Mountain biking is healthy lifestyle. This time I want to share a little of my mountain bike tour story around the hills of Table Moutain down to Manggoapi slope. Mountain biking up the steep slope leading to the Table Mountain of Manokwari city is really hard. Only experienced mountain biker who can keep sitting on the saddle while cranking up his or her bike to the top of the mountain. Entering the gate of the Table Mountain, we will feel significant changes in our surrounding environment. From the smooth streets of the city crowded with cars and motorcycles, now we will begin our journey through the green trees of the tropical rainforest. Some parts of the road inside the jungle was rough due to the lack of regular maintenance from the department of public works and forestry whereas others near the campus of Papua university had been repaired last year (2010). The air temperature inside the forest is cool. I like it very much. Although it is quite hard to reach the top with my mountain bike, I still feel that it is one of the best route for mountain biking.
The sounds of birds and insects on the branches of the tropical trees fill the atmosphere of the forest. When I ride my bicycle through this forest, I often stop at the Japanese World War II Memorial Monument to take rest for a few minutes on one of the concrete benches. When I feel that my breath has returned to normal pace again, I stand up and begin picking up some plastic wastes and bottles thrown by visitors. I collect the plastic wastes at a certain spot to inform other people to also put their wastes in that spot too. If they follow my way of collecting the wastes in one place only, the area around the monument will be cleaner.I took another ten to fifteen minutes to reach the main street of Amban. From that point the street is smooth again covered with high quality asphalt pavement.
This time the route is going down the slope of Manggoapi. It is a zig-zag slope. I always test my front and rear brakes to make sure that they work properly before I ride my mountain bike down the Manggoapi slope. Near an unfinished church, the scenery of the city looks very beautiful. It stretches along the coastal area of the Doreh bay with two islands (actually there are three but the smallest one which is the Raimuti island cannot be seen) in the middle of the sea. They are Mansinam and Lemon islands. Tourists like to stop in this place for a while to take some pictures of them standing near the tip of the slope with the view of Manokwari city at the background. After that I countinue cycling down the slope until I arrive at the cross road in Fanindi area. It's not far from my house. Then I need to go up a small slope in Jati area and continue riding along the Brawijaya street (formerly called Panorama weg) for another ten minutes to return to my home again. by Charles Roring
