Thin Air and not so Fat Tires - Bromo Day 3 "Staring into the heart of the Volcano."

The breakfast buffet shrunk to become an ala carte as the Bromo Permai Hotel was devoid of guests this morning except us. We took our time as today was an easy one. A quick visit to see the caldera of the volcano, then a climb out of the crater and a fun 14km downhill to the town of Tosari. After breakkie, we went for a walkabout around town in the cool morning air.

Fascinating to see the happenings of the town and one resident dog recognised Chris even after 5 years! We paid a courtesy call to the Tourist Information Centre to get an overview of the National Park and marveled at the distance we did yesterday.

After packing everything into our panniers, our all terrain mothership, a black 1970s Toyota Landcruiser showed up in the hotel carpark driven by a 19 year old and that got us slightly worried. With careful packing by Chris, KC's and my MTB fitted in wheels taken out, plus everyone else's panniers. The 5 Amigos on their bikes took off towards Bromo Volcano while both of us enjoyed the ride on this powerful beast.

What was a tough struggle through the sand on our bikes was a piece of cake for the wide tired monstrous 4WD. We arrived at the bottom of Bromo, with no sweat and big smiles only to be greeted by horsemen offering rides up to the volcano stairway some 2km away. As I love horse rides, I jumped on this opportunity to saddle up. Our friends on their iron steeds arrived surprisingly quick and if cycling through sand wasn't enough, George, Sunny and Chris decided to ride up the volcano base.

The ride on the horses was a refreshing change from being on our bikes as all it took to move was a mere flick of our wrists on the reigns. Going up towards Bromo, the landscape was like the grayish sand dunes of the moon and it was breathtaking.

The owner had to walk beside his horse and does the 4km return trip several times a day. No wonder they all look so lean and fit. Upon reaching the stairs, it was a tough 15 min climb. Yet, the 3 crazy guys carried their bikes up these stairs and I know I love my bike, but I guess my love don't run as deep as these fellas.

One of our mission was to honor our late friend Paul Lim there and we put his decal strategically with the best view of the caldera. Paul had visited this place a few years back with Chris. Here, we got close enough to actually smell the sulphur fumes which was really pungent, akin to rotten eggs.

Sonny as usual was having a go posing with his MTB, exploring all sorts of interesting positions. If that wasn't enough, he found a broom and experimented to see if he could fly with it. Amazingly, he did! The Harry Potter of MTB even managed to convinced some tourists to do likewise and that provided hilarious entertainment for all of us.

As we still had a long way to reach our destination, we had to say goodbye to Bromo and like all things, the downhill is always faster & easier than the climb. Our horses brought us to the mothership in no time while the rest of the gang on their bikes were even faster. George had time to get into a Lion King position, watching over his subjects and the vast land that he inherited from his ancestors.

It was about 3km of traversing sand to the rim of the crater before hitting the road upwards to Dingklik. The Landcruiser prepared for the climb by going immediately into low range gear. The steep climb caught me by surprise and I had to hang on for dear life as the powerful 4WD charged up with all eight pistons firing hard to overcome gravity. This was a 6km climb before we arrived at the junction where we unloaded bikes and gear, and waited for our heroes and heroine.  I was concern for Joni and wrote a note to her, instructing the driver to pick her up on his way down if she so wished. But the boys cheekily intercepted the letter and got Joni to cycle up, and she did, feeling very proud of herself, and deservingly so.

KC and I waited about 1.5 hrs and had all the time in the world to assemble our bikes outside some warungs. As expected, lunch was dismal but one cafe had Bakso which was a welcome change - hot beef ball noodles. We were so excited when the first rider arrived and as anticipated, it was King George followed by Chris, the Sultan of Spin. I really salute all of them for grinding up those steep slopes and they deserved a Bakso or two. It was fun to be reunited again and to see 7 bikes ready for the best part of the today's ride - a 15km downhill all the way to Tosari.

