Visiting Manila w/ my MTB

[intellikat]

Cheers all--

I am planning a short trip to Manila for the first time perhaps in a month. I'm American, but working/living in Guangzhou, China.

I'm planning to bring one of my bikes to check out the local trails, so I did a bit of searching online and read a fair few articles. I'm hoping to link up with some local riders to check out the scene-- I prefer riding aggressive single track, AM/Enduro, light free ride stuff, but am happy riding anything scenic, too. Not picky at the end of the day. I started riding/racing XC when I lived in Australia, but eventual moved into more DH/aggressive stuff.

I would probably bring my Commencal Meta AM (650B, 150mm travel) which I imagine could handle most of what I saw online (youtube vids of Antenna, etc.). I also have a 26" Santa Cruz Chameleon here.

Any advice or help? Any chance to meet up and ride together?

Thanks in advance!

[anthrax76]

When are you coming brad?

If you're Manila, the closest is Maarat, there are 2 IMBA certified trails there (Green and Blue trail), unfortunately it is probably full of grass now due to rain.

Heroes trail, a groomed track is also a good place, not much scenery though.

[intellikat]

Looking at Sept 15-18...

[anthrax76]

I'll try and hook you up with guys who ride Antenna

[intellikat]

Sweet. Thanks. Where are you from?

[anthrax76]

I'm from Quezon City, about 7km from Maarat. I'm just a poser who does urban assault, ha ha. I want to do aggro stuff, unfortunately I don't have a budget for a decent aggro bike nor the time do ride often, ha ha ha.

I'll give them the email address you have from your account here so they could contact you

[intellikat]

Cool, thanks. There are quite a few Chinese frames made right here in Guangdong in the same factories that produce Specialized, etc. A bit cheaper than their counterparts.

[anthrax76]

yeah, you'd be surprised how many companies outsource their manufacturing in China. Kinda sucks that some bootleg frames get sold as legit here.

[intellikat]

Most of them do nowadays. Or in Taiwan. A few other places. Yes, you have to know what you are looking at. Some of the Chinese frames are decent that come from legit manufacturers and companies--many of them aren;t marketed or sold outside of China. But the big western companies are really the ones pushing the envelope on new tech, which is really rapidly changing. Every month there's something new that's pretty groundbreaking, it seems.

[anthrax76]

Yeah, the search for the "perfect" design of suspension with or without dependence on the shock is still up for grabs.

[intellikat]

So, I've locked in a trip from Sept 14-18. Coming in Wednesday night to Manila. I'll find somewhere to stay a bit east, and probably rent a car as I want to get a little north, too. If you can give me any contacts to connect with there, would love to ride as much as possible. If you use Viber or any other apps, we can communicate there. 

And if you want anything cheap bike-related from China, let me know

[anthrax76]

East? If it's near Momarco resort, visit Bathala Bike park.

I'm still trying to get contacts but the weather in the city sucks. Rain everyday makes the trail really muddy and full of tall grass.

[spyghost]

Aug 27, 2016 19:52:27 GMT 8 anthrax76 said:

East? If it's near Momarco resort, visit Bathala Bike park.

I'm still trying to get contacts but the weather in the city sucks. Rain everyday makes the trail really muddy and full of tall grass.

i was just speaking to some rep from momarco a few weeks back regarding the availability of the PT.  yes it is still there and can be used.  not surprising though is that it's not dry due to the recent rains.  but given a good weather, and a few sweeps of the puddles and mud on the dips, it should be great.

i was supposed to try it out yesterday, but given the daddy duties, i wasn't able to.  i'll try to look into it this next weekend if possible.

BTW, the Pililia Windmills are just within reach from Momarco aren't they?  Might be good to drop by there as well.  There are a bunch of folks doing track reads and track maintenance for an upcoming XC event in October.

[intellikat]

How do you think the trails will be a week from now?

[anthrax76]

let's see, the weather is holding, there's light rain late at night or early morning. trails will most likely be soft with a little sticky mud but not splashy mud.

grass would most likely be shoulder to head high at this time of the year. do you have a ride buddy yet?

[intellikat]

Shoulder to head high on the trails??? Or off them. No ride buddy...

[anthrax76]

If not for my kid's dental appointment, I would like to show you around a hidden trail inside a university campus.

[intellikat]

Is it feeling as if the weather will be OK for riding this week?

[anthrax76]

The weather is holding brad I rode this morning and it's cool

[intellikat]

I'm looking at the forecast with all this rain expected... Unsure if I should bring my bike this trip. Advice? I'm planning on Thursday to Friday.

[anthrax76]

No rain for the past 24 hours in my area (Quezon City). At the end of the day it's still your call

[esulit]

There are two storms in the area. That's why the forecast is rain. Expect the trails to be either slippery or muddy.