Ride nos:- 159 and 160Location:- Siam Country Club, PattayaDate:- 24/25 AugustHare:- Wolfgang MinderjahnScribe:- Peter CoeshottIts not fair. Crawl down to Breakfast on Sunday with a stinking hangover and that old fart of an ex-genetically modified person, who cannot get over the fact that he is a has-been and still lusts for the power and glory, puts the arm on one to do the write up. Why doesn’t he do it? Wish I could have thought of that at the time./o:p/o:pPattaya. Easy to get to from Bangkok. The richer amongst us have their own beachside houses and condominiums. Some of the best hotel deals in the world. Did you know we even had riders staying in the Marriott? A nightlife of world re-known. Of course there would be zillions of people for the Saturday ride – and there were. Nice to see you all folks./o:p/o:pThe pack ambled off somewhere while this writer stopped to chat with a late comer.  Not sure where you went but back they came through the Club after a little while and we all set off towards the South./o:p/o:pIts lovely countryside around Siam Country Club with rolling hills, plenty of tracks between pineapple fields and through wooded areas. The first, or was it the second check, took forever to solve. Some of us went on a huge circular recce to the left; one lady came upon this writer having a pee down a little track to the right. Blowing her whistle merrily on the strength of seeing some paper she brought on the pack. Pity: the trail was 180 degrees in the opposite direction. I think the Hare actually led us out of this one./o:p/o:pBy now we were experiencing one of the features of the trail with some character-forming, soft sand. As a point of reference, we were not far from the Bira circuit. The trail took us up a vicious hill, which I doubt anyone rode but with a magnificent view from the top. In fact it was a loop that took us back down to the bottom and away up another gentler hill from the bottom./o:pAfter about 20 kms or so we  came out on tarmac and had a nice ride at a fast pace to find the Hare pointing us back into the countryside. A small single-track took us up and down some interesting riding deep in to a waterfall. Again a loop the went round in a circle and back out onto the tarmac with 5 kms on to the water stop. It seems some missed this loop, which was a shame for them./o:pOn from the water stop through a wat and then a small village with some pretty aggressive dogs. A combination of harassing dogs; jumping over something on the trail and landing in mud that flew into the eye resulted in this writer missing the turn. Undaunted and ever onwards one eventually came out on a road, which led in a big, but fast riding, circle back to Horseshoe Point where paper was again found on the road. From there a short ride into Siam Country Club./o:p/o:pAbout 35kms plus checks, etc. Super countryside. Perhaps something of a surprise to those who had never visited the area previously. Usual down downs with George,  recently elevated to JM, standing in as GM and doing JW (jolly well) at IT (err, it). Due acknowledgment to our guests from Singapore – many thanks for coming; its quite a commitment of time and money to join us – appreciate it. Also good to see all the other visitors, although a shame some did not join us in the circle. There was one yuppie with a new Scapel and a red plate BMW, who just had to be the role model for our very own racer boy with his battered Santa Claus bike and second-hand Ford truck./o:p/o:pA well-attended dinner followed by drinks around the pool. Pity the poor old Hare who served beer until after 12 then was out at 0700 in the morning laying the Sunday trail./o:pA gentle 25 km Sunday hangover ride on generally flat trails around the big lake. A pity it came to an end. It just shows how pleasant some of the countryside is close to Pattaya. Limited numbers on this ride and a small circle with the ex-genetically modified doing his thing as stand-in./o:p/o:pGreat weekend in fantastic surroundings. Many thanks to both Hares for their time and efforts in putting on such a successful bike hash.