Posts by BIKE-HEDONIA
Ten foot tall and bulletproof
The day I left Riung, I wasn't feeling like a superhero. On the contrary, I felt headachey and clumsy with the lingering aftertaste of ...
Run off the road, just a little
So I went for a jaunt over the spiny backbone of the island - from Riung to Bajawa and back again. Skinny winding roads through the mou...
A parallel world
In Riung, Itchan gave me an amazing gift.
He'd been urging me to go out on one of his boats and snorkel amongst the islands, but I alwa...
Shut Up and Ride
Back on the road, I'm heading for Riung. It's a little town on the north coast of Flores, picturesque, overlooking the corals and peaks...
Beastie Goes to School
And instead of heading West - the direction I am supposed to be going - I turn East and follow more glorious asphalt twisties through the mountains to Maumere. Yes, I've been to Maumere before, but I haven't done this road before. And that's why I'm here, after all - to wring every bit of joy out of every corner. I'm here for the hedonia; not just to say that I rode to Paris.
Damage Report
Riding out of Moni, upset, distracted, just getting the hell out of town.
A set of beautiful asphalt s-bends. Badly cambered. Thin laye...
Smacked down
I repacked Beastie and kept riding West. My goal was the famous Kelimutu, a volcanic peak crowned with three coloured lakes. Famous for...
A place by the sea
Bamboo bungalows by the sea. Just a bed, a mosquito net; a roofless bathroom at the back where cold water cascades from a pipe over a f...
The skin of my teeth
When I woke Larantuka was already hot and sweaty in the morning sun. I walked through the streets until I found a cash machine that wou...
A lake in the jungle
From Larantuka there's a main road that runs across Flores from East to West; by all accounts a beautiful road, in good condition, and ...
In which I sleep in a carpark
The ferry was suppose to get to Larantuka at 3am. Only a couple of hours before dawn. I'd figured I could sit under the lights at the d...
All at sea
I woke up early the next morning in Kupang. I had things to do, and I wanted to be at the ferry port early. My host at the hostel had a...
Run for Kupang
The next morning I wandered into the 'restaurant' to claim my free breakfast and discovered the probable reason for the improbable 'res...
Ants Included
I'd become accustomed to the pace of road travel in Timor Leste - say, a hundred kilometres every three hours - so Indonesia's decent r...
Goodbye Timor Leste
It's an easy run from Dili to the Indonesian border, and I was there by lunch time. The road was fine, the traffic was normal; what a t...