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STAGE 6 (From MADIUN to MALANG)
Dean was the first victim, followed by his wife.
While I looked around for the doctor, I knew it was not going to
be easy. 'Lagi pergi makan!' (out for dinner), said one of
the committee members. While waiting in the lobby, I overheard the manager
of the Thai team talking to the receptionist, asking for a doctor
as well. 'My boys are very sick! Please arrange a doctor
quickly'. Finally, one hour later they came. The Jamsostek
ambulance had been with us from the start back in Jakarta (it
seemed ages ago).
 On
the picture left: Dean Iversen, one day earlier still smiling...
Three guys on sandals and worn out jackets introduced themselves
as 'the doctors'. They did not speak one word of English.
The Thai manager asked me to translate for him and we went to his
teams' room. One Thai guy was in the toilet vomiting, another lay
with cramps in bed. The smell of sweat, ammoniac and vomit was
unbearable. The doctors looked at the sick as if they had never
seen a sick person before. One of them felt the Thai's head. It
took five seconds before he concluded: 'Panas....' (hot).
And then the three doctors (I think one of them was actually the
driver) looked again in silence at the patient. 'He needs
medicines for his stomach!', shouted the Thai team leader.
They didn't have any. We had to buy it in the pharmacy ourselves.
Dean and his wife were also in bad shape. He needed help quickly. We didn't
hesitate any longer and took them in the ambulance to the nearest
hospital. Finally a doctor in a white uniform, I thought, but he had blood all
over his hands. He was working on a guy who still had his helmet
on his head, behind some
curtains. However, he did have the time to hand out some plastic bags so
they could continue vomiting. More patients came in. The Iranian
team. It became obvious we had been the victim of food poisoning.
The hospital was like a slaughterhouse and when the committee
people came to check us out, they immediately decided to move them
to the Catholic hospital, which was cleaner. I jumped in the front
seat of the ambulance, all the patients were loaded into the back.
With the sirens loudly on we were chasing the dimly lit streets of Madiun. But after one kilometer, I noticed the driver was slowing
down. I asked him: 'Do you know where the other hospital is?' A
short silence. He still looked dazed at the road in front of
him. '.....Engak tahu'. He had absolutely no idea.`
 It was midnight when we finally arrived in 'Santa something'
hospital. I received an sms from Fred and Rene who had opened a
bottle of champagne back in Jakarta, as our bet (one month of no
alcohol) was over. I was overlooking 7 or 8 patients, all lined up
on stretchers and all in pain.
Around one I returned to the hotel. I heard that most of the
Japanese team were also down by diarrhea. And they were
wearing the green, yellow and mountain jerseys! Apparently all the teams
that had stayed in hotel Riyad in Solo were suffering from food
poisoning.
The next morning more problems. Andre, Jacob and Uwe were not
feeling well, but nevertheless they decided to start. Our position
in the team classification was too good to give up.
But the pain was unbearable. Andre was the first to
drop out. Jacob and Uwe finished safely with the peloton in
Malang, but they were more dead then alive. And the pain was
worse. It didn't look good. Before dark we were all terrible sick,
including Matthijs, the drivers, the mechanic and myself. Walking
through the hotel you could here people vomiting on both sides of
the hallway. It was not nice and it did not look good for the
BuGils team....
STAGE 6 (From MALANG to JEMBER)
Only Uwe managed to get back on the saddle again. Jacob was
just too sick. So we continued with only one rider
representing the BuGils Group in the Tour d'Indonesia. The others
of the BuGils Team and their wives hired a minibus and took off to
Bali, where we would meet up with them at the finish. That was,
IF Uwe could manage to stay in the course for another three
stages. I was back in the Team Car, this time with Zul behind the
wheel again. Next to him sat Hidayat, the mechanic that never
managed to repair his own bicycle.
What could go wrong this time? Not much, I
thought. With only rider there was not much to worry about.
Matthijs urged us to come quickly to the start, as all cars were
lined up already. We had only 20 minutes left. But Zul was gone.
Nobody knew where he was. Finally he arrived, he had been at the
toilet with stomach problems. Now we had only 10 minutes left. If
Murphy would have been with me on this trip, he would have agreed
to the BuGils Law more then the Murphy's law: The car
didn't start. We pushed the car, it didn't work. A mechanic from
the street had a look under the hood and, with only two minutes to
go before the start of the race, we were back in business.
 Right after the start, some 10 riders escaped.
They were all Indonesians, keen to get their first etappe win.
Luckily for Uwe, the speed in peloton was relatively slow, so he
could keep up. I was slowly recovering in the back of the car and
we had only one rider to feed, so it was an easy day.
Our mechanic turned out to be a well read man. Once in a while he
would go from his home in Sidoarjo to Surabaya, just to read books
in the library. He knew a lot about Holland, was building a
miniature windmill (after he copied a picture from a book) and now
had a 'banner making business'. 'Rame sekali
kemarin, Pak! (it was very busy before, sir),
with the national day. I had to make a lot of spanduk
(banners)...'. He shook his head, indicating that it obviously
had been a busy period for Hidayat. He wanted to make drawings
with bicycles on it, but the special paint was too expensive. A
likeable guy. Zul and Hidayat had fun behind the slow moving
peloton. Kids on the streets asked for cigarettes. 'Beli aja
sendiri di warung!' (you can buy yourself in the shop!) they
shouted back, while laughing and smoking a kretek. In the
meanwhile, Uwe fought for every meter. He was a professional who
did races all over the world. He did it to make a living, he could
not stop. If he would stop, he could start his 'banner
business' in Dusseldorf, and he was just not ready for that yet..
 The ten Indonesians arrived first in Jember,
followed by the peloton at 6 minutes. Uwe was still in the race.
In the general classification he was 8th, at 6 minutes and 55
seconds behind the yellow jersey.
Two stages to go. So far we've had a lot of
struggles, but also two etappe victories. Not bad. Not bad after
all... In the evening I do the daily shopping in the local Mata
Hari of Jember. Lots of water, some isotonic drinks and some cans
of Cola. Where I needed to buy 5 apples before, I now need to buy
only one. People stare at me, because I take my time to look for
the biggest apple in the store; I am lifting them one by one. No
rotten apples for Uwe....
Bartele
Tomorrow: JEMBER - BANYUWANGGI
The Criterium:
http://www.bartele.com/newsletters/Aug27nl2006.htm
Bandung-Cirebon:
http://www.bartele.com/newsletters/Aug28nl2006.htm
Cirebon-Purwokerto:
http://www.bartele.com/newsletters/Aug29nl2006.htm
Purwokerto-Solo:
http://www.bartele.com/newsletters/Aug30nl2006.htm
Solo-Madiun:
http://www.bartele.com/newsletters/Sept01nl2006.htm
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