Bali Audax 400km Ride by Eric Persik

This contingent of twelve JoyRiders took up the long distance challenge of riding theBali Audax in Indonesia over the weekend of 11th and 12th November.

The twelve riders are mostly regulars of the Saturday Eastern Newbie Ride. They consist of Keith Neo, Alvin Goh, Bryan Yong, Bryan BT, Shin Hui Lim,  Erica Phua, Rick Goh, Ted Chan, Jeslyn Yong, IanWurn, Roger Ang, and me, Eric Pesik.

For the majority of these riders, the Audax was going to be the longest ride and highest climb they’ve ever done. The very word, Audax, comes from “audacious,” so named because of the long distances covered by Audax rides. As a benchmark, our longest regular JoyRider ride is the Saturday RTI of 120 km. Singpoare gives us a mostly flat ride, with some mild rolling hills through Mandai. In comparison, the Bali Audax covers over 400 km and features less gentle hills and a centerpiece 365-metre climb up the side of a volcano with inclines up to 9.4%. This makes the Bali Audax roughly equivalent to doing 3 Singapore RTIs plus 10 Mt. Faber loops.

The history of Audax rides started in Italy in the late nineteenth century. These began as day-long events where participants aimed to cover as much distance as possible. The first known ride was in 1897, with twelve Italian cyclists attempting to ride 230 km from Rome to Naples. As these long rides became popular in Europe, a group of Frenchmen created the first formal Audax regulations in 1904.

According to the regulations, the Audax rides are not races. They are non-competitive, recreational, long-distance bike rides. To accommodate the differing abilities of non-competitive riders, Audaxrides have generous time limits. There are two styles of Audax rides: those where everyone rides together as a group, popular in Europe and known as “Euraudax”; and free-paced rides, known as “Randonneurs.”  The Bali Audax is a free-paced Randonneur.

Our journey began where all epic Singapore adventures begin, at Changi International Airport, where we arrived transporting our bikes instead of them transporting us. To travel efficiently, our bikes were stripped of their pedals, handlebars, wheels and skewers; then collapsed like carbon fiber yogis into plastic and cardboard boxes. Packed with foam, we entrusted our previous boxes to the unseen baggage handlers and machinery in the depths of Changi airport.

Most of the riders chose to depart on Thursday morning. A core group of six assembled at the JetStar terminal before sunrise. My wife and I were supposed to increase that group to eight, but I misread the airline itinerary, arriving at Changi just around the same time my flight was landing in Bali

Since JetStar has only one flight per day, we had to find another way to Bali. I rushed to the AirAsia counter to book two one-way tickets to Bali. My wife went to JetStar customer service to make sure they didn’t cancel our return flight after we missed our outbound flight. A generous last-minute booking fee to the travel gods and we were flying out on AirAsia with our return flight still valid onJetStar. We arrived late, but at least we arrived in Bali on the same day, and with plenty of time for seafood on the beach and bicycle reassembly.

Our twelve from Singapore were all booked into the same hotel, theHotel Puri Bambu in Jimbaran, near Bali’s Nusa Dua Peninsula. But there were more than 200 riders attempting this year’s Bali Audax. They were mostly in another hotel, theSari Segara Resort, which was closer to the beach. So on Audax Day 1, Friday morning, we gathered our twelve and a few others outside our hotel lobby; all in our yellow Bali Audax jerseys, and rode as a group to the beach.

As we rode up to the Sari Segara Resort, we were overwhelmed by the school of yellow jerseys. Two hundred riders is an impressive showing. And with everyone dressed the same, we would need to pay careful attention not to get separated from our own little group. Fortunately, the ride briefing called for a slow precession winding through town before leaving towards the countryside. So when the official count-down began, we were confident we could stick together at least until we got into the open road.

The first 20 kilometers were uneventful. If you’ve ever been through Kuta and Semenyak, you know it takes a while to get away from the crowded towns and touristy areas. When you add two hundred bicyclists and a couple support vehicles to Bali’s ordinary Friday-morning traffic, your chances of smooth traveling plummet.

We rode carefully with the pack and made it out of town where our real adventure finally began. Once clear of the main towns, we began to see small glimpses of the unspoiled Balinese landscape that would later become the hallmark of our ride. Towns reverted villages. Houses and shops became farms. Cars dwindled. The air cleared.

