Dablog from Dabo: August 2007

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Apayao to Cagayan Bike for Mama Mary

We had a wonderful chance to visit Apayao last June. Robin and I got invited to join a tribute ride for Mama Mary as part of the fiesta celebration of Piat, Cagayan. Eboy's good buddy, "Atty", is from Cagayan and every year they organize an epic mountain bike ride around the area. This year the ride would begin from Cabugao, the capital of Apayao and end up in Piat.

Apayao is probably one of those poor Philippine provinces that never gets any attention. It's so poor in fact that malaria still lurks in these hinterlands. As a precaution, Robin and I took prophylactic anti-biotic dosages. I had to drink this tablet once a day for 6 weeks! Apparently, you really won't know that you have malaria until weeks after the mosquito bite. Even the roads leading to the capital are unpaved gravel roads.

Half the challenge of this trip was not just the planned 9 hour bike ride. It was the almost 24 hour car ride (one way) that would bring us through Cabanatuan, Cauayan, Tuguegarao,Piat and finally Cabugao, the capital of Apayao. We left Makati at around 8:30pm on a Thursday and finally arrived at Cabugao at around 7pm (!) the next day. We of course had the customary stops for meals and pictures along the way. Although I pinched hit for Robin for a couple of hours, Robin drove most of the way. It was amazing how he kept awake. We stopped for breakfast at Cauayan Isabela, hosted by the local bike group. Very hospitable people, and they really opened their homes for us. The food was simple but sumptuous. They had this really wild stew that was similar to "Papaitan". It looked like batchoy but extremely bitter; like a mixture of ampalaya and bile! Acquired taste obviously. Lunch was in Tuguegarao, the capital of Cagayan. You can't escape the buffet craze... even that far north. We wolfed down our food knowing full well we would need all the carbs we could get for the next day.

Piat has a very old statue of the Virgin Mary and it is to Her name that we were riding. The plan was to motor to Cabugao, sleep overnight at the parish church seminary, then bike our way back to Piat the next morning. Hopefully we would arrive in Piat in time for the 4pm Holy Mass in celebration of the Feast of our Lady of Piat. There we were supposed to meet close to a hundred other cyclists from Cauayan.

We parked our vehicles at the church yard and boarded a dilapidated Kia van. The van looked like it was being held together by masking tape. But we crammed in 7 bikers in there along with our gear. We had to leave our cooler and some of our bags because we were bursting at the seams! Another 5 bikers crammed into Atty's pick up which had at least 6 bikes loaded onto it.

Past Piat is a town called Tuao at the border of Cagayan that has a beautiful old church that is still in use. We kissed the cement roads goodbye and entered the land of gravel and dust. Most of us had actually never biked in the area before so we took careful note of the terrain as the van gingerly made its way to Cabugao. Knowing that we would pass the same road the next day although in reverse, we applauded everytime the van would climb and held our breath and prayed when the van would go down a descent. "Oh no, that was a long downhill section! We're going to have to climb that tomorrow!" All in all though, we noted that Cabugao was much higher than Cagayan so we knew it would be mostly downhill.

The seminary at Cabugao was a modest compound in the middle of town.

We were led to an old dormitory which seemed to be in a similar state as our Kia van. The priest and seminarians were in a conference somewhere so it was a bit strange moving into other people's rooms and sleeping in their beds. The downstairs toilet was sealed shut with tape with a strong warning sign against its use. He he he, no problem with compliance here. Hanging inside the bathroom were 2 pairs of camouflage design underwear. Uh oh, looks like the military has sent its deep penetration agents to spy against these leftist seminarians!

The people though were very nice and they welcomed us with open arms. The swarming mosquitos welcomed us too. I fretted over that.. as a mountaineer, I can take a lot of discomfort... leaches, mud, heat, sleeping on hard floors, etc... but mosquitos piss me off big time. Luckily we had a fan and Off lotion. Dinner was simple and spartan... extremely tough pork but very good soup. Life is tough in Apayao... and it really gave me new respect for the life of a parish priest in the hinterlands.

The next morning we were finally on our way back to Piat this time on our bikes. Most of the ride was through a winding loose gravel road that was thankfully wide enough. The loose gravel made it tough to keep one's balance especially on a downhill because tire grip was at a minimum. I could feel my front and rear wheels drifting from one side to another. Two of the guys

took a spill. I was all prepped with elbow pads and newly purchased shin guards. The ironic thing is the only injury I got from the ride was a blister behind my knee from the shin guard straps.

Admittedly, the view wasn't as spectacular as the Cordilleras. The road wasn't as high and therefore the cliffs weren't that sheer. But it was an experience nonetheless testing our endurance over 9 hours of bumpy roads. Fortunately, Robin and I prepared well for the ride. We prepared our power sandwiches (peanut butter and strawberry jam on whole wheat Gardenia bread) the night before. As I bit into my sandwich though, I realized Robin was overzealous with the peanut butter. The stuff stuck to my teeth, palate and throat sucking out every last bit of moisture in my mouth! Turns out that as Robin was slapping on the peanut butter that morning, he was muttering something about bonking (running out of energy) being the biggest danger in long rides. Well, I beg to disagree! Suffocation from peanut butter overdose must be higher on that danger list.

Of course after downing one of those zillion calorie sandwiches, we suddenly stopped to have lunch. I didn't even realize they had packed fried chicken and rice into the back up van. I ate the chicken anyway... and I paid for that right after... the longest uphill climb was right after lunch! Despite that though, I did quite well. I passed Eboy and Atty on the climb and almost caught up with Lester as well. We stopped for

a refreshing break at a natural flowing water source. Luckily it was a bit cloudy so the heat didn't pose that big a problem. The halo-halo stop was great though. Pinipig, banana, gulaman, sweet malagkit rice and other stuff made the halo-halo unique and much appreciated.

Finally, after close to 9 hours on the road (including stops) I crossed the river that bordered Apayao and Cagayan at around 4pm. Just ahead was Tuao. By this time though, due to varying fitness levels and pace, the bikers were scattered. I was all alone and I knew Robin, Lester and some others were way ahead me. I decided not to stop in Tuao and proceed to Piat to try to catch up with the them. When I got to Piat, I was surprised to find no one around from our group. There were several vehicles including a large truck full of bicycles. The group from Cauayan had arrived hours before. When I opened my cellphone I realized they had all stopped at Tuao to regroup. They even sent the backup van to look for me! Yikes, what a blunder it was not to have left my cellphone open to receive messages. Oh well, hard lessons learned. By the time the group caught up with me it was dusk. Atty led the group in a thanksgiving prayer (an entire rosary again!) and afterward we argued on whether to grab a shower somewhere or to just proceed straight to Manila. A few hours later the issue was settled as we drove along this lonely road with no sign of civilization or even a faucet. So much for the shower.

Again Robin drove most of the way... I took over a few hours later and told myself I'd try to drive for at least 2 hours. After just half an hour, I could hear my ipod's 80s music echoing mysteriously in my ear! Everything looked and sounded strangely surreal. The road seemed to float around. It was REALLY tough keeping awake. A couple of days later we found out that it wasn't just fatigue that was hitting us. A freon leak in the A/C system was discovered by Robin's mechanic. Freon apparently is toxic and can cause drowsiness symptoms! And I thought it was just the mind blowing music of Steely Dan!

When we finally drove into my village the sun was up. We had been traveling on a bike and in a car for another incredible 24 hours. This ride was more than just a bike epic. It was a test of physical and mental endurance... or should I add, a test of butt endurance.