mountain Bike Thailand Open 2012 was held as part of a free music and food festival that drew not just the racers but also tens of thousands of visitors to Singha Park between last Saturday and yesterday _ the Loy Krathong festival with activities planned into the night.
Despite a surprising lack of cool weather during the event, many were impressed by the picturesque venue and hoped there would a countdown concert at the park at the end of the year. Some even said should that happen, they wouldn't mind if asked to pay an entrance fee.
Again, I am convinced. However if I get to be there during the New Year countdown, instead of watching the concert I would rather explore the trail at night and see how beautiful the flower fields would be under moonlight.
Well, see you here again next Thursday. Until then, if you have questions, news or biking insights you wish to share, please feel free to send an email to pongpetm@bangkokpost.co.th or go to Freewheel Bangkok community page on Facebook.
Pongpet Mekloy is the Bangkok Post's travel editor and a mountain bike freak.
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About the author
Writer: Pongpet MekloyPosition: Travel Editor
Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2012/11/30/a-course-most-scenic-and-challenging/
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