Team Wideopenmag’s Chris Hutchens and Christo Gallagher jetted off to Borneo for the Asian Enduro Series in the Kingdom of Brunei.
Words and Photos by Christo Gallagher and Chris Hutchens, unless credited.
Fancy something a bit different..? How about mountain biking in Brunei?
It’s not often you get a message, ‘Do you want to fly to Brunei for the next Asian Enduro Series round?’
With that question pitched and time already booked off work for the last Enduro World Series of the year it was a pretty easy decision to make.
With some last minute planning both Christo (my team mate) and hopped on a Royal Brunei Airlines flight to Bandar.
Thanks to the following for making this trip possible:
They have mountain biking in Brunei?!
Our first question pre-departure was where on earth Brunei actually is. It turns out it’s 10,000 miles and 19hours of flying from home in Bristol and is on the island of Borneo, in South Asia.
This was Christo’s first time heading to Asia, so while he was definitely excited for the trip, there were some nerves. What would the food be like? Was there coffee? What are the tracks like? What animals might there be lurking in the Borneo jungle?!
Brunei is in one of three countries to occupy the Island of Borneo. It’s the only island in the world with three sovereign states including Malaysia and Indonesia. The country has historic ties with the UK and has a large expat community in the country due to its large oil reserves, which has given the nation significant wealth over the years.
The country has a number of palaces and buildings with the Sultan of Brunei at the head of the country. There is a large focus on diversifying the countries economy and in recent years mountain biking has exploded amongst both the locals and those who have moved to the country for work.
This is where our hosts Jason Pickett (shown above in the blue race jersey) and his wife Jessica spotted an opportunity having previously visited the country in the past. Just over three years ago Kingdom Rides and Adventures was born.
Along with a bike shop in Bandar the pair offer guided tours of the jungle trails, many of which they have forged themselves through the dense vegetation. Having now ridden these trails they range from great beginner trails through to challenging and technical descents and there’s definitely enough to ride over a week.
Touching down in South Asia
Our travel over together would kick start in Bristol with Christo landing in from Edinburgh before a jaunt across to Heathrow and boarding one of the plush Royal Brunei Airlines 787 Dreamliners. We would leave a warm London and arrive in the evening on Thursday in a steaming hot Bandar.
Jessica and Dominic from FUNN components picked us up from the airport. We hadn’t slept much over the past 30 plus hours and were getting hungry. We headed straight to sign on and the pre-race brief.
We needed a bit of pre-race information, as we had no idea what was going on at this stage really. We received our race boards and then went straight to find some food.
Christo’s first experience of Asian food, in Asia. It wouldn’t be traditional but certainly a popular place. MarryBrown’s Chicken joint! Rice and fried chicken in the centre of Bandar was perfect before we returned to our room at the Capital Residence Suite to build bikes and get ready for practice on Friday.
Fried chicken for breakfast, hotter than Scotland
It was an early start and as we left our cool air-conditioned room at 7am we could feel the heat slap us both in the face. It was already in the high twenties and the sun had only risen an hour ago. We caught a shuttle to the first riding location about 7 km out of the city.
Breakfast really confused us both. Fried rice with chicken. The plate however wouldn’t last long before we headed up to ride the first stages. The road stall food here was fresh and well served. The Scot in Christo showed as he calculated that this dish had only cost him the equivalent of £1.
While Jason had warned us how difficult and different the riding was out here we didn’t really take this on board straight away. As we both pushed up the steep hiking trail we seemed OK… Little did we know!
Photo by Sutera Media.
A few minutes in we saw some westerners ahead. Shell workers I thought but as we got closer and Christo went past I said, ‘Hi’ ready to strike up some conversation. To my surprise I received a reply, ‘Chris?’ No way! It was Rich from Aberdeen.
If I’m honest it took me a few minutes to process who it was. I was not expecting to fly to Brunei and bump into someone I knew. It was excellent to see him and meet all the Expats. We were looked after from that point on with tools and food.
Come Sunday it was the ham and cheese sandwich that would go down perfectly between stages. Being a predominantly Muslim country, and therefore Halal, the access to pork products is very difficult. Thanks to Darra the sandwich man for these! It was during this meeting we both commented, ‘Man, they must be unfit! Did you see how much they were sweating?’.
Well, we spoke way too soon. They had been on their second hike of the day and pushing back up the hill to the start of stage 4 and 5. We were just going up for stage 4. One hour later we would be pushing up, resembling a drenched cat taking multiple stops and resting out of the sun.
Photo by Sutera Media.
The temperatures rose every day peaking at 37 degrees. Fine you’d think but the humidity was 87%. Our bodies are not designed to cool us down in this temperature – sweat can’t evaporate. We were screwed!
We pushed on, practicing the varied stages on Friday and Saturday morning riding in Simpang 67 and Simpang 481 areas. The tracks were a superb mix of narrow jungle trails.
