Men's Health All-Terrain Race 2007

LAST MAY 6 I joined the second installment of the Mens Health All-Terrain Race held at Timberland Heights in San Mateo, Rizal. I joined the race as part of my preparation for the DOT 24-hour Mountain Bike Challenge (previously slated for May 28-29, but which has been postponed to sometime in June).

My last adventure race was the 2004 Samsung AXN Challenge, and so for the next two and a half years my mountain bike was pretty much neglected and under-utilized (just like me). Not wanting to disappoint my 24-hour race teammates, I had to get the bike and myself back into shape.

The race course was approximately 12 kilometers long, and I finally got introduced to the popular Maarat mountain bike trail. I had some pretty scary moments during the technical downhill portions, the highlight of which was an endo (a combination of three things: 1. putting too much weight near the bars; 2. a steep downhill and; 3. the front wheel meeting an object it could not roll over. Just like this.) just 20 seconds into the Roxas Trail. Luckily I escaped with a few minor leg and shoulder bruises, and vowed to dismount when the trail was too technical for me (which was OFTEN).

Long story short, I finished 75th out of 103 participants (13 of whom did not finish), arriving 51 minutes after the winner. I was super kulelat, but the fact that I had not broken anything and that I had crossed the Finish line was already a personal victory.

And I earned my Finisher shirt!

Lessons learned:

1. It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the race course prior to the event.

2. Rush Fitness Water tastes REALLY good when your heart is doing 200BPM and it’s 33C in the shade.

3. Don’t eat two packs of Pancit Canton an hour before the race.

Links:

Official site and results

Pre-race photos of the race course (courtesy of jovan)