Trail Ride

"It does not matter how slow you go, as long as you do not drop," says Confucius, or my misquoted version of him.

I have neglected biking for nearly a year. My silicone rubber grips are all peeled out, rust circles the headset, my bottom bracket is 5mm longer than it is supposed to be (so the chain keeps falling off), and my bike does not have a front derailleur. This may sound all alien to you if you do not know much about bicycles but let us just say that my bike is only a partial bike. But I have rediscovered my love for mountain biking in my bike's incompleteness. Soon, it will be whole again and hopefully, I will be riding on disk brakes.

But I could not care much. It still holds itself together. That is what I cherish for now.

...

I often digress in my writing and so do I in riding. I often get led into stray turns. I just follow them, there is time to spend and energy to waste. I was supposed to do a rigorous cardio routine yesterday when my trail lust got the better of them.

This trail used to be a wide path used by the quarry trucks of a company called Ultima. They ceased operation more than ten years ago when their permit got rebuked by the DENR.

What I did yester is not exactly trail mountain biking. I call it dua-trek. Or dual-trekking. I don't know, I have not decided yet. I am looking for something that sounds blendy but the whole idea is this: to do this new sport, you have to find a track that is not wholely rideable. You should be carrying your bike at least 30% of the way. That is how you shift from mountain biking to trekking.

If I would be generous, I would say only 60% of yesterday's trail was navigable by bike. The rest sucks. Dua-trek is not really fun. I just make it an excuse to carry my bike. Somehow, it is fulfilling at the end. Must be because all the back pain was ended at the bottom.

The trail head has an elevation of 665 feet. You lose 500+ feet when you reach the bottom. Expect rocks, steep descents, and nice people to greet you. (Or are they fairies?) Trail map is here if you are curious.


View from the top. Trail ends near the empty farm land.