20.5.15

Salatiga to Mt. Telomoyo via Kopeng


The goal was to ride to a resort village right between mt. Merbabu and Mt. Telomoyo below. It would be a 900m climb over 15km distance.


The first go was ill-fated yesterday, as I ran out of puff just 1/3rd of the way. The bike lacks lower gearing which makes climbing really hard. I pushed it and nearly fainted. I could not recover and returned home.

So today I focus more on energy conservation. That means dismounting from the bike for steeper climbs *early*. It worked quite well..

Early stages exiting Salatiga towards Kopeng:



It took me 3+ hours to reach the resort village for the 15km climb. My legs were sore, tired, and bit dehydrated. I took a long rest... now I could turn back and enjoy the downhill ride ... or ...

Kopeng (1,500m)

 I made a rather impulsive decision to climb mt. Telomoyo (1900m). The mountain was too appealing to ignore! It would be a 700m ascent in 7km, so quite steep. 

The road is sealed as there is a repeater complex at the top. But the condition was poor.

The road to Mt Telomoyo Peak. A landslide had buried a section of road

About quarter of the way I could start to see the view to the 3 neighbouring mountains


Halfway, there is a mountain spring. Very refreshing!


Another breathtaking look towards the 3 mountains

About 3/4 up, a view towards the bigger mountain (3000+m). The villages look very tiny by this stage and I was quite exhausted.



By the time I got to the top I was in/above the clouds



The return trip was quite interesting as the bike had to go through bad roads (boulder/gravel) surprisingly it held really well for the punishment. This mountain would have been really great for fully-armoured downhill cycling!


Finally arrived back towards the village at the foot of the mountain.


What goes up must come down, and from there I rolled downhill for 15km... fast enough that I passed every cars and scooters! In total it was an exhausting 10 hours trip but I felt very happy!  :)



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