About
Most of what you read here are first-person ride reports — the routes, the gear that worked, the weather that did or did not. The site also collects guided-tour operators, rentals, and route GPX files for riders planning their own days in the dirt.
Ridden, then recorded
Every track on this site came off a GPS carried on the bike. None of it is traced from satellite imagery or copied from someone else's file, which is why the surface notes mention the washout at the top of the climb and the gate that was closed in March. It also means the catalogue grows slowly, and that a route is only as current as the date on its report — a wet season can rearrange a hillside.
How routes are rated
- Easy
- Graded dirt and gravel on a firm surface. Nothing that needs committing to, and nothing that punishes a slow first attempt.
- Intermediate
- Ruts, loose rock, stream crossings and steeper climbs. Some sections want momentum and a line chosen before you reach them.
- Advanced
- Sustained technical terrain, steep and deeply rutted. Expect to get tired, expect to pick the bike up, and expect to turn back if it rains.
- Community
- Not a difficulty. This marks a track submitted by another rider rather than ridden and recorded here, so treat the detail as unverified.
Ratings assume a 300cc trail bike on knobbies, in the dry, with luggage off. The same track in the wet, or on something heavier, can sit a full grade harder than it reads.
Where the riding is
Six provinces, all within a day's ride of Chiang Mai or a night on the way to somewhere further. The season runs November to February in most of them, holding into March in Mae Hong Son and Nan.
What else is here
- Routes
- Individual tracks with maps, elevation, surface notes and a GPX file to download.
- Self-guided tours
- Multi-day routes stitched into an itinerary, with the overnight stops already worked out.
- Ride reports
- What a day actually looked like, written after riding it. The honest version, including the parts that went badly.
- Riding guide
- Seasons, road conditions, border rules and paperwork, broken down by region.
- GPX guide
- How to get a downloaded track onto your phone or GPS and follow it offline.
- Rentals and tours
- Shops that rent bikes worth taking off tarmac, and licensed operators who guide.
- Printed maps
- Paper versions of the routes, for when a phone is dead or soaked.
- Dirt Bikin' app
- Offline maps and track recording on the bike, built for riding without signal.
Rides go up on YouTube and Instagram. Before downloading a track, read the rider agreement.