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At the end of a pub-crawl the participants cannot walk, crawl out of the last pub and somehow make it home in the dark. The same is true for a volcano crawl, especially when the last road climbs to 2000m. I got cramp, walked up the last 400m and whizzed down the last 50km. I arrived well and truly in the dark.

Exhausted

Before leaving, I didn’t check on how far Madiun was, nor how high the volcano pass was. I had a leisurely breakfast with my new biking friends in Solo. It was great to meet them. I wish them all the best with their plans to improve Solo as a cycling city.

Cycling friends in Solo

I had a date in Madiun this evening – with a lovely warmshowers host that Clement stayed with. Actually, my host Ammia later told me that she couldn’t be there, but had booked and paid for a hotel for me, and arranged lots of friends to meet up with me. I had to be there.

After a lot of climbing, I stopped for lunch, and looked at just how high this mountain was. I was at 800m altitude, and the pass was 2000m. The last 12km climbed 1200m. Ouch!

Note to others doing this pass – don’t take the old road (called the alternative road). It is much much steeper.

View of the much less steep new road from my vantage point on the old road

If I didn’t have my date in Madiun, I would have stopped, and finished the pass tomorrow. While walking up the mountain, realising that I was going to have to cycle down in the dark, I decided to accept any lift that I might have been offered to the top. I had cramp, and couldn’t cycle. I was hot and bothered and just wanted to get there. Many cars passed with their windows down, giving me the thumbs up.
‘How are you, mister?’
‘Tired!’
That got a chuckle.
No lift was offered, and I was not at the point of actively asking for one yet. I kept on going, and at 17.15 was at the top. I have no pictures of the views – there were none. Everything was in cloud the whole way.

I made it down the windy dangerous bit before dark, and then zoomed down the straight downhill roads all the way to Madiun. When I arrived I felt a great sense of achievement. 2000m and 110km in one day. I’m glad noone offered me a lift!

Thanks to Ammia, my warmshowers host, and all her friends in Madiun for a lovely evening. I enjoyed today!