The Manngagahan Bike Fest Stage 2

The Manggahan Bike Fest in Guimaras a week ago was a 2-day, 2-stage race. The map the organizers posted on FB wasn’t accurate. Remember, the original ITT was 10km long but it turned out to be 4.5km. But for me, it was OK, except that I didn’t know that it was all uphill!

But I came to race, therefore whatever was presented to me, I was fine with it. There was no, “I’m going-home-because-the-route-is-iso-unfair” thing playing on my mind. In fact, my mind was already set.

The second stage was 112km long and I was looking at weather.com and it said that there was a 12% chance of rain, meaning, it was going to be scorching hot! Luckily, a good friend of mine from Sacramento came to the rescue and told me to contact a certain Chris who is volunteering to be my motorcycle escort. I don’t think I could survive this race without Chris.

Anyway, the race started on a neutral start, a 7km downhill. But once we were flagged down, it was climb, downhill (repeat 4-5x) and during the 4th hill, my 90kg body couldn’t take it anymore. I decided I was going to ride the course on my own terms. I think I still had about 90km to go!

Suddenly, there were flat roads, false flats and gentle climbs and gentle descents. I was able to recover but the hope of getting back to the main pack appeared futile. I passed seashores and windmills and generally the typical countryside.

A group of MTBrs passed by, who realized 5 minutes after our cat, caught us. I was able to get into their wheels for about 20k and it helped me recover a bit while running at a higher speed than if I was alone.

Chris was a big help, giving me bottle after bottle of water. One thing I have noticed is that if I am extremely tired, my throat simply shuts and I cant swallow food. And it happened again! I was chomping on a small bar of Cloud 9 and as I tried to swallow it, it got stuck on the roof of my mouth. Luckily I was able to spit it out and it fell on the top of my right shoe!

The last 20km was just brutal- there was this series of climbs, the longest was about 3km long that really made me question my sanity. The noontime sun wasn’t helping, I was wondering where the 12% chance if rain went!

The last 4km was gentle rolling and found my second wind. Turned it up just a bit and crossed the finish ling over 4 hours, not bad for a guy less than a year shy of becoming a sexagenarian!

Hopefully, Gumaras Gov. JC Rahman Nava will continue supporting this event. Huge thanks also of Teesai, race director, for being so kind in answering all my queries online. Thanks also to Atty Trox Tormon, Chairperson of the Committee in Sports of Manggahan Festival 2023. It was one of the best organized, well marshaled events that I have attended.

Would I do this again? To paraphrase Dutch pro Theo De Roil, when he failed to finish the 1985 Paris-Roubaix: This raise is the most difficult I’ve ever done- climbs and heat! Would I come back? You bet!