Travel Footprints

Was a really good day to ride. Weather was cold. Sky was overcast. But still you can see patches of blue skies. It’s another weekend spent intimately with the trail they call ‘Killer Loop’ in Mariveles, Bataan. This is my third time to ride Killer Loop, and remains to be one of my favotire rides, no matter how wasted I am afterwards.

Apparently the story behind the name Killer Loop is that, several years back (circa 2002 or 2003), some ‘classic’ members of Pinoy Mt. Biker (PMTB) rode this trail in Bataan which passed through several barangays starting from Liyang. Initially, it was called Death March Trail by the local bikers. After the ride, the PMTB folks just had to say, ‘This is not Death March. This is a Killer Loop’. And so the name stuck since!

Blood, sweat, and tears. Killer Loop tests the endurance of both man and machine. Though morbid, I like this photo as it somehow captures the spirit of mountainbiking. Blood and guts. We ride no matter what.

Lester’s chainstay broke (the tube between the crank and the rear wheel). Some trail side repair shown here. Using combined technical knowledge in physics, mech engineering, and medicine, he was able to repair his bike. Not a perfect fix, but at least it will help him finish the ride.

There’s a tweezer inside the tube, wrapped with some heavy duty medical tape, reinforced by a wrench (like a splint), further reinforced by a climbing rope. Don’t ask why Troy was carrying a set of wrenches on a bike ride. But good thing he did.

We were lucky that the weather was really really nice. I carried about 2.5 liters in my pack, 500ml on my water bottle mounted on the bike, plus another bottle of Real Leaf Green Tea stowed in my pack just to be sure. This time, this lasted me until we got down. Last time, I had to drink from the stream up top.

Group got lost a bit through the web of tracks going down (and at one point even once group was going down a trail and the other going up!)

Yes boys and girls. That’s my new bike.  A Chumba VF2, mix of aluminum and carbon fiber goodies. She can ride right through anything as long as you have the courage (going downhill) and the power (going uphill). Point and shoot.

Got a bit of history lesson as well, as Eboy described for us how the Battle of Bataan went. Nothing like being in the middle of the mountain to make history really come alive. Apparently the trail we rode was the old artillery road. And we were complaining about pushing a 30lbs bike up the mountain. Imagine the soldiers back then!

Went down via the lovely Joyce Trail, but Eboy took us beyond that and into what Arnel now calls Captain America hehehe. Basically very fast, very smooth singletracks all the way down. Pretty surreal, since the sun was fading, the wind was howling, and you were just flying down (to the tune of Defying Gravity from Wicked ).

Alas, not a lot of pictures on the other side, going down. It’s just too much fun to ride vs. stopping from time to time to take pictures.

So just imagine with me . . .

Imagine the sun slowly fading, soft light washing over the mountain
Imagine nothing but the breeze of the wind flowing over the mountain
Imagine riding on top of the rideline, flowing left, right, hearing nothing but your tires and the wind
Imagine going like this for about 30 mins.

Nothing else exists except you, the bike, and the trail . . .

Surreal, like a dream.

And so another history lesson of the Battle of Bataan is over. It’s time we learn something new – the Death March! Planning to ride with what the Bataan Trail Riders call Lakbay 44, an epic 50+kms ride from Mariveles to Bagac, passing through some spectacular sceneries. Ride starts from Zero (0) km of the famed World War II Death March Marker in Mariveles to the 0 km marker in Bagac.

Now just have to find other riders crazy enough to go along with me (and look for a place that Mrs. Rono can hang out (maybe Anvaya Cove in Subic?) while I do another epic ride in Bataan. But first, need to get that helmet cam so I can capture more!

Special thanks to the Bataan Trail Riders Eboy and Lester!

 

Bataan has always been one of my favorite riding destinations. So when a ride was organized to do the Killer Loop Trail during one of the long weekends in August, I immediately signed up. It’s been a long time since I’ve done long whole day rides so I really looked forward to this ride.

How to Get There

The Killer Loop Trail starts in Pilar, Bataan. Coming from Manila, it’s about a 3 hour drive from Balintawak (around 1 hour of that is just to get through the horrendous traffic in Balintawak due to the MRT construction). I parked my SUV at the Total gas station in Pilar. I heard you could also take the bus going to Mariveles. The rest of the group opted to rent vans instead though.

It was about 9am before the entire group was complete and we started our ascent up Killer Loop (KL).

What to Bring

You just have to smile through it all.

