After weeks of being choked by the smog that blanketed Malaysia for the entire month of October, I decided to take a short break. Ironically, my destination was the country of the source of the haze, but on a different island- Bali. No holiday is considered a holiday in my books if it does not involve mountainbiking.

Clare Price, the boss of Bali-Trailblazers, had emailed me earlier regarding her mountainbiking tours in Bali and so I decided to give it a try. As far as I know, hers is the only mountainbiking tour company which offers REAL off-road biking. The other companies that I Googled offered only tours that involve riding a “mountainbike” on busy roads. “Mountainbikes” with plastic flat pedals… if you call that mountainbiking.

Bali-Trailblazers is a small company run by Clare, a geologist turned full-on biker chick, with the help of 2 guides both by the name of Ketut and Made (pronounced Mah-day) the driver. One good thing about them is that they are very flexible and can tailor the rides to your abilities at very reasonable rates which include pick up and drop off from the airport, snacks drinks and lunch during rides. They have recce’d hundreds of kilometers of sweet flowy singletrack around Bali.

I must admit that planning the trip was very easy. I only had to buy my flight tickets on my end. Clare arranged for everything else required for the trip. She even managed to book me accommodation at ‘local’ prices which was half of what was quoted on the internet.

I signed up for a 2-day day trip. The flight there from Kuala Lumpur was barely 3hours long. Made was already waiting at the airport when I touched down. We headed off to Clare’s place in Sanur to sort out the trip details and the bikes that I was going to hire.

Day One:

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Our guide for the day was Ketut (senior). He used to be a roadie with many trophies to his name.

Our route for the morning started at the slopes of Mount Abang (1300+ meters) to Selat (500meters) about 27 km in distance.

We biked mostly double Jeep track downhill. The initial route was mostly fine dusty open terrain. There were little surprises along the way which were sudden deep pockets of loose volcanic sand, throwing the rider off balance.

The day was very sunny but there was a cool highland breeze blowing throughout the morning. This particular route mostly had Mount Agung dominating the scenery. The dusty trail ran through several villages and plantations where at certain sections the singletrack was barely 6-7 inches wide!

There was a very green and cool patch of pine trees with tight singletrack flowing through it. It definitely didn’t feel like a tropical country then. This was in total contrast to a nasty hot and open uphill climb during mid-day as we slogged towards Besakih where Made was waiting with lunch which consisted of fruits, quiche, meat pies, Pocari Sweat and cold Bintang Beer.

After lunch, we headed to another trailhead in a salak fruit plantation in Wates Tengah (600 m). The trail was 24km long, ending at Perasih Beach (0 m).This trail was a mixture of open and shaded terrain which got quite hot at certain areas. We passed though plantations at the initial part and then came to a narrow single track ridgetop killer climb. It was hot and dry and the bike felt like a 100 tonnes…..we just pushed thought this one. We then bike through a green grassy patch which was a relief and descended to lovely terraced paddy fields. During the ride, the locals that we came across were very friendly and welcoming, calling out greetings and we passed them. In Bali you have to get used to biking with one hand. The other hand will be waving at the locals most of the time.

Then it was uphill again along about 5kms of ridgetop singletrack. We could see a valley on our right called Tenganan where the ancient Bali Aga village was situated. We then rode down a sandy, curvy downhill singletrack passing though plantations, abandoned terraced hill slopes, palm trees right up to Perasi Beach. Ah……what a relief. The sea was a cool welcome after the long ride. There were a few small rest houses along the shores with restaurants. No crowds or litter on the beach. You could take a swim there if you wanted to. The ever efficient Made was already waiting with Pokari Sweat and ice cold beer….heaven!

After that it was 1 ½ hour ride back to Ubud in the Ford Ranger. At that time my legs were sore and knees felt like they were disjointed, but the satisfaction was indescribable.

Day Two:

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This amazing morning ride was around the Batur crater rim the to the crater lake. Clare rode with us. It started at Penulisan(1700m) and ended at Toya Bungkah(1100m). The route was mostly winding, undulating single track with bits of jeep track. The terrain was mostly mud road. As the day before, there was a cool breeze blowing and the ride was very pleasant despite being mostly in the open. Anyone who wants to bike in Bali should try out this trail. The view is very well worth it, with the sea on one side and Mount Abang and Batur on the other. The last few kms of the ridge was steep challenging mix of downhill rocky , concrete like hard road with large bits of rocks jutting out interspersed with nasty pockets of loose volcanic sand…..ouch!! After that was an 8km tarmac ride to the restaurant at Toyah Bungkah.

At Toyah Bungkah we had a scrumptious lunch at Toyah Tribe Restaurant which was like an oasis in the middle of nowhere. The food was very reasonable and excellent We had a platter consisting of fish ( ikan mujair) caught fresh from the Batur Lake, rice, salad, chicken , rice , sambal and ‘ tamarind’ juice which tasted like passion fruit juice. The restaurant is resort-like, with a lovely garden and swimming pool as well as two small pools of water from hot springs. Unfortunately there weren’t any rooms for rent, only a camping ground. One could actually take a break from biking and have a bit of a soak. Imagine soaking your sore calves in the hot water, a cool beer in the other hand…..

Anyway, by that time, I was quite tired. I’m basically a weekend rider and biking almost 50k the day before and 20k in the morning is not something that I am used to. So Clare suggested that we do an easy ride for the afternoon. We started at Kintamani and biked 35km downhill ALL the way to Ubud. It really didn’t feel like 35km. It was an easy and enjoyable ride mostly thought a tarmac road with light traffic (till we got to Ubud proper of course) taking about 1 ½ hours.

It was then home the next day. The trip was over all very enjoyable and satisfying. The rides were about 80% downhill most of the time, with difficult sections -steep rocky uphills, nasty downhills and tight singletracks in between to challenge the hard core riders. It was mostly very do-able, and you could bring along the wife and even mother-in-law if you wanted.

I must mention that the service provided by Bali-Trailblazers were excellent. They can cater something for everyone, tailor the rides to your needs and the whole trip from booking to the actual riding went very smoothly. I believe that Clare is in the process of recce-ing new trails specifically for downhillers , so that will be something to look forward to as well.

Things to bring:

Climbing legs
Your own SPD pedals and shoes if you don’t use flats
Biking gear: helmet, Hydrationpack (at least a 3L bladder), gloves
Spare tubes and tools are provided but just bring along anyway.
Light UV proof long sleeve jersey highly recommended
Sunscreen
I nsect repellent during wet season.
Camera

 

:: Nice Bali pictures in the TribalGallery

 

-Ongawi + GF-awi