Rondaride Bocaue 2014

A short video of the Rondaride 2014. 

Enduro Philippines

24 - Bato - Bandera, DRT, Bulacan Friendly 

Enduro Race (Invitational)

Our good friend Marvin sent me a message inviting me to a friendly enduro race in DRT, Bulacan. I did not know how to react because racing is not on my mind or has crossed my mind since I started mountain biking. Then I got curious, I asked Marvin "What is an enduro race?"

Track Reading

Here is what I got and let me enumerate it:

1. Enduro racing is all about technical skills and having balls made of steel, you need to be stout - hearted if you want to succeed in this field of biking.

2. It is composed of a liaison (LS) and a special stage (SS).  A liaison stage involves a lot of climbing. All participants will be climbing together and will be given a certain amount of time to reach the special stage. If a person fails to reach the SS in the allotted time, he will be thrown into the ravine with his bike, JK! If the LS time limit is 60 minutes and you reach the SS at 61 minutes, the extra minute will be added to your SS time.

3. The special stage is like the 15th and 30th of the month, it is payday for all the hard work that you have done! This is pretty straight forward, you descend as fast as you can and be the champ if you have the fastest time.

Bikers are given a minute or more of interval to avoid chaos in the trail.

4. Enduro racing involves a lot of LS and SS, in 24-Bato-Bandera there are 3 LS and 3 SS. Please send me a message if I got it all wrong or if I missed something.

The race is on a Saturday and our friend Marvin invited me to a track read or track familiarization 2 days before the event (Unfortunately I was not able to join the event as I was still recovering from muscle fatigue.) We parked at the Bandera exit and headed to 24 (Bente kwatro) with our bikes and we did a little detour at the 24 falls as seen on the photo above and continued going up.

That was my first time in 24 and it was a nice and challenging experience. I have been to Bato - Bandera trail via Jampol Quarry (Dubai to some bikers) and I am not ashamed to admit that I walked most of the descents that time.

24 was the first stage of the race, the LS was gruesome it was a 2 hour mountain climbing and buhathlon experience. The terrain got steeper and the air got thinner as we reach the top. The SS 1 was a single track with a 25 - 30 foot ravine on the right side. The SS 2 and 3 are almost the same with steep technical descents, a v - shaped trail and it won't let you get away with a slowish speed IMHO, the terrain will encourage you to descend with a bit of speed as slowing down will only make your rear tire wash out and lose control. I remember talking to myself as my rear tire was washing out while I was trying to slow down on a steep descent "Am I going to be on my brakes the whole way down?" Hell no! I released my brakes and immediately got back the control of my bike.

Photo courtesy of Marvin Mendoza.

Real De Cacarong

Sunset Ride from jigs on Vimeo.

Real de cacarong is one of our regular destinations, especially if we have newbies tagging along, although some newbies especially the ex-bmx riders are equipped with skills needed for ripping the trails. With the help of our friend Google map, we discovered different trails leading to Cacarong. This one is our latest route and along the way are a few quarry sites, or "playgrounds" as we call it.

Quarry sites are perfect for thrill-seeking bikers like me and my friends. Pinagtulayan Quarry and Jampol Quarry, both in DRT, are perfect examples. Fast and rough downhills, river crossings, zero cellphone signal, challenging "uphells" and locals that treat you like a celebrity. You've got to be self-sufficient though for the nearest asphalt road might be an hour away or more.

Today's blazing summer heat is unbearable. Climate change is changing the way we live and for us bikers, the time that we ride. Most bikers ride early in the morning especially on weekends. Some will arrive home before lunch (short ride), some will arrive home after sunset (long ride), some will arrive home the next day (harkor ride), some will never get home (probably lost in the woods or mountains and will die from starvation or from the inability to post photos of their food on Facebook.) Just kidding!

What is the best way to avoid heat stroke? Stay at home and watch teleseryes or post photos of your food on Facebook the whole day. Although we are bikers and we love to ride our bikes whenever possible. The sun is very angry for no reason at all during 2:00 to 3:00 pm, so we try to avoid biking during those times. We either ride early in the morning and go home before the sun gets really angry or ride after 3:00 pm (hapon ride/ semi - night ride, as we call it) and bike home without worrying of dehydration or heat stroke. Plus you get to see amazing sunsets!