It was really pure adrenalin to be flying downhill without wings and getting our faces pressed hard by the cold mountain winds. I tried to take it slowly with Christoph as we wanted to savor the beautiful terraced plains and magnificent surroundings but it was hard as the inclines were at some stages forcing us down faster than expected. Our brakes got a really good workout. We had fun carving the many hairpins and the exhilaration didn't last very long. As they say, time flies when you are having fun.

Our abode for the night was a beautiful Catholic retreat centre in Tosari. A few missed the turn off to the retreat and it was pretty tough to cycle back up such that a motorcycle was sent to rescue them. This retreat had 3 bedrooms and could swallow our group comfortably. The views offered here was second to none and we really appreciated the spacious living area and hot water showers.

I was mesomerised by the beautiful scenery outside my bedroom window and just stared at the splendor for a while. The cool air, quiet and sense of serenity made this truly a perfect place for spiritual reflection and meditation.

As we made our way for dinner by foot, the amazing sunset stopped us in our tracks. Words cannot do justice to capture what we saw so I will let this picture, that is worth a thousand words, do the talking.

We went to the best cafe in town, Warung Fatimah and ordered like there was no tomorrow. This place is highly recommended and well stashed with lots of drinks. The food too was not bad for this remote part of Bromo but obviously, it didn't meet the standards for some of us. 

Meanwhile back at the retreat, the nice care taker put together a beautiful flower arrangement to welcome us with flowers carefully selected from its lush gardens. 

Such nice hospitality really makes all the difference and we certainly felt very welcome here. We spend the rest of the evening glued to our smart phones and sharing our rations together feeling rather pleased at how the day has turned out. In moments such as these, it is always good to give thanks to Him whose goodness and grace to us knows no bounds. We all slept with gladness in our hearts.

Thin Air and not so Fat Tires - Bromo Day 2, "A long walk in the sand..."

Pic - Joni

Pic KC

Pic KC

Pic CW

Pic Joni

It was a hard battle to get up from a warm and cosy bed especially when the temperature was a coldish 10c. Yet, all of the gang did it to catch the spectacular sunrise except for Christoph and I. We lingered on in dreamland until laughter and chatter filled our once quiet room. After all, we could always “borrow” their pics.

The Bromo Permai breakfast was buffet style and I learned that this depended on how many guests they had. When it was quiet, it conveniently became ala carte. It was decent enough but it helped that our expectations were drastically lowered. After all, we were in the land of largely Mee Goreng and Nasi Goreng.

It was important to fill up as the day was going to be physically demanding. The plan was to ride across the 10km crater filled with soft sand, ride 4km up the steep ridge to Jemplang and then whizz 7km downhill to Ranu Pani - the base camp for trekkers to Mt Semeru.

As I rode my eager MB3 out of the hotel, I was puzzled at how much I was panting and wheezing. I had to force in the air very hard but somehow, my body could not get enough oxygen due to the thin air. It was a miserable start as the others seemed fine. It was exhilarating to exit the hotel and dive deeply down the steep road that led to the crater. Our brakes were all squealing and heating up fast. My heart was pounding as we cut quickly through the cold wind but this all ended too soon.

Now before us, lay sand and more sand. It was literally like being in a desert. I have not had much experience riding through sand and it was tricky. When the surface is compact, the wheels seem to glide through but when it wasn’t, it sucked our bike in and it was easy to lose balance.  Most times, we labored in granny gear and it was hard work cranking through this humongous sand pit. Here, the boys were separated from the men as the key was to maintain momentum but this required sheer brute strength. There were as expected some spills but nothing major except for the bruised egos.

I was so relieved when we finally hit the concrete slab road that took us out of the crater.  But this happiness was short lived as the hard path was badly maintained and our bikes vibrated unceasingly.

The gradient started decently enough but we soon found ourselves in granny gear and at some stages, even the Legends were pushing. Much of the road was broken and one section forced Chris to do a strategic ejection from his MTB. Unfortunately, his SPDs got stuck!

