Organised Cycling and Cycle Hire

[cambsangler]

I have received a question through one of my websites asking the following......

Are there any organised cycling tours or can I hire a guide for full day/ 2 day trips?
I would also need to hire the bicycle etc.

Having trawled through the forum I have not found anything that suggests there is a positive answer to anything he has asked. I suspect the answer is "no" in each case as I have never seen or heard of any such organised events but can anyone say for certain, one way or the other?

[stattointhailand]

Can't really answer your questions cambsangler as cycling more than a few km in the heat of the Thai sun is not a very pleasant experience.
Added to that the only one destination that I would recommend a tourist visit would be Ban Chiang (UNESCO World Heritage Site) and that is about 100km round trip and certainly not worthy of the energy you would use to get there.

In short Udon is NOT the sort of area to use as a base for cycling its only attribute being that it is as flat as a pancake and it's main scenery (being rice paddys) are only really green and attractive for a short time each year.

[fdimike]

Take a look at www.bicyclethailand.com. Lots of information related to this subject in English.

[fdimike]

I have to disagree with Stattointhailand. There's lots of places here in the Udon Thani area worthy of visiting by bicycle other than Ban Chiang. I've cycled to numerous places around this area to include Phu Pra Bat, and a host of beautiful temples to include a reclining Buddha statue made entirely of carved Italian marble in Na Yung located on the top of a mountain. The ride along the Mekong River is especially wonderful giving you a glimpse of river life and some wonderful scenery. I've been cycling for over 10 years now in the Udon area as well as the surrounding countries as far south as Singapore all from my home here in Udon Thani. My friends and I have only relied on public transportation on 2 occasions.

This is not a particularly nice time of the year to cycle due to the high temps which can easily reach 40+ deg C on the road. However, heavily cloudy days are easily doable. One can easily cycle to noon even on cloudless days at this time of the year.

BTW: the Udon Thani area is not as flat as a pancake. There are numerous hills and small mountains ( Phu Foi Lom for one) all over the province as well as the surrounding provinces if one desires a change of terrain.

Additionally, I might add that cycling to Ban Chiang is a great ride especially if you enjoy going via the back roads.

[cambsangler]

Take a look at http://www.bicyclethailand.com. Lots of information related to this subject in English.

Thanks for the link. I have passed it on to the guy that was asking, along with the link to this thread.