The Mandaluyong to Batangas City Bike Ride

On April 21st at 5:00 in the morning, Domeng, Eric and I left Pioneer in Mandaluyong and pedaled 108 kilometers to Batangas City.
It was a Maundy Thursday and we met a lot of cyclists going to various places - from Antipolo to San Pablo and Dolores in the Quezon province.

We also rode with Val Roque, a fellow cyclist who we just met through Bisikleta.ph's Facebook page. He was on his way to meet with his friends in Boracay, Caticlan, and this was the first leg of his ride. The following day, he would pedal from Calapan to Roxas in Oriental Mindoro and take the ferry, riding his single-speed foldable bike.

As I expected, the ride from Muntinlupa to Calamba was the least exciting part of the trip. It was generally flat and offered hardly any variety that it seemed like it was Muntinlupa from start to finish.

The Batangas leg was the most exciting part for me because it felt like a homecoming of sorts. The City of Tanauan and the town of Malvar were very different from how I remembered them before. A lot has changed.

Being a Holy Week ride, suffering was inevitable, and we experienced it starting from Darasa in Tanauan until we reached the city of Lipa. I knew it was a long burn but I didn't know that it was at 372 meters above sea level until I saw it on my GPS.

We were suppose to give Val an authentic Batangas lomi experience, but the restaurants were closed, unfortunately. We ended up having lunch at McDonald's just to be sure.

From the gate of San Fernando Airbase, it was almost all downhill to Batangas City. I hardly even pedaled. With only a few vehicles on the road, it was a very relaxing experience.

We arrived at Batangas City at around 2:30 in the afternoon. After stopping by Jollibikes so that Val could buy a spoke wrench and a few more extra spokes, we brought him to the pier to get a ride to Calapan.

All in all, it was an amazing ride, and I'm proud that I was able to finally do it. I'm also happy that, unlike my first day in Mindoro, my butt didn't hurt as much this time. :)

Thanks for reading!

Here's the map of our ride: