Road Bike to Work

For the first time in months, I was able to ride a bike to work again. My folding bike is still in the shop, awaiting new brakes to be installed. This is the first time I've used my racer to go to the office. This morning's travel time is the shortest ever, clocking in at a little over 19 minutes.

Riding my road bike to work requires a slight change in my usual bike routine. First, I wasn't able to ride while wearing my work slacks. I usually wear my pants over my cycling shorts. But this morning, all I had on were the shorts. Secondly, I didn't have the luxury of a front rack. I had to wear my messenger bag throughout the trip. Actually, it wasn't so bad. But the biggest change of all is that I have to wear a helmet. It's my personal rule to always wear a helmet when riding my racer. I still can't pedal around cars at 38kph without one.

I would like to think that this is how I looked like this morning

Bike and Life

A bicycle does get you there and more… And there is always the thin edge of danger to

keep you alert and comfortably apprehensive. Dogs become dogs

again and snap at your raincoat; potholes become personal.

And getting there is all the fun.

- Bill Emerson, On Bicycling, Saturday Evening Post, 1967

[Read more via Steve McCurry's Blog]

My Bike Tour of Luzon 2013 Route

It's a lazy rainy Saturday so I decided to start working on the 2013 bike tour I've been dreaming of. A few weeks ago, I've decided that my target for this tour would be Maira-ira Point in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte. It is claimed to be the northernmost tip of mainland Luzon. Below is a map of the tour. This is still tentative mainly because of 3 factors:

1. I'm not yet sure about the Bulacan section of the tour. I need to consult friends about the best way through Bulacan on my return trip.
2. I want my tour to be not just about biking so I also need to consult friends who love to travel about the things I can do along the way. I'm willing to deviate from the main highways.
3. My ability to secure a leave from work. I need to look for long weekends during the summer months. If I can't take a leave for 3 weeks, then I'll just end the bike tour at Maira-ira, disassemble the bike, and ride the bus back to Manila.

View Tour of Luzon 2012 in a larger map

So how did I come up with this idea of a "crazy" bike tour? I can't remember exactly when but this was about a year ago. I was browsing the internet and looking for stuff about biking and I came across this page of a guy name Dave Conroy. Basically in 2009, he got tired of the current state of his life so he decided to quit his job and sell his possessions to go on an epic bicycle tour around the world (read more about it here and here). I got excited with the idea so I tried to learn as much as I can about riding around the world on a bike. Apperently, a lot of people do this. I've also read about a couple who sold their house to go on this exciting adventure. Plus there's the amazing story of the Biciclown that tours around the world as well.

I knew I wanted my own world bike tour adventure but that would be in the future. But I knew that touring the Philippines on a bike is a more practical short-medium term target for me. I eventually found out that there's already a guy who has gone around the archipelago with just a bike.

Photo from Sir Gilbert's page

Sir Gilbert Dizon (I call him sir when we talk via Facebook) is a guy from Cagayan de Oro. He has biked around the country not only once but twice! His minimalist (all he had was a hardtail mountain bike and his backpack) approach to touring is an inspiration. His adventures show that bike touring around the country doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. My route above is actually based on his second tour.

Now that I have a tentative route, I need to start training to ride 100-130km a day. It's rainy recently so I need to start using my indoor trainer again. I'm not really bothered with having to bike 100km a day. Last Holy Week, I was able to ride 38km using my folding bike. Last year, I joined a triathlon relay team wherein I biked 60km with my racer. My tour isn't a race so I don't need to pressure myself to riding 50 kph in a sustained way.

Oh and I need to save up for my bike.

Manx Missile Launch on Stage 18

Cav bags his 22nd career Tour de France stage win

This is by far, Cav's best sprint in a long while.

To appreciate this video's awesomeness, you have to watch it twice.

Watch the highlights of Stage 18 via The Guardian.

Escape

Maira-ira, Ilocos Norte - The northernmost tip of mainland Luzon

The destination for the first leg of my tour next year

Take me back to my home

To a place where i belong

Times have changed, and so have i

Now i long to go back home

Cause i’ve seen a million faces,

I’ve been lost in many places

I’ve laughed and i’ve cried

I’ve lived and i’ve died

And it’s always you i run home to

Won't you take me back,

Take me home away from here

Back to where

I am free

I am free

When i’m tired of the noise

I go back to the age of toys

Where my grass, my grass is green

And my thoughts were once clean

The Allure of the Tour de France

Below is an excellent article from Bicycling.com about why I choose to watch the Tour de France every night, over the Wimbledon.

