SBR.ph Laguna Loop Ride
So how did you spend your Holy Week? Last Good Friday, with the sun blazing and winds howling, over 12 SBR.ph forum members rode together and did the infamous Laguna Loop! Other SBR.ph riders started from Antipolo while some kicked off from Laguna and met the group at the halfway mark! How awesome is that?
So what’s the Laguna Loop? Check out the route! Kapitolyo-Tikling-Antipolo-Teresa-Bugarin-Siniloan-Pagsanjan-LB-Calamba-Canlubang-Alabang-Kapitolyo.
They say a picture paints a thousand words, so here a map of the route!
Read on below for the recap by Dennis M of the now infamous, Laguna Loop ride!
This ride is the brain child of (Tito) Obet aka Saxman Armstrong who has been doing this for the past 2-4 years now, last year I was only able to join him until Teresa due to time constraints plus bike fitness was not there. We have planned this ride since the last part of 2012 and at first it was just Obet and me plus 1-2 friends. As the weeks progressed, I decided to put ride invites in the forum to join us on long rides specifically for this around the lake ride. Conditioning was still not that good considering I did not really prep for this as I was busy readying myself as a pacer for the TBR run back in late Feb. Total Riders who confirmed was 11 guys, 2 of those have not ridden more than 100k in training and 1 was an expat from HK who was a forum member.
Riders who joined:
-Tito Obet
-Raj
-Nelson aka Turismo
-Karlo – Ironbaby
-Sam – SamVitug
-Nino – The Attack Machine at ang salarin Smiley
-Rommel – Team Beacon
-Dennis
-Jing aka Icarus
-Jerome – Antipolo to Pisong Kape then decided until Bugarin Smiley
-Ken Sarabia
-Barnett
-Team Trantados – they met us at The Tube and stayed with us until 7/11 Pagsanjan
We started at 5:45 am, met with the south group(Team Beacon) at tiendesitas and off we went.
Tikling Climb:
Hundreds of people were walking down the road, occupying almost 1 full lane, yearly good Friday pilgrimage to the Antipolo Church – this gave us the feeling of being in one of the big tours in Europe
Shell Antipolo:
We met the majority of the people here and off we went, 6:45 am and we were off.
The ride down to Teresa was pleasant as there was little traffic, we arrive at Pisong Kape a little over 45 mins and filled our bottles for the 8k climb up Bugarin. I suggested that we ride easy and as a big group for safety concerns, on the flats we keep the pace at 25-30kph – more on that
The Climb Up:
As Nino and Icarus attacked the hills, we took the pace as easy as we could, kept the HR low and the power in the 180-200 watt range, Ironbaby who had cramps the first 2-3k of the climb last Sunday, was riding strong but not seeing a rock on rode caused him to hit it and swerved in the path of the car behind us, good thing the car was able to stop in time for both Ironbaby(Karlo) and Nelson(Turisom1997) to pick themselves up and continue riding. We arrived at Manang` store close to 30 mins and rested a bit, the boys who fell tended to their wounds which were minimal. The descent down Mabitac was a breeze given it was almost carless all the way down.
The stretch all the way to Pagsanjan was problem free and met with Barnett + UPLB Trantados who waited for us at The Tube (Lumba-Pakil Area). It was great seeing fellow forum members and an old friend from lb again, we stopped over at the 7/11 in Pagsanjan which by the way was the ride`s sponsor for drinks and nutrition.
Pagsanjan to Los Banos:
Quick Lunch at Minute Burger in Sta Cruz and we started the ride again, I had asked Obet to go ahead as I needed to relieve myself, I should have asked them to wait for me Obet had asked the main pack to ride pace line but forgot to instruct the people riding at the front to keep the pace at 30 kph only until I catch up – the pace was in the 35-38 kph for a few kms and took me to catch them a good 4-5k when they slowed, I was matching their pace which is why I never caught the back end of the group. It was time for me to reminisce as these roads were the very same roads I rode alone for 15 of my almost 20 years of triathlon training/racing so I was happy even if the temperature was heating the road with each passing km.
Los Banos to Calamba:
A quick pit stop on LB, we started again and less cars this time as it was already around 1pm, we arrive in Calamba crossing around 2pm – Jing aka Icarus feeling the effects of a long flight from HK,not sleeping enough plus the heat had to stop and decided to ride the bus with 60-75 kms left in the ride. We bid him a safe trip back to Manila – he arrived safely at 3:30 pm. Recover well Jing!
Calamba – Sta Rosa:
30 min ride – steady riding with the Beacon Boys, we had gone ahead of the pack and rode at a good clip -30-35 kph ave and waited for the group at the town`s 7/11, filled with cold drinks and food, we soldiered on.
Sta Rosa -Muntinlupa:
This took us an hour as the sun was still hot at 3:30 but the pace was good and the group still intact – must be 3 cokes i have taken
Muntinlupa – Tiendesitas:
The last part was the worst part with regard to the road surface – good thing no flats for the group, we rode reasonably easy and waited for each rider at both the Sucat and Bicutan exits, C5 never looked to beautiful and almost car free, I veered to the road going to shaw blvd while the rest took the flyover to Tiende where the Manila group met. Total Distance was in the 177-185k range as we passed Tikling which was 7 k shorter than the Sumulong route of the ride. Total ride time varied from 7-8+ hours because of the pit stops every 10-15km which we deemed mandatory because of the summer heat, we later realized these pit stops made us ride faster and fresher as we were able to keep cold drinks on board and hydrate properly at regular intervals.
Special thanks to Raj for the pictures and congratulations to new triathletes, Ken and Karlo who were able to finish the ride smiling.
I had always wanted to pay it forward given in this day and age, any advice you receive entails a monetary cost, gone are the days advice is given free and the information found in the internet may be more than enough but properly using these principles and really understanding them fully is a different story.
Thanks Carlos for putting this site up, the group is already asking when the next ride is so hopefully you can join us on the next adventure.
To view more pics (click here). To talk about the epic Laguna loop ride (click here)
