There are many things I respect and admire about the bike community in Jogja. I think the bike community here is a great example of a democratic, diverse, and horizontal bike culture. There are all sorts of bike communities, all doing their own thing, but occasionally they’ll come together for simple events – such as a weekly bike pilgrimage to Warung Ijau.
Every Sunday morning, starting around 5 am, the cyclists begin the slow journey uphill from Jogja towards the Volcano Merapi in search of snacks. Well, not just in search of snacks, but towards one snack shack – Warung Ijau. Some groups bike on the main roads, others through the small towns, and others take a winding network of dirt paths and single tracks uphill the 15 km to one tiny snack shack. Between 5 AM and 8 AM hundreds and hundreds of cyclists bike through to eat boiled bananas, and fried tempeh among other nomz. After stopping at Warung Ijau some people turn back to Jogja, and others continue further on towards other bike adventures.
The coolest thing about Warung Ijau (because I need a good reason to get up at 5 AM in the morning – and the snacks are good, but not 5 AM good) is to see all the different types of people and bikes there. Although there are many diverse and distinct bike communities in Jogja doing their own thing, at some point everyone will end up biking to Warung Ijau.
I think having events like this are important for bike culture in any city. I’ve been trying to think of examples from where I’ve organized around biking (Minneapolis and Quito) that are similar to the experience of Warung Ijau – an event where everyone from the various bike groups show up, but so far I haven’t been able to think of anything that expresses this same experience. The Ciclopaseo is Quito is the closest I can think of – but a lot of active people in the bike community don’t attend the Ciclopaseo. The Greenway in Minneapolis is another close comparison – it’s a space where all cyclists bike through at least once in a while, but it’s not the same experience when it’s a place, not an event. I’ve been spending a lot of time recently trying to think about how to replicate this type of informal event in other bike communities, because I think it’s really awesome. I’ll let you know if I think of something helpful.
Anyways – this is a very short video I made this morning while I was sitting on the sidewalk eating some boiled bananas and watching the cyclists go by.
Woman On a Wheel 