January 2010

January 2010 was really busy month for Balikpapan bicycle communities.
The first event was folding bike ride right on the new year day,
and then a ride across the bay to Penajam on 10 January.
At the end of the month, there were also bike ride,
B&C fun ride with custom officers on Saturday 30 Jan,
and then Ambalat ride with our group folder on Sunday 31 Jan.

But the biggest event was Bike Jamboree ride that was organized by Le
Grandeur, one of the main hotel in Balikpapan.
This event took the whole weekend days on 23-24 Jan. On Saturday
afternoon, right after the rain stopped, we were cycling across the
town for show-off ride.

There were about 50 riders, and 16 of us were there with our folding
bikes. There was a coverage about this ride on our local newspaper.

And then next morning, Sunday 24 Jan, on the Jamboree main event,
there were about 600 riders there, ready to follow the 26km of cross
country track.

The ride started at about 07:10, and less than 2 hours later some
strong riders showed up already on the finish line.



The weather was sunny on that Sunday morning, but parts of the track were still wet
from the heavy rain on Saturday morning. A lot of begineers could not
finish the ride, but the military rescue team taking care of them
right away.

I used my MTB for this ride, but two of my riding buddies were crazy
enough to push their folding bike passing those offroad trail till the
finish line. Other folding riders were making short cut, so they were
not following the offroad session.

As usual in every bike event, after reaching finish we were welcomed
by fresh drinks. And during the doorprize drawing session, the band
from Le Grandeur pub entertaining us till lunch time. In this drawing
session, 2 of our team won the prize, one was voucher to go to
Starbuck Coffe, and the other was DVD player.

After lunch we went going home happily. One thing that impressed me
was the hard works and the professialism of the committe.
Even the track itself was not too hard, with so much participants of
various ages, various skill levels and using various bicycle types,
there were always big potential of having problems.
Luckily, the committee was very well prepared. They prepared
everything, from simple aerobic and stretching session before the
ride, little snack, stop points with ample supplies of free drinks and
fresh fruits, medic and rescue team from military, and also policemen
on every intersection with main traffic.
On the finish area they also provided mobile toilet and several water
hoses to clean up our bicycles.
For me this was a really top class Jamboree, those people who run 4
stars hotel definetely know how to organize bicycle Jamboree.
Kudos for the committee, and thanks for many friends, Pak Muttaqin mactaqin@gmail.com, Alex apurwoto@yahoo.com, Qardian, and others for your contributions in this posting.

Around with Balikpapan Folder buddies

It all started on end of November 09. There were a fun bike gathering,
where I met some of folding bike users in Balikpapan.

We exchanged our mails and phones numbers, and shortly after,
on Dec 18, 2009, we managed to make day trip together.
Our destination was Manggar beach, about 20km from town.



There were about 15 of us, riding various folding bikes.
we had a good time on this trip,
and at the end of the trip we made a plan for another one...
So the ball is rolling.......

On the new year day of 2010 we went to wooden village in Kampung Baru area
The houses there were build above the shallow water, on thousands of wooden piles.
They called the wood as "kayu ulin", a native borneo wood,
that known for its resistance against sea water and hot weather.






The village serves as local ports, connecting the remote villages further inside
Balikpapan Bay with the main town.
Other activities there are tradings and fishery,

On our first visit we did not have enough time to cross the bay,
we only spent few hours there,
looking around talking to local people and taking pictures,
the local fishermen showed us a big shark that they just catch




But we came back about 10 days later,
some riders were joining us on their MTB
this time we spent enough time so we can take a boat to cross the bay.
Our bikes were loaded on the wooden boat that has a noisy-noisy diesel engine.



The boat brought us to Penajam, town on the other side of the bay
and from Penajam we went to Nipah beach, crossing unfinished road,



one of our friend, Alex, logged this trip on his GPS,



The complete trip report could be seen at Alex pages :
http://bicycling.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/597153

We went back to balikpapan in the afternoon,
and everyone seems to be happy with the trip

Seeing the enhusiasm of the group, I hope this group will last
and we will continue to have another story to tell.

Thanks to all of our friends, especially Pak Mutaqqin, Alex, and
Bakhtiar,
http://scottmerah.multiply.com

for sharing pictures and trip informations.

