Bike ride: 711 Trail 1000

Race course

Heart pounding, legs ready, just got-off the makeshift restroom with still a little bit of the butterflies. The call for our category was made slew of 30 or more mountain bikers lined up at the gates waiting for release. Couple of minutes passed, checked my bag straps one more time, looked at my HRM watch 129 bpm relaxed I told myself to not go over 190 and pace myself because this race going to be a long one.
Count down began and we are now off mid to granny in a matter of minutes the first obstacle we have to face was Wall two a slightly less brutal climb than its older brother Wall one. Taking stride spun easily to conserve energy I could feel my legs burning so immediately began to relax moving the handlebars,  and body just a little to let tension off these legs. Felt slow going up wanted to dismount when I reached my lowest gear of 34 but knowing better I endured Wall two. Gradient started to level so immediately began to up-shift now exiting Timberland and entering Maarat famous dirt road. Here the air starts to thin combination of dust and 10 or so minutes of non-stop pedaling make anyone feel sick. Since last year the climb literally got easier as construction of housing structures are underway hence Timberland Heights. I guess we are all in borrowed time progress continues to flatten and dumb-down certain parts of the trail.

Climb up Blue Zone was like EDSA traffic slow. Some tried to climb mounted only to be hampered by the suffering pushing their bikes. Upon clearing the wooded, rooted, loose single track the first short downhill burst greeted you a relief from all that pushing and bitching from some cyclist. I waited for the traffic to thin before taking the plunge. Before the race I had a strategy tackle climbs albeit not with full power, blast through the technical and downhill section it was not working here. Every Downhill and technical corner had at least people pushing...pretty familiar with Blue zone so upon arriving on open mountain top area with remnants of a wooden post waited for traffic to clear before Attacking the remaining DH sections. Now we are on lower elevation opening to a wooded area know as Harder. Lots of dismounts and pushing here, before exiting their is a nice technical part with lots of roots and trees.

Transition from Blue Harder to Ka-Vergel nice place to pedal lightly and lay-off the granny. Because the next round lung busting, leg cramping climbs on rutted motocross paths. To be honest I never tried Ka vergel going up it was always on the opposite direction so it was tough. After a tiring climb couple of kilometers of mostly down the hill fire road only relief before you enter the next sector.

Next is Araneta Pineda also known as "Coliseum" mainly because most riders will either be glorified by the praises of peers or be taken by the mountain much like the coliseums of Ancient Rome. Gladiators battle the tight, rough, loose, steep, rooted technical single track downhill while the ones without proper set of balls walk followed by a brutal climb out of the trail exiting to BOOM.

C6 Sapinit road or Giant short granny climb to Roller coaster fast fire road with varying easy climbs and a couple of weird pumps. The view of the river along side the short path before exiting to BOOM welcome relaxing sight.

BOOM from Roxas remnants of old road project connecting Antipolo, San Mateo and Quezon City which was not completed due to politics. Mostly down-the-hill it is probably one of the fastest rolling sections of the course exiting adjacent to Basic-Chapel which has the last water refilling station of the race.

Chapel enters through a couple of single track technical DH sections but nothing scary exiting to open wooded area to what they call NURSERY which is fire road climb littered with fist, baby head sized rocks. At this point my legs could not be bothered to pedal. Pushed really hard on Giant climb, Roller coaster, and Roxas finally reached my body limit so I pushed until I reached the 2nd to the last trail.

New Green is like a bike park inside Maarat well groomed mix of technical switchback, berms, twisty climbs challenging trail to start the day fresh. Putting green at almost the end of 30 km race just plain brutal upon entering a friendly lady marshal informed me that I have 45 min before race cut-off. My adrenaline kicked-in for the last time entered the trail without even resting for a minute. Stronger group mates timed green by 15 min on a good day fresh I can finish it on 30. I flew foolishly until the 4th somewhat high speed switch back got the best of me crashed hard. I could feel all of whats left on my body and will disappear. Maarat got the best of me tried to mount my bike and continue but the RD got knackered during the crash affecting shifting a sure sign that I should hang the proverbial towel and give this race to the Trail Gods. Pushing my bike to the exit a marshal greeted me I know whats coming next "Sir kukunin ko na yun race plate mo sa bike" politely obliged and what came next was a smile and I told him that "Ok na sa akin 3 km lang naman kulang ko".

Yes it was that close! After everything was sorted finally I got to sit with my wife, team mates and LBS owner/friend for a well deserved kudos and TAPA. Enjoyed the race very much and looking forward to upcoming races this year GO!

PapaHamster