The MHS Challenge is riding a loop through the two provinces of Mae Hong Son and Chiang Mai in the Northwest of Thailand. We flew into Chiang Mai, our start/end point for this adventure, with our bikes and some nerves.
Popular with motorcyclists, car enthusiasts, and cyclists alike, it covers about 650 Kms and over 13,000 mts of elevation gain through the greenest part of the beautiful country.
We were a group of nine, riding on roads where the driving culture is incredibly hospitable with no close overtaking or honking, sticking to lanes and lines. It is understandable why this is such a sought-after experience.
Any cooling effect taken, on legs that have stories to tell.
Since we had ride times of at least 5 hours each day, we got some early light and a lot of midday sun over this pretty landscape where everything seemed to be in 4k, thanks to the lack of dust and pollution over these green lungs.
We took one full rest day in Mae Sariang, but we had most evenings to explore the other towns we’d stayed in, for the quaint street markets, sunsets, stars, and great meals every day.
Murali garu - effortlessly swagger. Always.
@muralicyco
No real novices in the group, both with ride experience or with banter, since we deem both equally important. But we did have real vets like Murali garu and our resident youngin Hemanth, a much-celebrated duo.
Hemanth, our resident diesel, always gets any challenge done.
@hemanth.chandan
The landscape through the entire region seemed endlessly beautiful, with treelines on some stretches seemingly out of Jurassic Park or Avatar. I’d dare say it made tackling steep gradients under the sun a bit easier.
Ravi Kiran, negotiating a 12% climb toward Pai from Pang Mapha
Spanning 60 National Parks in the 9 Northern provinces of Thailand, we got to ride through/past about a third of these protected lands, and gratefully so.
Sunset from Wat Phra That Doi Kongmu, in Mae Hong Son, overlooking the Thanon Thongchai Range.
Most of our riding time was spent negotiating steep climbs, any reprieves we got made for views of green, blue, and brown all around, mediated by the ever-present yellow line:
Almost every hill crest gave us a reveal to take in
The collective pain also means that there’s a shared camaraderie, everyone learning from each other and trying to get better the next day or take lessons into the next training block.
Café stops are a staple to most rides, enjoyably so on long ones such as these. The sights we got see, people we’d met, and ofcourse the coffee (or cocoa for the non-caffeine gents) were all incredibly on point. Big kudos to Krish Basu, who put this all together: Barnowl Adventures
Other experienced riders in the group were Venky and Sampath, defacto leaders on most climbs. Definitely got to learn a lot, picking their brains and trying to keep up with them on most days.
Venky, the OG, who had a great story with every jersey he put on each day.
Venky also gave me one of my favorite images from the tour as he made up this steep section like it was a flat road.
We rode through fog, cold, sun and heat. Which meant there was a variety of lighting of everything I tried to frame. Shooting with different sensors i.e. my phone (Samsung S23) and the compact camera (Sony RX100) meant varied levels of detail and data to work with, and happily so.
Swaggy Sandi, in a “what you lookin at”.
Although a bigger city, the subtlety of Chiang Mai had a frame around every corner, just like the muted towns of Khun Yuam, Mae Sariang, and the super colorful Pai.
Which is why there’s no real color scheme to this short collection of pictures.
Definitely going back to Thailand, since I gather there’s more coffee and more riding to be done.
