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Many urban dwellers –in fact, most of us  like to spend their hard-earned weekends in front of the telly. But with the English Premier League’s season drawing to a close and the prospect of life revolving around Korean soaps featuring handsome yet heartless hotshots dumping beautiful if vacuous chicks for reasons that are hard to work out, I figured was time to find an alternative to weekend ennui.
My solution was to trek to the local bike shop and purchase a bicycle. And guess what? It’s turned out to be one of the best investments I’ve ever made.
Biking in Bangkok, as you might have been warned, is a little like losing your mind. The City of Angels has not been developed with the cyclist in mind and its bus drivers certainly have little regard for ¬one silly enough to ride on two wheels.
But Bangkok loves the brave. Browse Google Map and you’ll find plenty of local roads and dirt tracks crisscrossing the green spaces around Bangkok. And if you’re already in the ’burbs, it takes less than an hour to escape the traffic and enter outer Bangkok’s more austere neighbourhoods.
“We’re not speed addicts. I suggest we travel at 20 kilometres per can of beer, in a way that’s more worthy of George Best than Lance Armstrong,” says my friend Diaw, a member of Park Land’s Sunday Bike Club, referring to the late Manchester United player from the 1960s, who was well known for his heavy drinking.
Diaw introduces me to Mo, a Jeep enthusiast, and Muk, a talented musician, as well as other bike buffs like U, Tao, Pik, Khuan, Nui and Ple, all of whom show up every Sunday morning for a pedal adventure.
Led by the energetic Ple and Diaw, we’re soon riding along BangnaTrat highway, heading east to the Outer Ring Road. There’s nothing scenic about the gas stations or superstores along this stretch but then we turn left into a local road that runs parallel with the ring road.
After a few kilometres of new settlements, the urban sprawl gives way to wide, open space carpeted with green fields, rice paddy and lotus ponds. Traffic is light and we soon pick up speed.
“For years, I played music in the pubs and didn’t go to bed till morning,” says keyboardist Muk, who lives four floors below me.
Exercise was out of the question. Muk couldn’t even manage to get enough sleep.
“One Sunday, I decided to bring my bike out of retirement and followed the gang for fun. I enjoyed it, even though the brakes were in such lousy condition.”
The following day, Muk went to the local bike shop and traded in his old model for a new mountain bike.
“You’ll enjoy the sense of discovery,” says Diaw, as we pedal along¬side a canal. “When you’re in a car, all you see in the soulless concrete jungle. Get on the bike, and you strip back the layers, descending far beyond the buildings.”
He’s right. The first layer, the one that fronts on to the road is nothing but ugly commercial buildings and shophouses. We cut through and discover in the next layer, lots of houses of all shapes and sizes along with plenty of nasty dogs
The third layer, which is connected to the households by a net¬work of canals and small concrete walkways, is a maze of fishponds, temples, small markets and coconut plantations.
The second Sunday, we again pedal towards the Outer Ring Road but instead of turning into the side road, we make a U-turn beneath the first bridge and head along the local road running from North-South on the other side then turn right on to a small, single concrete track.
“You can’t pick up speed on this route. Lose your balance and you’ll join the fish in the canal,” says Mo, who found the cycling track after studying Bangkok’s eastern suburbs on Google Map.
One side is dominated by flat, green fields that remind me of the abundant rice paddies in my home province of Suphan Buri. Every so often, we can sight of giant nets hanging in the air waiting for their next dip into the canal. Isn’t it amazing? Here, just 30 minutes from Lotus Superstore, some people still catch their own fish in the muddy ditches.
Soon, we see to out right, the massive warehouses and factories belonging to Gemopolis Industrial Estate – where diamonds and stones start their journey to women around the world.
“Follow the road down over the bridge and get on the concrete track along the canal,” shouts Diaw from behind. “In 30 minutes, we should arrive at our favourite noodle shop.”
Food stands – either noodle shops or beer kiosks – offer the per¬fect pit stop for bike clubs. We discovered another great eatery last Sunday after a trip to Bang Phli floating market and tucked into delicious pork noodle and authentic Thai sweets.
Just like the Korean soaps that are shown over the weekend, cycling is addictive and demanding. After owning my bike for three weeks, I receive a message about my new hobby.
“I think you spend a little too much time with your bike and your buddies,” snaps my girlfriend, after I postpone our shopping and dinner trip for the third Sunday on the trot.
“We’ll go shopping soon,” I assure her. What I really mean is what we need is another bike.

A sock to the saddle
www.Thaimtb.com is Thailand’s largest bike community on the Internet. Many people post their topics in Thai, but English is also welcomed. Experienced cyclists horse around and brag about their bikes, while beginners come to look for affordable used bike. It’s a good place to ask for bike tracks in your area.
You can also design your own bike route with Google Map. Some mobiles, such as the Nokia Nseries, come with a Geo-tagging function, which lets you record and upload your cycling routes to Google Map. This is fun since you can forward your favourite bike tracks to your friends.