With Ian’s assurance it will be safe I finally agreed. He assured me we’ll be riding the most newbie-friendly downhill tracks. Plus, he promised to lend me complete safety gear: a full-face helmet, body suit, knee and shin guards.

We also borrowed a DH bike for me to use. A Kona Stab Supreme.

I arrived at the meeting place on time. My riding buddies, Ian and Edwin, weren’t there when I arrived. Are they backing out? Hah! Yeah, right.

The travel was a time suck. Because of both the distance and the hellish traffic on SLEX (South Luzon Expressway — EXPRESS my ass) approaching the toll gates. The distance is bearable. The traffic I’m sure something can be done about, but dare I say making money off of motorists is more important than easing the highway users’ inconvenience. OK, I’m ranting, but seriously. 1 hour and 30 minutes of SLOOOW moving traffic towards the toll gate early in the morning, and the same thing in the afternoon going home (on the same lane/direction), on a Saturday? Common sense dictates something should be done about it! OK, I’m still ranting. I’ll stop this now.

Finally, I started seeing signs reminding people to keep Mt. Makiling clean. In no time we arrived at the UP Los Baños Sunken Garden.

From the very beginning I was experiencing a whole new way of riding: the bike’s setup and body geometry, the cumbersome safety gear strapped on the top tube and hanging from my back, the nice and plush suspension system of the Kona Stab Supreme, the pair of cycling rubber shoes I was wearing and the platform pedals (naturally, I’m not clipped in), and the weight of the downhill bike.

Starting from the parked cars I tried to pedal as far as I could go but it was impossible to pedal it all the way up the Mud Spring tracks. I didn’t take note of the time but if I remember correctly the ascent of pushing the bike up where we started took a little over an hour, including the pit stop at Station 5.

First things first, upon reaching the stores that mark our starting line: fresh buko (coconut)! Natural energy drink. And a much-needed rest. I’m not made for hiking… yet? We’ll see.

I was still wheezing from the uphill push when I noticed my guides and mentors were starting to prepare for the downhill ride. With much effort to push myself up from the bench I was sitting on I started getting my gear ready.

2010 05 01 DH Day – Prepping from Francis Arellano on Vimeo.

Now we’re ready to go. Being a first-timer on this trail and on this bike I was fairly cautious. As long as I can see way way ahead of me I wasn’t scared to let go of the brakes. But as we were riding down a (wide) mountain trail the tracks have non-stop winding curves — and these scared the shit out of me. I still have a way to go in learning to ride turns with speed so I apply the brakes as I approached and slowed myself down to a unimpressive speed.

I’d rather be unimpressive than overshoot the damn cliffs. So I ignore the voice of my self-conscious mocking me about my form. SHUT UP, I thought, shouting at it. I kept alternating between sitting down on the low saddle and standing up on the pedals to be able to use my legs as additional shock absorbers. I felt my feet and legs shaking uncontrollably from the stress of standing too long and from the vibrations from the rough terrain. I’m more used to doing descents much slower than this.

Then I hear the noise, the rattles than can only be associated with bicycles barreling fast down rough terrain. A split second after, as I go slow around the bend, a blurred vision of the downhill rider appears in my peripheral vision. With the streak of yellow on his shorts I recognized him to be Ian. Seeing him pedaling around the curves made me want to slap my hand on my forehead, as I thought to myself how the hell he did that.

I turned my attention back to the trail. With the moss-covered baby heads (rocks embedded into the ground) I had to make sure I’m following a good line and stay alert. Even though I’m not going as fast as I want to I know crashing in this terrain will hurt.

I entered and passed through another right-turning curve. I started to notice the rocks up ahead are slightly bigger than what I’ve just passed. I gripped the handlebar tighter. Then I saw a huge rock in my path. Huge enough to form a small drop. The drop isn’t really a problem, I know I can manage that. What I didn’t know was the interior tube couldn’t. As soon as I passed it I heard a different kind of sound as the fork absorbs everything the trails gives it.

I thought it was a normal thing as I’m only getting acquainted with this bike on this ride. It’s the sound of some kind of metal hitting a hard object, like a rock. I kept riding.

Then my front tire wiggles, which in turn passes it on to the handlebars, then to my hands, then to my arms. I almost lost control. My heart skipped a beat. Then I regained control back.

