Gowes Dies UGM Tempuh Rute Pangandaran-Yogyakarta
Gowes Dies UGM Tempuh Rute Pangandaran-Yogyakarta
This year UGM anniversary is celebrated like before by long distance bike event that is joined by tens of UGM academic community. This time, the route to take by cycling is the Pangandaran-Yogyakarta tracks at a 333-km distance.
"This year the route is 33 km longer than that of previous year. We’ve decided to choose Pangandaran as the departure point as the area has not been tried before for the UGM anniversary. Pangandaran is also an interesting tourism spot,” said coordinator of the event, Iswandi.
As many as 45 participants of Gowes event from UGM departed from Pangandaran on Friday, 15 December, and will arrive at UGM on Sunday. The event is also joined by bike communities from cities along the route: Pangandaran, Purwokerto, Purworejo, and Wates.
"The bike event this year is more fun as it is joined by many bike communities, too. Apart from the 61 cyclists from UGM starting out from Pangandaran and Pekalongan, there will 30 cyclists from Pangandaran, 30 from Purwokerto, 10 from Purworejo, 15 from Wates and 20 more from UGM,” he said.
The bike event started in year 2013, taking the the Surabaya-Yogyakarta route. In 2014 the route was between Bandung-Yogyakarta, in 2015 it was Malang-Yogyakarta, while in 2016 it was Jepara-Yogyakarta.
Iswandi added each year the route had its own characteristics that made them unique, This year as it started out on a coastal areas that were lowlands, the bike route will travel more on ascending tracks further into the journey.
"Especially this route will pass two dams, Kubangkakung in Cilacap city and Sempor in Kebumen city, so the route will definitely be not flat,” he said.
Despite this challenge, participants are enthusiastic in the event. It is an arena for them to keep fit as well as refreshing from work routines, better interaction with alumni, not to mention establishing communication with many bike communities.