Sunday, April 26, 2009

CROSSCOUNTRY: BANAUE-SAGADA

This bike ride was on: May 31, 2008
Total distance: approx. 70kms. (maybe more, coz my cyclo is not accurate during breaking when downhilling)
Duration: 10 hours
Terrain: technical (though there are cemented roads)

My college friend and colleague, Vei, left Manila at 10pm Friday (053008) and arrived at Banaue around 8-9am Saturday (053008). From there we setup our bikes, bought souvenirs, and carboloaded.






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It was one hell of a ride, with having only a few hours sleep during the bus ride, we headed off towards Bontoc. Before Bontoc, we passed by Banaue. Amazing sights I tell you, traveling only by bike was great! You can stop and take shots anytime you like. This is not a ride for the newbies (as in you just got recently into biking), unless you plan on doing it for days.













We had lunch at Mount Polis, where fog invaded the town. After that, downhill bliss. But it got very uncomfy during the downhill. From Mount Polis to down to Banaue Rice Terraces, the downhill was approx 40mins.! My Fox fork was used to the max, a full sus is highly recommended.













When we got to Bontoc, it was still 7 kms. before the junction (a Y-road), the left going to Baguio and to the right going to Sagada. It started to rain in Bontoc, puro ambon lan naman. Upon reaching the junction, 10kms of pure uphill pa! All technical terrain, my worn-out Maxxis Ignitor which I used for more than a year felt almost like a roadie tire hehe.

My crank (or so I thought!) started to squeak, as if it were grinding something. Which was a problem pala with the chain, not being greased well. (Determined at Dayuhan's house at Sagada na.

The night caught up on us, when we were barely a few kms. to the Sagada town proper. Boy were there hordes of dogs per house. We settled at the Green House Inn at 8pm.

Next: Sagada trail ride with Steve (Dayuhan) and Joey (his son)...



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