Manado, some references

Maps of MANADO,

basic city map available at www.north-sulawesi.org/maps/manado.gif

google map:


View Larger Map


Budget Hotels in MANADO:

1. Manado Bersehati Hotel, at town, close to city center
+62 431 855 022
Jl. Sudirman No. 20
coordinate on my GPS (old garmin !!)
1º29'23.6'' N - 124º50'31.5'' E
you need to pay 100k - 150k rupiah / night for basic room
alternatively more comfortable room is available at 250k rupiah

2. Vina Hotel, about 1km outside airport
not an option if you want to go around town
but ideal if you need to catch a flight early next morning
+62 431 812 874
at about the same rate as Bersehati,
with 140k rupiah / night,
we will have a bigger room, but no television and not air-conditioned.


Restaurants in MANADO:

Several restaurants located around Jl. Boulevard, close to Ritzy hotel

- Raja Sate, sea food, typical manado dish, and sate
- Angel Fish, sea food
- Sapo, chinese food
coordinate on my GPS ( 3 resto above are really close)
1º28'51.5'' N - 124º50'05.5'' E

Just in front of Raja Sate, behind Sapo, we can find amusement area,
go-cart rental, karaoke, shopping malls, futsal field, etc.
Close to this amusement area,
there is other restaurant too which is also well known.

- d'Terrace, sea food, typical manado dish
coordinate on my GPS
1º29'14.4'' N - 124º50'05.3'' E


Restaurant in TOMOHON:
I forgot the name
on the main city street, next to big fish pond
coordinate on my GPS
1º19'48.2'' N - 124º50'19.2'' E

Flight to Manado
Batavia Air:
departure from Balikpapan 19:00, arrival in Manado 20:35
return from Manado 07:00, arrival in Balikpapan 08:40

Other domestic flights available to Jakarta / Surabaya / Ternate etc.
Garuda, Lion Air, Merpati, Wings Air, Sriwijaya, Xpress Air, etc.

To Minahasa with my Hasa

I made several trips with my folding bike already.
But some of those were turned to be not too much bike trip.
Often they were just going to the bus station or airport,
fold the bike, get into the vehicle,
arrive at the destination, unfold the bike and go.

But this time, I have long enough holiday,
so I take the opportunity for a special bike trip around Manado.

Flight from Balikpapan arrived in Manado at 20:50 local time,
I recovered my Hasa folding bike, my only luggage,
unfolded the bike and heading to town.
The good thing is, Manado airport located at higher plateau,
about 80m above sea level, so I just needed a minimum pedaling
to go to town and find my hotel.

I have stayed several nights there,
but the best bike trip I did was on the last day,
where I biked from Manado, going uphill to Tomohon and Tondano,
and back to Manado via Airmadidi.

I started early in the morning, checking out from Bersehati Hotel at 08:00.
The hotel let me left my belonging with them,
so I can climb uphill to Tomohon with no backpack .




Tomohon is just 25km from Manado, but it took me 3 hours
to climb 700meter, using the grainy gear of my 16" Hasa.
My speed while climbing were merely 7-8 km/hr,
and I had to stop to take a breath for several times.

Luckily the scenery was superb,
green hills and big trees with a view to the sea below,
going uphill at Tinoor was something that
will stay long in my memory.


At my stop points I bought local fruits, manggis,
which were very sweet, that cost me merely Rp1000 a piece.
Few kilometers before Tomohon the road get flatter,
and I gained some speed.
In Tomohon I took a coffe stop at small warung,
and heading to Tondano.








Arriving in Tondano just slightly before 13:00,
Tondano was located at high plateau, surrounded by mountains,
with a big lake next to it.
Just before the town, beautiful rice field welcoming me.
The town was almost flat, the mountains around look so close,
and the big trees on its ridge were so clear, as if we can touch them.
The weather was nice, and the temperature was around 25C.
Car traffic was rare, but lot of horse cart were around,
just too bad I did not have enough time to take a tour on it.

I took my lunch there, again in another small warung,
the menu was yellow rice with dried fish and big cup of coffe.


Here I got 2 options, go back to Manado via Tomohon,
just like my way in, or continue to take a route via Airmadidi.
A local shop owner told me that the road to Manado via Airmadidi
is decending all the way down,
so it did not take me too long to decide.



Yes the road was decending, but not all the way.
The first 4kms from Tondano to Tonsea Lama was climbing,
and then it went down sharply,
with lot of sharp turns around the cliffs.
I was just coasting down for almost 40minutes,
hoping that my brake pads last.
Just before Airmadidi, the road was climbing again,
and I was just pedaling patiently,
and at 14:30 I arrived in Airmadidi.

