In the Zone

Blue Trail, Timberland Heights, San Mateo, Rizal. Pen joked that I needed off-road/trail riding training before I moved away. So Pen and Levi took me to their little playground for some fun on the trails. Trails are a chaotic mess that wreak havoc on your mind, body and bike, but then you hit that zone where absolute serenity happens. Then the madness happens all over again.

The truth is, these trails frighten me. There is always that drop, curve or that insanely steep climb with the loose rocks and soil where you ask yourself if you can ride it or if the bike can handle it. Truth is, it's always the latter.

It's a stubborn relationship where the bike keeps asking more of you, but you hold back. It's aggressive and wants to let loose on the trails, while you're tightly gripping the handlebars-- heart thudding, sweat dripping, legs turning to jelly. Eventually, you give in and it turns out the bike was right all along.

Well, that paragraph turned into more drama than expected. I just imagined all that in my head, actually. Bikes will make you do that.

Crashing was a regular occurrence