EVENT: Audax 400
Music Used:
"Hold Me Down" by Mansionair
---First Audax 400, and longest ride to date.
Riding with Julius and Mel. First, and longest for them as well.
"Touring" setup for my bike. Low saddle, REALLY high cockpit.
Stem goes from - to
100k mark. Karinderya moves. 2 eggs, tocino, 2 rice and Kopiko 3-in-1 black. All for 50 pesos.
"Touring" setup provides exceptional comfort. But I look like I'm riding to church.
I look like the red ranger. Way too much red black and white matching going on.
150k Controle point. Audax SAG tells me that my gear/food is mistakenly brought to the 200k turnaround. Too tired to complain.
150-200k feels like torture with the Pangasinan heat and humidity.
Finally reach the turnaround point. Longest stopover at road side resto.
Sadly, the food isn't so great. But the ice-cold Sprite tastes like a miracle.
We put on our second pair of shorts because the padding of the first no longer offers any cushioning. Great idea. Thanks Carmela!
I can't believe we're only half-way.
200-250 is a blur. Beautiful sunset. Night cold finally starts to creep in.
With the amount of food we order, you'd think the ride is done. Who cares.
The restaurant owner gives us Korean energy drinks on the house, and repeatedly reminds us to be safe. Cool dude.
Riding pitch black up the climbs, with hardly any cars passing. The only light visible is from our bikes. Soul and Blues music keep us company. The whole thing is surreal, priceless, and hands down the most memorable part of the ride.
Crazy local on a bike, "racing" us and letting us know how slow we are by cutting in and out of the group. Mel at the front, but she lets it slide and maintains the pace.
Crazy guy still cutting in and out. Ang kulit. Mel assumes aero position. Alam na!
At the 350 controle point, we learn that we're ranked 101st - 103rd (among the 190+ participants of the 400k).
New goal: All finish below 100.
We ride faster than earlier, but are basically zombies at this point.
We overtake 5 riders. In the running to finish below 100 with 20k left to cover.
Mel's tire explodes. Turns out she ran over a piece of glass.
All the riders we overtook, pass us while we manage the flat. Tensions high, patience thin.
Tire replaced, and we ride out with the sole purpose of regaining the positions we lost.
400k done. What. A. Ride. Official time of 25:01.
97-99 out of 185 finishers!
