My Tour of 711 SCTEX experience

The moment we all saw this ad on Facebook, we knew this WAS the SHIT that we wanna join.

At that moment we still got a month's time to prepare ourselves for the hellish uphill battles of SCTEX and so our training begins! This race offered two (2) categories: 106kms and 48kms. This was a hard decision for me since I love to go for the century ride but at the same time checking my limits, I might not made it to the cut off time. Instead I went for the shorter one just to experience SCTEX again since the last time I rode here was at 2017's Powerman Duathlon. Sadly I got flat twice back then and hoping this time around it won't happen again.

Training

Where else safe but of course in Nuvali. For most of the time my partner & I rode 50kms complete with flats, uphills & downhills so it was not stressful for me to do it thrice before race day.

Elevation

Gunstart time

** unfortunately I was at wave UI, so almost 7am to start! **

Nutrition

I don't usually eat during the race or even after. Since this was going to be held on SCTEX, I knew somehow this is going to be a hot ride. Being an ultramarathoner before I had experiences doing cardio activity under the heavy heat of the sun & we learned NOT to trust any advertised hydration station (thus the presence of a support vehicle). But sag vehicles wasn't allowed here in the race so we hope that there were enough hydration stations being stationed along the whole route serving at least "cold water".

For this race, I've prepared the following as my backup: Tailwind Tropical Buzz, Mandarin Orange, Berry, GU Roctaine Blueberry Pomegranate flavor, Crampfix shot & Clif bar. Tailwind mixed with water and frozen on 1 water bottle, 2nd bottle was frozen water.

Shout out to PROACTIVE ONLINE STORE for the quick delivery!

** This is not a paid advertisement **

The most important - music

Thanks to Shopee, the bluetooth bone conductor headset I bought lasted for 3hours! Sakto, was well worth it for Php400.00!

Great listening to Action Bronson's 2013 album "Dr. Lecter"

...& BlueChips!

Raceday

Fortunate enough a colleague of mine provided the transport to race venue. Thanks JP Bautista for the hitch! Cool ride indeed.

Our mini team photo: Team Smart in the house! Thanks to our ever reliable HR partner Mikki Encontro/Froi Endaya for our cool get ups :) You guys never fails to support us even from the start. Thank you for taking good care of us & whatever we need! This race is for you guys back at the office! Mabuhay Team Smart!

So far this was the most challenging race I've ever joined not because of the elevation but because of the crosswinds and heat. But again I survived and honestly, enjoyed the 50km route! Given the chance will I do it again? Hell yeah!

Waiting for our gunstart & it's almost 7am

Almost near the last climb ... 3kms long!

Yeah!

CONGRATULATIONS to all finishers!

Hopefully the organizers of this great event would consider adding more hydration stations not only the 2 at the 25km & 50km u-turn slot. It may seem that they almost forget this is the Philippines and weather is unforgiving especially summer time! The last time they held an event like this was back in 2012 and from there nagimprove na sana but instead it went backwards. Almost 2,500 cyclist joined the event, pls take care of the cyclist most are not experts nor professionals.

There were no hydration stations near the finish line and you have to walk to the grassy activity area to the pocari tent only to find out there were no more "cold" liquid available.

Special Mentions

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Congratulations to my colleagues at work for finishing the 106km race! Armand Gonzales aka Roadiemanila.com, Treb Villanueva, Edgar Noel "Bourne" Gonzales, Vernier "The Cannibal" Umali, Pao Castaneda, Mark "Bakal" Tierro & Boss Perry Bayani!