Bali, Indonesia - Relocating to the Rice Fields

Taro Village
This is my second visit to Bali, the first time we stayed in Ubud, a small town at the foot of Mt. Batur that has grown a lot in the past 5 years.  Now there are yoga centers and holistic healing spas filled with digital nomads.  The general sense of woo in Ubud makes me glad we picked a small village thirty minutes further uphill.  In those short thirty minutes, the temperature drops ten degrees, the sun retreats behind the clouds and the city sounds die away to nothing.

Bali, Indonesia - Race Report

Gran Fondo New York - Bali Edition
A lot has changed in cycling over the past thirty years, most notably the invention of the "fondo."  It's a race but if you don't want to treat it as such, you can take your time and enjoy.  It was the answer to the overly stressful race scene and it worked.  Fondo participation is through the roof because they attract both serious and casual racers.  Like most, this event has a long and medium route - what they call a gran fondo and a medio fondo.  We started lining up at 5:30 am in our corrals.  The VIPs at the front, the gran fondo riders (of which I was one) and finally the medio fondo riders.  We watched the sun rise and chatted for an hour before the race began.

Bali, Indonesia - Escape

First of Two Locations
Bali is just a two hour flight from Singapore and in the low season you can find some great deals.  I bet it's even cheaper with the slowdown in travel at the moment though we'd book this long before the WuFlu outbreak.  I have a bike race on Sunday, up the side of a large volcano and back (more on that later) so we built a mini-vacation around it.

Chiang Mai, Thailand - Climbing the Tallest Mountain in Thailand

Get on the Strugglebus!
Doi Inthanon is the highest point in Thailand and one of the hardest climbs in Asia, if not the hardest.  Seven thousand feet of climbing up to 8,300 feet in just 24 short miles.  Endless servings of gradients in the high teens that made the rare bits of ten percent feel like a welcomed relief.  I went with a group of my riding friends to Chiang Mai, some of whom did mountain biking.  Three of us chose this crazy climb.  Odd, from Norway and Winnie, from Singapore - climbing on a mountain bike. 

Muar, Malaysia - Long Bike Ride

260 Miles in 36 Hours
I have hardly a friend here so when I get an invite I jump at it without thinking.  Since my last big ride in Indonesia, I've been getting more invites, this one from a Norwegian named Odd who asked if I'd like to "take a spin in Malaysia."  I immediately said yes without asking for details.  A few weeks go by and he explains that we're to get up early and ride to Muar, which is 130 miles north of Singapore.  "So, we're taking the bus back?" I naively asked.  No, he countered, we'll ride back in the morning.  I was stuck.  I'd been hoping to get invites and here I had one, so I pretended.  "I was just joking, come one, of course we'll ride back."