Audax Long-distance Cycling Challenge “The Story behind our journey” Our journey began when we start our training; joining the Ultimate Endurance Cycling challenge need proper preparation & training as a cyclist, long-distance cycling has to be approached with a different mindset and survival strategy. More often than that, its more of a mental game than a physical one. An Audax ride is a self-sufficient ride and a lot of planning has to be done prior to the ride itself. As part of our training we join all the TSP long rides last month of September but we also do our own training, like what i did with my wife in Subic Bay., our last training is Antipolo Bike Blessing, and continue going to Petroglyphs site Angono Rizal. Theres nothing like having a good foundation for this ultimate endurance cycling event. One doesnt have to do the entire Audax ride they are preparing for but one has to be consistent in training. Doing 50-80km on a weekend and riding at least 10-20km mid-week helped a lot. Know your riding conditions. If there will be hills, train for hills. If the ride is during the hot season, train for the hot. If it will be a wet ride, ride through the rain. Week before the event, we start planning for our accommodation, travelling to Subic since most of us came from Manila (except me, coz i stay in Subic bay), Support Vehicle (Sag), food, hydration during the ride & even strategy during the ride. As a 4th time Randonneurs I have to lead our Group composed of mostly first timers. TSP contingent arrive at Subic bay on 3rd October in afternoon, checking-in on their respective hotel room, rest and we start Register 7:00pm followed by Boodle Fight Dinner at Seafood restaurant. We arrive at Mango Valley Hotel Assembly area, 4th October 4:30am; we started our journey with a prayer lead by Sir Roy Ragaza to ask for blessing, strength & keeping us safe along the way.; Ride out exactly 5:00am, still dark but all our bike equipped with headlights & blinker and we also have Radio receiver to communicate including our Sag Vehicle, we stop & re-group at Subic town and we plan our strategy for the ride, “Our goal is everybody to enjoy & finish the ride safely”,, from there we maintain speed at 23KPH and stop for every town to get some quick rest & hydration (stop only for 3-5mins), we arrived at 50km Check-point (Cabangan) around 7:28am, earlier than our target time of 7:30am…we spend 15mins to have our brevet card to stamp, eat sandwich, banana, chocolate bars & to refuel our body. For the next 50km, we still maintain our speed but when we reach 80km, we reduce to 18-20kph to gain some strength before we climb the Palauig uphill, this time we ride at our own pace climbing the grueling uphill…we arrive at 104km Check-point (Masinloc) around 10:15-10:40am respectively…..we take our lunch (Chicken joy – sosyal pa) & rest for 30mins…..then we continue going to the 3rd check-point. This time we have to climb the highest & stiffest uphill of the Audax ride (Masinloc/Palauig zigzag uphill), my wife already wasted due to hot & humid weather (feels like 33C) that time but she still determined to climb back, she dismount for 3x before reaching the top of Palauig, I try to motivate her but she really give up…Mind & heart is willing to continue but LEGs already start giving up…..she only manage to finish 125Km distance, it’s a good accomplishment as a first time Randonneurs trying her best to ride with season & strong riders (don’t worry consul we will get back much stronger next year). We cut our group in to 2,,,Expe, Edwin & Tata Pekto already break away for about 20km….2nd group Ghost Rider, Lance, Jeff & Eton……We arrive at 157km check-point (Cabangan) around 2:50pm…10 mins rest then we continue our Journey, for to last 40km I start suffering leg cramps so I decided to slow it down to 20KPH & stop every 5km, also I’m thinking my riding buddies to get some rest & not being wasted…but when we reach the last 15km we increase our speed to 25kp, nsa isip ko habang palapit na palapit kami sa Finish line lalo kami lumalakas pumadyak,,,wala na kwentuhan at imikan sa mga oras na yun,,,,pero pagpasok nmin ng SBMA Gate…dun kami nagsisigawan habang papalapit na sa Finish line….Audax Pa!!! My official time of arrival is 6:06pm (13:06). TSPeeps, Thank you very much for another successful ride. I would like to commend our youngest rider & Finisher JeffryLance & to all participants Finisher or DNF, we have gained everybodys respect from different Cycling group, “Small Wheels…Big Heart”. The feeling of camaraderie we shown were definitely stronger, We successfully conquer the Audax challenge because we ride the TSP way…”Kayang kaya basta sama-sama”…PUSO!! No matter how many times I do these rides, each one always brings a lot of new learning’s and new friends. I think my Audax adventure is come to an end for this year... “The Ghost Rider”
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 09:23:49 +0000
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