Bike Paths & Routes Around Pattaya

[forcebwithu 4,853]

Bangkok Post has a new article on the Siri Charoenwat Forest Plantation Path.

 

There's riding in those hills

[forcebwithu 4,853]

In this post I mentioned plans to extend the park bike path around the Mabprachan reservoir. I'm happy to report the work to do just that is now underway.

I had a nice ride around the reservoir this morning to check on the progress. Pictures start at the north end go clockwise around the reservoir.

Looks like they've also started work on extending the park to the north.

Inside the park is the future connection to the north end of the extended bike path.

There will also be what looks to be a walkway extension into the expanded park to the north.

Reservoir levels are looking great for this time of year.

This will be the connection to the south end of the new bike path.

At the junction of 3240 with SCC Rd, the path widens quite a bit leading me to believe this will be a combination road and bike path when done.

There are also several bridges under construction on this section, and from the looks of them they'll be able to support quite a bit more than just bike traffic.

The path will have some nice views of the water.

The turn to the west at the junction with SCC Pattaya arch. From this point on they've only started grading and backfilling.

At the south end where SCC Rd passes under the new highway, another tourist trap is under construction.

A cool respite from the hot sun under the new highway.





 

[forcebwithu 4,853]

Not in the Pattaya area, but a bike path in Nakhon Phanom made the news.

Unsafe new Mekong riverside cycling path closed

A new cycling path along the Mekong riverbank has been closed after part of it collapsed only two days after an inaugural cycling event to promote tourism.

The cycling path, in Muang district, is about 1.1 kilometres long and only recently built, and was still awaiting acceptance by the provincial hall.

A viewpoint section about 50 metres long collapsed on Tuesday.

Engineers from the Department of Public Works and Town and Country Planning examined the path's structure and found many structural cracks and a mudslide had already affected its foundation.

The engineers said the structure as built could not withstand the riverbank erosion caused by recent heavy rain.

The collapse occurred only two days after the Tourism Authority of Thailand and local authorities held a cycling event along the path on Sunday to promote local tourism.

Chanchai Sribenja of a Nakhon Phanom cycling club said on Friday that cycling events organised alongside the Mekong River in Nakhon Phanom were popular with local tourists.

The collapse of the new cycling path could have a negative impact. Enforcing construction standards would be an effective solution, he said.

[jacko 8,814]

6 hours ago, forcebwithu said:

Enforcing construction standards would be an effective solution, he said.

Belatedly.....

[midlifecrisis 4,048]

It looks like one bad flood and it's gone anyway.

The soil that is showing in the photo looks like sediment buildup over time. The foundation needs to be very deep.

It reminds me of a line in the movie "The Bridge on the River Kwai" when the British officer tells the Japanese Colonel Saito that the initial position is wrong. Too soft.

Major Reeves: As I was trying to tell you a while ago, sir, the Japanese couldn't have picked a worse location. There's no bottom. You see those piles? They're sinking. Our chaps could drive those piles 'til doomsday and they wouldn't hold.

 

[yorta2 693]

Just had to post this shot of a typical Thai bicycle path out in the sticks (so I am told, He He):

 

[TheFiend 1,181]

11 hours ago, yorta2 said:

Just had to post this shot of a typical Thai bicycle path out in the sticks (so I am told, He He):

 

The drystone wall and street-lights in the background point to it not being in Thailand....

[Chang_paarp 253]

The bike path around Lake Mabprachan is a work in process. Starting at the dam wall it currently goes all the way to the "Pong park" with a running track parallel to most of it. I went around the barrier across the path into the park, then out the other end through the car park. This leads to the road for a coupe of hundred metres, then there is the track that leads from the far end of the dam wall, most of this is tarmac, however it stops or starts (depending on your direction of travel,) abruptly. Access to this part coming from the Pong park requires venturing through a drain with some water flow happening, I assume this will be addressed in the medium term. Will post some photos when I liberate them from the phone.

[forcebwithu 4,853]

@Chang_paarp great minds and all that. Coincidently I had a ride around the reservoir this morning and snapped the following pics.

I took ride out to check on the progress of the new Mabprachan Bike Path. I was happy to see it's about 90% complete.
Starting at the north entrance to the reservoir dam road, asphalt and lane markings are in.

The only bit that remains is at the northwest end that connects with the Bang Lamung Exercise Park Bike Path.