And Now for Your Viewing Pleasure, the Tour de France
Not into Wimbledon? Watching the world's greatest bike race is a pretty terrific option
by Jen See
[view the original article here]

Sunday’s Tour de France Stage 8 was broadcast on live television around the world at the same time as the last day of Wimbledon. Some said that more people in Britain watched the final match between local boy Andy Murray and Swiss star Roger Federer than watched the Tour stage featuring British race leader Bradley Wiggins pedaling his first day in yellow.

Asked after the stage what he thought about that, Wiggins was reported as saying, “Tennis is nothing; it only lasts one and a half hours.” Well, tennis may not be nothing, but Tour stages do last a lot longer than one and a half hours.

Watching cycling is a little different from watching most other sports, largely because fans thrive on anticipation. What’s going to happen when the race gets to the day’s final climb? Who’s going to win the field sprint? Wait five hours and find out. There’s time for lunch and coffee, and more coffee, and maybe a bottle of wine. Cycling is for savoring.

Some say bike racing is boring to watch, but of course the question we should ask is, why is cycling so much fun to watch? The races are long, and in the case of the Tour de France, it demands a three-week commitment. Cycling’s appeal comes in part from the landscapes it crosses, the weird and wonderful roadside attractions, the monkey wrench of unpredictability that weather and road conditions can throw at riders, and of course there's the humbling physical difficulty.

On the scenery front, cycling stands above other televised sports such as tennis and arena games like football. Watch a baseball game, and look forward to seeing the same green expanse of turf and an outlined diamond. The backdrop of a bicycle race is constantly moving. Riders pass by farmlands, medieval towns, even strip malls. They pedal up and over high mountains and through gorgeous valleys.

Then there are the spectators on the roadside, lots of them. Sometimes hundreds of thousands. And they often create things for the Tour, quite grand things. The French go all out, and although the flat stages of a race like the Tour may not yield scintillating racing, the farm art is highly recommended. Wheat fields play host to a dozen tractors driving around in the shape of a bicycle wheel, fans dance in cycling-themed shapes, and there are spray-painted cows. Who doesn’t appreciate a spray-painted cow?

Fans and their costumes are amusing and embarrassing, but mostly happily embarrassing. Some will do just about anything to get on TV. Who will run into the camera’s view next? Could be a sumo warrior, Borat look-alikes in fluorescent mankinis, or a six-foot fuzzy bunny (I do admit I’d like to un-see some of those dudes in thongs running up mountain passes). But this is part of the spectacle, colorful and unexpected.

As we see all too often, match-ups between unequal teams in the NBA result in blow-outs, and so too bike racing sometimes fails to deliver in the suspense department. One reason is that some riders are so perfectly suited to a particular race that their victory can feel predetermined. Think Fabian Cancellara in a time trial. World champion Mark Cavendish in a field sprint.

But in bicycle racing the monkey wrench is always at play. Even a moderate crosswind can unravel a team’s best-laid plans. Flat tires can throw favorites out of contention instantly. Crashes create chaos and carnage. On Wednesday, a crash took Cavendish out of the sprint and André Greipel snagged the victory. That’s bike racing.

In a baseball game, the runs add up one after the other. A team gets a lead, and it’s clear just what the opposing team needs to do to catch up. Though cycling must follow a set route, the racing’s anything but linear. Cycling has no scoreboard. There’s no running up the score and leaving the other team behind. And races can change fast. A breakaway rider goes up the road and hours later the lone soul looks like he’s going to win the day—that is, until he’s swept up meters from the line by a pack of 190 riders. Yes, just like that, a different rider pops out of the field to steal the win. The would-be victor goes from nearly first to last place in seconds.

Those tiny time gaps make for riveting viewing, and there are hardly greater moments in sport than cycling’s man-against-men run-in to the finish. On Sunday, the youngest rider in the Tour de France, Thibaut Pinot of the Français des Jeux team, held off a desperate chase from the world’s best cyclists, including yellow jersey Bradley Wiggins and defending champion Cadel Evans. The stage ended with a drag race into Porrentrury with seconds, not minutes, separating the surprise winner and his pursuers. Pinot, riding his first Tour, was visibly overwhelmed. His proud team manager, Marc Madiot, flailed his arm and shouted wildly from the team car following behind.

