TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The clear blue sky was above us when we passed the gate post of the Rinjani hiking track in Sembalun. I did not bring too much goods with me as I already carried a 12-kilogram bicycle. This time, we will reach the top of Mount Rinjani using bicycle and feet.
After a slightly up-and-down path road that ended up in a large yellow-brownish savannah, the long steeping path of the mountain was finally seen. Along the road, foreign tourists were seen trekking in their shorts and sleeveless shirts.
"You bring your bicycle to the top?" asked one of the tourists from Canada. "You're crazy!" he said. After repeating his question three times, he finally prayed for me, "Well, good luck." Almost every climber I met during the climbing said the same thing, that I am crazy in bringing my bike with me to the mountain top.
I kept on pedaling and only stop on local posts to have some rest and chat with other climbers. The road was still pleasant for bicycling to the second post, Tenggean, where we have a rest and lunch. But it got much steeper and harder to go with bicycle towards the third post. I often got off from my bicycle to walk it along the steep road.
My strength went through a real test after I reached an extra post on the left. My body was starting to worn out and I had to carry my bicycle. I started to understand why the hill was called The Hill of Regret. Even so, I enjoyed my journey despite of the weight of the bicycle which got heavier each time.
Three hours later, I arrived at Plawangan Sembalun. The wind strongly blew the tents that were used by the climbers to stay over the night before continuing the trip to the top tomorrow. When morning arrived, the view of Segara Anak Lake was uncovered. Some tourists from Aljazeera did not climb to the top and were sitting on a bench enjoying the view.
We continued to climb at 10 o'clock in the morning. We only brought one bicycle to the top to save energy. People usually avoid climbing at noon since the wind is usually too strong. According to our porter, the journey would take us four hours long.
As we approached the peak, the track got narrower to only 2-meter wide. There were deep canyon on the left, and a new peak grew out of the lake on the right. Carrying bicycle has made our journey longer. The rain then fell, triggering our hesitation to continue the journey. But the rain stopped soon and we arrived at the peak at almost 06:00 pm.
We were standing on top of the second highest mountain in Indonesia, which is 3,726 meter above the sea level. We soon forgot about the dreadful journey that took us that far. The trip down the mountain felt a lot lighter.
RULLY KESUMA