There are two remaining bridges that need to be constructed. Pilings are in.

And one of the bridge support beams is almost finished.

Work is also underway for the northwest extension of the Bang Lamung Exercise Park.

This is the last of the two bridges that need to be completed, which will connect the bike path to Bang Lamung Exercise Park.

On the other side of the park, the final touches on the new bike path connection are almost done.

The north side of the park also is the start of a walk/jogging path that is separate from the bike path.

One thing I noticed on my ride is the new asphalt seemed to be of lower quality than what I've seen on western projects. As proof to my thoughts I soon came across areas where they have already had to patch the bike path.

There's a good chance the heavy equipment they're driving over the bike path is the main reason for the needed repairs.

For the most part the bike path is separated from road traffic by steep, concrete lined storm water culverts. The few places where vehicles could enter they have a couple of low barricades, which is good b/c otherwise the Thais would soon be using the bike path as a parking lot.

There were a few places where there was sand and gravel on the path, but I think once construction is finished that will be swept off and the storm water culverts will probably do a good job of keeping storm debris off the path.

Not that it really matters, but the smaller culvert that separates the paths, someone didn't plan the fall correctly so the rain water won't make it all the way to the outlet hole.

Nice sweeping curves on the bike path across from the Soi Siam Country Club arch.

Looks like they ran out of shoreline, so the walk/jogging path ends about 800m short of the south end of the reservoir dam road.

The bike path might eventually extend farther west, but for now you can continue your ride through the bike gap in the south end reservoir dam entrance.

It's a 2.7 km ride, straight shot across the reservoir dam.

The view from the north side entrance to the reservoir dam road.

The green line in the map below marks the existing Bang Lamung Exercise Park Bike Path. The area to the west of the reservoir dam road has quite a few single track paths in the woods that make for an enjoyable ride in the shade on a mtn or hybrid bike. The ride around the reservoir is 10.3 km.

Edited July 8, 2019 by forcebwithu

[forcebwithu 4,853]

Our group ride yesterday was different from our usual off road, Friday rides. Yesterday's ride leader called it the Urban Commando Ride, and it was just that. A lot of road riding mixed with bits of off road. It was also a long ride at 50.8 km that took us as far north as Laem Chabang Port. Thought I'd post the ride details incase someone is looking for a route to ride that's a bit different.

First stop was about 11 km into the ride at the Forbidden Floating Temple. A place until now I didn't know existed. The entrance to the Temple is Chittaphon Wan Buddhist College, just off Sukhumvit.

Air quality was good yesterday, so had great view towards Nakula to the south from the Temple.

And Laem Chabang Port to the north.

After enjoying the view and a bit of rest, we were off to our next stop.

While not really rough off road riding, it was certainly a lot nicer than riding on busy Sukhumvit.

As the ride leader didn't tell us where we were going at the start of the ride, we didn't realize until we reached this point we would be getting a much closer look at Laem Chabang Port.

The ride out to the far end of the port area was a 2 km stretch along an area that can best be described as a salt marsh.

From the far end we had a nice, breezy view of Nakula and Pattaya off in the distance.

After relaxing and enjoying the view we were once again off on our ride back to Pattaya.

After a 15 minute rehydration stop on Sukhumvit, we made a mad dash across three lanes of speeding traffic to a U Turn, then repeated the process on the other side. Then it was a shortcut through a temple to a route that was parallel to the railroad.

This far north of Pattaya, the area next to the railroad is still pretty wild with some good single track to ride.

Once we made it to 3240, I split from the group so I could snap a few pics of the current water level at Mabprachan Reservoir.

Edited March 7, 2020 by forcebwithu

[maik 444]

I wish I was with you on that ride ???

[forcebwithu 4,853]

For those interested in a bit of off road riding, there are some nice paths around Mabprachan Reservoir on the west and north sides. The screenshot below are tracks from various rides I've made over the years around the reservoir.

The area parallel to the dam is primarily eucalyptus trees with trails that are hard packed and easy to negotiate.

While the area on the north side of the reservoir is a good mix of service roads, hard packed trail, and narrow single track.

[forcebwithu 4,853]

Wisdom Valley, next to Rugby School Thailand and near Khao Mai Kaew has opened a new mtn bike trail system consisting of  7, 10, and 21 km trail loops. I hope to get out there soon and do a picture report of the trails.

