The red and white colours of the Viking Wheelers, the DTCC and SSS cycling team, again dominated the landscape near Pattaya during the weekend of August 9 and 10.
Four nationalities were represented among the 11 cyclists participating in this event.
From Denmark: Henrik Friis, Bent Laasholdt, Hans Henrik Melchior, Claus Bergenfelt, Peter Griebel, Finn Soerensen and Svend Erik Hedevang (a new Viking Wheeler residing near Laem Chabang).
Norway was represented by Oskar Joergensen and Bjoern Granerod, both residing in Pattaya, while Australia again had sent its former Consul General to Thailand, Alan Valtas, to ensure this colony of Denmark was properly represented.
As “the raisin in the hotdog end” Christophe Boutin again represented France. This was Christophe’s last ride with the Viking Wheelers as he will now return to France.
Bent, the organizer of the event, had ensured a tough ride for Saturday, with plenty of challenging hills draining all energy out of the hard fighting Vikings. The total distance was 58K, from the Jomtien Beach, on the scenic roads across the hills in the Huai Yai area to Highway 331, then south and then back towards the Phoenix Golf Course and Wat Yan Sang Wararam.
And this was where we discovered the true nature of the Norwegian Group, as these riders attempted to avoid the last hill towards Wat Yan and go straight back to Jomtien Beach. The former team leader, suspecting this attempt to “cheat”, had at that time already seated himself comfortably in the support vehicle, so he could ensure that the “break-aways” were caught and forced to make a U-turn and get back to the nasty hill. From Wat Yan the group headed back to Sukhumvit Road, the Jomtien Beach Road and the hotel, in time for an excellent team lunch at Admirals.
At 6 pm that evening the team drove the 20 km south to the picturesque fishing village of Bang Saray for the team dinner at a seafood restaurant.
The Sunday ride was slightly shorter, only 50K and contained only 2 challenging hills. This time the team rode up to Huai Yai, then south past Pattay Airpark, the Phonix Golf course and Wat Yan to Silverlake and the Phuddha Mountain before heading back along Sukhumvit Road to Jomtien. Henrik Friis’ son, Simon, used to cycle with the Viking Wheelers on a “clip-on” bike behind his dad, but for this ride he cycled for the first time with the Vikings more than 25K on his own bike. And afterwards he proudly announced that “this was much easier as I did not have to push Dad”. He even beat Henrik to the goal line.
Another wonderful Viking Wheelers event, with great cycling on scenic roads, in perfect, maybe slightly hot, weather and fantastic fellowship.
The next special Viking Wheelers event will be the rides in the Hua Hin area during the weekend of October 18 and 19. Visit the team website for up-to-date news about this event.
