Race Report: Teban 2.0

MIGUEL CUSTODIO

He had his eyes on the prize since the first race, and he claimed P1 for himself this time around. 18-year-old Miguel, who started riding when he was all but twelve years old, raced all the way to the finish as Champion in his category.

For about 4 months now, Miguel has been riding as part of the Twelve Bikes Racing team, alongside Kenneth Banico, who we’ve had the pleasure of speaking with before. Miguel tells us that it was actually at the first Teban race that the team, himself included, was formally introduced to the world. He tells us that the best parts about Teban were of course, “number one, the community!” he smiles, “I made a lot of new friends, it was so much fun.” Second to that he says was the tracks, four of them in total stages this time, “there were steep sections, rocky sections, everything.”

We asked him the most obvious question, being a consistent podium finisher and now a champion: are you moving up to elite? “Who knows?” he laughs, “Right now I want to just focus on riding, finishing strong always, especially now that we’ve got sponsors and support.” He does admit though that THAT is the goal, joining what he calls the “big boys”, the elite category. “It’s all about preparation,” Miguel shares with us, “it’s all about endurance, the cardio, we need to just really be prepared for race runs. Especially here in the Philippines, there’s a lot of pedaling in the races.”

With his mindset, his commitment, and the team that has his back, we’re expecting and excited to see Miguel go as far as his two wheels will take him. Rest assured, we’ll all be on the sidelines or right behind him, cheering him on.

SAM MARIANO

From an 18-year-old champion, we move on to a 12-year-old wunderkind who tells us that riding, and racing, not only feels great, it feels natural for him, “I’ve been riding for…around a year.” Sam tells us that when he saw his dad biking, it inspired him to also get onto a saddle and pedal. “I saw him biking and I wanted to bike with him,” he says, “but he’s not a gravity rider, he’s more of an XC rider.”

It was when he visited a local track “Komodo” that he dropped into the wonderful world of gravity. “People there were teaching me how to jump and stuff, it was really fun so I did more of it,” Sam smiles remembering that, “I wasn’t comfortable right away but as soon as I got it, it felt good. It felt great.” And ‘great’ is the perfect word for it, with Sam placing 2nd in his category, in only his 2nd official race ever. “I loved it, all the features, especially the jumps.” Sam tells us that Teban is actually one of his favorite tracks because of the variety it throws at you, “it has switchbacks and off-cambers, even the technical rockies, I love.”

Sam rides a Commencal META AM, perfect for his age and size, with a 160mm travel Fox 34 taking care of the front-end– he tells us that Commencal is a dream brand and bike for him. “My goal is to become a professional mountain biker, my dream is to race for a living, get sponsored” he ends, “also there’s too much trash in some trails, let’s all help keep it clean.”

What an awesome kid.

^{Shout out also to Komodo Team for supporting Sam!}

STEVIE PAULINO

“I actually started riding just a few months after the trails were finished here,” Stevie says smiling, “about seven months now.” He confesses that his dad, Adler (who we all ride enduro with), had to actually convince him a number of times to try it out. “My basketball program at school was cut off, obviously because of the pandemic,” he shares, “so to stay active my dad really pushed me to get into mountain biking. I’m really glad he did.” With basketball out of the picture, Stevie admits that he wasn’t really interested in mountain biking at the beginning, that all changed when he tried it.

The rest, as they say, is racing history.

What started out as a family activity, quickly turned into his new favorite sport, finding himself racing in enduro, four stages even, in less than a year. “I really got into it, it was exhilarating — that rush that you get when you’re going down a steep hill, the focus you need for the technical stuff.” And just like any athlete, he approached it the same way he approaches any sport, “it’s all about practice. Repetition.”

“I want to go deeper into it actually,” Stevie says with conviction, “I want to train harder, ride harder, and really maybe look at this as something that I can really do as a sport.” He’s already thinking about new trails and bikes, and even riding in Switzerland. “Anywhere in Europe actually.” Unbeknownst to many, Stevie is related to SEA Games Gold Medalist Jerich Farr, a sign that racing definitely is in their blood.

JOSEPH HENDREICH SALES

Part of the famed Filinvest-based Whisper session grounds that spawned the likes of Kimi Grande and Uwld Arciaga, Joseph Sales is a self-confessed “pandemic biker” that really took to biking and gravity riding during the lockdowns, saying that “there was nothing much else to do. And everyone I knew was getting into it, so I did too.” The thing that sets Joseph apart though, is the undeniable growth in his riding, with many riders both old and young all agreeing that he’s one of the best “pandemic bikers” they’ve seen.

Having started around the same time that Whisper was being finished, Joseph remembers that “no one really guided us at the start, it was just me and everyone there, my friends, teaching each other, learning from each other. Falling together,” he laughs, “I remember it was one of my friends there, Kuya Bong, who actually pushed me to race. That’s really what I love about this, gravity riding, the community — everyone supports each other, it’s like we’re all friends even if we just met at a race or in a trail.”

“2022 is Hardtail 2022 for me,” Joseph tell us, “it’s a different kind of rush on a hardtail because you have to really focus and commit, there’s nothing to ‘save’ you.” Teban 2.0 was actually his first ever race and what a race to choose to begin your journey — Joseph recounts the adrenaline of a race run, having to connect four stages in the fastest time possible. “There’s nothing like Teban, for me it’s one of the best enduro tracks I’ve ever ridden.”

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