“Ahon is just a number. I’ll climb the mountain when I get there.”

Toward the end of January, a friend messaged me asking if I wanted to join her upcoming ride. It was a bike tour from Tagudin, Ilocos Sur, to Sagada, Mountain Province, via Bessang Pass.

Looking at Komoot, the ride spanned a total of 110km with an elevation gain of 4,060m—split into two days. For perspective, my toughest ride was a Sierra Madre Loop with a distance of 116.7km and an elevation gain of only 1,613m.

Nice.

More than just another fun biking adventure, this multiple-day bike tour was the ride of my life.

My biggest concern wasn’t the distance or the elevation, but the logistics. Unlike my colleague, there was no service vehicle to bring me to Tagudin, more than 300km from my house. And there was no way I was going to bike all the way and back. It’s a good thing my friend was familiar with provincial buses.

Now that I was signed up, the first challenge was preparing for the trip. One of the things I learned from bike-camping in Baguio was that how you pack matters just as much as what you bring. There’s no point in having everything you need if you can’t access items conveniently.

My choice of bike was my Seaboard GR02. Being a lightweight gravel bike, it was the most capable steed in my stable. My storage was organized into three compartments, which I dubbed the desk, the closet, and the drawer.

The desk was my Conquer Stash handlebar bag, where I could easily access my Fujifilm X100V camera if ever I needed to take a quick photo. The closet was a saddle-mounted Sack It Kaban bag where I stored my clothes.

The drawer was my Sack It frame bag, where I kept ride essentials that didn’t need immediate access, such as my repair kit (pump, multitool, tire levers, and spare inner tubes), gadget pouch (chargers and cables), everyday carry (powerbank, wallet, and keys), and my jacket.

I normally use an iPhone 13 Mini. But for this trip, I had to transfer my SIM card to my backup phone, an iPhone 12 Pro Max. This was important because the former doesn’t have the battery life to last a whole day. So, the small phone was stashed in my stem bag in case I wanted to take shots while moving.

One move that paid off was bringing a drawstring bag where I could keep all my important belongings when I got off the bike. I also made sure to bring spares for my water bottle and front light. The saddle bag obscured my rear light, but that was fine since I had a Lumos Kickstart smart helmet.

My clothing was also grouped into three. The biking clothes by Courier consisted of four Off-Grid shirts and a pair of City Slicker shorts—my trusted choice for comfortable cycling apparel.

My casual wear when off the bike was a button-down shirt and cotton shorts, both from Uniqlo. And I had a single set of pajamas for sleeping.

As for footwear, my Keen Uneeks served as my do-it-all shoes, combining the comfort of sandals with the practicality of rubber shoes.

With my packing sorted out, the next question was when to leave Metro Manila. The tour began on February 8, Saturday. If I wanted good rest, I had to be in Ilocos Sur the night before. A few days before the ride, my friend invited me to join her—if I could arrive before sunrise on Friday.

Since she biked from Baguio, she stayed at Bacnotan in La Union before heading to Tagudin in Ilocos Sur. I was hesitant at first, but I realized joining her was the better choice because it gave me more time to rest.

I left my house in Pasig a quarter before 10pm. As someone used to air travel and online check-in, going to the Partas bus terminal in Cubao—without a reservation or ticket—felt like a leap of faith.

I was able to get a ticket by 10:30pm for the 11pm bus, which had just arrived. The next challenge was loading my bicycle. Thankfully, the conductor was able to fit it nicely in the storage compartment, but not without having the front wheel removed.

Inside the bus, the cabin was impressive, being even more comfortable than an economy-class flight. If only I had worn warmer clothes. Four to five hours sounded like enough time to get some shut-eye. But I couldn’t completely fall asleep for fear of going all the way to Laoag.

As I tried to keep my drowsy eyes focused on Google Maps, I realized the bus was frighteningly fast. One moment I was in San Juan, La Union, and the next thing I knew I was already in Bacnotan. I was dumped on the side of the road by McDonald’s before the bus left in haste without a trace.

My bike was in one piece, and so was I. It wasn’t even 4am, so there was much waiting to do. My friend arrived after a while, and I tried to get some rest before having breakfast at 5am. We rode out at 6am during blue hour, and made our way to a coastal road parallel to the main highway.

We did a bit of sightseeing along the way, passing through a surfing area, Immuki Island, the Almeida Man-Made Forest, and the Old Baluarte Watchtower. Although there was no rush, I didn’t want to stay out for too long since I wanted to get to the homestay and sleep.

I felt a sense of déjà vu after turning to Manila North Road. The last time I was there, I was in the comfort of a BYD Sealion 6 heading to Vigan during my birthday. Now, I was on the saddle of my bicycle pedaling as fast as possible, so I could get off the busy highway ASAP.

Thankfully, the road wasn’t as crazy as I expected. I arrived at Buenavista Family Inn shortly past 9am after 44km of biking. Eat, sleep, repeat—this was essentially what I did for the rest of the day.

At this point, everything had gone smoothly. I was able to pack everything nicely on my bike; the transit to Bacnotan went by without a hitch; and I was able to get a good rest before the beginning of the bike tour to Sagada.