KT In-Betweener: That Glorious Thing Filipino Bikers Call “SEMPLANG”

26 03 2011

text | Carla Ocampo

photography | Yo Muan

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Semplang. A Bahasa-sounding Filipino street word used to connote crashing unto the ground while on your bike. Er, technically not always ON your bike… but you get the drift. Semplang is, simply, a bike crash.

Since I think this onomatopoeic term rhymes more closely with the sound of narrow wheels running out of control (“sss-ss-sss…”) and then light metal frames and helpless, flailing limbs finally hitting concrete or mud (“‘em-plang!” or sometimes, “em-plak!“)… I would wish to limit this post and exclude motorcycle crashes. Those types would sound more like Skrimbogkratas. “SKREEEEEEEEEEM-BOGGG!” (KRATAS would be the part where the broken glass parts scatter on the pavement. Mommy…) Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Alternative Education, Cycle Touring, Mountains, People, Travel and Adventure

PadyaKayumanggi, Cordilleran Kilometers: LAGAWE-LAGAWE LOOP (Part 3)

23 01 2011

text | Carla Ocampo

photography | G-third Atanque and Lester Valle

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(In this post’s Part 2, the merged cycle touring teams of KT and Lagalag Exploration— together with PHILMOFO members and a group of Ifugao mountain bikers— spent the night at Tinoc, the highest town in the province. With the Mofos heading back to Manila the morning after, KT and the Lagalag boys sweated it out by themselves in the Tinoc-Hungduan frontier. Carla, now the only girl in the team, crumbled down with exhaustion and low morale. This is the last installment of the epic loop.)

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In tears, I scanned the rugged road behind me. It had been an oppressing climb, soaring several meters from the river that cuts the Tinoc-Hungduan valley. Not too steep, I self-confessed, and frankly not quite kilometric. But with the fuming sun broiling my patience to a very thin crisp, I stopped pushing my bike, sought solace under a mere square-foot of tree shadow, and bawled like a baby.

The disruptive attack of my sobs and snorts into the brooding silence of Ifugao… just, startled me back to sanity. It was then that I saw my man, Lester— now ten meters ahead— dutifully pushing his MTB up to the gravel path’s height, where it curves to the left, disappearing behind the mountain wall. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Alternative Education, Cycle Touring, Food, Mountains, People, Travel and Adventure

PadyaKayumanggi, Cordilleran Kilometers: LAGAWE-LAGAWE LOOP (PART 2)

23 12 2010

text | Carla Ocampo

photography | G-third Atanque, Carla Ocampo and Lester Valle

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(In this post’s Part 1, the merged cycle touring teams of The Kayumanggi Trails and Lagalag Exploration— together with local bikers from Ifugao and members of the MTB forum PHILMOFO— reached Tinoc via the Lagawe-Kiangan off-road, but not without harsh difficulties and setbacks. Eight of them were rescued by a dump truck. Here, now, is the second installment of this epic ride.)

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In fog-shrouded darkness, with the truck heaving its lonely climb to Tinoc, all of us fell silent. Never had the off-roads seemed so dangerous, until now: a wall of mud and rock gaping over us at left… and at right, an abysmal ravine— a fatal drop— from which our truck was less than a couple of feet away.

After what could be the steepest five-kilometer assault in the closing stretch of the ride, the frontier transitioned at last… and we were greeted by houses with galvanized iron walls, dimly lit by fluorescent bulbs.

Finally, the Tinoc town proper. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Alternative Education, Cycle Touring, Food, Mountains, People, Travel and Adventure

PadyaKayumanggi, Cordilleran Kilometers: LAGAWE-LAGAWE LOOP (PART 1)

29 11 2010

text | Carla Ocampo

photography | G-third Atanque and Lester Valle

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“…the place, the way people lived was beautiful. The terrain here is hard. These terraces the people made, that is because of their industry and the need to grow rice in order to live. In all of that there is something to be admired.“

- Eduardo Masferre, photographer of the Philippine Cordilleras

In the heyday of Masferre— the late, great visual documentarist who was half-Spanish and half-Kankana-ey— these were his words, as he was humbled by the people and the terrain… the soul, the character of Northern Philippines‘ Gran Cordilleras.

More than half a century later, we are equally humbled by the very same things, as KT‘s Lester Valle and yours truly— together with Lagalag Exploration‘s Levi Nayahangan and G-Third Atanque— pedaled through rocky soil, mud pools, steep uphills, elbow curves and perilous downhills… Philippine cycle touring at its finest… and arguably, one of the hardest.

All these via the Lagawe-Lagawe Loop, a zig-zagging stretch of 85% off-road glory, hissing a challenge to all self-proclaimed hardcore MTB enthusiasts. Winding around some of the best places of the province of Ifugao (through the towns of Lagawe, Kiangan, Asipulo, Tinoc, Hungduan, Banaue, Hingyon, and back to Lagawe) the loop is around 130 Cordilleran Kilometers— or CKm— in all. Read the rest of this entry »


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PadyaKayumanggi, Unang Sabak: Marikina-Infanta Road

28 10 2010

text | Carla Ocampo

photography | Elton Chua, Wing Larase and Lester Valle

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Some would ride bicycles to satiate their need for superhuman speed and set their competitive spirit ablaze. Others would pedal their way and sell goods for a living. Still others have bikes just for the heck of it, and go on upgrading sprees while bike parts are “in mint condition”. More and more people, though, are discovering the power of the bicycle in giving them a privilege that lazy butts could only dream of: THE ABILITY TO TRAVEL, IN THE CHEAPEST WAY POSSIBLE. Yes folks, meet the concept of… cycle touring.

This is the first in possibly several long rides to be  undertaken by Team KT. Next time, we’d be asking guests to join us, but before anything else, here’s the story of our collective “baptism of fire” in the gorgeous-now-treacherous-later Marikina-Infanta Road. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Alternative Education, Beaches, Cycle Touring, Food, General, Mountains, People, Travel and Adventure, Waterscapes


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