From Airmadidi, joining the main road from Bitung to Manado,
I took a short cut to airport via Dimembe village,
and I arrived at Vina Hotel, next to airport at 16:00.

I was tired after biking for 80 kms in the mountainous route,
so I hired a car to go to town to recover my bagpack
that I left on Bersehati Hotel.

I considered that taking Vina hotel in the last day was a good decision,
since the hotel was so close to the airport,
and my flight back to Balikpapan was so early next morning.

I am happy with this trip,
The green hills and mountains around Manado are still full of big trees,
People are so friendly, they smiles alot,
especially while looking at my 16" Hasa bike.
Foods and hotels are not expensive neither,

Definitely I will come back to this area someday.

Sungai Wain cross country ride

I rarely do a cross country with mountain bike, however, whenever
opportunity arises, I cannot refuse to participate in cross country
ride.

The latest opportunity came on 28 June 09, it was a cross country ride
around Sungai Wain area, about 20 km outside Balikpapan.

In general, the track was not too hard, not too hilly, and at that
time it was relatively dry too. It was about 11 km ride around Sungai
Wain forrest park, and all participants were able to finish the ride
safely.

I managed to finish at moderate timing using my "semi" mountain bike.
I said so since my Polygon Premier is a ladies version, with twisted
grip shifter, and equipped with touring tire 26 x 1.5".
To help me climbing, the chain ring had been modified, from 48-38-28 to 42-32-22.
We were 6 in our group, using various mountain bikes, from a simple
basic hardtail bike like mine, to advance full suspension bike like Specialized.

About 200 people were participating in that ride, and at finish line we were
welcomed by singers, food stalls, and various prizes.
One of our colleagues even won one of the doorprizes and got another bike.
So we went home happily at mid-day with more bicycles on the pick-up truck....

Water Source

Not too far away from my parents home in Malang,
I can find a small piece of special rice field,

it is a small piece of heaven in its simplicity
it is small portion of rice field, irrigated by natural water source,
the water flows out from the bottom of the cliff
and just before joining the main river below,
the water stream makes the lower land wet,
so the farmer can grow the rice all year long.

and this the only rice field irrigated by natural water source in this area
all of the others rice field around there, are irrigated by man-made irrigation

many years ago, here was my run-away place,

whenever I lost motivation at school,
whenever my brother or sisters did not respect my privacy,
whenever my parents asked me un-believable things,
whenever any nice girl refused my phone call,

I would go here, washing my face on water source,
and often I stayed for a while to talked with the farmers there,
and everytime I gained my spirit back,
and I could face my world with better view.

I arrived there around 10 am, parked my bicycle on the shade,
there are still a lot of trees there, even there were more in the past,
the farmers are there too, but they dont know me anymore,

I walked for couple meters and find the water source,
the water still flows out of the ground, even it is not as strong as before,
but at least, the water that coming out is as clean and as clear as before

there were young couple washing their clotches in the source
they smiled to me and put their stuff aside, and share the place with me,
even before I asked them,

I lowered my hand on the water stream,
and using palm of my both hands to take water and washing my face,

I closed my eyes,and let clear, fresh and cool water flowed over my face,
splashing my polo shirt, and made it wet almost immediately
my face was in contact with flowing water for few seconds only,

but in that short time,
the water from the source was showing me its magic,
I felt that every spash crossing my face flows with fresh spirit,
washing my tired face and mind,

No, I am not running away from anything this time,
Back in Balikpapan, I have a job and a family, and ordinary middle class life,
and for sure my wife never refused my phone call neither.

However, I would never refuse the magical effect of this clear water neither,
I just let it works, my hand repeately taking more water,
and on each drop of water,
my mind is filled, by a nice combination of fresh and peaceful feeling,

When I am done, I opened my eyes,
the couple who were there to wash their clotches were still smiling,
I thanked them and heading back to my bicycle

pedalling my bike back to my parents home was easier and lighter,
as if the water source has bringing me a new life, like it always did
in the past.

Earth Day

Last year I bought this DAHON MUP8, 20" folding bike, I chose turqouise color.
I ordered the bike by phone to a bike shop in Jakarta,
transferred the money thru ATM, and about 10 days later,
the bike was ready for me. Like every new bike,
I had to adjust the brake, cables, changing the seat, and adding few accessories,
before making the bike comfortable to be used for commuting.

