Rizal Philippines
July 25, 2016
We (7 in all: Armin, June B, Earl, Bryan, Lenard, Louie and Jorgeus Biker) rode to Jarrel's peak in Infanta Quezon via Marcos Highway yesterday, 5 am to 5 pm. It was distance of 72 km (144 km out and back in the cateye of Earl) It is a ride with no bonus both ways. One thinks that like Tagaytay, there is a bonus - hard going up and downhill on the trip back home. Jarrell is unforgiving: tough going up and tough going back. At one stretch from Saksak (which I tried earlier) it is 15 km going uphill to Sampaloc.
No wonder what they say about Jarrell's peak:
1. Taytay MTB riders say that of their elite riders only 3 have made it so far to Jarrell
2. It was good I did not join the Audax ride. They say that many wasted their entry fee of xxx amount because 50% did not finish. The first trip down Sampaloc was 1 hour overdue because of the difficulties.
The ride out was supposed to start at 5 am. I arrived at 7 11 at 5:05 and nobody was still there so thinking that I was left out, I rode even though it was dark (I did not know that they still waited for me until 5:20. According to Joe, the first one to arrive was Brian at 5:10) And though it was dark and my bike light was not functioning well I rode on. I was in Cardona by 5:30 and in Morong by 6:00. I thought I would have lugaw at Simples but they were not open yet. I had my breakfast at Lugawan sa Halaman in Tanay where I stayed there until 6:30. And then to Sampaloc
Armin June and Earl caught up with me at km 68 in Sampaloc. We had banana at Jen Jen's place at the summit of Sampaloc. I was introduced to Leonard
Then at the intersection of of Sampaloc and Marcos highway, we had the breakfast of Batangas lomi and rice for the price of P40.00 defintely not a very healthy fare. It was 8:00 am
We rode at 8:30 hoping to be a Jarrel by 10 am. Well most of them did at 10:30. I arrived at 11:00 because I still took pictures along the way. I planned to have materials for Little Baguio at FB and blog.
We had a rest at Saksak. It was about 9:30 by then. I lagged behind and was at the rear end when the climb started at km 80. It was false flat appearance. We were going up pala, and I was undergeared trying to climb at 42 chain ring
At Jarrel peak it was a bedlam. There must be a hundred motrobikers there. The group opted for Marquez bulalohan where it was equally worse. They ordered at 10:30 and the first serving came at almost 12. And still the other viand the Sisig was missing. And Leonard was furious. He wanted to go to work (at RPH Angono annex where he is the pharmacy assistant) at 2:00 pm. Well with or without the Sisig fiasco, he could not make it.
The sisig was eventually served at about 12:15 after nth follow up.
We rode out at 12:30. The ride back was unequally unforgiving. Although there were at least 3x downhill where our speeds reached up to 40 kph or more, there were at least 3 portions that were tough uphill. My front disc brakes got loose somewhere before Saksak and I had to tighten the bolts. The front disc brake was rattling by then and it kind of disturbed me.
The longest and toughest portion was from Saksak to Regina Rica. It was about 15 km and were rode it at the hottest time of the day 2:00 pm The two riders from Bulacan, (who even took our pictures) laid at the shoulder and slept, because they said it was hot.. We were at Sampaloc crossing by 2:15 (it was much faster this time) where we had BJ and banana cue.
It was one more uphill before the summit and then downhill, several (3 I think) slight uphill and fast ride going down until Manila East and Sampaloc. We rested at Cardona near the diversion crossing where we had ice cold water. it was a great ride. Thanks Armin for inviting me and considering me worthy as one of the riders who can conquer Jarrel.
I was not a pushover. I was always the no 5 guy at the pack. Until Saksak. I took pictiures and I was ahead of Joe and Earl from km 80 to 85.
I was ahead of every body going downhill from km 85 to 80 and was with the lead pack of 4 going up the last 15 km from Saksak to Regina Rica.
NB. Some of the pics were copied from Earl's album at FB without permission.
No comments:
Post a Comment