The suffering required for an effort like Pinot’s, followed by the joyous victory, well, that’s cycling, too. The cameras often capture all these emotions, each twist of the road, and all the odd distractions. Through the lens of a TV camera, cycling offers fans a feast of landscape and human emotion. We don’t ask for a better way to spend three weeks in July.

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Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) egged on by team manager Marc Madiot

Finally, a Frenchman has won a stage in this year's Tour de France. The 22-year old Thibaut Pinot won in the hilly 8th stage after a successful breakaway in the last kilometers, with top cyclists Cadel Evans (BMC) and Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) at his heels.

Watch the highlights of stage 8 via The Guardian and the video below.

Fight the Good Fight

[via Earthian]

Sagan Wins Stage 6

Sagan does the Incredible Hulk while Greipel looks on

I was out last night so I wasn't able to watch Stage 6. It was another horrible stage finish for Cavendish after suffering a major crash at the 26km mark.

Kudos to Sagan for bagging his 3rd stage victory on his Tour de France debut. I wish he could be great at the mountains as well.

Watch the highlights of Stage 6 via The Guardian and the videos below.

The final 2km of Stage 6

Greipel Wins Stage 5 - BV Mode

Greipel (standing) outsprints Cav (left)

Sagan crashed at the 3km mark.

Cav suffered through the final meters. Zero acceleration.

Greipel bagged Stage 5. His second win of the tour. Cav finishes 5th.

I go BV crazy.

Congratulations to Fabian Cancellara for making history. He is now the rider who has held the yellow jersey the longest (27 days), without actually winning the Tour de France. Such a bittersweet achievement!

Watch the highlights of Stage 5 via The Guardian or watch the two videos below.

See the crash at about the 0:14 mark

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Here's an awesome video of Tourminator Peter Sagan to wash the sting away:

Greipel Wins Stage 4, Cav Crashes

Andre Greipel celebrates as he outsprinted Alessandro Petacchi

Andre Greipel, after falling short in the 2nd stage of the Tour de France, finally bagged his first stage win in sprint fashion. But the big news of the day was the crash that may have ended Mark Cavendish's defense of the green jersey (currently being held by Tourminator, Peter Sagan).

In the close-packed bunch, Robbie Hunter (Garmin-Sharp) pectacularly tumbled over his handlebars fracturing the peloton with around 2.7 kilometres to go of the 214.5km route from Abbeville.

Cavendish (Team Sky) was seeking to draw level with Lance Armstrong and Andre Darrigade by adding to his 21 Tour stage wins, but was seen gingerly picking himself up off the tarmac, his world champion's jersey in tatters and ripped across the back. [via The Guardian]

Seeing him crash breaks my heart

After Stage 3, Cav was on 73 points, trailing Peter Sagan, by 43 points. After Stage 4, Cav has 86, while Sagan is 61 points ahead. Cav is now in 4th place in the green jersey classification. This is not an insurmountable deficit but with 2 key factors in play - Team Sky's focus on the yellow jersey and the upcoming Olympic cycling event - Cav may not push himself hard enough to wear the green jersey after the Tour's end in Champs-Élysées. As a die-hard fan of the World Champion, this is really heartbreaking. But Stage 5 later will have a flat course over 196.5km from Rouen to Saint-Quentin. I'm hoping that Cav bags his 2nd stage win later!

For more Stage 4 video highlights, visit this site or watch the one over at The Guardian.

Sagan Wins 3rd Stage of the Tour

Sagan with a massive lead before crossing the finish line

The 197km route started from the northern town of Orchies and finished in Boulogne-Sur-Me. As usual, the countryside scenery is spectacular. This beautiful scenery masks the technicality of the route devised by the organizers of this year's tour and the numerous crashes yesterday can attest to this. One of these crashes has forced Team Sky rider Kanstantsn Siutsou to exit early from the Tour.

But the big story of the day is the second stage win by Tour rookie Peter Sagan.

Sagan’s victory was his 15th of the season and the Slovak became the first rider since Tom Boonen in 2004 to pick up multiple stage wins in a debut Tour.

Sagan also extended his lead in the green jersey competition, in which he now holds 116 points to Cancellara’s 74. Cavendish is currently third, on 73. [via Eurosport]

The Stage 1 victory and a strong Stage 2 finish (he finished 6th) definitely boosted Sagan's confidence, so much so that he (or Rory Mason, Cannondale Sports Marketing Director) has decided to take on the nickname "Tourminator".

Is Peter Sagan getting cocky? Well, watch his victory pose and judge for yourself.

In fairness to Sagan, this wasn't entirely his idea.

After that it was a display of pure power by Sagan, as the young Slovak pulled enough of a gap up the hill to do a little victory dance while pedaling to the line.

“The other evening my teammates and I decided that if I won again, I’d do it like Forrest Gump: when they told him to run, he ran; when they tell me to win, I win,” Sagan explained. “I like doing something that makes people smile. When I watch sport on the TV, I’ve always liked it when someone adds a touch of fun to their victories, like [motorcycle racer] Valentino Rossi does. Now that I’m winning, I try to do the same thing.” [via The Epoch Times]

I don't care if Peter Sagan gets cocky, as long as he wins stages. With Mark Cavendish being part of a team that is focused on getting the yellow jersey, Sagan is my bet to get the green jersey. But don't get me wrong. Stage 4 will have another sprint finish and I'm still rooting for Cav to bag this one.

Watch some Stage 3 highlights via The Guardian and the video below.

My Touring Bike

The Surly Long Haul Trucker

My favorite local bike shop, Extreme Bikeshop (Panay Ave., QC) just told me that their supplier has a couple of assembled Surly Long Haul Truckers in stock. I've been eyeing this bike for so long. This is the bike that I'll take to my much dreamed about Tour of Luzon. I just wish I have the money right now.

Second Stage of the Tour - A Sprint Finish

Cav wins his 21st Tour de France stage victory

Finally I've seen Mark Cavendish work his magic! Entering the 1km mark, Cav was more than 20 riders behind the head of the pack. With no lead out team to support his sprint finish, Cav showed that even though Team Sky has its eye on putting the yellow jersey on Bradley Wiggins, he is still in the running for more stage wins and maybe even the green jersey.

Sorry Greipel but Cavendish outsmarted you

Analysts from The Guardian and Eurosport picked Andre Greipel to win the sprint finish especially because of the news that Cav lost 3 kilograms to start the Tour. But Cav showed them that the Manx Missile can beat the odds, with or without his own lead out team.

With 21 Tour de France stage wins, he's now in 6th on the all-time list, and a win behind Lance Armstrong.


*UPDATE* Watch the highlights of Stage 2 via The Guardian.

First Stage of the Tour

This is his weird pose after crossing the finish line

Wow, what a victory for the 22 year old Peter Sagan! I first saw his excellent form in the 2012 Tour de Suisse. He's a great sprinter and can even excel in the climbs. This incredible combination of talent has made him a top contender for the white jersey. His incredible sprint finishes today and in earlier tours of 2012 have made him a contender for the green jersey against my favorite Mark Cavendish.

I give props to the 31 year old Fabian Cancellara for an unbelievably strong showing today, placing 2nd to Sagan. Currently, Cancellara is wearing the much coveted yellow jersey after leading in the time trial prologue against top contender Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky. A replay of the prologue can be seen here.

*UPDATE* Watch highlights of the Stage 1 of the 2012 Tour de France via The Guardian.

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If you want to learn more about the 2012 Tour de France, The Guardian has a short interactive guide on their website that displays the teams' jerseys and the tactics commonly employed in team cycling tours.

Watching this 2-hour long preview from NBC Sports would also keep you up to speed on the various storylines surrounding the 99th edition of the Tour de France.

Beware of Road Monsters

via SmallWheelsBigSmile.com

In Metro Manila, I call them jeepneys and buses.

I Bike Shirts

via London Cyclist Shop

Cool! Now all I need to do is have a I (bike) MNL shirt custom-made.

Biking in the USA: An Infographic

People Powered Movement sounds like an awesome name for a non-motorized transportation advocacy group. I wish I thought of that one first.

Dahon Jifo 16

The great thing about a folding bike is how well it integrates into an urban lifestyle. It can be stowed easily indoors. It can be brought inside less strict commercial establishments. It can be used for multi-modal commuting via carpooling (I do this when I go to dragonboat training in the morning) or in the trains. Folding bikes definitely helps reduce those ridiculously short car trips.

A few weeks ago, I saw the 30th anniversary video of Dahon. Around the 20-second mark, the video showed a guy in a suit emerging from what appears to be a stairway leading to a subway station. The guy is carryign with him a green folded Dahon. A few seconds later, he unfolds the bike with ease. The speed of the unfolding and the apparent lightness of the bike intrigued me so I researched the bike online.

The Dahon Jifo 16 is one of the newer folding bicycles of the company. It's a 16-incher that employs a new lateral folding technology (that apparently, Dahon bought from this company). It's a single speed bike and is marketed as a bike for the last mile of a multi-modal commute. Although it's more suited for flat cities (like my favorite Dutch and Danish cities), I'm really tempted to get one for myself. Although I love my Flamingo bike, it's still heavy (about 13kg), that's why I don't bring it up to train stations. The Jifo, on the other hand, weights around 9kg.

The bike is also available in Sierra

Aside from the weight, the best selling point of the Jifo is that it folds "in a jiffy". It may not fold as neatly as a Brompton, but I think a Jifo can be folded faster.

Another positive thing about this bike is that although it looks small, tall riders can use it comfortably. My only serious problems are its $900 price tag (I think I'm better off saving for my Brompton) and its limited availability.

No Ridiculous Car Trips

No ridiculous car trips from Martin Lang on Vimeo.

This is an awesome video about Malmo, a city in Sweden. They discovered that half of tips under 5km are done with a car. So they decided to make this social marketing campaign to encourage biking among their citizens.

To put in perspective, for a regular jogger, 5km can be traveled in about 30 minutes on foot. At a very easy pace, I can cover 5km in less than 20minutes on a bike. I'm sure this is also the case in Metro Manila. Car owners would opt to bring their cars to destinations that are ridiculously short because for them, that's the more convenient choice regardless of the repercussions to the environment and to ones personal fitness.

The campaign has been a massive success. In the film, above, you can hear all about how and why the campaign started. I like how they turn the tables in their marketing. Directing confronting that very simple fact that using cars for short trips in their city was - ridiculous.

They invited people to write down a description of their short car trip in the hopes of winning the Most Ridiculous Car Trip title - and a new bicycle of course.

The film is also a fine infomercial about the city and their visions of the future, including their goals for increasing bicycle traffic. In 1995, the modal share for bicycles was 20%. Today it is 30%. They increased their bicycle traffic by 1-2% each year. Brilliant. The reason for the increase is not just campaigns but also a sensible investment in separated bicycle infrastructure. The city now has around 420 km of bicycle infrastructure. 
[via Copenhagenize.com]

Learning from the Flying Scotsman

A better trailer is available here

Today I watched The Flying Scotsman. It's a movie based on the life of champion cyclist Graeme Obree. He is a Scottish racer who broke the world hour record (setting it at 51.596 km) and was an individual pursuit world champion.

The movie is particularly inspiring because Obree raced using a bicycle that he built from bike parts, scrap, and from a washing machine. And he rode this machine he calls Old Faithful against rivals who ride expensive customized bicycles. His innovations were definitely ahead of his time. This has lead the ruling officials of competitive cycling to ban both his bike and his unusual riding positions several times. But it's hard to put a champion down. Obree is a fierce competitor and nothing can stop him and his pursuit for greatness.

Obree's unusual riding position on his unusual bike, Old Faithful

Obree set his sights on the world record during a difficult time in his life. Unlike his rival Olympic gold medalist Chris Boardman, Obree had no stable source of income. He had to train on his own. A couple of videos below show the stark contrast between Obree and Boardman during their attempt at beating the world hour record in 1993.

Obree's life story as a cyclist is truly inspirational. His passion for biking transcends competitive cycling. He may not be as renowned as the likes of Lance Armstrong or Eddy Merckx, but his drive to reach his goals are at par with the best of them.

This is definitely an excellent movie about cycling!

Premium Rush and Fixies

For weeks, I've been excited about Premium Rush. It's story centers around a bike messenger (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who gets chased around New York City because of an unknown envelope that's in his possession.

I've watched the trailer many times already and I can't wait to see it on the big screen. Even though it comes off as a B-rated movie thriller, I'm willing to pay money to see those bikes (and bikers) in mad dash action. I love how the bikers in the movie (JGL included) madly rushes through through traffic head-on, sans brakes (after all, they ride fixies). Plus JGL's bike is gorgeous (hint: I want one!).

I think it's a stripped down Surly Crosscheck (photo via UrbanVelo)

This movie made me want to tryout fixies. Fixed-gear bicycles evoke a sense of simplicity in cycling because of the lack of gear-shifting and of brakes. Because the bikes don't have brakes, those who want to ride fixies need to learn how to stop through skidding. Thankfully, YouTube offers a lot of tutorials for this maneuver. But I think the road to my office requires too many uphill pedaling for a fixie to be a viable commuter bike. Plus skid breaking is dangerous, especially given the traffic conditions in Aurora Blvd (or anywhere in Metro Manila). So I guess I'll be skipping a fixed gear bike and just focus on either a Surly LHT or a Brompton of my own.

Fixie riders are often seen as hipsters

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I think watching the trailer too much has led me to biking like a daredevil lately. This morning, I was biking to work and all I could think of was "Premium rush. Premium rush.". I was weaving through jeepneys and buses along Aurora Blvd. at 25kph. I'd even put the hammer down while scaling the flyover before Pureza. It was quite an exhilarating Bike to Work Wednesday for me.

Folding Bikes on Umagang Kay Ganda

Lately, I've been telling people that biking in the country will soon reach a tipping point, in the same way running did. I can't exactly figure out how but I've been asking bike store clerks and they say that sales have been good lately, particularly for mountain bikes. Now, trail riding in Antipolo or in Sta. Rosa, Laguna is a legitimate barkada getaway.

I've also been seeing more BMXs now. There nights when I see young people riding their brakeless BMXs in New Manila or in San Pedro, Laguna. They are usually configured with smaller cranksets and low seatposts. I've actually seen some bikes with no saddle at all.

Have you seen one of these around the Metro lately?

Folding bikes are also getting more attention now. For starters, there are a couple of groups that are dedicated to cyclists who ride foldies. And yesterday, folding bikes were featured in ABS-CBN's morning program Umagang Kay Ganda. TV features like this help educate the public that folding bikes are not for kids and are as reliable as full bike. Marketing biking as a convenient and fun way of transportation will definitely help achieve that biking tipping point.

View the video via the ABS-CBN News Website.

Biking in the Rain

Since coming back from the back to back dragon boat races in the latter parts of April, I haven't been able to do much biking. The main culprit is the change in weather in Metro Manila.

For the past few days, it has either been cloudy or rainy. So far, I've been apprehensive of biking to work on wet days. My biking attire has always been leather shoes, my office slacks, and either a button down or a dry-fit shirt. When I get to the office, I just change into my usual polo barong. If I ride through a downpour, I'd have to bike wearing shorts, slippers, and a raincoat. This would make the convenience factor of biking to work lower compared to commuting to work. Definitely, rainy days make me envy those who live in not-so-tropical climates.

Bike Keychain

Thank you Ms. Clare for this awesome gift!

First (Dragonboat) Race of the Season

La Fleche Wallone

Last night, I couldn't find anything good on television. HBO was showing some Universal Soldier iteration that starred Goldberg. So I flipped the remote to EuroSports, and I was pleasantly surprised that they were showing a bike race. It was the 2012 edition of the La Fleche Wallone.

I'm not a big cycle racing fan but I watch whenever I catch one on television. Aside from the Schleck brothers, I'm not too familiar with the teams and riders in the Fleche Wallone. If I remember correctly, I tuned in with 45KM to go 'til the finish line. The riders were going uphill in the town of Huy (Belgium). I didn't know the cyclists who were in the breakaway pack nor those leading the peloton. But it's alright, bike races are entertaining. My favorite part is the sprint towards the finish line. Most of the time, the first one to cross the finish line isn't part of the break. Cyclists in teams have different roles - climbers, sprinters, domestiques, and all-rounders, to name a few. Usually, the sprinters are the ones that crosses finish line first for the teams. In last night's Fleche Wallone, the finish line was atop a climb. Actually, the last couple of kilometers (as seen below) of the race is uphill. The winner, Joaquim Rodriguez, is a climber and you'll see him pull away from the two leaders (Nordhaug and Hesjedal) at the 3:10 mark of the video.

