Let's Party all the way to Vancouver, BC!

A few miles from the finish line in Vancouver, BC, Team Mang
just had to stop and take pictures!

Team Mang participates annually in the Ride from Seattle to Vancouver (RSVP - where P stands for Party). This year was no different with no less than 18 riders representing.  Although 188 miles isn't exactly a walk in the park, the fact that this two day, no-pressure ride comes after a 1-day STP and RAMROD makes it feel like a relaxed, take-it-easy kind of ride.
We started out from University of Washington at 7AM on Friday, August 15.  It was an unexpectedly wet ride all the way to Snohomish.  By that time, the group had split into two due to "bathroom" issues.  The lead group proceeded quickly to Arlington and by the time they reached Mount Vernon, they had dropped a few more.  Still, that second group worked together to get to mile 75 in a reasonable amount of time.  The trailing group made their way through the course in a relaxed, but brisk pace, literally singing along the course, even as they passed many riders cruising along at 21mph. 

The buffet detour, 30 miles from
Day 1's finish..was well worth it!

We all regrouped at the Mt. Vernon rest stop by noon.  Half of the group decided they wanted to solider on to Bellingham to end the day early while the other half decided to take a "buffet" detour in the downtown area - $7.99 for an AYCE sumptuous meal was hard to beat, plus it was tradition.  It was hard to continue the ride after that meal...but still, that group managed to cruise on down to Bellingham and arrive by 4:30 (2 hours after the first group) - still singing and head bobbing along the way. 

At the border, just before we were shooed by an angry
border guard

After a nice dinner at Tokyo House and some ice cream at Fred Meyer, we finished the evening with a good night's sleep.  A few hours later, we were on our way to Vancouver, BC on day 2.  We had decided to all stay together so we can finish as a team.  We started out exiting Bellingham at a decent pace until Mang Roland started huffing through at 23 mph - and we all followed.  We still stuck together but as we got closer to Lynden we decided to take the pace down a bit so as not to tire all of us out.  What was the hurry anyway? At the border, it was the shortest crossing ever - less than 5 minutes and we were all through.  That's when we ran into the border crossing guard who probably was having a very bad day (she was not nice at all).

At the Golden Ears Bridge
clowning around

A few miles into British Columbia and we were presented with "the Wall", a short 20% climb that separated all of us.  That wasn't a problem because the first BC rest stop was just a couple of miles away.  We regrouped and from then on, all worked together to stay together, cross the Golden Ears Bridge together and just have fun, cruising together at anywhere from 19 - 21 mph.  We did get hit with a few rain showers, which is why we all still finished with wet shoes, muddy clothing, faces with splatter and grossed out bikes.

At the city limits

A few miles from the finish line, we were going through a modified route from last year and we just had to stop to take pictures of the nice views and surroundings - literally 2 miles from the finish.  Being the silly folks that we are, we managed to get lost and bring a few other RSVP riders with us.  But we eventually found our way back.  We got to the finish line party by 2:30, still at a better time than last year's.  And from then on, it was just party, party, party (see what Team Mang did on the video).  Festivities continued until the evening when we all met up at the Richmond Night Market.  Way to go, Team! Its always a fun time when doing a ride with the Mangs and Alings!

Congratulations on another RSVP fun ride, Team Mang and Team Aling!

Here's a video summary:

Mangs spotted at Hurricane Ridge...

Mang Rene and Mang Boni
at the top of the climb

It's amazing how diverse a group we've become - we've got cyclists who ride for fitness, those who ride for the adventure, tourists who ride on multi-day events, even those that ride a combination of automobile and bike (preferably the car on the hills), and everything else in between.  A few weeks ago, a couple of our Mangs who love to challenge themselves answered the call of the Hurricane Ridge - a 4,800 foot climb stretched over 18 miles starting and ending at Port Angeles, Washington.  It's a unique ride - a majority of which is spent climbing with others participating in the Lavender Festival on August 3 near the Olympic Mountains. Most folks would rather just drive up to take in the scenic views but Mang Boni and Mang Rene chose to "defeat" the mountain and earn those views!  Here's Boni's take on the ride:

Taking in the views mid-way through the ride

"Just 3 days after the RAMROD and legs are not fully recovered yet but somehow at the last minute, I made up my mind in joining Rene on the Hurricane Ridge ride.  I was glad I did!  It was an 18-mile climb with 4767 elevation gain (per my Garmin). Rene and I finished the 36-mile ride in 3 ½ hours. Praise God for the strength, endurance and motivation to finish.  Same as the other event rides Team Mang has participated on, we were recognized at this ride also.  One of the riders made a comment “Your team is on all of the rides, we see you everywhere.”  I can’t help but smile."
- Mang Boni

Mang Rene finishing the climb.

