ABOUT BENTANG JAWA 2023

BENTANG JAWA

Bentang Jawa is an unsupported ultra cycling race and self-navigation across Java Island, which starts from west to east. Cyclists can ride as individuals (solo) or in teams (pairs). During the race, cyclists will be invited to explore the various beautiful and mystical areas in southern and central sides of the island of Java; along the coast, a series of hills, mountains, and forests throughout the five provinces across a distance of 1,500 KM with 16,000 meters of elevation gain, that must be covered in 156 hours.

There will be 3 checkpoints on the race course, where cyclists must validate their brevet cards by getting a stamp at each check point. During the event, cyclists must also keep their GPS tracker* on at all times. For some cyclists, this will be an event that challenges their spirit of competition, but for others it will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The competition will start on Sunday, August 13, 2023 at 05.30 WIB and end on Saturday, August 19 2023, at 17.30 WIB (tentative). Every prospective cyclist who will register and participate in Bentang Jawa is required to read, understand, and comply with the Race Guide.

*Note: Cyclists will lend GPS tracker provided by Bentang Jawa

RACE COURSE

Java Island is the island with the most populous population in Indonesia, the center of government, economy, culture, and education. Divided into 6 provinces consisting of Jakarta, Banten, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, and East Java, Java Island is a reflection of Indonesia with its own unique culture, food and nature. The Java Span route was chosen to minimize interaction with heavy traffic, although as a provincial and national route, interaction with large vehicles such as trucks and buses will be unavoidable.

Bentang Jawa participants will depart from the westernmost province, namely Banten, precisely on Carita Beach, exploring the southern coast of Banten province, passing famous tourism landmarks of Banten and West Java, such as Sawarna Beach, Pelabuhan Ratu, and Pangandaran.

The varied contours off the south coast, will guarantee continuous beautiful sceneries one after another: beaches, fishing villages, cultivated forests, and hills. Entering Central Java and Yogyakarta, the typical coastal scenery will be replaced by shady green mountains, hills, and rice fields that stretch as far as the eye can see. The Kretek and Panggang hills will provide a challenge as well as an extraordinary view.

East Java as the ultimate route presents the climax in terms of challenges and scenery, mystical old forests, wide and swift rivers, the magnificent Bromo-Tengger-Semeru mountain ranges, and strands of hills that alternately will be presented without stopping, before a long pleasant descent to the city of Banyuwangi.

WHO CAN JOIN BENTANG JAWA?

Bentang Jawa is open to all Indonesian Citizens or Foreign Citizens residing or visiting  in Indonesia. Although it is a "race", the Bentang Jawa route is actually designed to follow the spirit of adventure and exploration in cycling. Distance and altitude are not the goal, but a means to achieve the goal, which is to invite participants to enjoy the beauty of the southern coast of Java Island.

There is no intention of making Bentang Jawa the "hardest" or "most challenging" event, which may only be completed by the toughest athletes; however, there is an expectation that cyclists who intend to participate in Bentang Jawa, have had sufficient cycling experience and/or a reasonable level of fitness.

There is no definite limit whether a cyclist will be able to follow and complete Bentang Jawa. Here are some narrative that we can convey related to the matters.

If you are a cyclist who is used to cycling more than 150 KM and/or in one week you are used to traveling > 250 KM, then Bentang Jawa might be the next challenge for you. Likewise, if you are a cyclist who has and/or frequently participates in endurance sports events such as Audax > 300 KM, Long Distance Triathlon (such as Ironman 140.6), and similar sports involving long distance cycling activities.

If you are someone who is experienced in other endurance sports, such as marathons, trail running, but has never or is just starting out or rarely cycles, you may be physically strong enough, but ask yourself: do you have enough experience and ability to ride a bicycle in busy and open public traffic?

