Nothing is gonna stop some 97 bikers who will pedal off from the highest mountain in Luzon to the highest point in the Philippine highway system in a nearby province.
The Department of Tourism – Cordillera will fire the gun Sunday at the Lake Tabeo at the bossom of Mount Pulag in Kabayan, Benguet, cruise the 25.2 kilometer stretch to Tinoc, Ifugao in the Bike to the Highest Point.
The Kabayan-Tinoc bike circuit was supposed to be staged last June 20 but then the province of Ifugao was declared under modified enhanced community quarantine forcing DoT – Cordillera and its partners Kabayan local government unit, Benguet LGU and Ifugao LGU to move the date to July 18.
The Inter-agency Task Force decided to level down Ifugao’s quarantine status from MECQ to General CQ starting July 1 allowing the staging of the event.
“Tuloy na ha (It will push through),” DoT Cordillera OIC director Jovita Ganongan earlier said.
“We have postponed the bike event since the province is still under MECQ,” Ganongan earlier told RNG Luzon.
A post by the DoT – Cordillera said: “We regret that we are indefinitely postponing the launch (Bike circuit) due to the MECQ status of the Province of Ifugao until June 30, 2021.”
Benguet was also under MECQ last June but was lifted on June 16.
The event will see bikers get to enjoy not just the cold but also some of the most scenic views in this part of the Cordilleras.
The Kabayan – Tinoc Biking Circuit “aims at boosting tourism in the Cordilleras and promoting adventure activities in the region through biking.”
It is a 25.2 kilometer short biking experience, within the ancestral domain of the Kalungaya indigenous people group, that will start at the Lake Tabeo, the easiest to reach of the four mystical lakes of Mount Pulag in Kabayan, Benguet.
The lake is nestled 7,487 feet above sea level in barangay Tawangan, which is back dropped by the fifth highest mountain in the country and second in Luzon, Mount Tabayoc, could be the most popular of the four lakes that include Bulalakao, Inculos and Latep-ngapos, the most magical.
From Tabeo, Ganongan said the riders will make a stop at Lake Bulalakao, probably the cleanest lake in the country.
Then the riders will pass through the salad capital of the Philippines, Buguias, the northernmost municipality of Benguet all the way to the highest point of the Philippine highway system in Guihngaw, Ehes in Tinoc, Ifugao.
The Guihngaw portion of the Kiangan – Tinoc – Buguias Road is nestled 7,968 feet above sea level that now dwarfs the erstwhile highest point in Atok, Benguet which is 7,400 feet above sea level, and along the Halsema Highway.
