My 200 km Bike Ride Experience
Hi Steemians! It's been a while since I make my last blog. I've been so busy this past few week so I don't have time to make my next blog. But even I'm busy, every day I try to add content to this blog little by little just to be able to finish it. And now it's ready, take time to read it and enjoy the story.
When I was at the young age, I always want to have my own bicycle. I don't know why but bicycling is always close to my heart. And now that I have my own source of income. I decided to buy my very first bicycle.
Let's Start!
On the 3rd of September, the last year 2017 (Sunday) Our cycling group in Cavite named, Tropang Trinx Cavite (TTC) is going for a long ride to Pililia Windmill Farm at Rizal, Philippines. All of the members are notified about this ride for only about 4 days before the ride.
I know our capability on our Short Ride and some uphills of Cavite is enough for us to try the uphill roads of Pililia and we have our admins that are ready to assist all of you guys.
Don't get discouraged to try this ride. We will go out together and we will also come back together as well. As usual, we will have our briefing before we ride out together so we will ensure everyone's safety. We have here Nine(9) Two-Way Radio (Walkie-talkie) to be used for our communication on the road in case of someone might get lost or forgotten.
Please bring the following: Pocket Money, Extra Interior, Head Lights, and Blinker. Also, make sure that your bike is in the good running condition and also have enough sleep before the ride.
NO HELMET NO RIDE POLICY
I know the preparation for the ride is a bit short, but we used to this type of ride that we only have a few days of preparation. The distance of the Pililia Windmill Farm is about 150km+ back and forth from our meetup place somewhere in Bacoor, Philippines. We are consist of 50+ bikers so everyone's safety is the main concern of this ride. Our group has a Tranko, Marshall, and Sweeper that will do their job responsibility in the group to keep all the members safe. Unfortunately, our Head Admin of our group is not present, it's very rare that he is absent on our weekly ride because he is the one whose picking our target destination. It has a big effect on the newbie members because they are expecting our head admin to lead them and guide them on that ride.
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We start to pedal at around 7 in the morning. Then after an hour and a half, we reached our first stop-over, the c-6 road (circumferential road-6) a road along the shore of the Laguna de Bay.
![IMG_20170903_094012.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmUJiaxw9Y1LsJze7Su4RkZbpBSnmMJGg8WoJZmEfX1GnY/IMG_20170903_094012.jpg)
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On that time we trust only our road instincts and some local citizens on that place that we asked about directions. And after 2 hours of pedaling under the heat. We finally reached the pisong kape, an eatery where we will take our lunch. It was 2 pm when we reached the eatery. So if you noticed we almost spend 7+ hours but we still not in the Windmill. The location of that eatery is just near the Windmill. It's just before you will take the uphill roads towards the windmill farm. And after taking our lunch, we continue again to pedal, on that eatery up to the windmill, it's an almost 12.7 km away, but the dilemma of reaching the farm was the steep road. As we know, steep roads are not easily passable even for normal cars, (not if the car has powerful engines though). But think of it, if the cars can sometimes have problems on the steep roads, imagine us cyclist going also on the same steep roads. One of my friend that is also a cyclist told me that a steep road is converted to x4 on a flat road. So if you ride a steep road let's say 5km long. It's like you ride a 20 km on flat roads(on using a bicycle).
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Some of my co-admins are taking care the members that having a difficult time to pedal on the steep road. You can see it in this picture that one of our members are using a Fat Bike, Obviously, it is a bike with a much wider tire compare to a normal bike. Fatbike is meant for off-road so if you use it on steep roads, you will be having a hard time to pedal that massive bicycle (but if you are a long-time cyclist, I'm sure you can handle it where ever you want to go).
Taaaadaaaahhhhhhh!
And after resting and enjoying on the Windmill farm, we immediately ride out because it's past 4:30 pm and we will need to pedal back home. But instead of taking the same route, some of us suggest that it would be better if we take the other route, which is the route going to Laguna. I also suggest that route because I thought it will be just the same as the first route that we take. I also insist that we should take that route because it was only a long flat road all the way, compare to the up/down roads on the last route. Then after deciding, all of us agreed to change our route. The difference of the distance between the two is, the first route it was approx. 90 km but there are some uphills, but on the new route, it's approx. 121 km long but 80% of the roads ahead is only flat roads.