Another factor to consider is whether you are someone who likes, enjoys, and can endure cycling in solitude. It should be noted that Bentang Jawa must be completed alone (solo) or in pairs (pairs) without any assistance from Bentang Jawa or any support team. If you've been cycling in groups more often or don't like cycling alone, it's a good idea to try before deciding to sign up.

Bentang Jawa is a challenging long distance cycling race that is sure to be an unforgettable experience, but we also recognize that Bentang Jawa is not for "everyone". Bentang Jawa upholds the principle that cycling is a sport for everyone, regardless of their level of ability; and to become cyclists, we don't have to go cycling for a certain distance, climb hundreds of meters, stay in the saddle for ten hours, or choose one "genre" of cycling. As long as you ride your bike, near or far, and sharing the road or trail during the ride, you are a cyclist and we love you.

ABOUT CUT OFF TIME (COT)

During the survey, it took the Bentang Jawa team 150 hours to complete the entire route at a casual pace. Casual in the sense of: (1) Average moving speed of 20 kph; (2) Overnight at hotel every night; (3) Stop for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner; (4) Taking the time to talk to friends or locals we meet on our way; (5) On average, each person experiences technical problems 2 times on the way; (6) Stop to wait when the weather is too dangerous.

Based on those survey timing, Bentang Jawa team rounded the time cut off time to 156 hours or 6.5 days. In comparison, the long distance cycling event Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) is 1220 KM which must be covered in 90 hours, while Bikingman Oman is 1060 KM which must be covered in 120 hours.

There are two checkpoints (CP) on the route. Each CP has its own time limit. Participants who do not succeed in reaching CP within the time limit, can still continue and complete Bentang Jawa route, but will be out of the general classification (will be explained further in the Race Guide).

If you're chasing certain position in the final leaderboard, then you'll probably trying to maximize your cycling time and reduce rest and/or sleep time. But if your goal is to finish before the cut off time, then you don't need to sacrifice rest and/or a night's sleep, as long as you can cover a distance of 230 - 250 KM in one day.

Whatever the cyclist's choice and target, Bentang Jawa route will pass through a series of beautiful small towns and offer cyclists the flexibility to adjust their strategy.

BASIC RULES

1. Cycling from start to finish through a predetermined route. Mass start for all participants, with two race categories: open man, open woman, team. The fastest one wins.
2. The nature of the activity is unsupported. There is no help from third parties such as family, relatives, and/or friends. Assistance can use or utilize public services/services such as workshops, stalls, hotels, as long as these services are also available for other cyclists. Assistance from foreign parties (local residents, other road users, etc.) as long as it is not requested, is allowed.
3. Not allowed for drafting (except in one team).
4. All forward movements must use their own power, must not be pushed (by motorbikes/cars/other cyclists) or use other assistive devices such as e-bikes.
5. All cyclists must keep their proof of cycling (such as GPS in the form of a GPX file, or activity logs on Strava)
6. GPS tracker must always be active; inactivity within 1 day (24 hours) is considered to have resigned from the .
7. Must have insurance coverage, use of helmet, and bike light. Not having one of them is deemed to have resigned (scratched) from the race.
8. Cyclists must obey and respect the applicable traffic rules.
9. Cyclists follow and adhere to the spirit of unsupported and equality.
10. Bentang Jawa does not provide support in any form including security, ambulance and medical, mechanical, evacuation or other forms of assistance.

The above regulations will be explained further in the RULES & REGULATION section.

WHAT IS “UNSUPPORTED”?

Since we announced the existence of Bentang Jawa, we have received many questions about what "Unsupported" or “Independent" means. Actually this is not a new concept. Famous cycling events such as Audax/Randonneuring are among the pioneers that put forward the concept of independent / self-reliance cycling.

In simple terms, cycling independently or unsupported ride means that cyclists have to rely on themselves to complete Bentang Jawa route. This means that cyclists may not bring, ask for, or accept assistance from third parties such as friends, relatives, relatives, family, acquaintances, and local residents in any form. All necessities for cyclists, including clothes, spare equipment, water, food and medicine, etc., must be brought by the cyclist himself since the start of the race or purchased on the way. Although it is undeniable that, in practice, interaction with local residents or acquaintances is still possible in receiving any assistance from any party, the basic principles of independence and equality must still be upheld.

