Indonesian Digital News Archive

On July 15, the four-man crew of the Arctic Row 2012 Team will set off on their attempt to row non-stop across the Arctic ocean from Inuvik, Canada to Provideniya, Russia, a journey that has never been made before. It'll certainly be an epic challenge and as a way of inspiring us all, they created the video below, which serves as a good reminder that many times the only thing that is stopping us from achieving what we want ourselves. Perfect inspiration for the start of a weekend.



There's A Reason It Hasn't Been Done from Scott Mortensen on Vimeo.

Congratulations to Latonya Ramsey of Hattiesburg, Mississippi on winning the first of three USA Cycling/Grape-Nuts gear packages that I'm currently giving away here on the Adventure Blog. Latonya will soon receive a couple of USA Cycling shirts, a hat, cycling jersey, USAC ID card and a box of Grape-Nuts cereal.

If you didn't win this week, never fear. You still have two more chance to take home this great swag for yourself as well. If you've already entered the contest you'll automatically roll over to each of the next two week's drawings as well, but if you haven't entered yet, there is still time.

To enter the contest simply send me an email at kungfujedi@gmail.com. Mark the subject of the email as "Grape-Nuts" and in the body of the email tell me which rider in this year's  Tour de France will win the Green Jersey as the best sprinter in the field. Just take your best educated guess, as it will have no impact on whether or not you win the prizes. (Personally, I think Peter Sagan looks tough to beat at the moment!) To be eligible to win you must be a resident of the U.S.

Next Friday I will randomly select another winner for the second prize package. Good luck to everyone and enjoy the great weekend ahead.

And thanks once again to Grape-Nuts and USA Cycling for sharing the prizes.

Adventure travel company Tour d'Afrique offers several of my dream trips. The company specializes in cycling adventures and in addition to their signature ride across Africa they also have a fantastic 129-day cycling excursion along the famed Silk Road. Earlier this year I was invited to ride some or all of that tour, but unfortunately time commitments and scheduling issued caused me to not be able to take part in the event, much to my dismay.

But earlier this week I received a report from the Silk Road that shares some great insights into what it's like to ride this epic route. It was written by Nate Cavalieri, who is a writer for Lonely Planet and his first hand account of the the early stages of the tour are definitely inspiring. While I certainly appreciate the contribution to my blog, it still stings a bit that I'm not enjoying the ride with the rest of the crew. I hope you enjoy Nate's thoughts from the road as much as I did.

The Silk Route In Slow Motion

Typically you don't expect contenders for the Tour de France to lose time and fall out of contention on a flat stage designed to let the sprinters run wild. But thats exactly what happened today thanks to an untimely crash that sent three riders home and completely dashed the hopes of several men who had dreams of arriving in Paris with the Yellow Jersey on their back.

Stage 6 was a 210km (130.4 mile) ride that was expected to be the calm before the storm, as tomorrow the riders face the first big climbs of the year. For most of the day it seemed to be business as usual, but late in the race, 26km (16 miles) from the finish, a major crash took place near the front of the peloton, sending cyclists to the pavement and blocking traffic for several minutes. A number of dazed riders called for help from their team car as they sought to replace broken bikes and flat tires and the entire scene was chaos and carnage.

Several of the top riders, including Fabian Cancellara, Cadel Evans and Bradley Wiggins managed to avoid the crash altogether and as a result they're still in the hunt for a Tour victory. But a number of big names were either injured or delayed by the incident and in some cases it has almost certainly taken them completely out of contention. Those riders include Frank Schleck, who now sits 2:43 off the lead, Robert Gesink who is 4:13 back and Giro winner Ryder Hesjedal who dropped 13:38 behind the Yellow Jersey.

Many of the top sprinters were caught up in the crash as well and while it had little impact on their performance, it did keep several of them out of the rush for the stage win. That included Mark Cevendish, who has had little luck so far, and Tyler Farrar who was nursing injuries from a crash yesterday. That left guys like Mathew Goss, Peter Sagan and André Greipel to battle it out at the end, and while Greipel had one the last two stages, it was Sagan who blasted by for the win – his third of the race already.



That win gave Sagan some big points in the Green Jersey competition and as a result he retains the lead heading into the mountains. Cancellara kept the Yellow Jersey, at least for one more day and Michael Morkov still wears the Polka Dots of the King of the Mountain. He'll be tested tomorrow on two Category 3 climbs and a Category 1 as well. The White Jersey as the Tour's best young rider stays with Tejay Van Garderen, who now has a nine second lead over Sagan, who is surging in this competition as well. Who performs best in the mountains will go a long way towards determining who will wear that jersey moving forward.

