Departure Day.
I could hardly sleep - the mosquitos and the excitement were too much. I departed from the Bike2Work office at 3am even though the tour wouldn't depart the Ministry of Women Empowerment and Children Protection until 7am.
I couldn't afford to show up late, Jakarta traffic freaks me out with heavy panniers, and I still wasn't very clear on how to get to the Ministry. Here was my journey more or less. The southern part shows how lost I was and the northern part shows how bored I got waiting.
My trusty bike, which post-tour will be known as Lontong.
Excitedly waiting for the sun to rise and the tour to begin.
The 10 Srikandi have Groupies.
More or less, the cycle tour is the inaugural annual tour in honor of Kartini - a national figure of women's rights and education. Her hometown is in Jepara, the final destination of this tour. The Srikandi is mythical figure who represents the strength of women; a woman warrior. The Bike2Work group is also promoting environmental consciousness through this event. Although I was the only one who tagged along the whole way, there were many who joined on each day like those pictured below.
The Srikandi preparing for their journey.
The Usefulness of Cycling Pockets.
Do you know why the pictures end? Well, I didn't have a cycling shirt with handy pockets to put my camera in. So you're missing out on the massive group of cyclists stopping or slowing morning commuter traffic in Jakarta. It was glorious!
The Ride.
Dust. Heat. Traffic. Surprisingly, my legs weren't sore, but my butt was... hemorrhoids and impotence? No thanks. The cycling was still really fun with all sorts of Srikandi groupies tagging along. I cycled with my panniers half the way, then some people insisted I take them off for the second half. At the end of the day, I had a terrible runny nose that made my night miserable. Our final destination - Purwakarta.
April 13th, 2011
Days Left to Journey: 46 Days
Kilometers Cycled Today: 120 km
Training Kilometers Cycled: 140 km
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