We met at the rendezvous for 1000 hours, with our mission set - Create smiles like the Cheshire Cat (Alice in Wonderland) and capture actions snaps of our adventure. In my previous post I made my first visit of the year to the military mountain biking track - Club 11 in Bangkok, Thailand. But, the last mission was solo and this time I was accompanied by a fellow explorer and mountain biker.
After paying our minuscule 100 Baht entrance fee we were greeted by a slim gentleman, with a bald head and a beaming smile. I had seen this friendly gentleman before and had noticed that everyone would stand to attention, providing precision salutes towards him. Putting two and two together, I presumed that he was a general and possibly the one responsible for all of the activities available on the base.
This friendly gentleman/general explained to us that some fresh parts of the track had just been cut the previous day and he was extremely eager for us to try them out. The general hopped onto his bike and said 'follow me', we followed him along to ride the new sections of the track. He told us it had rained in this area the night before, but he was sure we could ride them. The sections really were freshly cut with long grass still covering the paths and waterlogged from the night's rain. There were some some bridges made from logs barely 10 inches wide and a minor mistake would send you straight into one of the algae ridden ponds!
On completion of the first section the general was sitting in waiting, ready with our next mission. I asked "Is that it?" - he said there was more, to which I replied, "Are we the test pilots?" he chuckled with the response, "Yes, you are!" We attacked the new section with orders from the general, but this section was waterlogged and didn't seem to provide us with an ideal location for action shots! On completion of our next mission the general greeted us again, he seemed very happy that we'd tested his new section and departed wishing us a good ride!
The Rib Tickler and a Dead Sailor!
The jump I crashed on!
Before we started our 'Action shots', we decided to ride a few laps (3.8 km per lap) to warm up. Everything was going well until lap 3! I was beaming in confidence and had tackled all the features on the course, I approached the jump in the picture above and did a 'Dead Sailor'. When approaching the take-off of a jump you should pump(push down) into the take, which will project you into the air. But! I pulled up, which makes you lose control creating the 'Dead Sailor' effect. I hit the deck with my handlebars slamming into my ribs and helmet hitting the floor, a little winded I brushed myself off, ready to continue with a little less confidence! (I did the jump again on the next round to fix my error! But thought taking action shots could've been a bad omen)
Here are a few action shots of a fellow explorer on the track:
Sequence - Attacking one of the many turns in the woods!:
Broken, but not out - a sequence of me attacking one of the drop offs!
Sorry a little blurry, but it gives you an idea of the action!
The plan was to do a full shoot, but due to my crash and exhaustion from the heat we only shot sequences on a few features with varying success! Here is a jump shot from one of the tabletop jumps:
The sign sums up a true explorer
If you are interested in knowing more about the track in detail check out this article:
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(All photos in this post are originals)
Keep exploring!