Kuya Miko Salud

The biking community is HUGE and filled with hundreds of different types of personalities and characters — there are the Strava legends, the #ahonislife lifers, steezy freeriders, the XCers, gravity riders, and so on and so forth. Then there are the OGs, the original good vibes people that, though they’ll never admit it, lead their local hood in the best ways possible.

One of these trail fixtures is Miko Salud, affectionately known as “Kuya Miko”. We got to know him well while riding the fun-filled Filinvest and Papi’s tracks and trails in the South of the Metro. Conversations ran deep with him about riding through time, and man, did he have some stories.

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

Miko grew up as a little boy in Pasay and started riding bikes there when at 6 years old. During his teen years, his family moved south to BF Homes and that’s where he progressed not only his riding, but his bikes as well.

Miko recounts, “My grandfather got me a bike to make me feel good about the move, a few months later, my bike was upgraded to a “fullsus” bike that looked like a “motocross bike!” Fast forward a bit, he then started riding BMX which exposed him to bike racing, “and then I was part of a team preparing to compete. Our Team EBQ was led by the owner of the biggest bike shop in BF Homes back in the early-80s,” Miko Says.

Their team, and he himself, won a lot of those races and very recently, found those trophies cleaning out a “baul”, with a few reading “First National BMX Competition”– which is really, really cool. But it was in the mid-90’s that Miko first rode a mountain bike, and he’s been shredding MTB ever since.

THEN AND NOW

“I felt I was missing something,” Miko says, “the adrenaline and the jumps, that’s when I discovered Filinvest.” For Miko, it was more fun riding steep downhills and mostly all-natural features. “During mid-2000, you could bike anywhere in Filinvest. There were just a few riders back then and I felt that this was my hometrail.” This is where Miko met more riders, who later on, became friends– together mentoring and helping each other dig, build, clean, and maintain the trails.

According to Miko, the last three to four years in Filinvest trail were exciting– new sections were built with more extreme features: steeze-ready jumps, wicked gaps, step-ups, tabletops, berms, and more. “Every weekend was a festive gathering and camaraderie was built among the riders,” he adds. Filinvest’s biking community has grown over the years and has become very popular amongst the locals and also with visitors, it has plenty of sections to enjoy regardless of your discipline. But its popularity has a price: high traffic of riders on weekends, crashes and accidents have become frequent as well, “even when the community’s placed warning signs, arrows, and safety reminders.”

FOLLOW-CAM FREERIDE

Initially, Miko used his action cam to chronicle his recovery from injuries to both his shoulders. During that time was the birth of Filinvest’s Session Grounds– EXO was first, then came Whisper, Sampaloc, and Bulate, “it became our new playground,” Miko smiles.

“My follow-cam videos are not about me or my ride,” he says, “It’s essentially showcasing the rider while I chase them as close as possible, where the action is, right in front of me!” What he loves about it is that he’s not just a witness to the ride, but part of it too.

“Filming my rides from my helmet or chest mount, I also tried mounting my GoPro under my bike’s bottom bracket, the frame’s top and down tubes, the handlebar, fork, ANYWHERE!” Miko says that nothing compares to filming someone in front of him, while chasing them. He tells us that he’s done over hundreds already, and on a good day, he can do around 8 to 10 follow-cam videos — all with first-timers who get shaky with someone following them to people who actually ask him to do it.

Follow Miko on INSTAGRAM.