My good friend here Alex is the organizer of a small MX race on the opposite side of Cebu from Danao City where I stay at. I'm going over but my multi-cab sucks bad and probably could cross over the largest mountains here in 1st gear but I don't want to risk that...plus my brakes are really bad also ... First thought of what bike to ride through the mountains was of-course the 08 WR250 2t! ... But I usually only race a 4t bike .. Here's my 010 TC250 parked over a river that might, just might allow access roads further west (~3 miles?) that cut through this mountain range that blocks most, if not all, traffic from my area through the mountains at this point of the island. I really need to see if I can ride up this river or ride beside it while the water is low and connect the dots for this route. A little better look at the river... Big and wide and rocky and shallow with crystal clear water... It's gotta be fed by natural water points outer there somewhere. You can see it winding off into the mountains in the background. It could be sandy in there further upstream. This is a little further west ... You can see the 3-4 ridge-lines in the background ... That first small one, with the structures and maybe that 2nd small one, I can ride but the last couple might be a different story ... These are the ones I need to access to avoid the hardtop riding that is necessary on this ride to cross the island. This would be accessing this area from the ~south side ... I was looking at getting in that valley from the north side and it was interesting but nothing easy. This is the kind of stuff I'm liking about trying to navigate this place ... Or be parked over on a random ridge line and be able to recognize other ridge lines. - There's the road heading on west. You can see the paths down to the fields....Maybe when I have a closer look at that smaller ridge, I'll take a look at crossing that small valley. All that digging over on the road with that shelter is new to me ... Someone might be opening a plant store there or maybe just their own garden stuff. Even where I'm parked is some digging ... Maybe they'll grow a few ears of corn here?
Heading on south\SW... That's the road we just rode on the left side ... We cross that valley and head south west to the hiway. The river we cross is just about visible just above that mango tree.
Here's the 3 Amigo Bluffs area ... Even this place is changing .. Another family moved in due to some landslides so they are here now and have some bigger garden area. This is Big Bluff .. resides right next to the Amigos ... And a landmark viewable for miles. Here's the road out ... It's been graded has not got gnarled out yet so the ride over was unusually smooth.
Here's the river crossing with Big Bluff seen along the ridge-line we just rode ... Upstream and there is a swimming hole up there ... I was seeing about riding the bike on down there but just too rocky on this side ... Other side might might be better.
Those are some big rocks .... This crowd showed up .... Really nice group of kids ... We had to do a few pics and they were off to the swimming hole upstream. The trail to the swimming hole. Another shot of the kids and the area.... I think that guy on the left might live in the area and is showing the bike riders the river area.
Here's another view of Big Bluff after climbing up out from the river area. TapTap (pronounced TopTop), was not on the list today but somehow I missed a turn and on the wrong ridge-line and ended up a couple miles to the east of where I intended to hit the hiway ... Anyway, I could not believe this mural they painted there... It really knocked me over with its message and professional grade of art work... Plus, all the characters painted in fit in perfectly with a true look at its culture. I'll try to look up the artist next time I'm there. This place looks to the states and the world for the correct example alot more than you will ever know unless you live here.
Out of the mountains and on the hiway ... Here's a video of the kids riding in back of this mutl-cab jumping off and helping to push the vehicle up this part of the climb ... And this is the easy part of the climb over the top. View: http://youtu.be/HmBvfECtC4E
On the west coast now very close to the track .. Here's a race flyer ... 2.5 hr ride on the Husky at 35-40MPH on the hard top ... I'll post the race pics on another thread and link it here.
Thanks for sharing Ray. For such a small place there certainly seems there's a lot see. Have friends from Green Hills (Manilla area), Regal Rizal, Angeles City and Cebu. Only been to PI once myself but was only there catching a flight. Most of the Tagalog I picked was from my time spent in Kuwait, Bahrain and being in/near National City, CA (there's a JolliBee there).
If you know any Tagalog, you probably know more than me ... It's like my short term memory is non-existence... So my language here is < weak . I was up in the Angles area once on my TXC250 :0) ... I'll never ride that far on a bike again ... My hat is off to you guys who do those miles and miles of riding per day -- Green Hills looks like a nice area in Manila .... Might have been to Rizal Park in Manila ... Been away from that far north on Luzon for about 3 yrs ... I'm really in a good place here on Cebu, totally due to my GF working in this area.... Small land mass and I'm sitting at the ~widest part and ~centrally positioned N2S .. just right for TC \ TXC 250 riding in the mountains, all directions ... Its raw riding with resources readily available ... If you have friends in Cebu City, that's just right up the road from me
I got pretty good w/Tagalog for a little bit. Could even sing the body parts song (ha, ha). But, I'm hips deep in Spanish now. All day every day.
