The Reverend Mother Superior sits bolt upright in bed and proclaims,"let's go for a bit of a bike ride !!" A quick show of hands at the breakfast table confirms 6 willing [ naive ] volunteers.
The Bintang Bali Mountain Cycling company despatches a comfy bus [with the Cheshire cat grinning Ketut clutching the wheel] to collect our natty dressed group.
-You've seen the Sunday morning Cyclists in their bulging spandex? standing around in spiffy little groups chugging their expressos?? Compare that scene with our mob....Mismatched socks, over-loved board shorts, Paris Hilton sunglasses[ on a bloke?!] and clothing that rippled with bulges ....non muscular.
A brief 2hr drive to Kintamani has us perched on a teetering Restaurant balcony over-looking the mounts Batur & Agung chewing on sumptuous breakfast of fried banana fritters and a muddy cup of coffee. Ketut, the Cheshire cat, lingers at the front of the restaurant clutching onto a post.....How long has this cafe been here?How long will it remain???? Ketut appears to know something I don't judging by how his fingernails dig into the post.
We edge our way back to the front door of the cafe tripping over Ketut in his haste to return to solid ground. In the carpark we mount up on our trusty treadlies and squeeze non existent brakes to test what we may well need later in the day....nothing happens!!! The Cheshire cat looks at me and grins..."No brakes ,Boss!!!" Ketut is becoming very unnerving to me with this constant grin.
Off we file heading down the hill. After a 100 metres of highway travel where overloaded trucks play chicken with us, we turn off down a side road. WWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEe!!!!!!!!
Lance Armstrong eat your heart out. Without pumping a single pedal we all fly down a single lane road, trees, houses, villages, chickens,dogs { GET OUT OF THE BLOOMIN' WAY!!!} grinning kids, little old ladies....{hang on} GRINNING kids? Why are they grinning at us so much? At that moment, Ketut the Cheshire cat, pulls along side me in the bus. He winds down the window and ....grins...
Rounding the next bend I discover why. The local pastime for little old ladies and little kids is watching 6ft Aussie tourists part company with their bicycles and -FLY- ever so gracefully, legs spread wide into a well placed rice padi.
On the way home I figured out why Ketut had a permanent grin.....
NEXT INSTALLMENT: QUAD BIKING