Motocross. Enduro and 18 Riders.

Yesterday was the first day that I wasn't on Steemit since I registered! But, yesterdays actions have allowed me to create this post and tell you all about it.

With the rainy weather here in Bangkok, I haven't been riding at the motocross track that much as it gets closed when it floods or becomes water logged- one of the side effects of living in a city barely 1 meter above sea level.

Instead, I join an enduro group and planned to meet up at a little village 3 hours south of Bangkok. The village that I was expecting was nothing more than a small shop and clearing on the side of the road. The mountains- perhaps I should call them 'hills' since they weren't that big, could be seen all around.

The route had already been decided and we had a local rider to lead us through the farm land and mountain tracks. The route was circular so there was no simple 'turn-around and come back' like on many other trips. We were told that the route would have shallow river/stream crossings, flooded fields and pass by a lake.

The lake ended up become a wash and cool off stop for bikes and riders. The water was very refreshing and was clear- always a good sign when you're out in the countryside.

I was also expecting just 6 riders to be joining, but was told the group would consist of 18. This would be the largest group I have ridden in and was quite excited.

The first thing I noticed when I arrived was- my CRF250R was the ONLY bike that was kick start. Every other bike had the built in electric start- excellent when you stall in the middle of a steep hill or crash and flood the engine!

Most of the riders were riding Husqvarnas. The have recently started importing these to Thailand and currently carry a premium to their price of an extra 2000-3500USD compared to other MX bikes being sold here.

Luckily there were no big crashes on the trip, but lots of little slips and falls. These happened mostly in the water logged fields and provided lots of laughs.

With 18 riders, regrouping took time and it was always the riders up front who had the best run. Anyone falling behind had the added annoyance of dust. Tracks constantly changes from dry and dusty to wet and sticky. The dry tracks quickly created clouds of thick dust that limited the vision and speed at which riders could ride.

Some of the riders who stopped to take photos or crashed got unknowingly left behind. This meant that on 3 occasions small groups or individuals would take a wrong turn or miss a turn and get lost. When you are riding a dirtbike and don't have tree branches hanging out ready to knock you off, its very easy to cover a lot of distance in a short amount of time. Also, when you know you are falling behind, you want to ride faster to catch up with the main group- and cover more distance!

Small search teams were sent out along possible 'incorrect' routes to find them. A little bit of time and wasted fuel and we managed to regroup each time.

This was also the reason I was limited to being able to stop and fly my drone. I had packed it very carefully in a rucksack and thought I would be able to make a short video of the day. That didn't really happen as the pace was non-stop and always on the go, but the riding was still great fun.

I did manage to take a few shots before we set off while everyone was unloading.

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