Hell Of The Marianas Bike Race

The Pacific Islands Club hosted the first ever Hell of The Marianas Bike Race this past Saturday. I went to cheer for Kimiko, Lewie and Greg really early in the morning. So early that the moon was still out. When I got there all the bikers were gearing up and adjusting all their bikes. Rock music was blasting in the background and everyone seemed so hyped up to race a 100k on Saipan's flat and hilly terrain.

I was really impressed with how well put together the event was from the clock at the starting point to all the volunteers helping at the water stations. I can tell alot of effort was put into the race. They climbed some continous hills that lived up to the name Hell of the Marianas and did a full circle around the island. The riders had to head south around the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport up to Isa Drive going to Kagman Road, and turned at the Laolao Bay Golf Resort heading to the Mobil gas. From the Kagman Mobil gas station, riders headed to Chalan Talofofo, turned at the Kingfisher Golf Links, and went towards Chalan Pale Arnold road up to Chalan Matuis for the Radar Tower.

From the Radar Tower the riders will climbed up at Suicide Cliff and toward Grotto, where they turned and headed back down to Banzai Cliff. The riders then navigated from Banzai Cliff toward the Last Command Post down to the American Memorial Park, Beach Road and head toward PIC for the finish line. It must have been a beautiful course to bike even though it was really long. There's nothing like a morning ride that zips through the north part of the island with the ocean view in the background.


I thought about how hard each of them have trained for this race especially the women. What an inspiration they are. Truthfully the amount of biking they have done in the past 3 months sounds painful! I mean, I can barely last 10 miles. I know I just have to be patient and not quit. This is the quote on my fridge that keeps pushing me to become a better version of me. "Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever."-Lance Armstrong