December 13, 2005
We made it all the way around! We arrived in Lovina at 11:00 am after five and a half hours of riding. As planned we awoke at 4:00am, ate a breakfast of cornflakes, bananas and cherry yogurt waited for the light to start peaking over the horizon. Jodi says we were on the road about 5:30am. To our surprise the ride was nothing like the person in Ubud had told us it would be. I did not see any pirates and it wasn’t very hot and arid as we had been led to believe. Instead it we found a short distance where the vegetation and villages had been wiped clean by the eruption of Mt. Batur in 1963 (I know I said 1968 in a previous post). It must have been some eruption because it covered the ground with rather large black rocks that I am sure during a hot summer day makes the place feel just lovely. There was little vegetation and yet there were people here trying to make a living with warungs and fishing. The barren landscape went on for 15km then greened up. Jodi and I were riding along with not much of a care in the world watching the early morning routine of the Balinese when we noticed some school kids following us on their motor scooters. At first there were three then the crowd increased to about 10. They had little interest in me but they seemed fascinated by this western red head riding her bicycle. At first I was a bit worried then after watching things a bit, I began to think they were just curious or like all teenage boys looking at her tight riding shorts. I pulled up next to one of them and asked, “why do you follow us?” and they just looked back at me with blank stares. We continued riding and Jodi commented “we have an entourage” and then I began thinking, “cool” as I envisioned the entourages of pop stars. It was Jodi and her gang of thugs riding down the street.
They eventually became bored and moved on and we resumed a slower pace to Lovina. Jodi commented that she needed to go to the restroom so I began looking for forested sections of road where she might have a little privacy. We passed a few but in all there were not many to choose from. I eventually found what I thought was a good spot and hit my brakes to let her catch up when I felt her bike hit me from behind. She bounced off me and into the street where she took a pretty hard digger but no road rash. I felt terrible and after some roadside domestic issues we continued on.
Jodi was fading fast, probably a combination of a small breakfast and the adrenalin of our accident. I started pushing for us to stop and eat some of the snacks but she just kept on going. She does this sometimes and I am not sure why but she pushes herself well beyond where she should and will not stop for a small snack. Finally her need to Pee overcame her need to continue and she stopped. She ate a couple of bananas and some cookies and presto, within an hour the tank had fuel again and she was humpin’ along. Our pace quickened and we resumed our standard 20 clicks an hour.
The riding was flat and pretty nice with sections along the ocean in the morning light. There wasn’t much beach and it appeared the Indonesian government had constructed a seawall along the coast to prevent further erosion. The abruptness of the transition between land and sea was prettier than one might think and I rather enjoyed the view as we continued on. Eventually the coast gave way to some rather large estates where I have to assume some rich foreigners lived. It was amazing to me since there is so much contrast between what the Balinese and Westerners considered good living. They had swimming pools, satellite dishes, expensive cars, nice architecture and beautiful gardens. They looked like many of the resorts we had passed on other parts of the island but in this case they were for one person or family.
Eventually we entered Singaraja and we were immersed in a big city once more. There were cars, buses, and motor scooters everywhere. It was chaos and I began to get very annoyed at all the buses and scooters cutting me off. I am sure there will be much more of this and I had better get used to it but for some reason some Balinese cannot get used to the idea that we are traveling at the same speed even though we are on bicycle and they insist on getting in front of us. The good news is it only happens in the big cities so I doubt I will have any road rage incidents while here.
The really great thing about entering Singaraja is it was only 10km from our stopping point and we began riding like the wind was at our backs. We raced along with me in front and Jodi in my wake, I would yell out any oncoming hazards and scared the crap out of one man as he opened his car door and I yelled “door” to notify Jodi of the hazard. We finally arrived at our stopping point, checked in and took a nap. I guess we can ride 90km after all.
They eventually became bored and moved on and we resumed a slower pace to Lovina. Jodi commented that she needed to go to the restroom so I began looking for forested sections of road where she might have a little privacy. We passed a few but in all there were not many to choose from. I eventually found what I thought was a good spot and hit my brakes to let her catch up when I felt her bike hit me from behind. She bounced off me and into the street where she took a pretty hard digger but no road rash. I felt terrible and after some roadside domestic issues we continued on.
Jodi was fading fast, probably a combination of a small breakfast and the adrenalin of our accident. I started pushing for us to stop and eat some of the snacks but she just kept on going. She does this sometimes and I am not sure why but she pushes herself well beyond where she should and will not stop for a small snack. Finally her need to Pee overcame her need to continue and she stopped. She ate a couple of bananas and some cookies and presto, within an hour the tank had fuel again and she was humpin’ along. Our pace quickened and we resumed our standard 20 clicks an hour.
The riding was flat and pretty nice with sections along the ocean in the morning light. There wasn’t much beach and it appeared the Indonesian government had constructed a seawall along the coast to prevent further erosion. The abruptness of the transition between land and sea was prettier than one might think and I rather enjoyed the view as we continued on. Eventually the coast gave way to some rather large estates where I have to assume some rich foreigners lived. It was amazing to me since there is so much contrast between what the Balinese and Westerners considered good living. They had swimming pools, satellite dishes, expensive cars, nice architecture and beautiful gardens. They looked like many of the resorts we had passed on other parts of the island but in this case they were for one person or family.
Eventually we entered Singaraja and we were immersed in a big city once more. There were cars, buses, and motor scooters everywhere. It was chaos and I began to get very annoyed at all the buses and scooters cutting me off. I am sure there will be much more of this and I had better get used to it but for some reason some Balinese cannot get used to the idea that we are traveling at the same speed even though we are on bicycle and they insist on getting in front of us. The good news is it only happens in the big cities so I doubt I will have any road rage incidents while here.
The really great thing about entering Singaraja is it was only 10km from our stopping point and we began riding like the wind was at our backs. We raced along with me in front and Jodi in my wake, I would yell out any oncoming hazards and scared the crap out of one man as he opened his car door and I yelled “door” to notify Jodi of the hazard. We finally arrived at our stopping point, checked in and took a nap. I guess we can ride 90km after all.
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 1:09 AM
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