Bikepacking the Annapurna Circuit 2022

Back to the Himalayas! 

We have been craving another ride on this great mountain range since our Ladakh cycling trip last 2019. Cycling in the Himalayas has been the most intense experience we have had on the saddle. Immense landscapes, remote location, high elevation, cold climate, unfamiliar culture, majestic natural views - worthy to return to despite the physical and logistical challenges.

And so, when the COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions were relaxed, we took vacation leave from our jobs, cashed-in our savings and year-end bonuses, packed our old mountain bikes, filled our dry bags with gears and winter clothes, took a flight to Kathmandu, Nepal, and cycled the Annapurna Circuit.

Day 11, Lower Mustang.

Bike Touring and Bikepacking Campsites in the Philippines

 A Google Map of secure campsites in the Philippines for adventure cyclists.

URL: bit.ly/BikeCampsitesPH

Disclaimer: This is a crowdsourced map. Do your research and contact the campsites in advance. 

Cebu Loop Bike Tour 2021

This is our first long bicycle tour after almost two years of COVID-19 quarantine restrictions. On November 2021, the Province of Cebu announced the loosening of travel restrictions for inter-island tourists with vaccination card as the only requirement. With that news, we immediately readied our bikes and gears and headed for Matnog port.

There is now a roro (roll-on, roll-off) ferry that services the Matnog, Sorsogon- Bogo City, Cebu route three times a week. The boat departs from Matnog (and Bogo) at midnight with travel time of ten to 12 hours. This is a welcome development for bicycle tourists from Bicol visiting Cebu and the Central Visayas - and for Cebuanos visiting Bicolandia. Bikes are free of charge - just remove the front wheel before climbing to the passenger deck.

Boljoon Church

Everesting Cycling Challenge 2021

On June 6, 2021, three young “pandemic cyclists” from our town Irosin, Sorsogon, Philippines attempted the Everesting cycling challenge and were able to finish with impressive time results. They trained hard for the event and were fully supported by the local cycling community. As we fed, hydrated, encouraged, and monitored the progress of Vicson A., brothers Airru E. and Lucky E., I silently committed to myself that I would also attempt this vertical cycling challenge. The COVID-19 pandemic was still out there, and I have nothing else better to do.

The Everesting Challenge for cycling is simple: pick any hill anywhere in the world and complete repeats of it in a single activity until you climb 8,848m – the equivalent height of Mt Everest. For the uninitiated, read more at the Everesting website and at Wikipedia. 

With Ed B, 70 years old, and completed the Half Everesting.

Samar Island Loop 2019

The more the merrier! Nineteen cyclists from Sorsogon rode the third largest island in the Philippines during the Holy Week of April 2019.  The coastal loop of Samar is 731 km from Allen to Catbalogan, to Balangiga (with stop-over San Juanico Bridge), to Borongan (skip Guiuan), to Gamay, then back to Allen. It was a light and fast 5-day ride averaging 146 km per day. Hot, plenty of climbs, dawn to dusk rides, kind Samar people, good food, scenic coastal seascapes, and good wide roads almost all the way. My first bike tour with a loaded road bike. 

A happy and noisy crowd, at Matnog port

Cycling the Indian Himalayas 2019

To eyeball the mighty Himalayas is a childhood dream of mine. To cycle its high mountain passes with its rarefied air and fluttering prayer flags, to sit still in Tibetan Buddhist stuppas and temples in its secluded valleys, to attempt to summit any of its 6,000+ meters snow-clad peaks… And why not? Let’s go!

Descent from Baralachala, photo credit to Rak Ssr (FB)

Cycling the Roof of Luzon - Part 1, 2019

This ride is a field test of our cold-weather trekking gears and newly-installed bike parts and accessories. Gearing up and testing for that planned high-altitude Indian Himalaya ride, and Benguet in February is the coldest and the highest you can get in the Philippines. Four mountain bikers from Irosin, Sorsogon (me, Kareen my wife, Tyrone and Paulo) once again took leave from day jobs and rode two long bus rides to revisit the roof of Luzon. This ride is a 5-day loop of Baguio City – Bokod – Kabayan – Atok – Baguio City (with a side trip to Mt. Pulag).