As the team continues to grow in number, diversity and skill, it's becoming more and more of a fixture in the region's official rides. Hopefully, we continue to be a positive influence in our sport.  And every time a Team Mang or Team Aling is recognized for something positive - whether it's a fund raiser or a big ride, we all somehow share collectively in that victory. 

For a non-organized team, we sure are everywhere making a splash - sometimes in big numbers but other times as few as one or 2, still representing!  

Mang Boni took this video clip of their ride to help the rest of us experience it from the comfort of our couch.

Team Mang represents at the RAMROD

RAMROD stands for the Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day - a 168 mile ride (this year) with close to 10,000 feet of climbing.  In the past, only a few Mangs have been able to participate in this epic ride, partly because of its difficulty, happening a couple of weeks after the STP, but also because only 800 riders get selected in a lottery.  This year, a lot more Mangs had the confidence to sign up and quite a  few were selected, including a sole Team Aling - Fatima.  As a result, our team was very well represented in the event and many in the cycling community continue to recognize our jerseys and the joy our community brings to cycling in Washington.

Mang Cris, Roland, Rey, Rene, Gat, Efren and Boni all finished in good time, working together to the end!

Since this author wasn't a participant, I asked those who rode it to share some of their thoughts on the ride.  Here are some quotes from the riders themselves:

"This was my first RAMROD and I had a blast. The team of volunteer and coordinators are awesome. They were everywhere especially in places where road hazards were present; the food was excellent and it's a very well organized ride.
I am happy and proud of this accomplishment  despite my struggle climbing up Cayuse Pass - thanks to Efren, Rene and to Roland for motivating me to keep on pedaling up to the top. My 11/32 is my savior.....And for the rest of the team members - you all rock!
This ride is well represented by Teammang and H2 Velo (Pinoy cyclists); more and more we are being recognized by other riders.  The ride is tough but very rewarding and satisfying; the views are magnificent, especially the part of the route towards Packwood and along WA 410 coming down from Cayuse Pass ... 
Let's ride!"
- Cris Francisco

Mang Josh, Aling Fatima and Mang Raf finished together.

"It was a hard ride but made a little easier by comments by strangers like these -> "Hey Team Mang!  Saw you guys at STP!  Yeah!". This one made me LOLed -> "There's so many of you.  Just how many Team Mangs are there?"  Of course while comments by strangers were boosts, it was the company of TEam MANG, H2Velo, and other friends made along the way that carried me through. Bow."
- Raf Lim

"First of all, the event was well organized…….. Kudos to all d volunteers!
Secondly, I don’t mean to discourage the future riders but the 90 miles of rolling hills, without a doubt, made the ride even harder to climb the Cayuse Pass.   All I can think of is…. “No Pain No Gain”  - The exhaustion, the heat and the slope caused my speed to dropped down to 3.5 mph for the last 4 miles of Cayuse.   But every ascent has descent, therefore, I did enjoy the downhill, twisty roads for 10 miles towards the next stop, where I was reunited with the TeamMang, H2 Velo & Mang Jeff of Trangko for lunch!  After lunch, everything was sore, but knowing that there were no more hills to climb - the last 40+ miles was a joy ride to get to the finish line.   Thank you to Mang Jeff, Mang Rene & Kuya Efren for getting me back on track on the last leg of the route.  It was priceless when I read the “Ramrod Finish” sign, what a great achievement as we crossed that line and received the badge of “RAMROD 2014” and to top it off – a piece of that ice cream!    
Finally, Thanks to Lino for giving me this opportunity and CONGRATULATIONS to all RAMROD riders.
The best is yet to come!"
- Rey Escarez