Immuvit: PCL Tour of Clark was the race I was most excited about in this trilogy. It was a 2-day event, with three stages divided into: Stage 1: 47km Team Time Trial, Stage 2: 63km Criterium Race, and Stage 3: 118km Road race. It was a Tour De France of sort, only 7 times shorter.
Day 1, Stage 1: Team Time Trial
Our team’s time trial team had 8 members. Only the times of the first 5 to cross the finish line were to be considered for the team’s official time. This meant that 3 of us can opt not to ride with the stronger 5 members of our team towards the finish line. However, team time trials are played or ridden out in strategies. You wouldn’t want the stronger 5 members to bear the brunt of the headwinds and crosswinds as well as burn themselves up during the early part of the ride, you would want them fresh on the final kilometers so they can hack it out until they cross the finish line.
I led the team first, being the team captain. The strategy was to allow each member to lead the pack for 30 seconds until every member had his turn. Feeling short in training, I offered to “burn” myself up on our first lap so as to keep the other 7 members of the team fresh on the 2nd and final lap.
Leading Quest 825 out of the holding pen at the start of our TTT
Our speeds varied. In the climb to Fontana, we kept around 30kph then about 50kph on the highway leading to the windy stretch of road near SM Clark, at around the 15km mark. Once we were back on the road leading to the starting line for our second lap, I got dropped already. I’ve done my part. My teammates James Dulalia and Melvin Pangan would help the remaining 5 riders out until they too got dropped near the start of the second lap.
Erick Guieb, Luis Arcangel, Arbs Portugal, Retzel Orquiza ( guest rider ) and Julius Dela Rosa carried on our race for the team. Eventually, our team would finish with an average of almost 34kph, placing 24th out of 30 teams that started. Not bad for our very first TTT.
Day 1, Stage 2: 63km Criterium Race
Later in the afternoon, all of us except for Melvin started the 63km Criterium race. The route was to go around the Fontana climb, 5 times!
I hung on to the peloton on the first two laps. We were averaging around 35kph and everyone seemed to be in a hurry to finish the race. There was no let-up until we started the 3rd lap where I slowly got dropped. Finished the race 7th to the last but happy to have completed and not DNF’d.
Starting my final lap on the 5-lap criterium
Day 2, 3rd Stage: 118 km Road race
A lot of the participants in the first day of races did not start the 3rd stage. I understood them.
The 3rd stage was a 118km painfest and went through the same route as the team time trial 5 times.
The neutral zone was 10kms, and the peloton took it easy. Even after we were released, we didn’t push it hard for the first 20kms. Nearing the end of the first lap, I placed myself at the front of the peloton, driving the pack to 35kph. It would be the last time I’d be at pace with them.
On the start of our 2nd lap, at the foot of the climb to Fontana, the peloton still pushed. I was initially at the front and slowly found myself in the middle of the pack. Before reaching the peak of the climb, I was at the tail-end already. Going down on the first descent, I got dropped completely.
I was basically alone on my 2nd lap, which was the worst place I could be.
Halfway through the 2nd lap, I cramped. I had too much to drink the night before and wasn’t surprised about the cramp. I pushed until I reached our support van at the top of the Fontana climb. I stopped and called it quits.
James Dulalia, my teammate, passed by and egged me on completing the race. We were together for most of the 3rd lap but I pushed ahead at the foot of the Fontana climb. Halfway through the ascent, my quads cramped. It locked. I almost fell off my bike. Shook off the cramps and pedaled until I reached the top where I called it quits. There was no way I’d finish in such conditions with 40kms remaining.
It was my first DNF ( did not finish ).
Moments before I called it quits, nearing the top of the Fontana climb
Immuvit: Tour of Clark was the first time my team, Quest 825 Cycling, joined a 2-day, 3-stage cycling race and we did well as a team. Individually, there were improvements needed and we still need to identify the roles each of the member will have to play.
This trilogy, by far, is the most fulfilling stretch of races I have experienced in my sporting life. They say you need a month to recover from a marathon. In my case, it was just 2 weeks.
It was a test of fitness coming from the “gluttonic” eating of the holiday season, and I realized the added weight was a substantial disadvantage in racing. Lesson learned.
‘Til the next race!
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