Over the hill and far away

Day five

My alarm goes off at 5 am, just as the local mosques are starting up for the day. As I lie there in the utter darkness, I can pick out five seperate voices each coming from a different direction, including one voice that sounds like a child. All of them are singing a similar sequence of notes. Base note, minor third, then fourth, then fifth. I hum along for a while, enjoying the sound in the dark.

I fumble for the light switch, flick it on, but nothing happens. Darkness. No power. I stumble out of bed and open my curtain, letting moonlight into my room, then search for my head-torch.

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No power, no tea. I pack up in the dark, using the beam of my torch. I secure my bike lights in place, and by 5:30 I’m ready to leave. But just as I‘m about to heave my bike up the steps out of the accomodation, I realise I’ve lost my bike helmet. I frantically search my room; on all the surfaces, in the bathroom, under the bedcovers. But it’s not there. I run up the stairs to the place where I first checked in when I arrived, I check the restaurant. But it’s nowhere.

Standing up there, next to the restaurant counter, I call out a hopeful ‘Hello?’ into the darkness, and a young man appears from where he was sleeping on the kitchen floor. I know from yesterday that he doesn’t speak any English, so I tap my head, gesturing to where my helmet should be, and thankfully he understands. He nods, and gestures for me to follow him downstairs, where it retrieves it from of an otherwise empty, locked room.

I breathe out, remind myself not to put my helmet down anywhere stupid again, and clip it on. By 5:45 am I’m ready for today’s ride. The roads are quiet and calm, and I enjoy the first 10 kilometres of rolling roads though sleepy villages, past mosques blasting out their morning prayers, and dogs lying asleep in the gutters.

I quickly make it to the junction where I have today’s first big decision to make – do I take the coast road or the mountain road? The sensible decision is to head to the coast and roll along by the sea. There will be lovely views, but probably more traffic. The less sensible option is the mountain road with 1500 metres of climbing, a road that is notoriously steep and winding, but has superb views of Mount Rinjani.

I turn right towards the mountain, a decision I end up regretting.