Riding through Angkor

Angkor Wat in Cambodia is one of the mot famous places on Earth, and it’s also a great place for a bike ride.

Every now and then there’s something truly bewildering about a ride. It’s hard to pin a label on the sensation, but it makes you grin inside like the cat that got the proverbial double whipped cream all to himself, yet it also humbles with reverence and strikes awe through your core at the same time. That’s about the best way I can describe the sensation of riding offbeat around the trails Angkor Wat.

Justly confirmed and measured up as the world’s largest religious complex Angkor is a place of unparalleled allure and deeply complex history. Gazing around at the sheer physical marvel and scale of the place leaves you with way too many unanswered questions. As for just what it took to construct such a place before the advent of mechanical construction aids, well it defies feasibility and logic. 

There can be few people who haven not heard of the wonders of Angkor, and of the great decay and subsequent destruction of it, and indeed of Cambodia itself during the Khmer Rouge era. All of this conspires to make any visit here something of a levelling experience. 

This was my second time in Angkor, a decade earlier I’d made a fleeting visit and had mountain biked around some virtually untouched parts of the complex. That outing had had me itching to get back and ride more, and this time around I’d turned up on a gravel/touring bike. I was intent on escaping the hordes of tourists and to discover the solace that can still be found in abundance in parts of this 162 Hectare jungle clad landscape.

Crowd numbers and access restrictions had increased massively since my last visit, and yet all it took to dodge the procession was a single left turn on the edge of the main complex.

Taking a narrow waterside singletrack (just off the main mapped circuit) and I was all alone and twisting alongside the deserted and decaying outer walls of old Angkor. I really had not expected it to be so easy to simply hop off the main route, but it was. The region is pan-flat, apart from a few mounds here and there, and it’s also quite well forested on the outskirts too, meaning that I had no issues in rattling around at speed on wide but slick road tyres without any obstructions. In all I spent 3 broken days discovering these holy dirt roads and singletracks, and found my way simply by following my nose and logic. 

Cambodia has, of course, suffered from on-going UXO issues, but as long as you stick to the temple area and its surrounds, and stay on obvious worn trails you’re good to go. 

Discovering Angkor by bike is not exactly new, but thankfully it’s generally done on city bikes, and tourists do almost always stick to the main circuits, which I also added to my own ride plan. I was able to clock up a few hours at a time on these rides, and being as I’m not exactly a temple tyrant I only stopped off at prime spots here and there. 

For me, the sensation of riding through these remote and completely tourist free areas was much more appealing than scrambling over selfies sticks at the prime temples, and with the fast and loose riding it rates pretty high on the ride-thrill factor too.

Most of the main strictures do have attendants standing watch, but riding close to them and parking up to explore on foot is not an issue. Keep in mind that this is one of the most iconic and holiest sites in the world, and thus it’s essential to be respectful and considerate in where and how you ride (and to also carry a sarong or longs if you want to enter temples).