[forcebwithu 4,853]

The bike path around Mabprachan Reservoir is still in great shape, but poor engineering on one section has led to this...

Bicycle riders complain about what they call a dangerous portion of a Walking-Running-Cycling Trail in Banglamung

[forcebwithu 4,853]

Thought I'd add the loop I usually do when updating the Shrinking Pattaya Reservoirs topic. It's a relatively easy 40km loop with minimal elevation gain.

The km distance included in parenthesis above each photo corresponds to the waypoints in the Google Map at the end of this post.

The starting point for the route is the railway road intersection at Soi Khao Nois. (0.0km)

When you get to the sign for the Indoor Stadium, turn left. (4.8km)

At the bottom of a small rise in the road turn left. (6.9km) Within a short distance of about 100m you'll make another left.

Another 100m and you'll be at the entrance to Huai Chak Nok Reservoir. (7.3km)

The entrance is unmarked, but once you're on it you'll see the reservoir. There is a small stretch that has been recently graded over, but most times it has deep potholes. (7.5km)

Exiting the causeway you'll turn left. The tarmac road you follow is in good shape and an enjoyable ride. (10.2km)

At 11.2km you'll come to a T intersection where you'll turn left. The dip in the road before the intersection usually has a shallow, slow moving stream across it.

A warning here, learn from my experience and ride straight through the water before making any kind of turn. While the water is very shallow, there is algae build up on the road surface which makes for a very slick surface.

I went through at speed and while I only made a slight turn to adjust my path, I went down before I could even think WTF. Fortunately there was no damage to my bike. 

The next section of road is in good shape, but be aware there are short sections where sand covers the road from storm runoff. (12.0km)

When you pass the white temple on the right you'll come to another T intersection. (13.1km) Turn right to continue on to Mabprachan Reservoir, or if you've had enough you can turn left to shortcut back to Pattaya.

If do decide to shortcut home, after turning left you'll encounter a split in the road. (13.4km). Going left will get you back to the railway road, bearing right will take you on a scenic ride back to Soi Nern Plub Wan.

If you do take the scenic ride to Nern Plub Wan be very, very careful crossing the storm grates, of which there are several. The idiot road engineers never give a thought to those on two wheels when they install grates parallel to the direction of travel. If you don't cross at a slight angle, those riding on skinny tires are guaranteed to get trapped and flung over your handle bars. It happened today to a guy I came across just after he had gone down. Fortunately no damage to him or his bike other than a chain that jumped the front sprocket.

Back on the route to Mabprachan, the next left turn you want to watch for is Soi 27. (14.9km)

This section of road is a scenic ride that will take you past Siam Polo Park and Horseshoe Point. You also get a small hill climb in using the bridge that crosses the new highway. (16.0km)

At the crest of the bridge on clear days you can see Khao Chi Chan off in the distance. (16.4km)

At 20.7km your arrive at the Soi Siam Country Club road intersection and the Mabprachan Bike Path. There's no easy access to the bike path at the intersection, so if you want to stay off the busy road you'll need to walk your bike across a small, shallow ditch to get on the bike path. The bike path is two way, so it's your choice which way to ride. For this route I rode the path in a clockwise direction.

Once on the causeway there is a road off to the left that you can take for access to nice mtn bike trails on that side of the dam. (21.8km)

On the other side of the causeway there are a couple of access roads to mtn bike trails that run along the north shore of the reservoir. (23.9km) Use this link to view a post from 2020 about the off road options around Mabprachan.

They've completed a new section to Mabprachan Reservoir Park. (25.7km)

It has a side path off the main bike path with a good view of the reservoir and nice landscaping. (26.0km)

They've also repurposed the swim platform as a deck leading to the water's edge. (27.0km)

Seemed a waste not to to take advantage of the water for a cooling off dip.

From this point on it's an easy and simple ride along the bike path and then along Soi Siam Country Club road back to Pattaya. If you follow the route I used in the map below, you'll make you're way from SCC to Soi Nern Plub Wan and then along the railway road back to the start point for a total distance of 40km.

Edited May 27, 2022 by forcebwithu

[forcebwithu 4,853]

Huai Chak Nok Reservoir has a new park and the beginnings of a new bike path on the north end. Looks great, IMHO, and looking forward to seeing the completion of the bike path and how far around the reservoir it will go.