Another of those family activities that we had left undone from our previous trips to Bali was downhill cycling. Last year we weren’t quite ready to do it. Olive is now experienced enough on a bike to tackle the Bali roads on her own bike, though Jetson can’t ride himself (though he now has his own bike!). Casper is able to sit on a baby seat, and Rob’s knee is recovering from recent surgery, though he is in a better position to ride than last year (when he did a similar tour with a dodgy knee).
After a thorough search online we found Halo Bike Tours to be the most family-friendly cycling tour company of the numerous available. They provided a family tour just for us, enabling us to go at our own pace and set the agenda if any of us are struggling or want to try something different. They also promised to provide us with a baby seat for Casper and a tandem bike for Jetson. It all sounded promising but we were not sure that it would all work out – this is Bali after all!
As with all the cycling Tours out of Ubud, the trip includes more than just cycling (and you would hope so for $30-40 each person). Our first stop was a coffee plantation where they shock you with descriptions of the luwak coffee process. You get free samples of a range of coffees and teas, but you have to pay to try the kopi luwak. Apparently, it is not cheap to harvest the coffee from the poo of the luwak.
After our morning caffeine fix, it was time for breakfast with a view (and some more Bali coffee). The breakfast they served was nothing special (the standard choice of pancake or eggs), but we would never tire of the view of Lake Batur from the crater rim at Kintamani.
After a short drive back down the hill, we were ready to do what we came for. The bikes they had organized for us were perfect. The bikes were good quality mountain bikes. Jetson was able to sit on the back of a tandem bike with our guide. There was a footrest so he could put his feet up and not do any pedalling at all!
For 4-year-old Casper, he was able to comfortably sit in a baby seat behind his mum. He was especially happy with his cool helmet.
Olive has been riding bikes for years, but not much lately. At first, she was very tentative, feeling uncertain being on the roads with the traffic all around her. After about 15 minutes she began to relax, and by the end, she was whizzing past us full of confidence.
The tour took us along mostly quiet rural roads, and mostly with a gradual downhill incline. There were a couple of hills that we needed to get off the bike and walk-up. We finished back at the company owner’s house for a home-cooked Balinese meal, an excellent buffet feast. We were particularly happy that they produced a plate of rambutans for us, one of our favourite fruits which we had not been able to try again since we had been back in Bali.
The whole day was a great family experience and we would highly recommend Halo Bike Tours. (we hope they are still around, though their website stopped working)