The trail up ahead curves left. Then I hear a shout. It was Edwin, behind my. Checking me, guiding me.

“What?!” I shouted back.

“Flat!” he said.

I applied the brakes. No wonder I almost lost control, shit, I thought. I thank God and Edwin for staying behind me.

We slowed down and proceeded to fix the flat. More than 1 snakebite pinch flats were found. We even almost ran out of patches!

And finally we’re done. Off we go again to continue the ride!

Knowing Edwin will be staying behind me as a guide Ian went ahead to have his fill of his downhill rush. 5 seconds after taking off I didn’t have any idea where he was. I couldn’t see him anymore.

I focus my concentration back on the trail, looking ahead a few feet in front of me to see what’s coming and to anticipate if I should/could roll over is, jump over it (heh!), or swerve to avoid it.

Finding me too slow Edwin alternated between staying behind me and slowing down to let me pass. Then I saw it again. Similar terrain characteristics of where I think I got the front tire flat. I was too chicken to swerve and, at the same time, too confident with the patch job we just did. I could pull the bike up a little to lessen the impact, I thought.

As I neared the small rock-formed step I pulled on the handlebar. A split second after I did a slight jump on the pedals.

Then I land back down. BLAG! I felt and heard the rear tire touch down on the trail hard. Too hard for it to be a smooth landing. I felt a slight wiggle, this time on the rear. Shit, I thought.

Edwin passed me a few meters back. But on the next curve I saw him riding slow, waiting for me. As soon as I was within earshot I shouted, “Am I flat?”

“Huh?”

“Is my rear tire flat?” I asked again.

“Yes!”

Double shit, I thought, again.

We stopped. I flipped the bike. He got his tools and we started working on the flat. One last patch left. Gulp!

Done. We inflated the tube and got ready to put it in the tire. Edwin pumps while I squeeze the tube checking if it’s inflating.

It wasn’t. Hrmm…

I don’t know why but I checked the front tire. I squeezed it. The tire folded. No air.

No patch. We ran out of.

We looked at each other. We were both disappointed with me not being able to finish the whole downhill ride.

After putting the tube back in the tire I flipped the bike back up, checked our stuff to make sure nothing was left behind, and I started the hike down. Edwin opted to walk down with me. More “mountain bike hiking…” Descending this time.

Watch out for the post about the next Mt. Makiling trip we did which had way way better results than this trip. Stay tuned!

Ride safe, ride hard!

]]> http://travelsandgears.com/2010/05/23/dh-day/feed/ 6 http://travelsandgears.com/2009/03/10/running-on-empty-for-now/ http://travelsandgears.com/2009/03/10/running-on-empty-for-now/#comments Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:11:27 +0000 Craw http://travelsandgears.com/?p=63

Different factors are preventing me from going out 4-wheeling. It has been quite a while since I last ‘wheeled.

That’s the main reason this site has been stagnant. If I haven’t been ‘wheeling, there’s nothing to post, nothing to share, nothing to review.

For this I apologize — but it’s really unavoidable.

Lately, though, the ‘wheeling and trailing I’ve been doing is on 2 wheels, and not the motorized kind. Check out my mountain bike site/blog for now, as that’s what I’ve been updating since I try to go out riding almost every day. It’s called The MTB Junkie @ www.TheMTBJunkie.com

Thanks and happy trails! Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter!

Original forum thread here: Our Off Road Trails Last Year in Cebu

The Eagle Off-Roaders Davao group has been posting excellent and exciting adventure photos for a long time (all this in the 4×4 Philippines forum). So when they started a topic called “The EAGLE’s Ranch” I was quite curious.

At first I thought it’s just a topic showing off one of the members’ properties in Davao, and as usual I was blown away by the offroad action pictures they shared with us.

These guys trail seriously, but still have some damn, good fun — as evident by the facial expressions in the photos, with or without mechanical casualties. Check out all their other pics in this thread in the forum.

I’ll be posting more from them to share with you guys in the near future. Enjoy!

I have seen videos of the Red Bull Rampage (freeride), and Roam and Seasons by The Collective. The two latter videos show the different disciplines of mountain biking. As such I have seen the cool freeride and downhill scenes from these cool videos. With that I have also seen their footage of bails and unsuccessful attempts at their stunts, and, well, I still value my life. I think I’ll just stick to cross-country (XC) biking for now.

