Months have passed since the last time the group rode the Malipay trails. Main reason is the rainy season, along with typhoons Ketsana and Parma.

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…

Possibly Related Posts:

• Call of the wind(ing tracks)
• “Compensating”?
• Nuvali, Nuvali batchu! Double date ride!
• Hard Malipay orgy
• From 4×4 to 2×1 – easy group ride!