Samui mountain biking adventure
By Andrew Bond
Great trails amid coconut palms
Samui may be a small island, which can be circumnavigated in a couple hours on a bike, but that doesn’t mean it lacks good biking. Most visitors come for the diving and beach life but mountain bike fans will be pleased to discover Red Bicycle near Lamai beach.
With a modest hilly interior and plenty of old trails among the coconut trails the riding on Samui can be great, as I found out on a day out with the ‘Red crew’. Never have I felt so satisfied with being away from the beach.
Set up a few years back by ex-San Francisco couple Mike and Debra Yantis, Red Bicycle is Samui’s only mountain bike experience, and they’ve built up a great selection of high end bikes and trails to ride them on. And when you get bored with these, they’ll take you over to Koh Pha Ngan which is, in many ways, even better.
As an avid mountain biker based in mountainous Chiang Mai I was sceptical of what Samui might have to offer, but a friendly phone call later and I felt like I was off to ride with my mates, such is their hospitality. “We’ve got guys who come back again and again to ride with us” boasted Debra, and I could understand why. They’re also serious bikers, preferring to give you the chance to ride an expensive bike like a Cannondale or Santa Cruz, rather than go for the mass market. Seldom can you rent such an expensive machine for such reasonable prices.
Well, real mountain bikers don’t stand around talking about their bikes, so we were soon on our saddles and off into the wilderness of the Southern Part of the island. Since I’m usually spoilt in my home town with excellent downhill, I opted for the route through the coconut trees. The undulating and windy farmer trails that led us to Hin Lat falls were perfect for testing out the Canondale Jekyll I had had my eye on in their shop. The small group also made it feel like I was back home riding with my mates, rather than joining a large group of novices.
The views once you get to the top are great
Looking at their brochures I can confirm there are also some excellent downhill runs on rutted out fire roads, providing some thrilling descents. One particular route traverses the hills of the interior as far as the North coast. But be warned, you are expected to ride uphill too, the views are worth it though. For the less adventure-minded they also have more prosaic cultural tours to the island’s sites.
Speak to them nicely and you can rent one of the bikes to do some of your own exploring, as I did through the undeveloped and peaceful southern reaches of the island, but to experience great trials you’ll need to sign up on a tour to be let in on the secrets. It’s a perfect way to discover how Samui was before the tourists arrived, as you wander through local villages and fields laden with fallen coconuts and lazy water buffalo.
The main road itself which links Chaweng and Lamai with the rest of the island is somewhat hilly and a bit dangerous with the speeding vehicles, blind corners and steep descents. But there are plenty of minor roads within easy reach of Red’s headquarters (which are not far away from the famously Hin Ta and Hin Yaa rocks south of Lamai beach).
And even after we had returned from a rain soaked ride, they invited us all to join them for dinner in the nearby Kokomiko Restaurants. It was then that I got to learn about their charity efforts after the Tsunami and a film they made which was featured at world mountain biking film festival.
They’re busy guys these Red lot, and decent mountain bikers too. When in Samui you’ll want to cancel one of your days on the beach to see another side of the island that few others get to see.
