Cycling East Lombok for the First Time
First impression of an ideal route for an all-day riding session around Mountain Rinjani.
Recently, I finally had the opportunity to go for a ride in East Lombok for the first time.
My friend Tusan (who has been my riding and taking photos with me for the past few months) and I drove to East Lombok where we met some people from Selagik Bike Community (SBC).
The morning started nicely; the weather was good, cups of coffee were served along with some breakfast, but the best part was the people.
Fino, Yoga, and Izz from SBC welcomed Tusan and I with open arms as we came out of curiosity but no expectation, we just wanted to ride in the East.
The ride showed me that one of the great things about cycling is more than just talks about good bikes or good parts, or even the riding itself; it’s also about finding the right company to share the experience with, to be in awe; to share the laughter, the pain.
So before talking about the ride, I’d like to give SBC a shout-out by saying that if you’re ever in East Lombok, try to find these people and I guarantee that you’ll be in good hands. One good factor to consider is that most of them ride in different styles, and that include road cycling too.
The first thing I recall from that experience was one question that kept on repeating that morning: “So you’re the guest here, and we have two ways to reach our destination. Which one do you one?”.
My answer was always: “Let’s go with the one with more dirt roads, please”. So the SBC guys took us to The National Park of Mt. Rinjani.
As the paved road disappear slowly, the journey to get a little bit of taste of Rinjani appeared to be greener.
The National Park of Mt. Rinjani is lush, and the villagers around seem to be busy yet chill, as you can judge this based on the way they smile every time you pass a person or a crowd.
This projects such a positive vibe, adding one more reason to explore the national park rather than being there just for the view.
Almost 20km in, we started to enter a forest that has narrow doubletrack. It was unfortunate that the path was mostly destroyed, and one of the guys mentioned that it was caused by — and I quote, because I don’t want to point fingers at anyone — “some trail motorcyclists carelessly chose to pass the path without thinking about its ability to handle the heavy tires”.
It was not smooth, sure, but it was still a lot of fun.
As we went deeper into the forest, the path started to get smoother and nicer.
We saw some more people passing by around the area as we took a quick rest after some climbs. Some are just locals getting fresh grass for their horses and cows (probably), some are hikers who probably went to waterfalls around.
As for me, I was mesmerized by the path itself.
When we’ve reached basically the highest point of our ride, the boys stopped near a water pipe and found a crack that they’ve been using to refill their bidons.
Most of us had less than a quarter of the bidon left, so we threw the water out and refill it with the one from the pipe. The water was unbelievably fresh.
After refilling the bidon, it was one long descent.
We made a stop just before Otak Kokok, which is a tourist attraction famous for its natural healing water. The stop was this little spot that’s only known by the villagers around.
It’s a tiny pool with even fresher water. A farmer or two occasionally pass by, we exchange smiles and greet each other, makes you feel like you belong.
This ride opens a possibility to explore East Lombok more in the future. Hopefully sooner than later.