I had ridden KL two years before, so pretty much knew what to expect: lung-busting climbs, spectacular views of Mt. Samat and the Bataan Peninsula, sweet descents. It also means no store whatsoever within the trail, so you have to bring all the supplies that you need. For a mountainbiker like me that sweats about 1L and burns about 500 Kcal per hour, this is what was in my ‘lunchbox’:

• 2 Clifbars (about 250 Kcal per bar and 10g of Protein, with all natural ingredients) 
• 1 Clifblok Electrolyte Chew  (about 200 Kcal)
• 2 bars of Apple & Cranberry Cereal Bars (about 100Kcal)
• 1 Hammer Gel (about 90 Kcal)
• 1 Jollibee Champ for lunch (about 600kcal)
• 2L of water in my hydration pack, and about 500ml of Gatorade in a separate water bottle (the last time I had brough more drinks, but the weight was just too much to bear. I decided I would just drink from the stream this time around)

As with any sport, you have to “eat before your hungry, drink before your thirsty.” For me, I feel my body shutting down if hunger sets in. I suppose it’s like your laptop suddenly going into low power mode. Net, I’ve learned in long rides to ensure that I’m constantly chewing on something every hour.

Up the Mountain

Up the mountain we go.

From Total gas station, you pedal on the road going towards the Mt. Samat Cross. You don’t climb towards the cross though. The Killer Loop trail actually goes around Mt. Samat (and by around I don’t mean around the base, but around the surrounding mountains.). Indeed, I think at one point in the KL trip we were even higher than the Mt. Samat Cross!

You climb over cement roads, then fireroads, and then singletracks all the way up. It’s not one long climb though, but rather something like a staircase – short steep climbs followed by a moderately flat terrain, then climb again, and again, and again . . . The noise of the barrio below gradually fades away, ’til all you hear is the rustling of the trees and grass amidst the mountain air.

It’s in these moderately flat terrain with some trees that you take your rest when you can. If you take some time from trying to catch your breath wondering why the hell you’re doing something like this, and actually look around, you will see just how spectacular the view is up top. From the highest point, you can see the Mt. Samat Cross in the distance. And enveloping that, the South China sea. Maybe it’s the lack of oxygen going through your brain, but you can start imagining also the Von Trapp family singing in the distance (‘the hills are alive….’).

Anyway, one can’t help also but think how life must have been like for the Bataan defenders back in WWII standing in one of the ridges overlooking the entire peninsula. It certainly felt like there were different platoons spread out across the trail is one group catches up with another.

You just have to work extra hard for some parts of the climb.

The Best Burger

We finally hit the summit around 2pm. The group was slower than usual since there were a lot of novice riders. Someone forgot to mention that it wasn’t a newbie ride. So a lot of pushing, resting, pushing . . .(I heard that one of the Bataan Trail Riders did this with a couple of triathletes, and they completed the entire ride in about 3 hours. ) Anyway, after being baked in the sun battling it up the mountain, thankfully the rest area up top was well covered with trees. The local riders called the place aircon. Nice.

And there’s nothing like a juicy 1/3 lbs burger after all that sufferfest. Mmmmmmmmmm.

It’s about 3pm when the group was on the march again (yes, literally marching, since the trail was wet, slippery, and filled with large rocks, but then again that means we’re near a water source). After rationing my water supply going up, it was oh so refreshing to drink all the water that I could out of that stream. And it was icy cold to boot!

And finally, we were on our way down.

The Flow

Rides check their bikes before the ride down. Mr. Rono waits patiently for his turn to ride.

Riders call it The Flow. It’s that feeling when your riding, and everything just sems to hang together. You are in tune with your bike, with the terrain, with yourself. Concsious thought gives way to the subconscious, and you are, well flowing through the trail. Not thinking, simply riding. Those who have felt this, crave this.

The ride pretty much made the climb all worth it. I will gladly climb KL again just to experience that sweet ride down. The first part of the descent was somewhat technical, fun, but there were some parts where I had to stop to get over a big rock, big drop, etc. No flow yet, not at least at my skill level.

At about 5pm, we came upon the final run towards the end of the trail. Head straight, and you go though a wide fireroad. This was the route we took last time, and I was so tempted to just take this trail and head on back to Total. I was exhausted, and my shoe was already malfunctioning (the clip that attaches the bottom of the shoe to my right pedal was coming lose, so I couldn’t engage it right). Turn right, and you take the longer route going down. At first, I didn’t feel like riding here. My hands were already aching, and my left hand was certainly not exerting enough pressure anymore to control my front brakes.

The long sweeping fireroad down. Mr. Rono rode down an alternate route down.

There were still several riders left behind, so most of the group would wait for them and take the shorter route down. Some of us though were invited to ride the alternate route.

And I’m glad we did. This trail was pure smooth, super fast, super flowy singletracks all the way down. We were flowing though the mountaintops dusted by the last remaining glow of the sun. I just smile whenever my hands start to give, and focused on the trail. We were flowing. I will gladly go through the climbs of KL again just to experience this. It is that fun, that rewarding. 

The singletracks gradually gave way again to fireroads, then cemented roads, and to the sounds of dogs barking and tricycles running. We were finally back in Pilar. Some ice cold Coke please!

Photo credits: Roche Cuyco of Mt. Biking Babes (MtBBabes)