As mentioned, tomorrow's Stage 7 brings the first real climbs of the year. It is a 199km (123.6 mile) ride from Tomblaine to La Planche des Belles Files. The day will begin with a flat start but will gradually begin to go up from there. The Category 3 climbs will test a few of the riders legs and the drops on the other side will be technically challenging as well, but the big Category 1 climb that ends the day will be where the GC contenders will show their mettle and likely take the Yellow Jersey off the back of Cancellara at last.

If you haven't been watching the Tour too much yet this year, tomorrow will probably be the first dramatic day. Sunday will be even more challenging with seven separate climbs ranging from Cat 1 to Cat 4.  The medium mountains are always fun, but it is the big mountains that come later where the real drama begins. We're still a bit of a ways off from that however, so for now we'll have to see who takes command of the race.

If I were to guess the outcome of the weekend, I wouldn't be surprised to see Wiggins don the Yellow Jersey. With only a few seconds separating them, Cadel will be more than happy to let him take the lead and force Team Sky to defend the Jersey in the days ahead. But perhaps Brad isn't ready to claim it either, which opens the door for someone else to claim Tour glory. It should be very interesting.

Norwegian explorers Audun Tholfsen and Timo Palo have completed their arctic adventure at last. The two men, whom I've written about a couple of times throughout their journey, arrived at Longyearbyen a few days ago, closing out a 1600km (994 mile) expedition that took 72 days to finish.

The two men launched their excursion on April 23, starting at 90ºN and heading south towards Svalbard. Using skis and kayaks they crossed vast open areas of ice and ocean, enduring incredibly bad weather, daunting surface conditions and the occasional polar bear while en route.

Audun and Timo estimate that of the 1600 or so kilometers that they covered in their journey about 400km (248 miles) of that was done in a kayak. The rest of the time they were on skis and pulling their gear, including the kayaks, behind them. That's a lot of miles to cover on foot in some of the toughest conditions on the planet.

Now that they've been back for a few days the two men report that they are in good physical condition and recovering nicely from the challenges of the expedition. They say that they've missed hot showers and pizza the most, and I suspect that they are enjoying both right now. They promise to share more information on their adventure once they've had a chance to rest and settle in, so be sure to watch their website for any future updates.

Congrats to both Audun and Timo on a job well done. Those pizzas and hot showers have been well earned mates.

I came across this video a few days ago and thought it was worth sharing. The Arctic is one of those places that inspires thoughts of adventure, but the way things are going, it may not be around for much longer. Global climate change is having a direct impact on the polar ice caps and as a result, our world is changing dramatically. In the video, a displaced polar bear wanders the streets of London, giving us some striking images that are incredibly sad.

The ad was inspired by the Save The Arctic organization, which is an offshoot of Greenpeace.

While we watch Team BMC cyclist Cadel Evans attempt to defend his title at the Tour de France, high performance sports apparel company 2XU is offering fans an opportunity of a lifetime. The company, which makes a great line of compression gear for cyclists, triathletes, runners and more, is currently running an online contest that will award the first place winner with a trip for two to Santa Rosa, California to join BMC at their 2012 training camp.

In order to win the contest all you have to do is answer the question "Why do you train?" in 140 characters or less. Whether your do it for your health, to win a big race, or you're simply addicted to exercise, no answer is wrong. Submit your answer on the contest entry page before July 22nd for your chance to win. Only U.S. and Australian residents are eligible.

And don't worry if you don't take home the first prize. The other prize packages are great too. For instance, the second place prize is BMC Roadracer SL01 and a 2XU gear package. The third, fourth and fifth place winners will also be hooked up with some sweet compression gear and BMC memorabilia.

Checkout 2XU on Facebook for more information and good luck in the contest. I'd personally love to ride with the team or take home some of this great swag.

The past two days on the 2012 Tour de France have been tailor made for the sprinters and while they managed to put on a display of speed and power, it may have been the untimely crashes that have had the biggest impact on the outcome.

Both Stage 4 yesterday and Stage 5 today were mostly flat and uneventful. In both cases early breakaways attempted to steal glory for a few daring riders, and in both cases those breakaways were reeled back in not far from the finish. Today's breakaway for example, managed to stay away for the entire day, covering some 197km (122.4 miles) only to be swept up in the last 150 meters before the end. The two stages also featured major crashes involving some of the top riders within 3km of finish line as well.

But the similarities don't end there. Stage 4 and 5 both ended with furious sprints to the line, with German rider André Greipel of Team Lotto-Belisol claiming the victory. Those two strong wins show that Greipel, with help of his teammates, can hang with the top sprinters in the fieldas he managed to beat the likes of Matthew Goss, Mark Cavendish and Alessandro Petacchi in the past two days.