It seemed that the only vehicles who could handle this terrain well were wide tired 4000cc 4WD Landcruisers but they too had to muster their low range gears. When we finally hit Jemplang, perched right on the rim edge, I never felt so exhausted and the intensity of the ride caught me off guard. Although we have only done 14km or so, it felt like a marathon. Salvation came in the form of power gels and Sonny our mountain goat was the only one who could still prance around chirpily. I found out his secret was to consume honey and not to smoke. In fact, he was probably the only local guy in this part of the universe who didn’t smoke.

Sonny promised that the next 7km was downhill and that was to be. We stopped to savour the breathtaking views of the crater valley and felt a deep sense of satisfaction. It was fun snapping pics with such beauty all around us. Knowing that we traverse though the valley of the shadow of death and came out alive, put a song in my heart.

Pic KC

As I danced down the curvy mountain roads at 40-50km/h with my mates, we felt like a group of fighter planes on a mission except our mission was lunch. With broken roads and loose rocks, it took a lot of concentration to track down safely and I really wished for a suspension fork as my rigid front meant I felt every single pot hole. 

The hamlet of Ranu Pani was in full swing for some sort of a rock festival and there, many bright eye uni students with 20kg back packs gathered before their 4 day pilgrimage hike to Mt Semeru. What disappointed was despite the crowds, the few warungs (cafes) were somewhat pathetic.

Lunch was none other than the ubiquitous instant mee goreng and nasi goreng. As beggars cannot be choosers, we ate it thankful that at least, it was a hot meal and downed it with instant 3 in 1 coffee. There, I would pay a prince ransom for a juicy hamburger or a hot bowl of Laksa. Despite the meager lunch, our spirits were rich and laughter was aplenty as we exchanged notes on the ride so far and the performance of our bicycles. 

Sonny led us to the Lake and it was disappointing as it was covered in fog. Still, we can imagine how beautiful it is on a better day. No one was in a hurry to begin the ride back as 7km of steep uphill awaited us, but it had to be done.

Doing so with a full stomach is tough and we just soldiered on, one crank at a time. We took breaks when it was needed and managed to make it to the ridge once again. We were so relieved that the climb was finally over. Coming down gingerly with Christoph on my tail, I heard a voice behind shouting to make way so we obediently veered to the left only to see a very enthusiastic Joni whizzing by at full speed downhill on a very broken road. The next I knew, she hit a rock and went airborne, landing spectacularly on the ground. It was a good thing nothing was broken and though she was visibly shaken, no injuries were sustained and we can only thank God for that.

The rest of the gang were waiting for us at the junction and we took a welcome tea break at the warung. Going back down again to the sand lake was easier but the bad roads really gave us a shaking down. I had to make sure my fillings were still intact. At least the scenery unfolding before our eyes was incomparable and I savored every minute until we once again, hit the sand. By this time, I was not looking forward to it as it became more pushing than riding. The evening seem to loosen the sand even more. One way out of getting sucked by the sand is to pop a wheelie, but how many wheelies can one pop before exhaustion sets in? In the end, this was going to be one long walk. It was a case of when the going gets truly tough, the tough starts pushing. And when our strongest rider veteran Ironman George with the Rohloff hub is shuffling sand, what hope was there for us mere mortals?

After what seemed like eternity, we managed to reach the other side of the crater and the sun was going down resulting in beautiful long shadows. At least our cameras were happy and it was like being on the moon with the beautiful dunes and all. I was particularly touched when Sonny saw me struggling with my bike and came running to help me push my bike so I can walk unhindered. It really lifted my spirits! Such was his kindness and care for all of us, and if ever there was a saviour for the day, Sonny was ours.

I was so exhausted that at dinner, I could not eat anything. Uncle KC was starting to run a fever too and    he is one of the most respected riders in our bike club. What a tiring day it has been. So when there was a call to have 2 volunteers to accompany our luggage on a hired Landcruiser, both of us sacrificed ourselves willingly for the noble task.

It was to be an easy sleep that night as we were all so tired. I was probably the first to slip into coma and the rest followed suit. We slept with the stunning beauty of Bromo etched permanently into our minds.

 Pic KC