Luis: this popped up in my suggested videos. I giggled reminiscing about the savagery of Doi Inthanon. Brought smiles for sure! Hope everything is good over in Chiangmai!!
hehehe I told you guys did a great job managing the full climb with just a brief stop at the end :) solid solid effort, looking forward to the next trip!
Luis, you manage to make a very difficult climb look easy. I look forward to doing that climb next year, when I visit Thailand. Great job motivating your Singaporean guest.
Thanks, Rob!! I believe any climb can be achieved by anyone with the right support, nutrition, route knowledge and gear ratio :) He wasn't sure wether he would make it to the top and ended up surprised with his own performance! See you next year 🙏👋
Thanks Mike! Definitely a bucket list climb in Thailand :) Let me know if you need our help organizing the trip, Nune is an excellent cycling guide and she knows some hidden local village coffee shops on the way up that we didn't show on the video!
Wow Luis! You and Nune seem yo be climbing Doi Inthanon a lot. Well done to your guest too. It's a serious climb, I was envious to see him riding the compact crank 🤣
Thanks Paul! Actually, both Samoeng loop and Inthanon will take around 4 hours to the same cyclist hehe, but it's true that the Samoeng route offers more variety, views and coffee shops!
Thanks for the comment! Absolutely, the saddle could be a touch higher for him, but he felt more confidence like that... not everyone can adopt a proper road position when they just start cycling :)
yap, he is cycling too low for his leg position. He is sacrificing power transition comfort for his confidence in cycling. Losing too much power and pedaling efficency especially doing long distance hill climbing. I dont think it is good if were to cycling in chiang rai mountain with above 30% gradient hill
🤣 it’s dangerous enough on dry road conditions, let alone when it’s damp like that day!! And when you are so tired the focus just isn’t there for the downhill :( next time!
Yes, it was indeed a bit too low. But when we fitted him the bike, he preferred to stay in a more upright position sacrificing the leg extension a bit :) He's a beginner and still not that confident on a road bike position. It was ok for just 1 day I guess, thanks for the comment!!
I am not a beginner, I cycle about 20k a year including races. But man did I find that climb hard. All was well until the last ten kilometers. Those are the most brutal ten kilometers out there…
Thanks for your comment, Jeroen! 😊 🙏 I would say it also depends a lot on pacing... I've done it a dozen times easy pace (4:30-5 hours from Chom Tong) with 34T cassette and it's very manageable... but I did it once full gas the whole segment (45 km including the rolling part) in 2 hours 53 and I was cramping and agonizing at the top 😂 😂
@@CyclingChiangMai I did it last year while bikepacking the Mae Hong Son loop. Even though I travel very light, I still had around 5 kilo's extra on the bike. Maybe shedding that and pacing it slower might make it easier. A little 😁
Thanks for your comment!! 🙏🏻 Agree, for experienced cyclist and adequate gear ratio it is fairly doable. But for some beginners it can be impossible (my wife would never climb this)… which other climbs you recommend with 35%?? Thanks 😊
You may want to come to maesai , there is one mountain route climb started from huai nam rin all the way to pha hee and continue to Doi chang moob military check post. This is the highest point of the mountain point at the check point. only the last section before reaching the Pha hee village there is a very steep gradient of 20~38% gradient climb to the end will be only 15~25% gradient before reaching the top. The view is fantastic at pha hee and pha mi village. Also there is Doi Ang kang & Phu chi fah route
Thanks! I’ve done Angkhang and while is steeper than Inthanon at times I found it easier (as in shorter effort). Doi Chang back side was also brutal, but both just over 1 hour climbs. Inthanon is 2 and a half hours! Are you based in Chiang Rai?
There are many cafe at the two villages with spectuclar mountain view, if you like coffee is a must for cyclist to enjoy the mountain ride. But have to be very careful when decending some section of the route are steep narrow with tight corner and difficult to navigate opposite vechicle