There were some seriously steep sections, roots and more mellow sections. Along with that the stages were littered with punchy climbs that often had tight entries making it a huge challenge to ride cleanly with the feet on.
Time to beat the jungle.
Racing kicked off shortly after practice on Saturday finished with a good send off in Brunei style. With three stages on Saturday starting at 1300 it was peak temperature. Instantly the heat struck you. It’s like riding at altitude. Your body is working overtime to try, and I emphasis the word try, to cool down. You move slowly so getting to the start of stages was a slow process. Nothing was rushed during the day.
We then got counted down before starting the race. Every pedal stroke, undulation and corner was an effort. We ticked off the stages during the day. I took a few tumbles and a big stack on stage 3. Christo hit the deck on stage 3 as well and finished the day ahead of me in first. Malaysian Norshahriel Haizat Ahed Nazali finished up in third a minute back.
By day one we’d lost multiple kg’s despite both drinking in the region of 5 litres during the race.
Our treat for the evening was dinner with Dom from FUNN. We headed into Bandar to Awais Rice and Grill, a Pakistani restaurant Jason had recommended. While it looked a little uninspiring from the outside once we started eating the shabby appearance was quickly dismissed. This place comes highly recommended if you make a trip to Bandar!
The next day was an early start. The alarm rang at 0530 before shuttling along to Simpang 481. Four stages left. The podium positions were still up for grabs with some tight racing between Christo and I and the positions behind us.
I would go quicker than Christo on Stage 4 that followed a ridge along before dropping into a bowl with some superb flow and speed. Riders then navigated a tricky lower section with narrow bridges.
Stage 5 followed the same start and then cut off right following tight switchbacks before rejoining the bottom of stage 4. I pushed a little hard drifting wide and off the trail into the few rocks that protruded out of the vegetation lining the ridge. I braced myself as I tried to hop over this line of jagged rocks. BANG!
I pushed on without air in, the tyre coming on and off the rim as I descended down the trail. I got passed near the bottom but ran. I lost at least a minute to Christo on this stage despite an OTB from him. He extended his lead by riding like a boss.
It was a team effort to get my wheel back to a riding condition with help from Richie, my mate from Aberdeen, Neau an Australian/Thai dude we got to know while on the trip and Christo.
The next two stages were physical with some really challenging climbs thrown into the stages. Christo would dominate these taking the win by the end of the weekend. I pushed on hard making up lost time from stage 5 securing 2nd and by close of play Norshahriel would remain in 3rd.
Series leader Sangmok Lim had some gearing issues and a number of crashes so couldn’t quite push to make a podium position and extend his series lead.
Everyone rode superbly all weekend and by the end of the final stage was ready to collapse, drink even more 100plus and reflect on a super hard weekend racing.
What was staggering was that we had only actually ridden, by Garmins measurements, less than 10km on the 2nd day but clocked up 15 minutes of racing. Racing in this part of the world is a totally different beast to anywhere I’ve put my tyres on before.
The humidity tries to bring you to a stop and punish you. Throw in a race and well you’ve got a beautiful combination of self inflicted pain and torture.
And some time away from the race track
Jason was anxious that we didn’t just turn up, race and go home. “You’re literally flying half way around the world. Why don’t you stay on a bit and explore?” he begged and it would have been rude to refuse, right?
We were fortunate enough to extend our stay in Brunei for a few days. This gave us some time to explore the city, squeeze in a ride with Jason and widen our cultural experiences. Tourism is definitely young here and it’s not a destination on most Gap Year students hot spots due to its laws on alcohol, which of course slows down the party scene a little!
Despite being a bit off the classic tourist trail, it’s a fascinating country and is filled with some incredible and lavish mosques, palaces and hotels. There are also miles of stunning beaches, the jungle and of course some unique animals to the region. We tried to squeeze it all in, as any tourist would.
Our local connections hooked us up a treat and sent us to Mark and his wife Wann for an expertly guided tour of the Mangroves. We arranged for the evening tour and with stories of crocodiles, proboscis monkeys and other birds and sights we were expecting a lot. I also knew from past trips not to get your hopes too high.
Cheers Brunei!
We wrapped up our trip exhausted but full of stories, chuffed to have made some new riding buddies and with a medal each to bring home.
There’s more trails being built and biking is certainly going to continue growing in Brunei. Across Asia the cycling scene is exploding and the Asian Enduro Series is cementing itself across the region having already held rounds in Nepal and Malaysia this year.
The next series round heads to Thailand in December which will boast bigger mountains and a very different event to Brunei. Heck, we might have to go now!
Check out the full results from the Kingdom Enduro here.
Big thanks to these guys for making this trip possible:
And thanks to these guys for making Team Wideopenmag possible:
