Bike for Elephants Preparations

Bike for Elephants Preparations
What to bring
- Your bike, if you don’t rent one.
- Bike shorts
- T-shirts: we will give you one Bike for Elephants 2012 t-shirt for free at the start. More elephant t-shirts for sale at the Elephant Nature Park
- Relaxing cloths for evening activities
- One long sleeve shirt: it get cold at night!
- Two pairs of socks
- One pair of sandals or other casual footwear that can get wet (elephant bathing)
- Bicycle Helmet (provided if you rent a bike with us)
- (Bike) shoes
- Bike gloves
- Sunglasses
- Sunscreen
- Padded gloves
- Water bottle (provided if you rent a bike with us)
- Bags: a backpack makes it more difficult to bike. Reduce the stuff you want to bring on the bike to the very basics: some cash, sun glasses, telephone. The service cars can carry your bag and they will meet you at breaks.
- Camera and telephone
- Clothes for bathing elephants and to swim. (Please keep in mind that because Thai culture has conservative traditions for dress, bathing suits or bikinis are not appropriate. Typically volunteers at the Elephant Nature Park wear shorts and t-shirts into the water.)
- Towel and toiletries, a flashlight/torch, and mosquito repellent.
- Bring a little spending money to do some shopping in our gift shop. All proceeds from gift shop sales go directly to helping our elephants or the mahouts who care for them.
- If you have, please bring: basic first aid kit and / or bike repair kit.
- This is not all inclusive, so make sure you create a checklist of everything that you’ll need

During the bike event, our service vehicles will carry
- First aid kit and certified first aid people
- Drinks, electrolyte and energy snacks
- Bike repair kits
- Your bags
Training
Although the event is suitable for average bikers, a bit of practice before the event will help you a lot. Start training as soon as possible, and you will enjoy the event much more. If you can practice outdoors, but an exercise bike in the sport club will do too. During the event you have to use your gears, so make sure you can work with them. It may seem obvious, but remember to drink water (before, during and after the ride). Even slight dehydration can lead to a 50% loss of energy. Before the ride make sure you sleep well, stretch well and eat well!