I have many fond memories of Baguio growing up. Almost every Christmas my family would trek up and spend cozy holidays there. This slowly faded though as Baguio turned into a city just as congested as Manila.
Baguio has become a destination for me again ever since I discovered the various trails in and around the city. Yes, at its outermost parts the pristine pine covered mountains do still exist . . .
Some years back a friend had invited me up to ride. No idea where exactly. All we knew was we wanted to go up and ride anywhere. As I had a company team meeting that week, it was the perfect excuse to go.
Drove up on Sat, slept over at Troy’s house, and started our ride around 7am on Sun. We had intiallly planned to join the Baguio crew on another ride, but due to rain It was cancelled. But the three of us wanted to ride something long that day, and thought, hey, how about Ambuklao? Was supposed to be 30-35km one way, so we figured it was doable.
“Kaya ba natin?”
“Oo kaya siguro. One day ride lang.”
“Ok let’s go”
Sometimes it’s half baked plans that turn out to be memorable adventures.
Started from troy’s house in La Trinidad. First 10-12kms was paved road along Halsema Highway, moderate climbs with the occasional drizzle. I felt good. I felt strong. It was a perfect day to ride. A couple of kms before the guerilla saddle was the trailhead, leading to Ambuklao dam.
What follows is probably the most fun easy dh course i’ve seen, 19kms of twisty fireroads/doubletracks, with berms along the way. It was just screaming speed and high g turns 
I would describe it as forgiving yet enticing. If you’re an adrenaline junky, let go of the brakes, stay low on the bike and carve your corners. It was zigzag all the way down. Those less inclined can take their time, no big rocks or ruts.
The rain also meant lots of mist along the way, which really made for a surreal riding experience. Not a lot of pics taken here as we were having too much fun to stop.
At around 11am or so, we reached Ambuklao dam. And as is the norm with biking, took our time to pose and take shots
Then begins the best part of any ride . . .the uphill climb back to Baguio, all 35kms of it, of which Onie could only comment, ‘I’m so tired, it feels like I’ve had sex with three women in one night . . . ‘ 
So maybe that’s Onie’s secret for being a strong rider . . . ? hehehehe
Anytheway, at km 27 to Baguio, we chanced upon Pingkan Jo’s eatery, which was well stocked with Gatorade and Red Bull. A literal Oasis amidst all this! I think this was around 3pm or so already. Hell, I was grinding at 3-5kph up, and I was seriously questioning a local’s comment that it would only take 3-4 hours back (oh, it takes a car 1 hour to get up, so you guys will take probably around 3 hours), uhm, ok.
Well, at nightfall we were still around 15kms from Baguio, and it was getting colder, and it was starting to rain again. Good thing Onie and I brought lights. Telling some ghost stories along the way didn’t help either . . . eventually our lights died out and we were walking in pitch darkness. No moon, no light, no traffic. Just the lights in the distance of which I keep hoping would be Baguio already.
At km 8, we called it quits. It was about 9pm, and we were resting at a sari-sari store which had some enclosure, a thankful sight on a cold wet night. So when a jeepney pulled over (fortunately it was a sort of turn point for most jeep trips), we negotiated for a ride back to La Trinidad. Stopped over at Andok’s for our dinner, and just dumped all our dirty gear at Troy’s living room We didn’t want to look at our bikes anymore.
Special thanks to Onie for the photos.
