Saw a flyer (at the end of this blog) about a Motorcross Merdeka Ride at Mount Bromo. I was thinking, why not, that will be an adventure. Riding at the sands around the volcano. What a good idea.
And oh boy, what did I just sign up to. Probably the craziest adventure in my life. And of course, I survived it, and I learn something new, and something about myself.
After pick up the bikes from the shop and rode it back to the guest house the night before. Everyone were so excited, including myself. We settle down around 9pm and prepare to start riding at 2am. Just to catch the sunset at Bromo. Maybe was the adrenaline, I tossed and turned on bed until 11pm, or the last time I looked at the watch.
My ride, Honda CRF150.
Between the previous picture and the next picture was one of the most horrific experience in my life, we need to ride the bike off road in the complete darkness, between 2-4am. And because of the lack of skills and confident, I fell couple of times, got some battle scars, fortunately, the guide decided to take another route that is less challenging to make it in time for sunrise.
Yes, it is a Merdeka Ride for a reason, we raise our Jalur Gemilang at the viewpoint of the volcano, at the background. Look at the time, it is 5.36am. Already bright and in front of me is possible the biggest collection of Toyoto LC in the world. I didn’t count, but it must have been few hundreds of them carrying tourist up to the viewpoint.
This was me getting ready to ride down the viewpoint into the sands. It was a scary ride, with traffic jam of bikes and jeeps descending with almost 20% gradient. Brake too hard, the bike will slide and brake too soft, risking hitting the vehicle in front. And the switch backs are like hair pin. Even doing in bicycle is not easy. Everyone got down to the sand safely in one piece.
This were the whole riders for this trip. 2 ladies, 14 guys. 1 person stand out, old idiot who doesn’t know how to ride motor cross.
Heat tech top and bottom under the riding pants and riding jacket. Was told it will be cold, I was prepared, never felt cold.
After this picture above, we rode for about 5km on soft fine sands to the tarmac road. I kept falling, falling and falling, lost count, every 100m or so, until the guide sit me down, calm me down, taught me the tricks, let me try few times until I finally able to rode the last 2-3 km without falling.
I was about to gave up so many times, but then, failure is not an option, nobody will bring me back out of the sand, except me.
“Gas! Gas!” was what the guides yelled at us because we need to keep the rear wheel turning fast and move forward to prevent the wheel from sinking into the sand and trapped there. So, that became our inside joke. “Gas! Gas!”
Rode about 50km back to Malang town where the bike rental shop is. This was one of the most epic day of my life. Never forget it. Money can’t buy experience.
The day after the epic ride was chilled and relaxed, we visited 2 waterfalls, the first is Kapas Biru Waterfall, which has a unique IG photo spot, which is so popular that one has to take a number to get a spot to get the picture taken. The second one is Tumpak Sewu Waterfall, which is most impressive waterfall I ever see, the water flow out between 2 layers of the rock formation. After the photo session at the viewpoint, we walk down to the bottom of the waterfall, about 200m elevation, took almost 1 hour because of the human traffic jam, the stairs were narrow, and there are people going up and down at the same time.
If you are interested to try this, message the phone number above or search for IG (https://www.instagram.com/core.adventure/)
I found out about myself, I do have the courage to sign up, fly there, and ride that bike to start the journey, of course, I was anxious since I signed up, I felt super nervous the night before, I only slept about 2 hours before the ride. Also, I need to keep reminding myself to think positively, when I think that I will fall, guess what, definitely I fell.
So, in life, don’t worry about what is coming, focus on the present moment, and focus on the obstacles right in front of you. Don’t worry about what is 500m in front of you. When you are worry about what is much further ahead, you lost the feeling of the present moment, then you are in trouble.
Onwards, 1% better everyday.
Comments, suggestions, criticism, and bakso daging sapi are welcome.