First Cyclocross Race Exhibition on Universitas Budi Luhur MTB Cross Country Race 2012

As a newly recognized sport in Indonesia it took a while for cyclocross to start getting people's attention. On the Universitas Budi Luhur MTB Cross Country Race that was held at Foresta BSD on June 2-3, 2012 the organizer featured cyclocross as an exhibition race. We saw this opportunity to spread cyclocross to the masses, so we closed the shop last Sunday and went to the event.

One of the excitement of building bicycles for so many people is to watch them riding together, so we decided to ride all the way to Serpong from our shop. Participating on this ride are Fitra's Somec, the Raleigh Record Sprint that was recently bought by Raditya Joko Aryanto, and our resident cyclocross rig. Ican joined along the way with his cyclocross-converted Rih Delta. Also came along Randi Pratama with his Surly Cross Check, Gita Putri and her Trek, Ali Indrawan and his Masi Speciale CX, and also Emanuell Rendi with his custom built pursuit track. Coming all the way from Bandung are Andry Robby and Henry Syarifuddin from GowesParts, driving a van packed with parts and three cyclocross bikes. All totaled we have nine riders and eleven bikes, while six of them are cyclocross bikes.

The weather was great, the ride was good. We managed to arrive at the venue without major glitches. It really is one fun thirty-plus kilometer ride.

From the concrete building packed, rough-surfaced city scapes...

...to the empty, vast rural fringe. Well, not so empty.

We stopped by some bicycle shops for a bit window shopping. We called it "Tour de Toko".

35 kilometers and two hours later, we're here.

It's surprising to see so many other people growing interest on cyclocross bikes and racing. Won't take long for us to pass banters, camaraderie is floating thick in the air.

Knobby skinnies, unite!

Our number for the rest of the day.

Good times, good friends. Our team racer seen here with his ridiculous skeleton kit.

Some happy faces on the starting grid.

The race started at 14.00, and is a one lap race on a one-plus kilometer cross-country MTB course. If you thought that was easy, imagine a course that puts most experienced MTB riders on their toes, ridden without any means of suspension. Most of the track was extremely bumpy! Despite all those mishaps all sixteen participants managed to cross the finish line in one piece, apart from one blown rear tire.

You'll immediately notice that our team racer is also our team mechanic. And shop janitor.

Putting the race face on. Oh, and last chance to rehydrate...

And we're off!

Henry Syarifuddin on a Genesis Day One, the only one with internal geared hub participating.

Odie Astadi tucked off on his Cross Check. Neat!

Drop the hammer!

Husen Rosadi, the only one raced with one gear. HARDCORE!

The race result? First winner is Nala Satmowi and his Masi Speciale CX. Second is Arief "Rifu" Nugroho on Boardman CX Team and third winner is Andry Robby with Giant TCX 1. Did we have to mention that Rifu finished among the top ten on an urban fixed gear race event, just earlier in the morning?

Nala managed to leave us behind in such a messy course. He's a monster!

Rifu with Henry Syarifuddin. One do-it-all racer on a fine machine!

Wait. What's our team racer doing on the podium? Surprisingly he managed to finished in the fourth place, ahead of Odie Astadi. Not bad for a shop janitor on his first cyclocross race...