Tour of the Fireflies and the Limitations of Age

Last April 15, Kiko and I joined the Tour of the Fireflies. This annual event is a massive 5 hour bike ride along the streets of Metro Manila that is held to raise awareness of our deteriorating environment. It's called that way because air pollution has driven away the beautiful firefly from the city. The motto of this event is, "We'll keep doing this ride until the fireflies come back."

I could tell Kiko was excited about the ride. He'll take any opportunity to show off his biking skills and knowing Paulo was going to be there, he was all set. I shoved a sandwich into him on the way to Tiendesitas to make sure he was fully fueled. It's funny the way I worded that, but that's exactly the way Kiko treats food... like a necessary chore. He wolfs down his food without a trace of enjoyment. I think he eats faster than it takes to load gas in my car.

We were well prepared for a hot, long ride. Bananas, Cliff Bar (like a Powerbar) and 2 liters of water each on our backpacks. Nix and Paulo joined us at Tiendesitas for the mass start. Bong was still in Iba, Zambales after his first Olympic distance triathlon held the day before."Massive" is the correct word to describe this ride. I'm not sure of the official estimates but I'd say there were more than 3,000 people that Sunday including 120 members of a Pasay bike club all dressed identically in blue jersey and helmet. It was really quite a site seeing thousands of riders of all ages, shapes and genders (some in costume) crawling along C5 at 10kph. It was actually scary trying to keep our balance as the throng slowed down along the narrow stretches and curves. The bikers were so close together that at one point Kiko's handlebars snagged onto mine and we had a few hairy moments keeping our balance while entangling ourselves. After Kiko extricated himself from that and seeing him weave through traffic, I realize that biking is undeniably my son's strength. There's a lot of pride in that statement... sniff sniff.

From C5, the ride went through Fort Bonifacio, then into McKinley, and then Ayala Ave. Meanwhile, I saw a few people getting flats, some others taking a spill... I think it took us close to an hour to hit the Ayala triangle... one of the designated stops. We blocked traffic along Makati Ave. and the motorists were furious! We just gave them this "Asa ka pa!" look. Once a year... just once a year.... bikers rule this city! You could see the marshalls really sticking their bikes in front of these angry taxi drivers... ready to fight for this once a year privilege. There were a few motorists who really didn't give a damn and they pushed their cars and trucks through the line regardless of who was in front. Nix had to stop for one of these bastards in the intersection but little Paulo didn't stop at all, and a van almost hit him. Nix was furious! She cussed at the driver but instead a confused pedestrian answered her back, "Sino'ng tinatawag mo'ng gago!?!" thinking Nix had addressed her. Close call!

I could see that Paulo was slowly tiring. I pushed him up the hill going into the Fort and by the time we hit Buendia, Nix and Paulo were several minutes behind Kiko and I. When we got to Roxas Blvd I couldn't spot them anymore. It turns out Paulo had to pee several times and by the time they tried to join the pack, Nix and Paulo were too far behind. Luckily the sweeper van was there to pick up Paulo. We regrouped in front of Malate Church and Nix decided to call it a day. It was a good decision... we were just 15km into a 50km ride and it was getting hot! Kiko gave me this worried look and said, "Uhhh, is it still far Dad?" "Kaya natin to Kiks!" was my standard reply. He was a trooper nonetheless.

We turned right on Padre Burgos, passed the Manila City Hall, the old Metropolitan theater (in a sorry state) and made a right up the Quezon Bridge. Tight squeeze on that bridge! Then down through Quiapo. Poor Kiko, he just went with the flow. I don't think he ever realized the historical significance of the whole area... until we turned into Espana and I pointed out the UST and its hospital. "That's where you were born, son!" His face lit up... "Huh? How come you never told me that Dad?" Sigh. It's the simple things we take for granted that are sometimes important to our kids.

By the time we got to the Welcome Rotunda in Quezon City and turned right into E. Rodriguez, the pack began to slow down even more as the road got narrower and it began to get hotter. Along St. Luke's Hospital it was almost unbearable as the surrounding tall building prevented any sort of wind from cooling us down. When the pack would stop, you could see the bikers veer off to a shade on the road side to escape the oppressive sun. Kiko gobbled up half my Cliff bar in less than 3 seconds. Right turn on Gilmore road. "We used to live near here Kiks," I said as I tried to get his mind off the heat and the ride. He had this glazed look but all through out the ride you could see his kick never faltering. When we hit Ortigas I thought we'd go straight on to Tiendesitas but the sadistic organizers felt they had to take us down Santolan first and into Cubao to please the Araneta Center sponsors. So we turned left into Edsa and right into Cubao. I chuckled to myself that it was better that Kiko seemed lost. If he had known how quickly we could have cut short the ride, I think he would have broken away from the pack.

We took the mandatory rest in Cubao to listen to the speeches... in the shade of course. As the ride restarted I made the mistake of not filling up my empty hydration unit. There was a 20th avenue water station but it seemed too full of people for me to stop. Back into Santolan and right into Katipunan and I finally decided to stop at the water station in front of White Plains Village. Finally, the welcome relief of cool water!

As we approached the home stretch our pace got faster... relieved that the finish line was just 5 minutes away. Time to showboat a bit in celebration. I did a few bunny hops on my bike which brought some laughs and encouragement from my no.1 fan, Kiko. I saw a speed bump (hump) near the end of Temple Drive and I decided I'd show my son the Mother of all Bunny Hops. As I hit the hump I tugged hard on my handle bars and on my cleated shoes to push up the front and rear of the bike. I felt an excruciating pain stab into my lower back and I struggled to keep from falling. I had seriously strained my lower back muscles... again. I thought to myself, is there no end to this back problem? I used to say that I pull my back maybe once a year. No problem. I stay in bed for 2 or 3 days and that was that. Well this was the 2nd time since January of this year. Sheesh. It's embarrassing to admit but I no matter how much I deny it, I'm getting old.

My back was so bad I could hardly keep myself on the saddle let alone pedal the bike. Luckily Tiendesitas was just around the corner. We were greeted by a firetruck spraying us with water. Sarap! But I couldn't stay long under the waters spray with my camera with me. I had a hell of a time trying to put our bikes on the Terrano's roof rack. Luckily, my son has really grown up and his strength has improved significantly. He hoisted the rear and I took the front of the bikes. Whew! That was probably the worst back strain I'd ever experienced and I was bedridden the rest of the day.

Recovery from the injury was coming along fine and by Monday afternoon I was walking around (I couldn't even sit up from bed Sunday night). By Tuesday I was back at work and but when Wednesday came I reinjured my back soaping my foot in the shower! Aaargggh! Frustrating! Obviously this injury really needs more than a week of rest and taking it easy. No sudden movements allowed! Sigh! Hopefully I'll be ok by this weekend. We're planning a ride in Bataan again. This time stretching will be part of the agenda.

Is it The Limitations of Age or The Age of Limitations?

Caliraya Sports Week Part 3

Ok this is the end of this trilogy. I just wanted to write about the "Deaf Trail" in Caliraya. This dirt road starts from the Caliraya cement road and ends about 15km later at a school for the deaf. It's a moderate climb on a mountain bike (I'd call the Reverse Palace Ride a difficult climb) but it can really demoralize you if you're not psyched up to climb it.

I've done the climb before (before I tore my ACL) the last time we visited Bong's place in Cali. This time Nix and Elena decided to join us. Nix had tried climbing the trail a few weeks back and she turned back in the middle of the climb when Bong told her, "After the curve, there's another hill." He he he. That did it. I guess if you put it in your head the next curve will be the end of the trail, you'll get psyched out when you discover it ain't over yet.

Poor Elena was still struggling to find her rhythm on a mountain bike. I think this was just her 3rd real ride on an MTB. She would sometimes shift gears too early before the start of a hill and other times she would shift late. I'm convinced that a large part of the problem is that she's still not comfortable and therefore she tends to tire easily due to the tension. She complained later that hands and forearms felt really tired from gripping the handlebars so hard.Meanwhile Robin was determined to get a proper workout from the ride... so he went up and ahead of us.... a few minutes later he'd turn around and rocket down the hill.... then up again to pass us.

At the end of a particularly hard climb, we had to stop and Bong reassured Nix and Elena that this was the highest point of the climb. Ya right. Highest point?!? Mwa ha ha ha. 3 or 4 more hills later, Elena wasn't laughing anymore. She was out of breath and struggling. The bananas helped a bit. After some coaxing we finally made it to the gate of the school.... he he he, the politically incorrect joke of the moment: Bakit walang doorbell dito?

It was a great downhill ride and my KHS full suspension really performed nicely (the last time I was using a hard tail frame). At one point, I almost over-shot one of the steep left turn curves. I applied just enough braking force, locked the rear wheels for a split second, letting my rear wheel skid a bit and then ended the move with a subtle correction. I was a bit anxious on the way back because it was getting dark and I thought Elena wouldn't go down fast enough. She did great though, speeding downhill at a faster-than-expected pace. She said she just had to put more trust in her bike and that it wouldn't fall apart on the way down. By the time we hit the cement road it was dark already but we made our way back (about 4 km of cement road) to the Surf Kamp parking lot safely.

