(before the downhill to San Jose L-R Elias, George, me, Owen)Here's a run down of our trip:
1. Caloocan to Litex (via Nova Bayan, Commonwealth Ave) - paved road, rolling hills
2. Litex to crossing San Jose - Montalban (paved, treacherous downhill)
3. San Jose to Macabod (paved steep uphill, then rough rolling hills)
4. Macabod to Licao-Licao (rough rolling hills)
5. side trip Licao-Licao to falls in Mt. Balagbag (punishing rough uphill portion then rolling hills)
6. Licao - Licao to Tungko (very rough road and then there is about 5km very treacherous downhill in Pangarap)
7. Tungko to Nova (paved road)
Total distance for the trip is 72.89 km.
We found a small brick village smack in the middle of an acacia forest somewhere midway between Licao-Licao and Tungko. Its a small community (with a brick courtyard and brick houses) detached from civilization. It was like being transported into another time and place. Unfortunately our camera was out of juice.
Here's some photos we took along the way:
Pit stop for some fresh buko (at 10 pesos only!) and some santol
ready for the next legEnjoying the downhill. I was going down nice and fast on this downhill section only to encounter a huge truck in the opposite direction (going down the opposite hill) hogging the small road. So much for using the downward momentum to attack the next uphill :).
weeeeee!
We cooled down at Balagbag falls (Mt. Balagbag has great killer uphill sections) with some delicious suman (rice cake) we bought in a small store at our pit stop. It was a short walk downhill to the falls and Mother Nature decided to give us a welcome shower 5 minutes after we arrived in the falls. We were too tired and hungry to care. Rain was a welcome respite and our meager lunch was a feast.
(tired and weary and the punishing rough roads are still ahead)
So how punishing were the trails really?
1. Owen blew his rear interior tube. He also has to replace his brake pads. We all have to use our brakes heavily.
2. Raymond (the youngest in our group) went over the handle bar.
3. My left pedal needs to be replaced.
4. Elias' left and right pedals have to be replaced.
5. George cut his left knee. He also has to align both his front and rear wheels. All his rear spokes are loose.
But unlike our two previous MTB trips we didn't have really bloody cuts (last two indicents involved me hehe).
looks like you had fun. what do you do to prepare for such a long and grueling bike ride? any special exercise regiment? What is your pace in both rough and paved roads?
ReplyDeletewe did have lots of fun! preparation? hmm let's see... sleep early, eat right, no alcohol and no smoking. biking is also a "mind over matter" thing. once you see a steep downhill section and you commit to it you'll finish it. hesitate for a second and you will crash (i learned it the hard way). we also do regular night runs (leisurely but using the hardest gear) around the village.
ReplyDeleteon paved roads we do an average of 30 kph. on rough roads its between 10-20 kph depending on road conditions. the fastest I did on a rough downhill is 47.1 kph. we take our time on rough back roads. a sari-sari store signals an "ice-water" pit stop.
thanks for the visit sachou!