 

Because Audax rides are not a races, there is an estimated maximum speed – yes, a maximum speed – to prevent riders reaching the checkpoints before the Audax crew arrives with water and isotonic drinks. On the first leg of the journey, there was no chance of exceeding the maximum speed, because we rode as one peloton for a good portion of the journey. After leaving the towns behind, we stopped briefly among the rice paddies for a final group briefing. Then we got the official clearance for the peloton to break up into smaller groups of riders with the faster riders able to forge ahead at their own.

 

Most of the riders were on road bikes. There were a several riders on triathlon/time-trial bikes. I saw two mountain bikes and one brompton-style foldable bike. Because of the maximum speed, there was no problem with anyone keeping pace. Indeed, the mountain bike and foldy riders were well prepared and a good deal stronger than many of their roadie brethren.

Our first checkpoint was at Soka Beach, about 60 km from the start. I did not keep track of the time, but I think we arrived in just under 3 hours after our start in Jimbaran.

At each checkpoint, there is supposed to be an ink stamp or chop. Every rider carries an Audax “brevet card” that must be stamped or chopped at each checkpoint to prove that they completed the entire course. I’ve ridden several Audax rides in Singapore and Malaysia, and we generally just ask a local vendors to stamp their business chop on our brevet cards. That works for a dozen or so cyclists. But for Bali Audax there were over 200 cyclists, too many to ask the local merchants to stamp our cards. Instead, the crew had an official Bail Audax stamp. At Soka Beach, however, there was no stamp, and theAudax crew said it was okay to proceed without getting our cards stamped.

I refilled my water and grabbed a banana from the support van while the peloton waited for the slower riders to catch up and regroup at Soka beach.  Our group of 12 Joyriders reassembled in good condition and high spirits. But we still had a long way to go before nightfall, so we were back in the saddle to add another 50 km before lunch

We followed the natural geography of Bali’s west coast from Soka beach to our lunch break at Bidadari Restaurant in Negara. By now, the sun was high overhead and the temperature was hot. When we finally arrived in Negara, I was looking for shade and cold water.

The restaurant offered a generous buffet of local food and a small cabinet of chilled drinks. They even had a marginally air-conditioned room in the back that was slightly cooler than the ambient air temperature in the sun. It wasn’t much, but it was adequate. There was also a convenience store that had a few additional drink and snack options. I made myself a plate of food and took a seat to regroup with the rest of the Joyriders.

After lunch we continued to eat and rest while about half the peloton took off for the afternoon segment. Buy the time we were ready to leave, though, it had started raining.  We decided to wait to see if the rain would clear. It was coming down heavily, but the locals said it would end soon.

They were right. We waited about 15 minutes and the rain stopped, so we set out towards the next westernmost checkpoint at Cekik.

It was only 30 km to Cekik, but the rain returned as heavy as ever. At first, the rain was a welcome relief to the heat of the early afternoon. But heavy rain makes cycling dangerous, because takes longer to stop with wet brakes. And you cannot draft comfortably, because the wheel in front of you sprays water directly in your face. So it was slow going to Cekik.

The rain did not last forever. Soon after it let up, we got a spectacular view as we approached Bali’s westernmost point to look out over the Bali Straits as we turned north and then east towards Bali’s northern coast.

The checkpoint at Cekik was just a spot on the side of the road where the support van had pulled off to the shoulder. There was not much shade, so we did not stop long. We got our brevet cards stamped and our water bottles refilled, and then we were back on the road.

We turned inland after Cekik for a mostly flat 35km ride to Pulaki Beach in the north.  We passed several villages that seem to have been converted entirely to spas and resorts. There was more shade and the air seemed a bit cooler as the afternoon heat relented.

Pulaki Beach was a small tree-shaded roadside park at the beach. There were benches to lay on and a long seawall to sit on and watch the ocean. There were also several families of monkeys gathered in the park. I decided to take everything out of my bike’s top-tube bag in case the monkeys had learned where cyclists keep their energy bars.

The long day’s ride was starting to stretch our group out, so we had to wait a while to gather all of our stragglers back together. It was an easy flat 44 km ride to our final destination at Lovina Beach. There was supposed to be one final checkpoint in the village of Seririt somewhere in between Pulaki Beach and Lovina Beach, but we never saw a checkpoint.