Dangerous or not these guys enjoyed! Even when the part-owner of SCC almost collapsed from exhaustion (see image below). Click here to view the other pictures posted at the invite thread on OutdoorHobbies.co.cc

It’s a less than an hour’s bike ride from our meeting place, and that’s taking the long way. I have yet to get the grade of the slope but it’s quite steep. Oh, and this is all road.

So I woke up early. Ate breakfast (carbo-load!), showered, dressed up, decided against wearing my arm warmers as the sun isn’t shining and it has been cloudy for days, put on sunblock (just in case), filled up my hydropack’s bladder with water & ice, kissed the wife, got my helmet, gloves, shades, and proceeded to my bike.

Then I saw the rear tire… flat (freak out #2-A)!

As a new mountain biker I still haven’t purchased the necessary emergency tools I’ll need for, well, emergencies. The day before I passed by the local bike shop and bought a 3-piece Zéfal tire lever set and a patch repair kit.

OK, I thought, I’ll just text my buddies to let them know I might be late… then it hit me: I don’t have my own tire pump yet (freak out #2-B)!

As early as it was I didn’t think there were any open vulcanizing shops yet. Then Frank (my buddy who lives quite near my place) replied to my SMS saying he has 2 spare tire tubes. So I loaded the bike into the car and proceeded to his place.

When I got to Frank’s place he said he was still feeling the hangover from the drinking session he had last Friday (he wasn’t able to ride on Saturday due to the same reason) and he didn’t think he was fit to attack Sisters of Mary’s Hill (freak out #2-C)! So I just thought, F**k it we’ll just ride anywhere.

When I got home I told my wife what happened with the tire and the reason why I had to bring the car (I hate bringing the car when riding) and he said, “We have a foot pump we bought way way before for KH (our eldest son) which he never used…” FREAK OUT #2-D!

But all-in-all the short ride was fun and tiring.

Anyone else out there want to share their freak out experiences?

Here’s the list of how to do it but for the description or explanation of each just check the actual post of the Smiley Earth Blog:

1. Embrace the Simple Joy of Travel
2. Keep Your Needs To A Minimum
3. Go Slow
4. Leave Your Possessions and Obsessions Behind
5. Trust People and you will Receive Free Food and Lodging
6. Learn a Useful Craft or Skill
7. Get Out of the City
8. Find A Job You Love That Entails Travel
9. Embrace Serendipity

Not everything might apply to everyone but I think it’s worth checking out.

Here’s his post introducing the SUV School to everyone, posted at the 4×4PH.com forum:

Attention X Trail owners 4×4 and 4×2, and other interested parties.

Nissan Motor Philippines is opening its SUV School, a driving clinic on how to properly and safely drive and maximize the unique and capable qualities of the Nissan X trail. The school is located [at] NMPI’s manufacturing facility in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

Interested parties may contact your local Nissan dealership.

The school’s off road track was recently constructed and features some very challenging obstacles that may appear unconquerable for vehicles in the “Cute Ute” category but be prepared to be surprised once the instructors guide you thru the track.

4×2 owners are encouraged to participate since a by-pass route along the entire course was made for their vehicles.

The schools main thrust is safe operation and maximizing the “alteza” 4wd system unique to the X Trail.

The best thing about this SUV School is their goal to teach current and future X-Trail owners the correct way to use the vehicle’s 4WD system. This will be a cheaper way to learn than the old-fashioned trial-and-error way.

As a veteran of 4×4 driving clinics headed by Wolf Den I can almost guarantee a 4WD system lecture before the practical driving around the track. It’s important to lay down the basics first (lecture) then apply what you’ve learning in the hands-on driving. 4-wheel driving is very dynamic so the lecture doesn’t stop in the “classroom,” when a problem is encountered in the track the lecture will continue with real live examples. Now isn’t that great? I just don’t know if there’s a fee to attend the school. Let me find out…

I haven’t been to the school mainly because it’s new and I don’t drive a Nissan but I was assured by Wolf Den he will inform us when the non-Nissan owners can visit and maybe try out the track

Here are the pics taken by Rob & Wolf Den (click on a thumbnail to view the larger version):

And the instructor group playing in their creation:

One of the instructors, known in the forum as Difflock, posing: