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

My First Icon Mtn. Bike Ride in Saipan

Saipan is zzzzz best place to be if you are a sports maniac and are into Mtn Biking, Running, Beach Volleyball, and Scuba Diving. There is plenty to do here. Sometimes I feel like there is not enough time in the week to fit it all in.

After Greg's month long hiatus in the states, he finally built my bike and took me on my first Mtn Bike ride in Saipan. I couldn't wait to get my bike dirrrrrty! Its rainy season so alot of the roads and trails are nice and muddy. We started off the run at the entrance of Lau Lau Beach Road heading towards the dive site. If anyone has gone diving at Lau Lau they will know how rocky and bumpy that road is. It kind of reminds me of a Toyota Tacoma truck commercial offroading in the jungle somewhere.

Ok, maybe it wasn't that extreme but it was really rough. So we made it to the Lau Lau beach dive site and went towards GapGap Road. There is this really steep gravel hill that just about killed me on the way up! Actually I had to stop and walk my bike up the hill for a bit. Then I got really tired and just stood there wanting to go back down. Greg ended up towing my bike along side him on his way up while I walked up.

After conquering that GapGap hill we went through Kagman village and headed towards Forbidden Island. Guess what another killer hill towards the look out. I was on the "granny" cycle all the way up and was going so slow! I felt my legs burning. We finally made it to the look out to take a quick picture and then raced back down since we spotted rain coming in from the distance. Overall the ride was only 10 miles but it felt longer than that. Not too shabby for my first Mtn bike ride, eh?! Hell of the Marianas Race is this weekend and bikers will be racing 100k! So crazy. Here's a little map of my morning ride from Lau Lau all the way to Forbidden Island and back.

I think i'm starting to get use to the different gears. Throughout the whole run I kept switching from gear to gear. Also I was practicing how to brake without losing control on the gravel and dirt roads. My disc brakes are sweet! I dread wiping out but know eventually it may happen. Greg raced down the steep hills flying over rocks and dips. Not ready to go that fast yet.

One thing I love about Mtn biking is that you don't have to have someone always with you. You can just take off whenever and wherever. I enjoy morning rides especially on the north end of the island.