| Tuk Tuk to Tarutong | |||||
| Date: | 21-08-2014 | Time: | 08:59h | Temp: | 14/31 °C |
| Distance: | 155 km | Σ km: | 329 km | To Go: | nnnnn km |
| Up: | 1618 m | Σ Up: | 4350 m | Calories: | 4140 kcal |
| Down: | 1547 m | Σ Down: | 3462 m | Σ kcal: | 9495 kcal |
| Conditions: | A rewarding climb. Rain in the morning and afternoon. Climb stunning. | ||||
tbd
The name on the whiteboard sounded very inviting. ‘Bali Hotel’ –what an exotic name for what appeared after a 156 km ride. Maybe I am a bid spoilt by the standards of the first class lodges we had for the past two stages? Am I? No, with my travel experiences it takes a lot to kick me out of my boots!
I doubt that the Bali Authorities know about, how there name is being misused. The hotel is a loud, rundown complex in the center of Tarutang. It has basic and standard rooms. I share a basic room with Eric. The room is 4x4m² with a window to the entertainment corner. Outside a live band is currently playing …
Basic room means:
I dumped all my eatables, that were not sealed …
Note, this is by no means criticism at TdA. They do an awful good job, to find big enough places to sleep all of us, in such remote locations, but there are things beyond their responsibility.
Tweet ##transoceaniaThe rain that set in yesterday evening never stopped. Everyone showed up in more-or-less rain gear. Even Cristiano (freshly shaved) could finally wear his new ‘dry sack’. After a wet 40 km ride along the shores of the Samosir Island we crossed on a bridge back to the ‘main land’ where shortly after the expected ‘rewarding climb’ should start.
Guess what, not only the climb was rewarded, but the complete ride was rewarded more than once.
1. The waterfall at Tuk Tuk, which yesterday could only be guessed that it exists, was running in full power.
2. The climb was fantastic. Steep, countless switchbacks, still drizzling rain, low clouds and stunning views! If it wasn’t supposed to be a long riding day, I would have been tempted to stop more often, to enjoy the scenery and the incomparable beauty of the valley.
3. The food at the summit lunch stop. In addition to the usual fruits, veggies, white bread and peanut butter, we got fresh cooked baby potatoes. What a treat!
4. The long rolling downhill. A 90 km long drop from 1800 m to 900 m, with a few more minor climbs, which added another 500m to todays total. However, the strong head wind on the last 50 km to Taruntung was a bit challenging with the legs and body getting more tired with every kilometer.
5. The afternoon monsoon rain shower that finished as fast as it appeared. The dark sky could be seen from a distance, but little time was left to jump into the rain clothes. I would have been soaked wet, if the little shop wasn’t exactly were I needed it. Downside: My bike wasn’t naturally washed and I had to clean it myself at the hotel *)
*) Our rooms for the night are booked in the Bali Hotel in Tarutung. Read more in my soon to come Bali Hotel post …
Tweet ##transoceaniaI am currently trapped in a heavy downpour. Too risky to continue. Got schelter in a road side shop. 8km to go. Let’s have a Coke.
At the top of the rewarding climb. What a fantastic ride so far. Rain turned into drizzle and finally stopped. Stunning views down to the lake and the rice fields. More later from camp … Now it is the time to enjoy the all day downhill 
Paul and me at summit lunch stop
Tweet ##transoceaniaWell, we got sunshine on our rest day now it is time for a wash! The rain turned in last night and never stopped. I bet Cristiano & Andreas wanted to check on our fancy rain gears … Hope it will stop during the day and we will not have to ride against a flood running down our rewarding climb.
I like travelling in countries where you instantly turn into a multi millionaire. You hand out just one 100 US$ bill to the money changer and find yourself loaded with a pile of notes in local currency. The flip side of the coin is, that in the beginning you will always end up in sweat when you receive the first multi digit bill for a simple lunch and then find out that you will lose your millionaire status far too soon again, if you don’t schedule a next appointment with another money changer.
The waypoints, directions and the profile of todays ride has been published at the rider’s meeting. We will add another 1600m to the total climbs. What will be the reward? We all hope there is more than a Coke-Stop reward at the end of the climb! 
My first rest day is almost over. Although I was rather busy with fighting the environments and getting everything setup to be able to stay connected with all of you, I did find some time to explore the neighborhood, as posted earlier.
Due to the late arrival of our vans yesterday, there was some left over work to be done today. It was basically I fight with the slow and instable internet connection to get my blog updates done. I decided to use my Samsung as a hotspot for my Thinkpad and speed and reliability is like hell. With just 4$ / 2 GB data volume this is well invested money and gives me a lot of extra spare time, when fellow riders are still waiting for a network response on their first click of the day. I also managed to get my Garmin GPS tracks linked to Google map, such that you can follow my tracks on the daily Stage Detail entries (stage 01, stage 02).
Now everything should be in shape to finish write ups, photos and maps much quicker. However do to the limited internet accessibility I do not permanently maintain the photo sections of the blog, but enrich the daily posts with more pictures as usual.
No I need to get some rest, to regain energy for the long 150+ km with a huge climb ,,,
An Indonesian ‘clored bull’ – Kratingdaeng – don’t know if they would give me wings, too?! I found the bottle in a ditch next to the road with so much more debris that is dumped into this beautiful countryside. Most part of Africa is in the meantime miles ahead in respect to environmental concerns and tidiness.
Tweet ##transoceania