Within a year I logged 1200km, mainly by commuting to work.
My other folder, 16" Hasa F2, now is used by my eldest daughter,
Carla, who turns 9 this year.

This Dahon MUP8, is more comfortable to ride than Hasa F2,
mainly due its longer wheelbase, and I believe also due to its bigger tire size.
But it is also true that my Hasa F2, is more portable.
I found out that to fit inside my wife's car, Toyota Rush,
the MUP8 seat post needs to be pushed down and steering post needs to be folded.
The height of Toyota Rush cabin on the back is just not enough to accomodate
the bike if we only fold it on its main hinge.

I forced the bike inside the car once with the steering post
and seat post sticking up, I ended up scratching car's interiors
and got good comments from my wife for my stubbornness.

The bike was drawing some attentions too, and some of my colleagues
also bought folding bikes of various brands after observing mine.

I also found new friends with this folding bike,
one that I am still remember is,....

one day there was a pizza delivery boy who put a pizza on top of my rear rack.
I asked him who ordered the pizza and he said a name of a young lady.
Soon the pizza was gone, but when I saw the lady later on,
I told her that I want a slice of pizza,
since I had seen the pizza was sitting for a while on my rack,
...she just smiled and we started to talk, and to my surprise,
despite her elegant appearance and nice-chic-classy look,
she is also a down to earth person, and very pleasant to talk with,
and we becoming friend after.

Who said that ladies care only flashy cars,
some of them interested in folding bikes too,...!
So my 2 cents is,
suppose we have more ladies like her,
there will be more men getting motivated to ride bicycles,
instead of driving cars.......
again, it's only my 2cents for Earth Day.

Bali, my nostalgic trip

Bali, this island means something to me, back to 1979, before my 12th birthday,
I made my first holiday trip, without my parents, to Bali.
It is still living in my memory, I climbed to bus from Malang
on one early evening with my schoolmate Wayan.
One of Wayan's relatives, few years older than us, went with us,
accompanying us all the way. Without him, our parents would never let us go.
We arrived in Gilimanuk early morning, then took a smaller bus
to continue our trip to Singaradja.
And from Singaradja, we took another car, modified Mitsubishi pick up,
to go uphill further north to Suwuk, a village outside Singaraja,
Wayan's home.

For 2 weeks we were there,
we were doing what kids at our age doing on the country side,
wandering around rice fields, disturbing birds, grabbing fruits from Wayans garden,
and watching wedding ceremony in the neigborhood.

In fact, apart of wedding ceremony which was slightly special,
we were doing things that we could easily do in Malang, my own home.
But still, being in Bali made the whole things special.

Back home my parents seemed happy, they were smiling all the times
and they listened to all of my stories with enthusiasme.

Now, in 2009, 30 years after my first trip, I made another trip
to this paradise island. And I went there ,,,,A L O N E,,,my wife granted
a permission to visit his younger brother, and helping him
moving his family to another house.
To make the trip nostalgic, I started my trip from Malang,
took the cheapest bus I could find that late afternoon,
and tried to sleep while the bus heading East to Bali during the night.

The bus arrived in Denpasar around 8 am, and my brother in law picking me up.
After quick breakfast in his place, the first thing I asked him was my folding bike.
And yes, my folding bike (...well, one of them..), has arrived there earlier than me,
and it was ready. So I wandered Sanur Beach, and after running around for a while,
I decided to stay in one of the hotels there.
I could see a puzzle in my brother in law's eyes, but he let me go.

It was amazing to biked around that area, there is a bike path next to the beach,
just between the beach and hotels, where we can enjoy nice environment,
with a lot of trees protecting us from hot sun.
At night time Sanur area is alive with its restaurants and live musics,
sure I could not resist the temptations and stayed around for few beers.
Next afternoon I was too tired to take a bus to Surabaya, so I took Lion Air flight,
and heading home. I left my folding bike in Bali since I am planning to come back soon.
But maybe I will have to change the plan, at home my wife was slightly quite,
she listened to me, but not as my parents did 30 years ago,..
I kept talking about how nice it was biking around the beach with my folding bike,
and being in peace with myself since I was alone,...
Finally she smiled, and said that I can go back to Bali anytime I want.
It just too good to be true,...so I know from the way she smiled,
that next time it will be impossible to go there alone,....