All-in-all, a great 4 day vacation. Although I must confess I felt very bad about not being able to properly meditate over the holiness of Holy Week. As if to drive home the point, while on the bangka on our way back to Manila, I realized to my chagrin that I had left my car keys in Bong's house. Luckily I had a spare key. Unluckily, we had to endure the noisy car alarm that went off as I tried to manually override it without my remote. To make matters worse, the traffic was terrible. We missed the 6:30 pm Easter Mass completely. Next year, I'll make an effort to at least hold a Stations of the Cross prayer with the kids. We did that in Anilao a few years ago and it really was a touching experience for us and the kids.

Caliraya Sports Week Part 2

Gosh, maintaining a blog is so much work! I'm so way behind my posts that I'm still trying to finish writing about the Caliraya trip last Holy Week. Since then I've got more pics about the Tour of the Fireflies. Oh well, isn't that the story of my life... always playing catch up ball.

I thought I'd share this video of me wakeboarding in Caliraya. I was apprehensive because I haven't done this for about a year and it's just been 6 months since my ACL operation. I decided to throw caution to the wind and just give it my all. I had a few good jumps and this is one of them. I still can't do that jump-and-reverse-the-board move yet. But I think I've figured it out already (it'll have to wait till next trip to Cali). I should make the jump toe side first (from the right going to left) hanging on to the ski rope with both hands. When I'm airborn, I can let go of my right hand and hopefully the force will help spin my body. If only I can jump high enough and spin hard enough to land that sucker trick.

I also noticed thanks to the video that on my usual heel side jump, I'm hanging on to the rope with my right hand, letting go of the left. Bad form, because when I land on the other side of the wake, my body would tend to twist counter clockwise. Hmmm. I wonder if my jump will improve if I hang on with left and let go with my right?

Caliraya Sports Week

Holy Week this year found us at the Caliraya lake house of Bong and Nix Arroyo. We made sure we didn't get bored and brought practically everything but the kitchen sink! 2 bikes and a kayak on top of the Terrano. I got a bit worried as we drove up the lake... my engine began to get really hot. Luckily the climb wasn't that long and we reached the top before the temp gauge hit red line.

The trail behind the Arroyo property at Lake Caliraya is a great place to bike. Quite technical because the trails are narrow and full of underbrush. Robin and I went through the same trail we did last September.

Great views all around and a tough uphill climb on the way back from the end of the trail.

My favorite part of the trail is right at the highest point of Bong's property and just before the ride ends. You go down this really steep hill with your rear brakes fully locked. Despite this, gravity continues to pull the bike down so you need to apply the front brake carefully, too much and you do an "endo" (short for end over end). The hill is so steep I'm completely out of and behind my saddle. The two videos on this page will show a successful descent and the other a classic endo.

Trianna Learns How to Bike

There are certain magical times in a child's life that makes a parent feel so good to have witnessed. This is one of them and I'm even more grateful to have my camera ready to record it. This is a true Kodak moment! Although taken with my Sony... ha ha ha...

Trianna has been trying to learn how to bike for many months now. Of course she's not really known to be very diligent in practicing. Elena and Liza have been trying to teach her by running along side of her and holding the seat of her bike now and then. Now I realize that what she needed was a pro like me (ehem) to teach her. He he he.

I made her try it at the nice smooth basketball court of our village. I held on to her shoulder loosely, often times just pushing her a bit when she got off balance. I taught her that the balance was actually achieved by moving her handle bars a bit toward the direction that she was beginning to fall. In minutes she finally had that "aha!" moment.

I'm not sure who had the widest smile, the student or the proud teacher. Of course she had a few inevitable falls. But she obviously learned from them.

Bataan Bonanza Trail

Robin, Joel G. and I took a nice ride today going up the slopes of Mt. Mariveles in Bataan. They call this trail Bataan Bonanza (we found it via the Internet).

From the Mariveles highway turn right toward Mt. Samat on the main highway going to Bagac, Bataan. After 14 kms, in Bgy. San Antonio, there's a cement road on the left. After about a kilometer of cement, the road turns into a double track fire road. Toughest part of the trail is going through a large poultry with the expected stink from chicken excrement and urine.

It's a treeless landscape, with windswept hills, and grazing cattle. Great view of Mt. Mariveles, with its blown-out crater, in front of us and Mt. Natib at our backs. A steady climb in oppressive heat... but the wind keeps it tolerable.

Some challenging single track detours that go through a canyon ledge.When we finally hit the forest line, I was too fatigued to go on so we had to turn back. But not before hitting a nice stream at the bottom of a steep descent. The trail looks promising... but that'll have to wait another day.

Great downhill ride through the winding, sandy, fire road.