Thursday, December 18, 2008
Jakarta, Indonesia
There is a video here of the trip, just some video clips from a digi camera.
Jakarta, Indonesia from Haro Bikes on Vimeo.
Mike Ish and myself got the opportunity to visit Jakarta, Indonesia.
Ish studied Indonesia and was well prepared for the trip, but I decided to freestyle it and see what happens, after flying and chillin in airports for 40 hours, we arrived.
My first lesson I learned was when I took money out at the ATM, There was 3 options, 20,000 - 50,000 or 100,000 Rupiah. I went for the 50,000 Rupiah and I put it deep in my pocket.
I asked how much it was to our guide Ian and he said its worth about $5 USD. Sick!
We were invited to Indonesia to hang out with the local riders and on the last day they had a contest that Ish and I judged at. They said they haven’t had any Pro BMXers since 2001, so they were full of questions and were pumped to ride with us.
There are no public parks in Jakarta, Indonesia and the ramps we rode were the sketchiest ramps I think I’ve ridden. They moved when you rode them, and the steel frames flexed in the transitions. The box jump lip flexed so much and then the landing was such a long wedge It was the hardest landing. The whole time I thought I was going to go through the weathered plywood on the ramps. That’s the worst feeling.
I was bummed because the kids didn’t know any better, they wanted to see the stuff they see on YouTube and it was hard to produce anything. I really appreciate the ramps I get to ride from now on.
The local riders were friendly and were pretty impressive on their bikes. It was defiantly cool to see kids shed that you’ve never heard of. Rizky, Mathius, Oke, are some of the top names in Indonesian BMX.
Thanks so much to WIM cycles of Indonesia, the association of BMX Indonesia, and to our Guides Ian and Caplang, our driver Usup, and the riders or Indonesia, it was a great experience.