Vietnam-Cambodia Bike Tour 2018

Our first cycling experience in a foreign country! A light and fast bikepacking ride from Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) down south to the Mekong Delta, then up north to Phnom Penh, plus a side trip to Angkor Wat temples – squeezed in a 8-day itinerary last April 2018. Plane tickets to major Indochina cities are now relatively cheap, plus local airlines charges only P1,000 for MTBs (Legazpi-Manila-Saigon, bare bikes unboxed and un-bagged).

Riding Audax Philippines 2016

First heard of Audax Philippines on February 2016 from a good friend of mine Jules in Manila while prepping for my Mt. Kinabalu climb. Jules' story of unsupported, self-paced, non-competitive, time-stamped, any-bike-you-like, plenty of 7-11 along the way, series of 200-300-400-600 km rides piqued my interest. Incidentally, he also lent me his Scott road bike (minus crank and fork) as incentive to going lighter, faster and further, since my preferred bike for many years is an MTB. Visited audaxph.com later and was hooked! Seven months later, I had my name in the roster of 2016 SUPER RANDONNEURS.

Audax is long distance cycling event. It is not a race, and not a leisurely recreational bike touring event either. You must complete the rides within pre-defined time limits. Time is not on your side, but the allowance is relatively lenient. A very low-key, low profile and very personal event.

Vigan to Baler Bikepacking 2017

The Luzon Island landmass is oriented north-south and most Luzon multi-day biking tours follows this general direction. A Luzon east coast to west coast bike trip can take an hour or so (Unisan-Atimonan, Quezon), or couple of days if you throw in Sierra Madre and Cordilleras along the route. Preferring the path with the most resistance, the ninth edition of “Lakbay Bisekleta” (bike tour) by Sorsogon cyclists is a coast-to-coast traverse of Northern Luzon from Ilocos Sur, over the Kalinga Cordilleras, across the Cagayan Valley, over Sierra Madre, to the beaches of Aurora.

Abra summer landscape

Catanduanes + Tiwi Bike Ride 2016

The month of August offered a 3-day holiday window and we promptly filled it in with a Catanduanes Island bikepacking ride. Irosin cyclists usually does an overnighter ride every August to Tiwi for a “pilgrimage” in Joroan Church. To take advantage of the additional holiday, we planned a side trip to Catanduanes and even dreamed of a 360 ride around the island. A very ambitious plan…

The majestic Pacific Ocean

Bikepacking Bohol 2016

Bohol… the island beckons with its famed chocolate hills, the tarsiers, river cruise, beaches, old churches and more. Just two island hops away from Luzon Island and our destination for the eight edition of the annual “Lakbay Bisekleta” (bike tour). The route was an island hopping bike loop from and to Sorsogon that traversed Samar, Leyte, Bohol, Panglao, Cebu and Masbate Islands, Philippines on the summer of 2016, and turned out to be 796 kilometers and took 8 days.

Teacher Kareen and Nurse Nat, on the road.

Mt. Pinatubo Climb 2016

The cataclysmic eruption of Pinatubo Volcano in 1991 reduced the once 1,745 meters ASL mountain to a crater with an average height of 1,300 meters, with the rim about 2.4 km across, and a crater lake of unknown depth. The unbelievable amount of materials ejected by this volcano inundated Central Luzon and Zambales and altered the area’s topography for millennia to come.

Last February 26-28, climbing buddies from college organized a Mt. Pinatubo climb to explore the possibility of descending the crater from Pampanga side and scout for a route that will traverse into Zambales side. We have already accomplished this feat 21 years ago and have set the record for the first crater traverse (blog of climb here), but we are itching for a repeat performance.

