THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Huffing and puffing across Chon Buri

Huffing and puffing across Chon Buri

A newly added offroad challenge helps put the ‘fest’ in the second annual Bangkok Bank CycleFest

I hit a small snag at the recent Bangkok Bank CycleFest. The race marshal on a motorcycle was friendly enough, but he looked askance at my super-streamlined Freeda touring bicycle with slender tyres. “Is that suitable for the offroad challenge?” he asked, knowing as well as I did that it wasn’t.
The encounter took place where the asphalt road veered off onto a dirt-and-gravel track heading into a dragonfly-intensive meadow on the fringes of the Siam Country Club in rural Chon Buri.

 

Huffing and puffing across Chon Buri

The CycleFest rolled past the Siam Country Club’s rustic Old Course.


But Andy Schleck, the event’s international ambassador, had advised me to take any physical discomforts along the track as “small failures, not overwhelming obstacles”. And, anyway, there were booths along the course where bottles of water and Gatorade were being cheerfully distributed.
On third thought, the gearbox on the bike I’d hired the day seemed incapable of actually shifting gears, and this was a bike that at any rate was ostensibly designed for optimised speeds on flat surfaces. Without access to higher gears, the rough ground left me spinning in circles. 
Nevertheless, after assuring the kindly marshal that everything would be fine, I turned in the direction of the dirt path and simply disappeared.
The Bank CycleFest is fun exercise for cyclists of all abilities and ages. It covers professional-quality closed circuits of 12 to 62 kilometres, including the CycleFest Open, CycleFest Master, Pattaya Sprint and multirider Team Time Trial. 

 

Huffing and puffing across Chon Buri

The VIP Ride drew plenty of enthusiasts.


The offroad challenge was added this year, as was the 12km Charity Fun Ride, which raised Bt720,000 from entrance fees for the Pattaya-based Father Ray Foundation for orphaned, abused and disadvantaged children and for students with disabilities. 
Near the start line, Festival Village had everything the participants could possibly need, even mattresses cooled by big fans. Celebrity ambassadors Nut Devahastin Na Ayudhya and Aroonnapa “Varnvarn” Panichjaroon circulated among the crowd. 
Schleck, a Luxembourg native who won the 2010 Tour de France, posed with fans for selfies and assured everyone that he too started out cycling just for leisure – until his drive to improve turned a hobby into a life goal. 
Patience and self-control are also keys to succeeding, he said, and it was advice I was determined to put to the test over the weekend.
Far off road, though, it quickly became clear that I’d be spending more time communing with nature than cruising to any sort of championship. Bikes capable of being ratcheted into higher gears zoomed past me on the asphalt and those with thicker tyres thundering by on the bumpier sections. I couldn’t even keep pace with the butterflies.

 

Huffing and puffing across Chon Buri

Enjoying some downtime at Festival Village.
 


Still, the offroad race proved to be a hit with participants for its varied terrain, including a water feature. This entailed a sudden plunge into a muddy pond, complete with a pair of photographers on the opposite bank lying in wait for splash shots. 
Realising there was no way to avoid sullying either my dignity or my trainers, I gingerly walked my Freeda through the mucky puddle, emerging just as two contenders sliced past on their final stretch of the 40km trail.
I then started making relatively decent progress on a section of the course that was not too stony and which provided another opportunity for appreciating good exercise, fresh air and the beauty of the great outdoors.
After a bit of fishtailing that necessitated more walking through a suddenly desertlike segment, I came across a mirage. Evidently the dome of Thammasat University, instantly recognisable, had been moved to Chon Buri. I was beginning to tire, but surely I hadn’t cycled all the way back to Bangkok! 
A quick check of the convenient app that keeps racers on track and their basecamp supporters informed of their whereabouts told me that I was cutting through Thammasat’s Chon Buri campus, which has a replica of the dome. And I was nearing the finish line. 
Despite completing only one of the two 20km circuits due to needing a tuneup, I was greeted at the finish just like everyone else – presented with an official medal hanging from a ribbon. 
I vowed to return next year and conquer that offroad challenge, this time riding a mountain bike.
The third annual Bangkok Bank CycleFest is being planned for late 2019. For the 2018 results and information about next year, visit https://BangkokBankCycleFest.com/en.
 

nationthailand