This is why we ride dirt bikes...

Tuesday, 15 December 2009 00:42

Mayors-house2 It’s not very often you have those moments in your life when you think ‘Does it get any better than this’? Well today was one of them. What started out the night before as a seemingly low-key meet and greet with Malang’s Mayor Edi Rumpoko turned out to be one of the best days we have ever had.

mayors-meeting-room The Mayor had asked us to come have lunch with him the day after the Malang Powercross event to say thank you for helping to make the whole event happen even in very trying conditions. Well, why not we thought, it’s not every day the mayor of a town asks you to lunch. We arrived at his home slash headquarters which basically operates as the council headquarters equivalent in Australia with a full meeting room that looks like a university seminar room, living quarters, servant quarters and also his home.

We were wined and dined with the biggest damn prawns you’ll ever see and apparently they are fresh water prawns which makes them bigger. I’m not sure why, but that’s what I’m told. I’ll google that to make sure its fact. After the lunch that left us all looking to undo the button on our pants to allow that extra bit of comfort, we went into his office for some photo’s and information followed by a small tour through his home. He asked me if I would like to try out his brand new massage chair in front of the big TV screen. Well, why would I say no. And this thing was awesome. So many settings and the rollers and vibrators were so good. And no happy Mayors-lunch ending on this haha.

We were just about to leave and go back to our pretty crappy hotel but things got real interesting. The Mayor asked us if we wanted to go to the ‘Hot Springs’ which was on top of one of the mountains outside of Batu-Malang. We were bloody keen on the idea and were going to get our boardies and head up in the couple of mini-vans.

But what was even better was when Edi had his 3 KTM’s sitting at the side of his home. He asked if we wanted to have a little ride around the home/council compound. So Sheeny Clinton and I did a couple of wheelies and the workers were all happy. But then Edi asked “Do you want to ride the bikes up to the mountain to the hot springs?”

What!? When does an opportunity like that come up? Everything was happening on a whim and it’s the best way to live life I’ve found. If you don’t have plans you can actually do some crazy stuff you never thought you’d do.

So anyway it meant we had to ride on the road and I can tell you from watching that’s one of the worst things I’ve thought of doing. But once again, why say no?! So “OK” Clinton, Sheeny and I said. And later that afternoon we were mayors-coy-pond on our way to the Hot Springs which are fed by the cracks in the earth letting heat rise up and heat the spring water off the mountains.

The coolest thing was the KTM’s having full auto clutch. I have never seen that on a big bike especially on a big 450 donk. So we tested them out, and of all people to come riding with us was the Mayor himself riding the Auto clutch 08 KTM 250SX-F while Sheeny and I rode the 450’s. We thought we were heading up to the hot springs simply by following the cars and riding the bikes on the road. Oh no, we quickly headed off-road and actually did a full trail ride through some of the best terrain you’ll ever see. Every view we had was worthy of a post card and it really made you forget the hustle and bustle, and remember why you started riding your dirt bike in the first place.

We were flying through some tight rainforest jungle with single tracks and getting smashed by trees on either side, to wide open car-wide tracks and then back into thick forest. There was super steep hill climbs that were made harder by the bald back tyre and the constantly wet ground which made things real difficult. It was basically just riding on slicks but that’s half of the fun about riding trails!

Mayors-house2 The Mayor was actually a pretty good rider, careful and cautious but he did everything we did and made it look pretty easy which was awesome to see. Clinton had to ride a CRF150 though because the Mayor wanted his 250SX-F to ride, but I think Clinton probably had the pick of the bikes purely because it was easier to ride in the terrain. The super custom KTM 450SX-F Auto-clutch may be great for beginners but it doesn’t really help when you need to be able to clutch the bike out of trouble and also to keep the big girl from stalling. And that was my biggest problem. Sheeny’s bike seemed to handle it a little better, but that’s because I was running such a small back sprocket that first gear laboured down low and I could probably get about 70km/hr out of first.

There was bamboo bridges and creek crossings to make things interesting, especially the bamboo being half snapped and with no warning when we were flying around a blind corner into the bridge with a 15 metre drop if you missed it. We all almost missed it and THAT would have been interesting! mayors-adventure-ride

About an hour or so into the ride we had a few little mishaps, I got stuck on muddy piles of wood out of some ruts, Sheeny slid down a hill sideways and somehow kept the big bore upright and Clinton had binned it getting a cross-rut. But the funniest was seeing the Indonesian adventure leader getting loose tank slapping next to a peanut patch with his guts on the seat, arms out fully stretched and using his feet to flap like wings above the back fender. I got to give it to the kid, he held it together but damn it was hilarious.

But the doozie was when the auto clutch met its match and it couldn’t handle the hill climb and stalled. The 09 Kato I was riding was getting bloody hot and then it was impossible to start. The radiator fan stopped, the electric starter wouldn’t work and you couldn’t kick it over if you wanted. I was stranded on the side of a mountain in the jungle in the middle of nowhere with no food and no water. The sun was going down and Sheeny and Clinton kept going without realising I wasn’t behind them. mayors-house

2 of the Indonesian riders stopped and helped push the bike up the hill but looking at their ‘Loncin’ and ‘Happy’ motorbikes, I don’t think they had much knowledge on the brand new KTM. When I was sitting there thinking I was actually going to be spending the night on the mountain the bike actually cooled down enough and I managed to get it going. What a freakin relief! The mozzies had destroyed me so here’s hoping there’s no malaria from it either.

I managed to get to the hot springs about 45 minutes behind everyone else, but I was so glad to get there! They don’t call hot springs that for nothing. The water temperature was at least good enough to have a cup of tea in I think, but it was so relaxing. The sun w mayors-ktms as down and there was no light but star light. Actually, I lie, there was some fire flys around which was pretty cool to see in the mist of all the steam while we ate hot potatoes.

So that is what riding a dirt bike is all about. The day started out as boring as every other, but on a whim and without any anticipation we actually had one of the best days you could possibly want.

And to top it off, the Mayor also took us out to a very cool Indonesian hut styled restaurant to eat fresh seafood where you actually dip your feet into a coy fish pond. You feed them fish food, they swim around your feet which is bloody weird and feels slimy and then they nibble on your toes, feet and legs. A couple of Bintang beers to finish the day and you couldn’t ask for any more.

Now that's a bike stand - perfectly done so the chair leg holds the bike up and the other chair leg stops the back wheel from rolling forward. Clever haha.

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