Talim Island Adventure

I'm glad I did some mountain climbing when I was still in College. Going up the mountain where it was no longer rideable by bike and making your way through slippery and sharp rocks to avoid getting soaked into a body of water came very handy. This was how I described my latest adventure with nature last Saturday, May 2.

A ride to Talim Island situated at the Northern portion of Laguna de Bay was organized by Obijuan of PMTB. Again, names here are all handles by people logging in to pmtb forum. The island's western part is within the jurisprudence of the Municipality of Binangonan and the eastern side is under the town of Carmona, both in the Province of Rizal. When I was growing up in Santa Cruz, Laguna, a capital town located southeast of the lake, I was always intrigued what lies within this island. Why is it called Talim?, I often asked. If it is situated at Laguna de Bay why is it under Rizal Province? Some questions that have puzzled me eversince.

The group composed of 19 eager to pedal individuals met up at Tiendesitas around 5:30 AM. We started to hit the road to Pritil Wharf in Binangonan at exactly 6. Binangonan is some 22 km away. Just an hour away if you are kicking it out with the "halimaws" (speed riders) at 30kph. Good thing, I already learned how to use my 1-week old Louis Garneau Terra Grip clipless shoes. It helped keeping pace with these fast and furious engineless riders. After arriving at the port, bikes were immediately loaded and packed to the boat. Other riders who came from nearby towns were already there waiting, plus those from Metro Manila coming in by cars. Had breakfast at the local market, waited a bit for some logistics and there we go to Navotas village. The barangay's wharf and the coast of mainland is like 300 meters separated by the lake's waters. We wonder why the Local Government can't build a bridge to ease travel time here since everybody needs to go all the way up to Pritil in Binangonan for a 30-minute boat ride to get food supplies and other stuff. Later, along conversations with the residents we found out that there was no road from Binangonan proper to these coastal barangays that might link up a bridge to the island. Everybody needs to take the ferry. The equation now gets complicated. I don't want to dwell more onto this.

Taking off from Barangay Navotas, northern tip of the island, we were like celebrities. People went out of their houses and watched 29 beautifully costumed (colorful dry-fit jerseys, sunglasses, warmers, nice shoes, and gorgeous bikes) individuals invading their quiet town like an army mounted on bikes. You can't blame people from the countryside who see the same faces everyday. This day was a feast for their eyes. We headed down south via the western front of the island. At the start, the roads were just wide enough to accomodate a tricycle or pedicab. But just after a few hundred meters the roads get slimmer, then almost single track, to no track at all. There were portions, I mean lots of portions where we have to carry our bikes. We had to make our way through sharp volcanic rocks at the coast balancing not to get dipped into the lake which would create waves and ripples everytime boats pass by, to get to the next trail. Water lilies helped some extra stepping pedestals. The trails included villages' cramped paved roads, rolling hills, lots of bamboo single-track trails, rocky downhills, waterline coastal carry-your-bike, and of course lots of hike-a-bike.

A much needed lunch break was held at the house of Empoy's (another rider) relatives. I forgot the name of the barangay though. Grilled tilapia and pork sinigang were served just in time when all of us were all needing extra energy. It is always nice to see a sari-sari (local retail store) along the way to get a quick drink or munch. After some good bonding we headed to the mountains again and entered the bamboo trail where lots of tires got punctured. Thanks to Whoops for the assist. I really need to learn how to change tires from now on. Luckily, I always bring spare tube in the trail. It helped when I needed it most.

We reached the village of Talim south of the island at around 4PM. We started hitting the trail head around 8:30 in the morning so it was like 7.5 hours inside the trail. This is not including the travel time on pedals from Tiendesitas to the Pritil Wharf and back, and from our respective houses to Tiendesitas. Cyclo comp recorded just below 20km inside the trail though. You can now imgagine how hard the terrains and trails were given the long hours in so short a distance. Great views by the way. You can see Mt. Makiling from the distance, the Alabang-Sucat,Taguig coastline and the Manila Skyline in the horizon.
We took the now chartered ferry which has enough room this time for all of us 29 riders and our bikes back to Pritil. This was the same boat we took to Navotas earlier but there were a couple of other passengers and some cargoes. There's no way anyone would dare backtrack the trail to the jump off point. Initially, it was planned to bike all the way to the eastern side of the island, the Carmona side, but time didn't permit us. Maybe a Part 2 is already in the works. I would love to join this one too. By 7PM, the "padyak-all-the-way" group started to hit the National High Way at almost full speed. I was kinda very cautious since my eyesight is not that good at night and my headlight is not that bright. Might need to get a better one. I reached home around 8 and my cyclo comp read 73km. Another great ride!