Plans of going back and riding the Malipay trails made Metallica’s song “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)” play in my mind.

Then a friend from Twitter, @vicicasas, sent me a text a few days before, asking about the mountain bike trails around the Daang Hari area. I replied back with an invite to ride with us to the Malipay trails, along with Team Prima and the Backout Boys.

Read Sunday morning rain is falling…

He accepted, but he informed me his group are newbies to mountain biking and kept on insisting I just show them to the trailhead and let them figure out the network of trails in Malipay. I didn’t agree for a few reasons.

For one, if they enter the trails they might have a hard time exiting. Two, it can be a dangerous place since there is a good-sized but under-developed community where the trails are. Unfamiliar people can be taken advantage of. Third, if they stick to the dirt roads (fireroads, but we don’t have fireroads here in the Philippines; dirt road is the correct term) they won’t enjoy the place.

Come trail day our group was unusually large. 24 riders, a mixture of the Backout Boys, Team Prima, and friends, plus Vic’s group of 3: Vic, Dex with his wife Ria — or should I say Ria with his husband Dex (this was only Dex’s 2nd mountain bike ride). So I told them I’ll keep to their pace, acting as guide and sweeper, with Zaldy helping me out, and later on Chris.

Read Friday Group(s) – trail orgy

Just a disappointment for me was the usual route we ride has been cut due to erosion. Some sections of the trail network were too eroded to ride. What used to be rideable terrain now became hike-a-bikes. Oh well, that’s Mother Nature for you.

Vic, a fake newbie (haha!), was able to keep up with the main group’s pace. I stayed with the husband and wife team of Dex and Ria, with the help of Zaldy, Chris, and Eugene rotating, making sure their Malipay trail experience won’t end up badly.

After the Malipay trails Team Prima and the Backout Boys continued on to G4, the National Bilibid Prisons’ gate 4 eatery, while the others, Vic’s group and other friends of the other riders, went on their way home.

Read Auditions

When we entered the housing development area the group decided to turn left. We should have turned right to take the shorter route. I found out later, to my happy surprise, that everyone else wanted a little bit more trail riding, that’s why we turned left, to take the route outside the perimeter wall of the housing development area for more offroading. Housing wall on one side, cliff on the other.

Before reaching the exit and going back to cemented road the group stopped. Upon reaching them I found out Ramil had a flat tire. He jumped one rut, landed not too perfectly, and suffered a pinch flat.

On our way to G4 Zaldy noticed my rear tire wiggling too much. Due for truing once more, I thought. But the wiggle was not as minimal as a slightly untrued wheel. After our late breakfast at G4 Togs, Zaldy, and I checked my rear wheel. I had a broken spoke. So a short visit to Intense Bike Shop in front of SM Molino fixed my problem, and my trusty Darna brought me safely back home.

Video(s) to follow…

Different factors are preventing me from going out 4-wheeling. It has been quite a while since I last ‘wheeled.

That’s the main reason this site has been stagnant. If I haven’t been ‘wheeling, there’s nothing to post, nothing to share, nothing to review.

For this I apologize — but it’s really unavoidable.

Lately, though, the ‘wheeling and trailing I’ve been doing is on 2 wheels, and not the motorized kind. Check out my mountain bike site/blog for now, as that’s what I’ve been updating since I try to go out riding almost every day. It’s called The MTB Junkie @ www.TheMTBJunkie.com

Thanks and happy trails! Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter!

Original forum thread here: Our Off Road Trails Last Year in Cebu

The Eagle Off-Roaders Davao group has been posting excellent and exciting adventure photos for a long time (all this in the 4×4 Philippines forum). So when they started a topic called “The EAGLE’s Ranch” I was quite curious.

At first I thought it’s just a topic showing off one of the members’ properties in Davao, and as usual I was blown away by the offroad action pictures they shared with us.

These guys trail seriously, but still have some damn, good fun — as evident by the facial expressions in the photos, with or without mechanical casualties. Check out all their other pics in this thread in the forum.

I’ll be posting more from them to share with you guys in the near future. Enjoy!

I have seen videos of the Red Bull Rampage (freeride), and Roam and Seasons by The Collective. The two latter videos show the different disciplines of mountain biking. As such I have seen the cool freeride and downhill scenes from these cool videos. With that I have also seen their footage of bails and unsuccessful attempts at their stunts, and, well, I still value my life. I think I’ll just stick to cross-country (XC) biking for now.

Dangerous or not these guys enjoyed! Even when the part-owner of SCC almost collapsed from exhaustion (see image below). Click here to view the other pictures posted at the invite thread on OutdoorHobbies.co.cc

I’m used to the lovely and gooey mud that’s abundant in the 4×4 trails here in the Philippines, and cringe at the thought of rocks stealthily trying to jab at my 4WD’s underside when we go over huge, rocky terrain. But then again you have to make do with what you have; and adapt your vehicle modifications to suit the terrain you plan on going through.

Even though I still cringe at the sight 4×4’s going over huge rocks I still can’t help enjoy the posted photos. Besides, the terrain wasn’t mostly vehicle-eating rocks. Some of it looked like the trails we have here during the dry season. Click here for the link to the forum thread to view all the other posted pics.

Of course, I was curious. With that kind of topic title there’s no doubt we’re looking at a locally-assembled vehicle that would either be worthy of praise (very rare) or a cause of a good laugh (with what crazy people do to customize their rigs, design-sense going down the drain).

What greeted me was a, well, what looked like a 40 Series Willy’s Jeep with slight modifications. But judging from the grill, the hood, and the fenders it looked too real to be a locally-assembled unit. At first I thought they chopped up a real Mitsubishi Willy’s high-hood jeep and used up the front then fabricated the rear/cab part of the vehicle. I was close to tears for fear of finding out if what

It’s a less than an hour’s bike ride from our meeting place, and that’s taking the long way. I have yet to get the grade of the slope but it’s quite steep. Oh, and this is all road.

So I woke up early. Ate breakfast (carbo-load!), showered, dressed up, decided against wearing my arm warmers as the sun isn’t shining and it has been cloudy for days, put on sunblock (just in case), filled up my hydropack’s bladder with water & ice, kissed the wife, got my helmet, gloves, shades, and proceeded to my bike.

Then I saw the rear tire… flat (freak out #2-A)!

As a new mountain biker I still haven’t purchased the necessary emergency tools I’ll need for, well, emergencies. The day before I passed by the local bike shop and bought a 3-piece Zéfal tire lever set and a patch repair kit.

OK, I thought, I’ll just text my buddies to let them know I might be late… then it hit me: I don’t have my own tire pump yet (freak out #2-B)!

As early as it was I didn’t think there were any open vulcanizing shops yet. Then Frank (my buddy who lives quite near my place) replied to my SMS saying he has 2 spare tire tubes. So I loaded the bike into the car and proceeded to his place.

When I got to Frank’s place he said he was still feeling the hangover from the drinking session he had last Friday (he wasn’t able to ride on Saturday due to the same reason) and he didn’t think he was fit to attack Sisters of Mary’s Hill (freak out #2-C)! So I just thought, F**k it we’ll just ride anywhere.

When I got home I told my wife what happened with the tire and the reason why I had to bring the car (I hate bringing the car when riding) and he said, “We have a foot pump we bought way way before for KH (our eldest son) which he never used…” FREAK OUT #2-D!

But all-in-all the short ride was fun and tiring.

Anyone else out there want to share their freak out experiences?