Off-Vespa Ride: the day I almost gave up on mountain biking!

phone pic courtesy of Yey

The picture above depicts a very serene landscape… an uphill, newly-paved, winding road with clear view of the morning skies and lush greens on each side. But zoom in by the roadside and you’d see someone who’s not on the bike but leaning onto it instead. Unfortunately, that had to be me.

It was the morning of December 23, Sunday, the day before Christmas eve. There I was, gasping for breath and beginning to question myself why I even considered going up this so called “cardiac hill” which to me was more likely to cause a “cardiac arrest” than any leisurely cardio-boosting adrenalin pump-up. I was with Yey, Bimbo & Des who are basically beginners in this biking trail which involves mostly rocky dirt roads that stretches from Sta. Rosa in Laguna all the way up to Silang, Cavite and back. The four of us had a good 15 to 30 minutes head start from the rest of the Sabak boys who’ve been up there countless times before. But as you could see in the picture, they still managed to catch up with me.

Yey and Bimbo managed to make it on the first stop uphill called the ‘buko stop’ (so named since bikers can rest & relax there to rehydrate with some refreshing coconut water after the grueling uphill climb). Des & I had to stop again and sit on fallen tree trunk and were already on the verge of giving up. At that time, I personally never felt that a coconut was worth all that trouble. But of course, I kept that dorky comment to myself. Then, the last two of the Sabak riders (Edwin & Jun) stopped by and casually chatted with us. It was more like a pep talk and they wouldn’t let us be left there by ourselves despite our prodding for them to go ahead to the next stop. Maybe they sensed that we’re ready to go back the other way and wait in our cars. hahaha! So the four of us went on. On hindsight, I’m so glad the Sabak boys encouraged us to go on with the ride. Here’s how I look upon reaching that buko stop.

pic courtesy of Manu

Despite the sweat and that “near-death” experience, I obviously cannot hide my ‘happiness.’ That’s the look of somebody who’s just thankful to make it there alive.

The rest of the ride was all dusty and bumpy but was truly rewarding. The small communities we passed through were all biker friendly even giving high-fives to kids along the way. In fact, I’ve never said that much ‘good morning!’ and ‘Merry Christmas!’ to strangers on a per square meter basis.

This bike ride was indeed a triumph of sorts on different levels for all of us.

• Read Yey’s personal account of that bike ride.
• Here’s Bimbo’s story as he conquered his own personal demons
• Pictures taken on the trail that day posted in Manu’s multiply page.

We rode for about 4 hours covering some 24 kilometers of combined uphill, sloping, downhill, paved, grassy, dusty and rocky roads.

Would I ever do it again? HELL YES! But I’ll try to pedal all the way up the next time… or the next time after that!

Cardiac? Padyak, Sabak!

-o-
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J0HNRANA

john[dot]rana[at]gmail[dot]com