82k,600m
Challenge level: 3/5 (dry), 4/5 (wet)
Recomended tire: >32mm with decent traction
Here @gravel2an, we believes that your gravel bike, all road, MTB or any bike for that matters should be an enabler of your adventure, starting right from your doorstep to the world of exploration outside - without the need to depend on motorized vehicle.
We designed Graventure with such spirit, it started somewhere in most unassumming place in Bintaro local neigbourhood, going through the unappetizing big and busy suburban road networks, until your tire rolling through the first rough gravel and you breath that wet grass scented fresh cool air and you go...yes, this is it.
We rode the route 3 times in the past 1 year. We rode in different weather, wet, sunny, cloudy and with different bikes and tire setup, starting from the old school rando bike, with rim brake and 32mm tire, to the latest gravel carbon bike with hydraulic brake with big wide tire. We asked our close riding buddies to ride with us, so that we could get as much as feedback as we could and make the experience reasonably safe.
It's the same concern that forced us to change some of the section before the final route was issued. We abandoned a river crossing becausing we thougt it was slippery and too dangerous and tried (and abandoned) a bridge that goes on to nowhere. We also added some secton that we incidently found after we lost ouselves and keep that long dirt section after the cemetry, because we thought - this is an awesome playground, dry or wet.
What about the climbs ? Honestly we didn't think to much about it when we designed the route. The climbs (22 climbs to be exact) were there not to torture the participant or make it intentionally hard, but it needs to be there as it connect the gravel section and provides the best of view. And truthfully its undulating nature of the route reflects the beautiful contour of our Java Island.
Finding the balance between the challenge, view and safety is always in our mind when we draw the route.
In a way, designing Graventure route is like writing a story, there is a prologue, mains and an epilogue. The four of us, riding with other Graventure riders on the day, is like telling the story with our own voice and we hope that you falling in love with Graventure story.