The ride from Jakarta to the Sumatra ferry was uneventful. Traffic was minimal due to Muslim holidays.
Azis – a connection of John’s – met me at the ferry. We shared a bite of dinner and some Google-Translated conversation. From the ferry it was only a 90-minute ride to my destination for the day, but that still made for a really late arrival at 1am.
John recommended the south coast route through Sumatra. Consistent with the rest of Indonesia this seems to be the most picturesque route. The roads wind around formations carved out by millenia of oceans gnawing at the land.
Arriving in Bengkulu Saturday night, it was a two night stop for a rest day. It was great to spend Easter Sunday worshipping at a church right near my accomodation, followed by lunch with the congregation, lots of photos with the foreigner, even more photos with the big black-n-red bike, and general excitement.

With the heavy rain right through the previous night, the rivers and even the ocean’s foreshore were quiet muddy, laden with landslides and debris washed downstream. There was an interesting clear line just out from the coast where the clear ocean water met the cloudy mountain flows.
Some of that mud and sludge found rest on the roads. This was normally not a problem, as it is easy enough to adjust speed and trajectory to cater accordingly. Normally. Except…
Sweeping down an inviting left-hand bend into a little gulley and then back out again continuing the left leaning – it’s normally a great corner. The way to tackle it is to back off the speed before the corner just enough to leave room to accelerate through to the exit point. The corner in question I think I had that all just right… for normal, dry conditions.
But the mud was fresh and wet and slippery, and I’m riding tires that are “60-40” designed for on-road vs off-road (a compromise required by the varying conditions). All that added up to a gentle acceleration one notch too much for the speed and surface…. The back wheel lurched to the right. The way to correct that (counter-intuitively) is to steer to the right as well. If you try to steer left under those conditions the slipping is exacerbated and you’ll definitely end up on your left shoulder. That said, the front wheel’s twitch to the right didn’t marry with the muddy tarmac and I flipped over and landed, skidding, bouncing on the way to the outside curb. It was a real whack of impact, and left me dazed. It would have been a very different story if someone were coming the other way just then.
I couldn’t get up for a bit, and a couple of other road users stopped to help me up, to right the bike, to check all was ok, and bandage the opened pannier. I am not sure if it was quarter or half an hour, but after enough of a deep breath to know nothing was broken, and a quick redo of the same corner just to review what went wrong, there was nothing for it but to be back on the bike and on my way.
It hasn’t particularly upset or knocked my confidence. But I am definitely still kicking myself for the mistake. There was only a split-second to see the mud and respond, but I should have jammed an extra squirt of brakes on the way down into the corner. It only needed a smidge. My hobbling and tender ankle will apparently remind me of that error for a while to come. There’s no particular swelling, but pressure in the wrong direction screams at me that I did a stupid thing. As I write, the jury is still out what this will mean for getting around in Bukittinggi and for moving on from here.

6 Comments
You’re lucky that’s all that happened. All that weight on the back would not have helped for the balance with the rear coming around. Praying for speedy recovery on that ankle. Notice you didn’t share photo of left side of bike. It’s ok?
Thanks Cam. Yes, only laid it over on the right. And on my right.
Hey glad you are ok – Daniel – take care!
Thanks Mark. Much appreciated.
I am fianlly up to date. Good work. Not me You. What amazing rides.
Thank goodness you’re okay