Biking to Kaybiang Tunnel

It was a good start for The Pinoy Cyclist. I hope you all enjoyed my first post last week about my list of biking firsts. I had 80 views for the site and 20 views for my first post since it was posted. Allow me to sustain the momentum with this second post.

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One of the reasons why biking has experienced a renaissance in recent years is the millennial generation’s (which I am part of) appetite for travel and extreme adventure. Biking offers an opportunity to travel with minimal expense and with great effort on the cyclist. But the health benefits and the landscapes it affords are worth it. Millennial cyclists have since made it a point to visit some of the breathtaking destinations they can reach via bike.

Among the sought after biking destinations near Metro Manila is Kaybiang Tunnel on the border of Cavite and Batangas provinces, which is 67.8 kilometers away. The new tunnel, which opened in 2013 after four years of construction, is 300 meters long and is the longest subterranean tunnel in the country.

To reach the tunnel from Manila, cyclists can bike through Roxas Boulevard and Quirino Avenue until they reach Cavite. Once in the province, cyclists can take the Aguinaldo Highway, Tirona Highway, Antero Soriano Highway, Governor's Drive and the Ternate-Nasugbu Highway to reach the tunnel.

With Patrick on the part of the road where he broke his chain

THE CHALLENGE

I accepted the challenge of biking to Kaybiang Tunnel from my friend and former co-worker Patrick Jhiel Ilog from Naic, Cavite. We went there on January 3, 2015, making it was my first long-distance ride of that year and my most difficult ride so far.

Since I was coming from Bacoor, I took a different route from what I listed above, through the narrow streets of Imus City until I reached Advincula Road that connects to the Antero Soriano Highway. I was annoyed by the pockmarked condition of Carsadang Bago in Imus, which was being drilled for Maynilad's pipe-laying project at that time. I was relieved to finally reach the main highway after that.

Along Soriano Highway are the towns of Kawit, Novelete, Rosario, Tanza and Naic, as well as General Trias City. The highway has four, wide, cemented lanes along the section from Kawit up to Barangay Halayhay in Tanza. After that, it narrows to just two lanes up until its junction with Governor's Drive in Naic, making biking in that portion scarier because of the speeding minibuses that ply the road. I had to stop and move to the grassy shoulder every time I hear a minibus behind.

This section also has plenty of gravel and broken glass that could puncture your tires, which I actually experienced when I was already near Naic after a piece of staple wire got into my tires and tore a hole into my interior. I had to bring my bicycle to the vulcanizing shop after meeting up with Patrick.

The portion of Governor's Drive from Naic to Ternate was much better than the latter portion of Soriano Highway this part returns to a four-lane configuration. And biking with a companion seemed safer than biking alone. The road returns to a two-lane configuration in Ternate where the Ternate-Nasugbu Highway begins.

Posing for a photo at Kaybiang Tunnel.

MISHAPS

Patrick and I had lunch in a roadside carinderia in Ternate, just on the foot of Mount Palay-Palay (Pico de Loro), before hitting the road again. At the bend on the road just past Gapan River, we encountered our first major incline where Patrick, for some reason, broke his bicycle chain. It was a relatively new mountain bike so the breakage was surprising. He probably didn't have the right gear on when he assaulted the incline.

Patrick tried to find the missing link that broke from the chain in order to fix it with the tools he had but to no avail. We eventually placed his bike on a tricycle and brought it to the nearest bike shop, which was in neighboring Maragondon. It cost us an hour or two to have his bicycle fixed. By the time we began assaulting the trail to Kaybiang Tunnel again, it was past 1 p.m.

MORE PUSHING THAN BIKING

It was my most difficult bike ride experience given the steep mountainous topography of the area. Throughout much of the trail, Patrick and I pushed our bicycles and felt embarrassed every time a group of season cyclists in premium road bikes would pass by. The terrain, combined with the midday heat exhausted us. But we managed to get past the drop off point to Pico de Loro and the last store leading to Kaybiang Tunnel. After that, it was smooth biking all throughout as we rode the downhill to the tunnel.

The tunnel was quite the tourist attraction for cyclists and motorcyclists when we arrived. There were plenty of people taking pictures and selling different wares. The tunnel itself was big although I thought it would be longer. I marvelled at the Filipino engineering that went through building the tunnel. I made sure I didn't miss my chance to take a photo of this destination, which literally took me sweat and bone to reach.

The view where Cavite, Carabao Island, 
Corregidor and Bataan line up.

After the tunnel, Patrick and I biked further down the road to get a view of Patungan Cove, one of Nasugbu's several coves. There was a part of the road where there is a lineup view of Carabao Island, Corregidor Island and Bataan, which was breathtaking. Patungan Cove itself is majestic with its quaint fishing village and mountains. It's just sad that the fishing village is being evicted by a real estate company to give way to a condo-resort project.

On the way back, Patrick and I decided that we've had enough bike pushing for one day. We hired a tricycle where we placed our bikes and went back to Naic. I was so tired from the ordeal that I took the bus home, with my bike stashed in the bus undercarriage.

Biking to Kaybiang Tunnel remains an unforgettable biking experience for me. It proved that I can muster the energy and endurance to bike such distance and elevation. I would like to return to Kaybiang in the coming years and bike the entire distance back and forth.

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