Glad to Ride a Cadillac

Today was the day to fully exploit the full suspension of my MTB. An over 60 km stretch of mostly broken road made me ride like in an American luxury car – with a waterbed like feeling, riding over the rough rocks and deep potholes. When my fellow riders, on their lightweight road or trekking bikes, were going slow to avoid getting every beat of the rocks they rolled over, I was simply speeding passed them. It is a pure joy to race through the harsh terrain without having to fear that the bike will collapse or to loose control over the bike.

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However, after 50 km I was also a bit tired of it and gave the youngsters at a ‘toll station’ 2000 IRP, because they promised me better roads thereafter. It wasn’t after another 10 km, before the pavement finally became better, however with another penalty – the wind seems to blow much faster over smooth pavement, than over rough. And today’s wind didn’t want to make friends with us, thus blowing constantly into our faces, reducing the cruising speed and extending the riding day for longer …

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The last 30 km along the coast line were a torture, being already 8 hours on the road and seeing that the final kilometers are being so slow in the wind. With tailwind it could have been easily done in 60 minutes, however the headwind made it 100.

In camp all ‘finisher’ we awaited with a big hand of applause from, those who were already there (cycling or by van). Later we were rewarded with an excellent dinner, and more food that one can eat.

Breakfast @ Turtle Beach

Had a nice breakfast at the Turtle Beach Hotel. Last night the turtle stood us up. None made it to the beach. Since it is a hard riding day today there was no way to wait infinite into the night.

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Currently half way into the day at lunch in the coconut forest

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where a huge pot with coconut palm zap is boiling to make sugar.

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Stage 21: Java

Ujung Gesting to  Cidaun
Date: 11-09-2014 Time: 07:23 h Σ Time: 124:44 h
Distance: 141 km Σ km: 2567 km Temp: 21/36 °C
Up: 1265 m Σ Up: 26331 m Calories: 3225 kcal
Down: 1250 m Σ Down: 26217 m Σ kcal: 57364 kcal
Conditions: A tough one. It was said that the road conditions weren’t good, which turned out to be the case for a major part of the day. But what made it more difficult was the strong blowing headwind, all day long.

The all day blowing headwind from east and the mostly bad road conditions made it a long riding day. However very quiet and scenic once we left the main road and turned into the coconut and gum tree fields. The temperatures felt really comfortable. From km 40 to 105 the road was really bad; loose gravel and rocks required full concentration at every second. However I could play out my ‘joker card’, the full suspension mode of my MTB made me ride the rocks like a Cadillac. I really enjoyed the roughness and difficulty of the ride. Cristiano wasn’t wrong when he announced the bad road conditions during the briefing, the night before.  What he did not mention was, that we are riding eastwards and the wind is constantly blowing into our faces. This slowed down progress dramatically and made riding an all day and exhausting fight. Only a few of us made it to the next camp.

Lunch was setup at a nice place in the woods, where a local was boiling palm zap to make sugar and serving us fresh coconuts.

Tomorrow is another ‘killer’ stage: just 71 km, but a constant climb to 1800 m from sea level. I hope that the rest day that we have on Sep 14., will give me enough time to post photos and special reports.

 

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