Mt. Kinabalu Climb 2016

I have always wanted to climb this mountain – Mt. Kinabalu, the highest mountain in Southeast Asia at 4,095 meters ASL. But back then, there were no budget-promo airline from Manila to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia and I had little disposable money for travel back then. But nowadays, Manila to KK airfare is very affordable and me and my wife can spare some travel funds for some serious out of the country adventure travel. So for our 20^th wedding anniversary last February 10, I booked a flight to KK and a Mt. Kinabalu 2D1N tour package with via Ferrata.

Sorsogon-Davao City-Sorsogon Bike Ride 2011

While rummaging through my old files I finally found my notes on the 2011 “Lakbay Bisekleta” (Bike Tour). Now I can recount my longest bike ride to date and and the most challenging with 200+km-days over diverse terrain under the hot summer sun and torrential downpours. The trip was a grueling 11-day unsupported mountain bike ride of 1,682 kilometers over Samar, Leyte and Mindanao Island to Davao City and back.   

Bryan, Tyrone, Ed, Jeff and Noel

Tiwi and Caramoan Bike Ride 2015

On August 20 to 23, a group of Sorsogon recreational cyclists visited Caramoan, Camarines Sur on a long weekend unsupported bike ride. The weekend warriors were Noel (me), Kareen (my wife), Cyrk and Nat, Linzo and his son Dominic, Paulo, Sam – all from Irosin, and Ed of Matnog and Tyrone of Bulan.

The Bicol 630 Road overlooking Lagonoy Gulf.

Climbing Mount Apo 2015

Mt. Apo is on every Pinoy climber’s bucket list of mountains to summit. The highest peak of the Philippines is there waiting to be climbed, but for Luzon folks this endeavor is costly (airfare) and time-consuming (5 days in and out). So when I was on official travel in General Santos City, I jumped on the opportunity, traveled to Kidapawan City on the last day of the convention and climbed Mt. Apo, solo, over the weekend of May 22 to 24.

Biking the Cordilleras 2015

Nothing compares to the Cordilleras if you are a recreational mountain biker in the Philippines. And in affirmation to that statement, seven Sorsogon cyclists embarked (once again) on a ride to the mountain roads/trails of Ifugao, Mt. Province and Kalinga. This is our fifth Cordillera ride, this year’s installment for the annual summer “Lakbay Bisekleta” ride we have been doing since 2009. The riders are Noel (me), Kareen, Cyrk and Natalie of Irosin, Tyrone and Jay of Bulan, and Ed of Matnog.

Traditional tattoo artists of Kalinga: Grace (seated) and Apo Whang-od (standing)

Biking Samar and Leyte Island

Samar Island is a short 1.5 hour ferry ride away from Sorsogon. Roll-on, roll-off (RORO) ferries from Matnog town will take you Allen, N. Samar and from there you can pedal away up to Liloan, S. Leyte. The Samar-Leyte bike circuit is one of our favorite route  since 2008.

Bike Touring Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Cordilleras and Central Luzon 2012

This is a blog of an epic bicycle ride undertaken by a group of Sorsogon cycling enthusiasts during the Holy Week of 2012. I describe this ride as epic in consideration that it traversed the provinces of Ilocos Sur and Norte, Cagayan, Kalinga, Mt. Province, Ifugao, N. Viscaya, N. Ecija, Bulacan to Metro Mania in an eight day unsupported ride of 999 kilometers. The major ascents/descents of the ride includes Lubuagan (Kalinga), Sagada, Mt. Polis (near Banaue at 1,910 meters ASL) and the Dalton Pass.

The ride is named “Lakbay Bisekleta 2012” by the Irosin Cyclists Association and the fourth cross-country of the team composed of Noel (me), Ed of Matnog, Tyrone and Jenor of Bulan, and Jeffrey of Sorsogon City (now of US of A). We travelled by bus from Sorsogon to Manila (12 hours) and from Manila to Vigan City (10 hours). At Vigan, we were graciously accommodated by my town mate Marsha of Marsha’s Delicacies and she (again) was our host.