Italian Motocross Fanatic Nicola Takes a Pattaya dirt adventure half day tour.
Italian motocross enthusiast Nicola pronounced Ni cola (not to be mixed up with the girl name Nicola!) made a booking through the tracksntrailspattaya website for a 3-4 hour off road tour, arriving 2 days later in Pattaya for a week of fun Nicola called to confirm the arrangement.
Monday was the pick up from his hotel and following a massive mid day downpour the trails were well watered.
Nicola is a little more than a motocross fan, he is an avid collector of Suzuki RM motocrossers owning various different models from as far back as 1989, so a confirmed motoholic with a special interest in the classic and vintage bikes Nicola’s big plan for 2012 is to get to farleigh castle classic MX race in England later this year with a group of friends from Italy, the race meeting is a huge event with superstar racers of the past turning up to race the older bikes, so with big names like Dave Thorpe and Rob Herring along with other X pro motocross racers usually taking part Nicola is keen to get in the mix.
Back to our ride, we got ourselves kitted up and ready to roll. It’s great to go out riding the tour with another rider of relatively high ability because we can ride a comfortable pace getting along side each other on the straights and crossing lines in the turns, it gives that race feeling, you keep seeing a wheel but you don’t have to worry who is in the lead and you know that if the heli cam was catching it it could look really cool.
The new route for a half day tour is 99% off road covering a little over 100 km and has only 2-3 road crossings with a great blend from open sandy trail to tight twisting single track and now even some steep uphill forest scattered with boulders and tree roots, it reminds me a lot of racing in south wales but with palm tree’s in place of pine tree’s and lizards and chip monks in place of sheep, the other differences are that what it rains here in 10 minutes is what it rains down the whole day in wales but if only it dried as fast in wales.
We ascended the first hill close to the polo horse farm behind Pattaya, Nicola took the lead so I could catch some video shots on the camera, riding up rocky technical rutted hills is awesome fun on a dirt bike and we reached the top with huge smiles from the back end skitting from side to side looking for traction on the loose rocks.
We quickly took in the view down to Pattaya and out to the gulf of Thailand, a few camera snaps with Nicola throwing the big thumbs up and doing massive teeth smiles, we set off again bound for the woods.
Crossing the flat farmlands is fun and cresting the hills you see landscape that nobody expects for this area, with rolling hills thick with dense jungle vegetation and peeks of temple spires poking out through the tree tops.

Entering the cover of the tree’s the single track is just pure fun, with obstacles high and low left and right, storm downed trees that have sections cut out are common features with the single track carving through the gaps, you need to exercise extra caution not to get caught out by the ones now disguised with secondary jungle growth or you can catch a leg or a foot peg and flip the bike round, the ground is pretty loamy and there are plenty of boulders and big tree roots, the climb up to the top of one of the hills is technical but a decent club rider will manage it with ease, it yields a fantastic view from the top and standing out on the front of the huge boulders up there is a sight most Pattaya tourists will never experience, I guess you are looking at pretty much most of Thailand’s eastern seaboard and can see all the coast line around pattaya/jomtien and out past the islands nearby.
We spent 20 minutes up there chatting about different things before descending the steep rock scattered track.
It was after 5 in the afternoon and we took the long way back along the wooded single track, the sun was going down and the headlight was shining on the trees as it got darker, one section of the trail in there is a flip flop of left and right turns that are quite banked just enough to throw the bike over from side to side changing direction about 6-8 times, lots of fun and a great feeling on the bike.
We floated back along the open stuff heading for bike lane, arriving back just before six and the sun going down.
We both had big smiles, to ride together was awesome, and Nicola commenting it was perfect, not to long, not to short, not to fast, and not to slow.
I went home with that nice feeling of aching muscles and a satisfied mind.

Good luck to Nicola! I hope to see him again! I have a feeling that I will.

Here`s what Nicola had to say…….

I had a blast! After many times coming to Pattaya to relax and enjoy the good things of this life, I discovered the “Tracks ‘n Trails” site and decided right away to give it a try. I love motocross and everything involved with dirt bikes, so I couldn’t pass the chance to enjoy a dirt bike trail ride in the beautiful Pattaya environment. Johnny is a great host and knows all the trails, and is good dude to share a chuckle and talk about everything. The ride was absolutely fun, with beautiful places on different soils. From the sandy banks, to the hard rutted and rocky soil to the groomy soft humid, from the jungle to the hills…everything is possible to really enjoy the ride, the place and test your ability on the dirt. I am an avid motocross racer, and know a thing or two about how to ride, so I ask Johnny to choose a course that was not too simple, and he did just that. I really enjoyed all of that perfect afternoon, and coming back from the ride with a ear to ear smile and a totally soaked shirts really made my day! How can you imagine a more perfect day…..wake up, motocross, girls and beers…. ahhhh beautiful Thailand! The land of smile. See you again Johnny! …Very soon.

Check out the video`s of the tour below…