Puning Cave via Turungisan Road

There are 3 ways to go to Puning Cave:

1. The easiest way is via Norzagaray and Angat, it is accessible by car, mtb and motorcycle. (100% road)

2. Via Pinagtulayan Trail. 60% Road and 40% trail. Mtb's, dirt bikes and 4x4's often use this trail.

3. Via Matictic - Turungisan. 70% Road and 30% Trail, with a paved 2-3Km uphill resembling "the wall" of Timberland.

Our version of gopole.

Photo courtesy of Enrico Parulan.

This is a fun trail, I was chased by a huge bee for around 5 minutes which left me gasping for air, a young horse jumped out of the bush in front of me and ran like a scared dog, how cool is that? 

Photo courtesy of Enrico Parulan.

 Riding trails has its downsides, flat tires are the most common, followed by a broken chain. On this ride, we had 2 flats and 1 crash from lolo Tong, our most senior member at 53 years old, good thing he was wearing a helmet however, he injured his left hand and biked with 1 hand up to Shell, Norzagaray where Enrico's car is parked.

Mt. Balagbag, Rodriguez, Rizal

Unexpected Mt. Balagbag aka Helipad Ride

(2,400 feet above sea level)

This is our 2nd time to licao-licao via brick town. It was raining the day before so the trail was wet and muddy, the weather was a bit cloudy which is perfect for a long ride.

Brick town has this aura of peace and calmness. We were quite relaxed while traversing bricktown after quite a bit of pedalling from Sta. Maria, Bulacan.

Some really nice bikes at the Licao terminal. 

After eating our lunch, one of our buddies suggested that we climb Mt. Balagbag since it was really cloudy and it would be easier to climb with that kind of weather, after a quick votation, we started climbing. After 5 minutes, it started raining and we hurriedly went back to the terminal but we were already drenched and we decided to push on, rain or storm!

The mud really sticks to your tires and shoes and we were all laughing when we took a short break. We were pushing our bikes most of the time because of the slippery trail.

The trail gets steeper as you ascend, there is also a rock garden near the peak!

Lo and behold, a 360 degree view of clouds!

It was really cold and windy at the top, it felt like we were in Tagaytay on a cold night.

Descending was really fun and slippery!

We finally saw a glimpse of manila bay on the way down, it was an amazing view! 

On our next Licao trip, we will check out the mahogany trail!

Malangaan Cave (Marble Cave)

A Ride to Malangaan Cave @ Tukod, San Rafael, Bulacan via DRT

This place is for adventurers who wants to see and experience something new. The trek to the Malangaan cave entrance was the icing on the cake for me on this one, it was so awesome the it felt like I am in a movie scene. The biking experience is more on endurance and it was a bit boring to be honest because of the minimal trail and lack of breath taking views but what was waiting in Brgy. Tukod was worth the effort. 

Things to do in Malangaan Cave:

1. Spelunking

2. Swimming (natural pool)

3. picnic (huts are available for a small fee)

PS: 

1. Bring your bike locks if you want to explore the Malangaan cave.

2. Wear your all terrain shoes or sandals. 

Angeles Forest Bike Trail: A Specialized Day

Team Katipuneros.

Ariana and Sir Donjie Dormitorio. 

Specialized booth with demo bikes. 

                           

Licao - Licao, Rodriguez, Rizal

Licao via Jackhammer and Diablo

This is our first ride to Licao-licao, we are supposed to go there via bricktown but on our way, we met this solo rider from Marilao who was also going to Licao who was kind enough to guide us to Jackhammer and Diablo.

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First up was the "Jackhammer" and we were in for a surprise, it was a long and bumpy descent with wide turns and a ravine on the right with adobe bricks on the trail that resembles those of Intramuros' followed by a long bumpy and slippery ascent because of the bricks, grass and moist.

Thank you, sir! 

Next up is "Diablo", a long single track descent with some technical parts were we are forced to carry our bikes but most of the trail is rideable and fun. Some parts of the trail are tall grasses (taller than me and I am 5'8") and a river crossing followed by a double track with a river on the left side.

A ride to Licao is not complete without a full meal at the terminal, meeting other bikers and exchanging stories about biking and destinations.

On our next ride to Licao, we will climb Mt. Balagbag.