At our hotel in Lovina Beach, my odometer read 219 km. The ride schedule said it was 222 km, so I assumed my odometer was slightly off. I later learned that the main hotel was another 3 km away, which made it exactly 222 km to the official half-way mark.

After wiping down my bicycle chain, I washed by jersey and shorts in the bath tub and then took a short plunge in the hotel swimming pool before heading to dinner at the main hotel. I also fit in a Balinese massage in an open-air cabana at the beach before going back to my room for an exhausted sleep.

The next morning, my sit-bones were not happy to be reacquainted with the bicycle seat. The official yellow Bali Audax jerseys were not mandatory on the second day of the ride, so I wore my Joyridersred as we lined up for day two’s starting count-down. Most other riders choose their local club kit as well, as the peloton displayed a new rainbow of colorful jerseys.

 

The second day started off with a special treat. The local schoolchildren were waiting for us at each school waving Indonesian flags and cheering us on. It seemed every village school was waiting excitedly to see us ride through town. It felt like riding into Paris for the Tour de France.

 

The second day also featured the highest climb, 365 meters to the peak of Abang before lunch.

In the Tour de France, they classify climbs based on the length and steepness of the climb. Most climbs fall into the following categories:

Cat 4: the lowest category, 100-300m (300-1000 feet)

Cat 3: 300-600m (1000-2000 feet).

Cat 2: 600-1100m (2000-3500 feet)

Cat 1: 1100-1500m (3500-5000 feet)

Hors Category (“beyond categorization”): the hardest climbs, over 1500m (5000 feet+)

The Tour de France also considers the position of the climb in the stage and the quality of the road surface, but I have no way of comparing those factors, so I would treat the 365 meter climb at Abang as a category 3 climb. It would not be much for professional Tour riders, but for us amateurs, it was very impressive climb.

We were following the coast of the Bali Sea to our left. Unfortunately, the sun was almost directly overhead and it was beginning to be another hot day. There was a critical checkpoint at 76km into the day’s ride, immediately before the big climb. It gave us time to think about the heat and pain before we started up and out. From the checkpoint to our lunch on the other side was only 25 km. But first you had to make it over the grade with an average include of 5% and a maximum of 9.4%.

The nice thing about climbing is you are going slow enough to look back down behind you and enjoy your surroundings. I shifted into the lowest gear, dug deep, and vowed to enjoy the beautiful view instead of suffering the ride.

 

I had to stop and rest a few times in the shade. Every few minutes a couple of cyclists would pass me. Then a few minutes later, I might pass the same cyclists as they took their turn in the shade. My cycle computer showed temperature: 41 degrees C (106 degrees Fahrenheit). Our group of Joyriders was decimated. I tried to stick with some stronger riders in the front, but soon fell back. For a while I stayed with a team from Jakarta, but they too dropped me on the way to the top.

The king of the mountain and the champion cyclist of the day was Jeslyn Yong who bested all the other Joyrider women and men to the top to Abang. I tried to catch her twice, but each time she effortlessly climbed away.

After the peak, we were treated to a booming downhill run to our lunch break of Ikan Bakar at the Pondok Mina Restaurant in the village of Padangkerta.

We had plenty of time for lunch, because the climb had strung out our group and left us with huge time difference.

After lunch, there was more downhill and a couple of minor climbs before a long flat run to the finish line. We stopped at the beach at the checkpoint in Goa Lawah for fresh coconuts and to regroup, but soon split up again on the long straight flat towards our the next checkpoint in Tohpati. We drafted behind lorries to make the distance feel shorter.

Tohpati was our last checkpoint before returning to Jimbaran. The road was not marked, and it was getting dark. So we had to wait for the Audax van to lead us in a tight group for the final 25km to our hotels.

At the finish, they prepared dinner and a medal ceremony at the beach.

 

Over two days we rode 404 km traveled (251 miles), average speed: 25.2km/hr (15.6 miles/hr); total time: about 16 hours. Hottest temperature: 41 degrees C (106 degrees Fahrenheit). We had a minor mechanical problems with 1 puncture, 1 chain snapped, and 1 crank dropped. We had a few health problems with 1 crotch abrasion, 1 thigh blister, 3 diarrhea, and 1 vomiting. We also had some navigational problems with 1 person lost for an extra 15 km. But in the end all completed the ride and made it with a huge price to pay for sore on butts, thighs, calves, toes, fingers, etc.

Looking forward to next year!