Those stage wins have been good ones but they've had no impact on the overall standings of the race. Fabian Cancellara remains in Yellow and is likely to stay there until Saturday's first mountain stage. The true General Classification challengers are all lurking close by on the leader board, including Bradley Wiggins, Sylvain Chavanel, Cadel Evans, and Ryder Hesjedal.

Petar Sagan rides in the Green Jersey as the top sprinter at the moment, but he was involved in a late crash today that has allowed a few other riders to close the gap in points. Michael Morkov holds on to the Polka Dot Jersey as the King of the Mountain, but the past few days have offered few opportunities to earn any points in that competition. Tejay Van Garderen still wears the White Jersey for the Tour's best young rider with a one second lead over Edvald Boasson Hagen.

Tomorrow's Stage 6 covers 210km (130.4 miles) between Épernay and Metz. It will once again be a mostly flat stage although it will offer a few more climbs than what we've seen over the past few days. The riders, and in particular the sprinters, should enjoy it while they can, as Friday and Saturday will bring the first big climbs of the year and a probably shakedown at the top of the leader board.

Over the past few days the teams currently climbing in Pakistan have taken the opportunity to move up to higher altitudes to either acclimatize or begin their summit push. Weather is spotty across the region but progress is being made and the climbers are working their way ever closer to their goals.

The big push has begun on the Mazeno Ridge, where Sandy Allan, Rick Allen, and Cathy O'Dowd have started their ascent. They'll need to conquer eight sub-summits of 7000 meters (22,965 ft) before they make their approach to the 8125 meter (26,657 ft) peak of Nanga Parbat. It will be a true test of endurance to say the least.

While on the approach the team won't be posting blog updates but they are sharing progress via Cathy's Twitter account. They set out yesterday and it seems that progress is slow thus far, but they are on the ridge at last and headed towards their eventual goal. If successful, they'll be the first climbers to summit Nanga Parbat via the Mazeno route, which is the longest ridge of any 8000 meter peak. Stay tuned for more updates on this one.

On Broad Peak Al Hancock reports that some of his teammates have completed their rotation to Camp 2 where they spent the night as part of their acclimatization process. Some of those climbers have already headed back down to Base Camp, but Al remains there tonight as he continues to adapt to the thin air as well. He reports that yesterday he had a bout of stomach issues, not uncommon at altitude, which made his stay in C1 a bit uncomfortable. But moving up to C2 today he continues to climb well and is ready for the challenges ahead. Tomorrow he and his Pakistani guide will return to BC as well, and after resting for a few days they'll repeat the process up to Camp 3. Once that is done, they'll begin watching the sky for a weather window to the summit.

The Gasherbrum I team that includes Louis Rousseau and Annalisa Fioretti, have now established Camp 2 although doing so was not without its challenges. On the approach to that point, located at 6500 meters (21,325 ft) Louis actually fell into a crevasse up to his armpits. Apparently the nasty little surprise was well covered in snow and after their brush with near-disaster, the team took its time on the route, making sure they were finding all the hidden crevasses along the way.

The group was the first to build their C2 on GI and the following day proceeded up to Camp 3 as well. That took longer than expected as well as they continued to find crevasses the hard way, namely be falling in. At one point Louis discovered one whose bottom could not be seen, which was a tense and scary moment to say the least. But they continued up to the Japanese Couloir before turning back, and after spending another night in Camp 2, they returned to BC today.

Finally, the Hungarian squad on Gasherbrum I, also known as Hidden Peak, also report progress. They say that poor weather has hampered some progress over the past few days, but that then intend to move up today, carrying gear loads to Camp 2. Their weather reports that the next few days should be good, but after that the jet stream could move in once again and limit access above 7000 meters (22,965 ft). Before then they'll try to get as much work done as possible before waiting out the weather once again.

It seems that we're at the mid-point for many of these climbs and it will only be a matter of time before the team are ready for their push.

Yeheskiel Zebua – Pelatih Sukses No.1 di Indonesia

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I just wanted to take this opportunity to remind readers that I'm giving away some great cycling gear courtesy of USA Cycling and Grape-Nuts cereal. Over the next three weeks I'll be giving away one gear package per week that includes two t-shirts, a hat, a cycling jersey, a USAC ID card and a box of Grape-Nuts. Thats some sweet swag for the winners to say the least.

Entering the contest is simple. Send me an email at kungfujedi@gmail.com with a subject line of "Grape-Nuts." In the body of the message tell me who you think will win the Tour de France this year. You don't have to get the answer right and you can even pick your favorite rider who has no chance of winning the race. Just share your thoughts. On Friday of this week I'll randomly pick a winner from all the entries and get your sizing information and address so we can send you the package. It's really that easy!

As always, I want to thank Grape-Nuts and USA Cycling for providing the great gear. And as a side note, this giveaway is only available for US residents.

Good luck!