December 30, 2010
We started early because we knew it was a long day. We woke up at 4:30 in the morning and checked out from the hotel at around 5:00. We had breakfast in a carinderia near the van terminals going to Calapan. Infortunately, we had no opportunity to have our pictures taken at the town marker because we left Roxas when it was still dark and there were hardly any streetlights.
This is taken from the town of Bongabong. That's Ed, Domeng and myself. I think this is around 7 o' clock in the morning.
I don't know where exactly this was taken, but as you can see we still had 72 kilometers of biking to do before we hit Calapan's pier.
We stopped by the town of Bansud to eat, drink and rest our sore butts. It was really painful. That's me buying antacids and pain relievers from the local drug store. I took the antacids while Domeng and Eric each had a pain reliever. No, they don't sell EPO. I asked.
It was around ten in the morning when we arrived in the town of Pinamalayan. The last time we ate was around five so I suggested that we get some "snacks" -- rice and ulam together with a bottle of ice cold soda.
This is us doing our usual posing at the town marker of Pinamalayan.
Except for the long climb before the town of Victoria, this day is probably the most uneventful of all our rides. It was almost all on flat roads with lots of vehicles. What made the final stretch to Calapan interesting, believe it or not, is us riding on sticky mud because of the road construction.
I didn't know that Eric and Domeng rested at the foot of the climb before the town of Victoria. So here I am at what I thought to be the top, waiting for the two. As for Ed, we let him go ahead because his pace is different from ours. Plus, we think he's getting bored from waiting for us every time. We think he got homesick.
While waiting for Domeng and Eric, I took a picture of my good old steed, which took me around Mindoro for four days without suffering any mechanicals or flats. Yes, God is awesome!
After 128 kilometers, we finally arrived at the port of Calapan at around 3:30 in the afternoon and boarded straight to a ship bound for Batangas City. Goodbye Mindoro, and thanks for everything!
We didn't bring the bikes to the passenger area because the boat had lots of room to spare. This is a photo of Domeng's bike parked inside the ship. It looked really tired.
We sat on a bench with our muddy legs, courtesy of the ongoing road construction between the town of Victoria and Calapan City.
From us - Eric, Domeng, me and Ed (not in the picture), thank you very much for reading our adventure. We hope this has inspired you to do your own Mindoro adventure someday, just as how two Kiwis inspired us.
This is our route for day four:
Read about the whole four-day adventure! Here are the links to the entries:
Day One: Batangas City - Abra de Ilog - Sablayan
Day Two: Sablayan - San Jose
Day Three: San Jose - Roxas
Day Four: Roxas - Calapan - Batangas City
We started early because we knew it was a long day. We woke up at 4:30 in the morning and checked out from the hotel at around 5:00. We had breakfast in a carinderia near the van terminals going to Calapan. Infortunately, we had no opportunity to have our pictures taken at the town marker because we left Roxas when it was still dark and there were hardly any streetlights.
This is taken from the town of Bongabong. That's Ed, Domeng and myself. I think this is around 7 o' clock in the morning.
I don't know where exactly this was taken, but as you can see we still had 72 kilometers of biking to do before we hit Calapan's pier.
We stopped by the town of Bansud to eat, drink and rest our sore butts. It was really painful. That's me buying antacids and pain relievers from the local drug store. I took the antacids while Domeng and Eric each had a pain reliever. No, they don't sell EPO. I asked.
It was around ten in the morning when we arrived in the town of Pinamalayan. The last time we ate was around five so I suggested that we get some "snacks" -- rice and ulam together with a bottle of ice cold soda.
This is us doing our usual posing at the town marker of Pinamalayan.
Except for the long climb before the town of Victoria, this day is probably the most uneventful of all our rides. It was almost all on flat roads with lots of vehicles. What made the final stretch to Calapan interesting, believe it or not, is us riding on sticky mud because of the road construction.
I didn't know that Eric and Domeng rested at the foot of the climb before the town of Victoria. So here I am at what I thought to be the top, waiting for the two. As for Ed, we let him go ahead because his pace is different from ours. Plus, we think he's getting bored from waiting for us every time. We think he got homesick.
While waiting for Domeng and Eric, I took a picture of my good old steed, which took me around Mindoro for four days without suffering any mechanicals or flats. Yes, God is awesome!
After 128 kilometers, we finally arrived at the port of Calapan at around 3:30 in the afternoon and boarded straight to a ship bound for Batangas City. Goodbye Mindoro, and thanks for everything!
We didn't bring the bikes to the passenger area because the boat had lots of room to spare. This is a photo of Domeng's bike parked inside the ship. It looked really tired.
We sat on a bench with our muddy legs, courtesy of the ongoing road construction between the town of Victoria and Calapan City.
From us - Eric, Domeng, me and Ed (not in the picture), thank you very much for reading our adventure. We hope this has inspired you to do your own Mindoro adventure someday, just as how two Kiwis inspired us.
This is our route for day four:
Read about the whole four-day adventure! Here are the links to the entries:
Day One: Batangas City - Abra de Ilog - Sablayan
Day Two: Sablayan - San Jose
Day Three: San Jose - Roxas
Day Four: Roxas - Calapan - Batangas City
Comments
I don't see a reason why you can't do it. I'm a weekend warrior myself. What I did was to put a lot of mileage in my legs before the big trip. :)
Hey! Are you from around Manila? Maybe I can invite you to ride in Batangas City, too! I usually leave early morning on a weekend to drive from Manila to Batangas and bike there. Sometime I do solo rides in Aguinaldo or Maarat.
Thank you very much for reading the entries. Your message means a lot to us.
I hope you watched the video of our trip to Mindoro as well. I honestly can't get over it. :)
Being a weekend warrior and doing the balancing act is actually hard work. There are times when I don't ride for weeks and have to force myself to do a few spins.
Do leave us a message here or in the Facebook page if you feel like going out on a long ride at a touring pace. Maybe we can join you!
Cheers!
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Feel free to write a comment or a message. You can also send me an email at jovan [at] bisikleta [dot] ph.