While we don't have one here in Chiang Mai it was recently pointed out to me that in Phuket, as well as thousands of places around the world there are Hash House Harriers chapters where we take the booze to 2 wheels and make a day of that as well. While I haven't done it yet, I do plan on doing so because it looks like a lot of fun and of course with much greater chance of injury.
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They aren't terribly organized here in Thailand just yet and their meetups seem to be decided rather last minute, so if you don't live in Thailand or maybe even Phuket, this might not be the best thing to try to get involved in just yet but I was just delighted to find out that it exists at all.
I spoke to one of the organizers last time I was down there in Phuket on a surfing trip and we were just cycling when we both noticed that the other person had on a Hash House Harriers shirt. Obviously this leads to conversation as these shirts tend to and that is when he let me know that he and a small group of fellow Hashers organize cycle Hash events about once a month.
The system is basically the same in that the trail is only known by one person who set the trail earlier on in the week. They go out and lay down flour to mark the trail and the group has to figure it out as they go. He did inform me that they don't do any massive hill climbs over unforgiving terrain the way that we would do it on foot and this is good seeing as how some of these nerds have those clip in pedals that would be kind of a pain in the ass to unlock every time there is a circle check on the ground.
When Hashing if you see a circle check like this one it simply means that the true trail continues somewhere within 100 meters of the circle. It is the job of the group to figure out where this trail continues and then once they find it, they announce it to the rest of the group by shouting out "ON ON!" to the other members. Then someone who is at the circle needs to kick out the flour pointing in the direction of the true trail so that any stragglers can easily find their way to the end of the line.
I have been informed that they do have a rule that the riders cannot be drunk while doing it although I would imagine that is nigh on impossible to enforce. The type of person that owns a mountain bike probably wouldn't really attempt to do this sort of extreme sport drunk anyway but Hashers are a different kind of person and who knows, they might just try to do it.
At the end everyone sits around in a circle and drinks beer and makes fun of one another. That is the Hash House Harriers way and just like with the traditional Hash, it is a fantastic way to make friends, do some networking if you so choose, get some insider information about the area, and just have a good time while getting a bit of exercise. It's a win/win/win if you ask me and I am really looking forward to participating in it in the future.
Of course traveling with a bicycle isn't exactly ideal so I was fortunate that one of the guys involved in it has a spare bike that he is going to let me use when I go join them.
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Just like with anything sport-related, there are some members that take it a lot more seriously than others and have all the specialized gear including silly pants that are completely unnecessary for a 20 km bike ride. I was informed that they intentionally don't make that trails too difficult because they don't want to discourage people from coming and they definitely don't want to injure anyone.
So this is just one more reason to get involved with the Hash House Harriers if you have the chance. It is a bit more covert and difficult to find a cycle Hash but they are out there. A good way to find other Hashers is to simply wear your Hash shirt out in public. It has been my experience that other Hashers will introduce themselves if they see another Hasher in public, it is kind of an unofficial rule that we do this.
All hail the Hash!
