#TEBANTR3S verdict: WILD

^{All photos by Isa Halamani}

Well, that was fun.

Don’t worry, we’re still as stoked as you all are, so this is going to be short and sweet. Many have already told us that those were the “most challenging conditions to ride one of the best tracks” that they’ve ever ridden. We can’t take all the credit for the track build, that goes to Sir Adler Paulino and his team, with Mark Dela Vega and the rest of the awesome crew there making sure we got an awesome ride.

And what an awesome ride it was.

Even for the people covering the event, like us, Teban didn’t hold back and we had to use every single percentage and inch of our riding skills to get around the race to shoot photos, take video, and basically capture it all. All the moments, all the ups and downs and lefts and rights, anywhere this awesome mountain would take us.

It was ALL about those moments.

MOMENTS OF COMMUNITY

There’s just something special about the DH community, the gravity kids (we’re all kids riding bikes after all), and the stoked smiles that litter even the sidelines of this amazing, humbling sport. #BawalPikon was alive and well, especially during the afterparty awarding, where camaraderie and joyful chaos reigned supreme, but it was all in the name of good fun.

On that note, we want to recognize and thank the race directors, they made everything work and work well. Without the LEGENDS Sir Ronald and Sir Loi, this would not have happened this way at all. They, along with all the unsung heroes that often go overlooked, are as important as all other parts and pieces of a race event– wala sila, wala tayo. Period.

MOMENTS THAT INSPIRE

#TEBANTR3S, by any means, wasn’t an easy race. The SENDR LINE was long, technical, feature-filled, and in the wet? That’s where it gets even more spicy, transforming into a wonderland of epic-ness where bike control and body position will be the difference between a podium spot and a DNF.

Thankfully, with the months that the team put into building the track, keeping it safe, and even fixing it as the days went along, there were no major injuries this time around.

What makes mountain biking, especially gravity racing, different from most sports is that we head into it knowing that it’s going to be hard, that there is a risk of getting hurt, that the consequences are high. It reminds us of that saying: “Feel the fear, but do it anyway.”

Every single racer took whatever came their way in stride, with the weather being the BIGGEST question mark all throughout the weekend. One minute it’s sunny and blue skies abound, the next minute it’s raining hard and the mountain becomes a slip ‘n’ slide theme park of gnar. But no one griped, only a very few complained, spirits stayed high, and everyone was there for each other– most evident at the start gates and the finish line. Riders were sent off with a wave of cheers and jeers and were met at the end with applause and shared gratefulness, “we made it.”

What an amazing, humbling sport.

MOMENTS THAT WILL LAST US

There is NOTHING like the feeling of finishing a race, no matter the kind of race run or ridden. It’s a mix of joy, relief, fatigue, accomplishment, and a dozen other emotions that are as unique to the individual as the experience itself is.

We can all say that it’s why we race.

“That” feeling, the stoke that we chase, the reason why we come back for more, why we push for progress and progression, why we don’t quit. It’s a shared energy between everyone who has ever been up and down a mountain on a bike.

The weekend was lit and we’ll never forget every bit of its fire. It was all of that we hoped for and dreamed of and more, especially for all of us at Sendr, for our family at Bulacan Gravity, Kandila Gravity, Kalmado Crew, our partner organizers, the sponsors, and of course, the RACERS. Months of preparation and sacrifice came down to a single day, into 8 minutes down SENDR LINE.

Thank you, mountain biking. See you all soon.

Check out the FULL SET of photos on FLY Racing’s FB Page, HERE.