Baralang | TwoWheelsAdventures

There are 6 bridges that link seven Riau islands as shown on the map. Our group met at Harbourfront at 6.30 am to board the 8.00 am ferry to Batam. Some protected our bikes with bubble wrap or sticky tape. The boat journey took 1 hour. There is a one hour time zone difference.

Upon arrival, our support vehicle driver greeted us and we loaded our overnight luggage onto his truck. We started cycling from the ferry terminal. From this point until the tip would be 77 km where we would stay for the night in a kelong ( wooden hut on stils built over the sea, usually for fishing)

We started of cycling at about 10.30 am. The first straight leg of about 13 km within town had heavy traffic, not unlike the traffic in Singapore. Once we turned left, the village and countryside roads were a welcome cycling paradise. No traffic lights to stop, hardly any vehicles to contend with.

The weather was mostly overcast and cloudy, although the sections with scorching sun did make the climbs more difficult. The terrain is undulating for the entire 77 km. There was hardly any section of flat roads. So it was really important to maximise the downhill speed to allow that momentum to carry one up the next slope.

BB6B elevation — Undulating elevation for 77 km. It’s known as dragon’s back

At bridge number 1.

All the other bridges are not as spectacular in structure. As you will notice, there are no vehicles in this picture.

There were several breaks for refueling with isotonic drinks, bananas and lunch. “Just one more slope” was what they told me, about a dozen times. Towards the last section, the slopes seemed to become hills with steeper gradients. I was tired, the sun was hot and the support vehicle was conveniently behind me. Was it pride or pure stubbornness that kept me from hitching a ride? I asked myself why I subjected myself to such torture. I should have stayed home.

Between the 6th bridge and the end point, there were about 8 sections of the route that had construction. The path was filled with gravel which made it a little difficult for road bikes to pass through but nothing a mountain bike can’t handle. These tended to be at the bottom trough of the wave so the downhill momentum was wasted having to brake and go slow over the gravel.

We finally arrived at the end of the road. A little off road from this tip is the beach and this kelong. We had lunch, freshened up and then took a speed boat to a little island about 10 minutes across.

There was no one else there so for that moment it was our private little island. As we entered the water near the beach, we were surprised that the water was rather warm – I was thinking of poaching an egg. We had to waddle out about 50 meters before it became cooler.