Video: Ride Brothers Ballin' Bali

Bali has always been known globally for its great surf where you can confidently say that most of us here in Singapore have been to it at least once in our lifetime. Only 2.5 hours away by plane, 'the land of Gods', as it has always been referred to, Bali served as a quick getaway holiday destination for some fun in the sun, a good surf, awesome seafood and endless parties.
When Fahmie brought up the plan of hitting the trails of Bali, after his conversations with Alex of ChillHouse, it’s an invitation that most of us couldn't resist. Around the same time last year, I was cyclo camping, in East Java – Baluran National Park and since then, the addiction to want more dirt riding adventure is no longer suppressible.


So, a couple of weeks ago, myself and nine others took on a different journey through Bali for the first time. Venturing the mountain trails, riding close to the edges and crater rims…. pedalling through the amazing greenery and observing sunrise in an entirely different atmosphere.


With our bikes packed, some clothes and off we went. Skipping Denpasar entirely, we travelled to the west coast of Bali - Canggu, where The Chillhouse is located. The ChillHouse is the perfect retreat that offers stylish accommodation and delicious organic meals, along with surfing, mountain biking, yoga sessions – basically to feed your body and soul. The place is AMAZING. We setup our bikes in the private villa and it was easy to make ourselves comfy and had an early night.


The next morning at 6.30am, we headed out for our first ride. We set out for the Crater Rim Trail. A 1.5hr drive to Kintamani. With an elevation of 1697m at the trail-head, we were stoked as our journey would takes us down to the north coast beach of Bali. It was a breath-taking ride, along the crater rim, overlooking Mt Batur, Abang and Agong. It was a splendid sight. Pak Iwan, a Bali native and an avid MTB cyclist, was our guide throughout our ride. An amazing individual with a great positive attitude and excellent trail knowledge. The following morning, we rode through the DH track in Bedugul. Solid ride, passing by the local houses along the way, warmly greeted by the local villagers.


On our 3rd day, we hiked for a good hour up Mt. Batur and rode down through Mt Abang. Another grand adventure on our 2 wheels.. a 50 minute ride down. Our host, Alex, an Austrian, has been living in Bali for 12 years and is the owner of Chillhouse. A great dude, accommodative and has been the best of host to us. We were definitely very happy to stay there. It was great to have him joining us on the 2nd and final ride. Each ride that he has coordinated was nicely planned and The Chillhouse was perfect and is as chill as its name, with the pool that fits all 10 of us to soak in after the rides. We settled old scores on the ping pong table, hitting some 8balls, had relaxing massages – there were many ways for us to kill time before our flight home. To sum it up, if you ask any of us if we were to eat, sleep, repeat this… we would definitely say… In a heartbeat.

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MENTIONS: @wolfywoot @TheChillhouse

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