Day 1
Off we went to Subic last April 4-5 for the 2009 TLBF (Terry Larrazabal Bike Festival). None of us were participants but our love for biking was enough to bring ourselves (and our bikes!) to Subic to experience the big event.
Special thanks to my officemate Pia and his downhiller hubby Glenn for making reservations at Forest View. The villa is located in El Kabayo and we were pleasantly surprised of the good condition of the place. It has recently been renovated, and almost all the furniture, equipment, etc. look new. Our previous stay at Subic Homes a year ago was a disappointment so you can imagine my glee when I saw our great villa at Forest View .
Hanging out at Forest View. Ana, moi, Tsi, Danie (Martin’s pretty daughter), Ethel, Sarah, Jojo, Edmund. Martin took the photo.
The GPOA or General Plan of Attack for the rest of the day after check-in were to do our groceries, have a quick lunch, bike to the convention, attend Eric’s bday party at The Cliff (where he is staying with his whole family) and then cap the night with a free-for-all inuman/chikahan/patabaing-baboy session.
We were all eager to do the groceries at Subic Royal and thanks to Sarah and Tsi, managed to short list the food we need for an overnight stay. But we were all shocked how quickly we filled up that grocery cart! We were debating if we are really staying for 1 night or for the whole week with the amount of food we bought! One night lang pero malakas lang siguro kami kumain.
We had a quick lunch at Chow King where we saw Eric and family. Also saw good biker friends of my cousin Alain (Tsi’s older brother). Bud, Dennis and son, etc. are joining the XC race on Sunday. The outlet shops surrounding the restaurant within the Petron gasoline station caught our eyes as well. We promised to include that in our Sunday GPOA!
Back at the villa and after unloading the groceries, we’ve decided to bike to the convention. Tsi skipped this part, choosing to sleep instead because of an all-nighter the day before. Party hindi trabaho! Tons of friends were at the Subic Convention Center, we immediately saw our good friend Pat lugging his SLR. Naku marami na namang paktyurs for sure! We also saw Beth and the rest of the Pasig MTB Riders. TLBF is lucky to have repeat visits from International bikers Hans Rey, Brian Lopes and Jeff Jones. I was very lucky enough to have Hans “No Way” Rey sign my pink helmet! Talagang may “No Way” sa signature nya!
Souvenir pic at the convention center. Ethel, Jojo, Sarah, Eric, me, Edmund, Ana.
We asked Pat to join us and check out the 4X race. When we got there, the kids category was on-going. The races that we witnessed were very impressive. It’s great to see kids active at a young age. Hats-off to their supportive parents as well. J Afterwards we headed back to our villa but did a short detour to El Kabayo falls. Pat led the way as he is familiar with the trail. Reason being, he admitted he was there earlier that day. We took a couple of shots at the falls but those are using Pat’s cam. Still need to get them and post them here.
Later that night, we headed to Eric’s birthday bash at The Cliff. This is situated in Barrio Barretto, about 4kms outside Subic Bay, where the girlie bars used to be. The resort is very beautiful! There’s also a swimming pool if you don’t want to swim at the beach. When we got there, we were surprised to see a large group of party revellers. Turned out that Eric’s got relatives in Olongapo and there are 2 more birthday celebrants that night! One is Eric’s kid and the other is a relative. Firefly Brigade personalities Krx and Inoy were present too, nag-iinuman na! The group couldn’t stay too long at the party for Danie’s getting sleepy already. It’s unfortunate that when Wandie arrived biking all the way from Subic, we were about to leave.
The night didn’t end yet! It was just about to start. Edmund took care of the music, playing a great mix of New Wave songs on his iPod and ginormous speakers! Yes dinala pa nya! Sarah led the cooking duties and whipped up adobo and chicken wings as pulutan. She along with Jojo and Ethel led the draining of the Tequila bottle too. We were happy to see Adrian arrive, who was booked at a different resort. Happy because he’s got a bagful of ice for our irish liqueur! Weeee! O sige na nga, pati sa presence nya!
Day 2
The next day, only Martin, Ana, Tsi and I wanted to bike to the XC race at Hill 349. The rest of the group will take Jo’s van, masyado nalasing! Tsk tsk. It was about 18kms from El Kabayo to the race venue and majority of the time, we were going uphill! On our way, we saw the triathlon participants doing their bike leg and Tsi and I cheered for all the tri-girls we saw. Getting to the race venue is one tough activity! The road seemed endless and the heat of the sun isn’t helping at all. I was secretly wishing that there’s a Gatorade booth similar to the one outside the convention center we saw yesterday. When we finally arrived, first stop was the drinking station and u-lala! May Gatorade booth nga! We arrived just as the first place winner crossed the finish line. Ang galing! He didn’t look tired nor stretched beyond his limits.
We couldn’t stay long to watch the race because we have to check-out by lunch time. We still need to go back, good thing it would be easier now as the return trip is pure downhill except for the short climb to El Kabayo and to our villa. Saw Wandie again and he joined our small group on our way back. We bade goodbye to him somewhere around the JEST fork. After check-out, next in our GPOA would be to find out what other stuff we can see at the convention center and then do some shopping, have a snack at the Xtreme Xpresso Cafe before we all head home to Manila.
We were lucky to see the Trials competition happening at the convention. Jeff Jones, whom I thought was not competing but only doing an exhibition won first place. He was totally in a different league but I am happy with the performance of one fellow pinoy trials biker. That pinoy guy was able to balance himself more on his bike and do the required moves. Mabuhay ka!
Magaling ito! Not sure if this was the 2nd Placer
Another participant about to jump
Jeff Jones in action. Love his jones bike!
Trials participants and our souvenir pic with Jeff Jones. Check us out at the right portion of the photo 🙂
The competition, the shopping and the heat made everyone hungry so off we went for some pizza. Perfect way to cap our weekend and tackle the long ride home eh?
Finally Martin is in the pic!
Chalap chalap nito!!!
The group had a blast at TLBF. We couldn’t wait to return next year! Thanks to Martin for the photos!
LAKBO! -- RunPinayRun's Battlecry 