“Quickie ride tomorrow, Malipay, 6/6:30AM, Daang Hari PNP outpost?”

That was my text message Monday night to a few people when I realized I could do a quick ride the next morning around Malipay (again), while looking for people who are available & might want to join me.

Tantan responded telling me they’ll be meeting at 7:30 A.M.

“Who?” I asked.

“South Cycle. Wanna join?”

My heart skips a beat. Then another. Then another. Eventually it starts to beat a little bit faster than normal. South Cycle, I thought…

The South Cycle riders have become friends of mine but I have never really ridden with them as the main group. Main reason, I think, is because their primary game is downhill riding… and I’m still chicken to try downhilling.

I psyche myself too much on the hardcore stuff (downhill cycling, FYI!). Gotta slap & remind myself to take it little by little. Beginner trails first then slowly progress. But I will try it out. One day. When? I don’t know.

Anyway, I told Tantan I’ll join them if I can. I was planning on a real quick ride so I could get back home early, but with their 7:30 A.M. meet-up, plus allowance for late-comers, I was having second thoughts.

My subconscious kept reminding me how bored I get during solo rides. As with it being more risky as I won’t have anyone I trust with me if something happens while inside the trails. With these arguments I’ve decided to join the South Cycle group the next morning.

Not sure if Tantan has told the group I will be joining but I didn’t dare arrive late. In this ride I was looking at myself as the guest in their group ride.

As soon as my alarm went off I stood up and started preparing… and looking for food!

When I arrived at the meeting place there was only 1 person from the group there, Ace.

After only an hour and a half of waiting (!!!) we were almost complete, with Coach Eboy Farr informing the others he’ll just catch up. Plans were made to meet him at the store inside the Malipay community and we’re off, finally! But not without Tantan and Theo bugging me to lead. Me? The guest? Take the reins, and lead? No thanks

We head towards the Daang Reyna rotunda. The pedaling was easy. Didn’t they think it was getting a bit late, I thought to myself, but I didn’t care. At least we were already rolling.

Along the way someone called out to me. When I looked on the other side of the street I saw Jerome, a.k.a. Bornok23 in the forums. He was alone. I assumed he was taking a road ride. I signaled to him about joining us. So he made a U-turn as I stopped & waited, with Theo even encouraging me to convince him to join us.

The usual pleasantries were exchanged when he caught up to me. Questions about where he has been, where he was about to ride, and the never-absent invitation to join us in the trails. He was hesitant. His chain was making noises. It was dry. He hasn’t lubed it yet. With the sudden uphill shocks of Malipay he was quite concerned about breaking his chain. And the never-absent (un)reasoning of, “No, it won’t,” made him accept my invitation… I think.

Thinking about it now maybe he did accept my invitation to shut me up. Or maybe his conscience was bothering him about not being able to attend the Philmofo Christmas party and to make up for it he decided to accept my invitation, knowing he has a bigger chance of breaking his chain.

After the first uphill climb, what we call the Otso-otso, Jerome finally decided not to continue. His chain was complaining too much. So we said our good-byes and we all continued on with the ride.

Like I said earlier these guys regularly go downhill biking. In the downhill sections, twisty or not, they were going too fast for my taste! It was fun, and at the same time scary, to watch. Seeing how they easily control their bikes, how they are flowing as one with the bike AND the trail was pushing me to try and do the same.

I didn’t take a giant leap. I was still cautious, just pushing my speed a little faster than I’m normally comfortable with. And it was fun!

Even on a section which Ondoy (Typhoon Ketsana) initially destroyed a new line was found: the left off-camber side of the heavily eroded rut. Past attempts to ride the rut would cause one to hit the pedals/cranks on the immediate sides, thus the new off-camber line.

Naturally, my first few attempts on this line in the previous rides were ridden quite slow for fear of the tires sliding into the rut. But as I watched Crazy (a.k.a. Alvin) attack that section like it was flat land again made me say, “Fuck it, if he didn’t crash I could probably do it, too. Use the momentum!”

And that’s exactly what I did. As soon as I passed the rutted section, as soon as my elation was starting, I brought my concentration back to the trail as immediately after the rut is a small 1-foot drop.

I shift my weight back to prevent a possible endo, but I was confident. I have ridden this countless times. Then the last dip of this section and the sudden uphill climb. Still confident I continued pedaling up as I have done before and marking the end of this section is a very short single track curtained by tall wild grass, then exiting into the main wide tracks.

The rest of the ride was the same, especially after meeting Eboy at the store. Him, Crazy, and a couple of others were all leading, mashing, pedaling hard around the trails, while I do my best to stick to their rear wheels. Or at least keep the distance of 1 rider between us constant.

Not my regular style of riding. But, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it was daaaaamn fun! I felt my heart rate go up, my sweat pouring, my arms numbing, my legs aching, but my big smile stuck to my face like an old strip of duct tape on an idling car’s hood under the burning sun.

At the tamarind tree after the winding single tracks, which usually marks the end of our Malipay ride, we rested for quite a long time. Everyone was breathing hard, smiling, laughing, exchanging stories and jokes. Some even checking for little problems on their bikes.

It was getting late so when they still decided to do one last section of a new trail I’ve never ridden before I had to pass, but not before vowing to try it out next time. A few others also had to bail out early, or joined me towards the exit for different reasons: previous commitment (Alfie), using a different bike (Ace sold his XC bike and was using a heavier rig, Lake a.k.a. Edward was using his son’s smaller bike since he still had to have some finishing touches done on his bike), and a tired first-timer (Candyman, an employee of South Cycle).

Thanks for the invite, and thanks for the ride! When are we riding again?