The Makiling Forest Trail

Last March 10, I had the pleasure of riding up the Makiling Forest Trail at the back of UP Los Banos. Poch and I set up early that Saturday to check it out... I had been there many years back (2001?) but I had no idea if the fire road was still in the same shape. Before we left someone told us that the road was already asphalted.

Poch and I thought it was worth the risk. My KHS mt. bike was newly assembled with mostly second hand parts so I was really excited to ride it in rougher conditions than AAVillage.

Turned out to be a great ride... the fire road was almost exactly as I remembered it. A 1 hour climb on a mountain fire road with hard packed rocks as foundation. Great surroundings... many old trees which helped cool the climate. My rear derailer kept skipping gears. Poch said it's normal due to cable stretching on the newly installed shifters and derailers. I was able to adjust it though with a few twists on the rear derailer knob.

The climb was steep but I felt fresh and full of energy. I was well prepared, eating and sleeping enough the night before.

I was surprised to see Poch catching his breath and struggling. He had proven his fitness a few weeks ago when he set a fast pace going up the Reverse Palace route. Turns out he was having trouble with the hard packed rocks which caused him to stall a few times. It didn't help that mother nature was calling out to him to do a major dump. We stopped at the sari-sari /bukohan at the midpoint and Poch's face looked pale. He managed to suck it in as we went further up the winding road which was getting rougher the higher we went. After a while we had to carry our bikes up and over fallen trees and bigger rocks. The picture shows Poch doing the "eagle claw" technique.

The downhill reward was terrific. Noticed my front brake lever was harder to squeeze than my rear. Later at home, I figured out how to increase the caliper distance with an allen wrench. The downhill was so rough I had to stop to rest my gripping hands. My KHS performed well despite the noisy suspension.


The ride was fun but it could be better if only it were longer. It turns out that there's a botanical garden/park very near the trail. That might be a good place to explore next time.