Bike Nirvana
Yet another cycling blog
Tagaytay: Reverse Palace
July 27, 2016
Out of the blue, my friends from the south asked me if I want to join a ride to the "palace" taking a backward route hence the term "reverse palace."
My first impression was it's mostly road and just about 30 kilometers long. Basing from my Alaska Cycle Philippines experience, I should be able to do it. Almost. I didn't realize that this route will have up to 557m in elevation gain, and that there is a Strava segment called "2-Kilometers pain!" among others like a trail!
Before the ride, I prepared my "grocery bike" and fitted the original tires which are the Maxxis Maxlite 700x35C. I made sure the shifting is fine and lubricated the chain links.
We met at Nuvali parking near Gran Trail cycles for the pre-ride check up of tires pressure. I am the only one riding a bike with no suspension at all.
From Nuvali parking we rode at a good pace until we reach this junction where we waited for another companion before entering the trail. Good luck to me! Here is a boring video as I try to navigate this segment called "Marcos Mansion Trail" that I finally realized has up to 17% grade.
Marcos Mansion Trail from azcruz on Vimeo.
Close to the top, I suffered from cramps that compromised the ride of the group due to lost time. Ches, the tri-athlete took my bike so I can walk and shrug off the cramps.
We took a slightly different path going back and it was dark already when we reached Nuvali.
After this ride I realized that I long for a 40T granny gear as I was limited to 28-36 gears. I plan to add an extended cog but it will be on the Niner which has a cassette and rear derailleur compatible for such use.