Ask yourself:

1. Is this assistance/facility provided because of my relationship with the donor? If the answer is YES, then the assistance violates the principles of independence and equality.
2. Are the facilities/assistance I received also available to the public/other cyclists? If the answer is NO, then the assistance violates the principles of independence and equality.

Using public facilities/services are allowed. What kind of public facilities/services? Stalls, restaurants, workshops, bicycle repair shops, hotels, inns, boarding houses, inns, homestays, government offices (such as police, army, post offices), and others.

Here are some examples of questions we have and frequently received:

• I will be followed by cars/motorcycles/friends/family throughout the journey and I can assure you that there will be no contact or assistance of any kind. Is this considered a violation?

• This is a violation. Even if there is no physical contact or assistance, this is considered a "moral aid" and can influence how participants make decisions and take risks during the trip.

• Bentang Jawa route passes by my house (or my friends and family), can I stop by?

• No, because this house does not considered as public services/facilities available to all other participants.

• I stop by a food stall/inn owned by my family/relatives or stop by a workshop owned by my friend, is this considered a violation?

• If the facility is open to the public and available to all other participants, then this is allowed. However, if the facility is only available to you in certain situations, for example, the workshop is actually closed, but has been opened specifically for you because someone requested it, then this is considered a violation.

• I am offered food, drink and accommodation by a stranger/local resident during the race, is this considered a violation?

• As long as the assistance is not requested by the participant, the participant may accept the assistance. Please note, it is the participant's responsibility to prove that the assistance was not requested by the participant.

• Can I ask my family, colleagues, friends or relatives to show me the way/direction OR book accommodation/public facilities for me?

• This is considered a violation, because this means participants relying on the help of others.

• Can I book a hotel that I will use during the race?

• Reserving a hotel/place to stay is allowed AFTER START has started. The exceptions are for hotels at START locations and FINISH locations, which can be booked at any time.

• Can I send logistics/supply to certain locations (eg hotels, addresses of relatives/acquaintances) for later pick up and use during the race?

• This is considered a violation of the principle of equality, because not all participants have relatives/acquaintances along the route. Sending logistics/supply to certain locations (even if they are general service providers) such as hotels/inns also means that participants with "unlimited" budgets can theoretically prepare logistics in all cities they pass through, while other participants don't, again this violates the principle of equality.

These are just a few examples of situations that might be encountered during the race, the Race Guide and FAQ will provide many more examples.

The principles of "independence" and "equality" are one of the main values of Bentang Jawa, a violation of these principles means that cyclists are considered to have been scratched from the competition.

REGISTRATION

Registration date has yet to come. The flow of the registration process will be as follows (date and month below are tentative and will be confirmed at a later date):

1. Interested parties must register their interests via the e-form provided (TBC). There is no charge at this stage, but we ask for your help only registering if you have read the "race guide" thoroughly AND are really interested in joining Bentang Jawa. Bentang Jawa is a non-profit community manned by volunteers, applicants who are just "trying" will stretch our already limited resources going through the selection process and assessing "serious" applicants. We really appreciate your cooperation in this matter.
2. Bentang Jawa team will select applicants for the 75 available slots (TBC). Bentang Jawa will select participants based on their level of experience in endurance sports in general, and cycling in particular. The decision of the Bentang Jawa team is final. There is no waiting list system.
3. The results of the selection will be announced, and prospective participants who pass the selection must confirm their participation by full payment of the registration fee within the specified payment period**
4. Payments made after the payment period closed will not be accepted and the slot will be deemed forfeited. There is no waiting list system.
5. Confirmed participants will receive a series of follow-up information from June to August.
6. Race Pack collection will be carried out R-1 (12 August 2023)