![IMG_20170903_184305.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmPKqszrzrwn46mFitG8B554exqvwCNrtvSXrkuDawmhvt/IMG_20170903_184305.jpg)
![IMG_20170903_191248.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmQEkJWLmAkn3tCT3cBC12YTsiu4XXJVdnccKeqSyPoUyL/IMG_20170903_191248.jpg)
11:30 pm we are here in Lumban, Laguna. The one you will see in that picture was each letter of "Lumban" and after you passed it, it's a long and super dark descend road, I didn't expect that it's so dark on that road because it is a national highway so I thought there will be so many vehicles that using that road. And something unexpected happens. It's the one that I'm so afraid of, one of the members got crashed on the side of the road. He didn't notice that there is a big gap on the side of the road so he loses control of his bike and he fell off. Good thing nothing serious happened to him but unfortunately, he cannot pedal anymore due to some wounds on his knee so we decided to bring him to the nearest van terminal and just take commute for him to be able to go home. Then after that, we continue again and unfortunately, I don't have any pictures left to be share after that incident so I think I will end the story here haha. But last things last. I will just want to tell you guys that we all got home safely! Because of our perseverance, we finished the ride at last. Most of us got home at 5 in the morning, imagine we're on our bike for almost 24 hours! But luckily, all of us got home safely and I promised myself that some other time I will do it again but surely for much shorter time...
Are you planning to be a cyclist after you read my experience? I hope it didn't discourage you to try cycling. But I strongly advise if you are already a cyclist and going for a long ride like we did, you'll need an extra determination and you'll need to train yourself harder for this kind of rides because if you don't have enough strength and endurance, I'm very sure will feel the fatigue from the very start. So if you're planning to go on a long ride, make sure your body is prepared on every aspect, and if you do, I wish you do well and always ride safely!
What's special on this ride is, the only planned destination of this ride is only in the Pililia Windmill Farm, all of us didn't expect that our ride will turn out to loop the entire Laguna Lake. Believe me or not, this ride last for almost 24 hours! Sounds insane right? But the main reason why it lasts for almost a day is that some of the members got caught in different problems like flat tires, broken chain, brake failure, and even small accident just like a mention a while ago. Also, some of the members are easily exhausted so we must take a quick break in every time so they can recover their energy. We always encounter this problem in every ride, although we are prepared for this kind of scenarios, it's just cannot be avoided especially the flat tires. Sometimes the tire got flat but if you check why it becomes flat, you will not see any puncture, instead, you will see the tire got cut inside, maybe because of the hot road that causes the tire to blown on itself. But then again, the only matters on our every ride is the safety of everyone and the fulfillment that we felt when we reached our destination. When you try to make cycling as your regular hobby, you will feel the thrill that it brings to you. You will start to appreciate what bicycling can do not only for yourself but also for the environment. Me as a cyclist, I want to encourage all of us to try to use a bicycle as your daily transportation going to your work, school or anywhere you will go. While you are exercised, you also help the mother earth to reduce the pollution caused by a motorized vehicle.
When you read this message, I just want to say thank you very much for reading my blog until this very end! Hope to see you again on my future blogs.
Steem On!
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Quite the journey @xbudeh. I can't believe you all had the endurance to ride for 24 hours! I love cycling, but have never cycled for more than 3 hours. Your cycling adventure definitely inspires me to ride more!
I still don't know how I survived that ride haha... I'm glad you got inspired by my story :) See you on the road!
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This is indeed was a wonderful experience to you,
This is a well detailed travel blog post.
Keep steeming
Thank you very much 🤗
Bibili n rin ako ng bike @xbudeh. Hehe. Dito nmn tau s UAE mang invate hehe.
This is an achivement. Yung pagbabike mo ng napakahaba ata itong napakahabang blog. 😊
Congrats.
Upvoted. 😊😊😁
You're so nice for commenting on this post. For that, I gave you a vote! I just ask for a Follow in return!
yep ate charm, you should buy your own bike din.. Bili tayo bike dito sa uae 😂
The best of life. Riding with friends, awesome scenery and stop over for foods along the way.
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Steem On!
Steem on! Can I have some imaginary tokens also? Hehe
Wow, your adventure was so tiring yet very fulfilling. Can I join on your ride next time? Pero angkas. Wahahahaha
Yeah sure! Pero sorry di ako nag aangkas 😝, pero kung ikaw maybe i will reconsider 🤣
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