It was an awesome finish for Rodriguez. I'm a big fan of sprinters (Mark Cavendish, most especially). But this big win by Rodriguez shows the impressive role climbing specialists have in any cyclist team on tour.

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If you're interested in knowing why I'm a fan of the Manx Missile, below are a couple of features on him.

P.S. I had no idea that there was already an electronic gear shifting system for bicycles until last night. Amazing!

Tour 700 Race for Charity

I saw this promo last week over Facebook.

There 2 distances - 40KM Fun Ride and 100KM Pro/Exec. The race is open for bike types other than roadies/racers, so mountain bikes and BMXs are welcome. I'll join the 40KM Fun Ride with my 16" folding bike. I have a racer but it would be difficult for me to commute to Clark with my road bike so I opted for the compact foldie instead.

 The sheer number of 711 stores makes the registration very convenient

Now all I need to do is log more kilometers on the weeks leading to May 13. I'm also planning on changing my bike's brakes and to replace my grips with those from Ergon.

Learning How to Ride a Bike

It's common to find out that your friends don't know how to ride a bike. Biking is not just for kids so it's never too late to learn how to ride a bike. Below is a video of a practical way to teach an adult to ride a bicycle.

Learning how to bike in a road (or a field) with a slight slope really accelerated the process, that's how I learned when I was young. The method shown in the video above uses the idea of a balance bike to teach adults how to ride a bicycle. I've tested the method a few weeks before when I (re)taught Pau how to ride a bicycle.

It worked!

Hardware Finds

Last week, I lost the rubber tip of my kickstand. I got a tip from my friend Diane that I could replace the rubber tip of my kickstand it with a stool cap. So earlier today, I passed by a hardware store after a short trip to the supermarket. I inquired about rubber stool caps and the I was glad to know that the store had those that fit my bike.

It's neat that they come in packs of four!

It's a perfect fit

Aside from the rubber tube cap, I was also able to purchase this reflectorized vest that I can wear when biking along busy roads at night. It took me a while to find the right vest because I didn't want those that come with an actual vest (which usually comes in a net-like mesh). I just wanted the actual reflector strip. I'd actually just go for a sash made of reflecting material but this is the best (i.e. minimalist) I could find.

Comes with a free hanger. Score!

After a Long Work Day

I always look forward to the bike ride home.

p.s. I apologize for beating 5 red lights on my way home

Paschal Triduum Biking

Last weekend offered a good opportunity to do a lot of biking. With the Paschal Triduum and the Araw ng Kagitingan, it was a long weekend in the Philippines.

Holy Thursday (April 5, 2012)

On Holy Thursday, I took my bike to San Pedro, Laguna.

View Larger Map

I based this route on the Dept. of Tourism's April 9 Bike Ride

Thanks to Google Maps, I was able to plot a viable route from Quezon City to San Pedro, Laguna. It's also a good thing that Google allows the saving of plotted routes via its My Maps feature and I can access this in my phone so I can check my route from time to time.

The 38KM route I plotted is a combination of familiar and unfamiliar roads. In the past, in order to bike southwards from Quezon City, I'd go through familiar routes. I'd either pass through Roxas Blvd. or through C5-SLEX Service Road, the former is lengthy while the latter is dangerous (I have a scar along my right forearm to show for it). This time around, I intended to bike through the unfamiliar M.L. Quezon street that runs through Taguig from Pateros.

I was fortunate to be able to get my Knog NERD 12 cycle computer the night before. Without it, tracking my distance and travel time is very difficult.

After some pre-ride checks, I left New Manila a little before 6:00AM.

My strap-on cycle computer

Since it was a holiday, there were only a few vehicles. I also saw a lot of bikers around the Ortigas area. I guess they'll go pedaling along the trails of Rizal. Below are some of the photos I took along the way.

16KM at 6:35AM. Pasig and Pateros have smooth roads for biking.

25KM at 7:05AM. Brgy. Sucat is the boundary of Muntinlupa & Taguig.

30KM at 7:25AM - Brgy. Alabang

SM Center Muntinlupa

37.17KM at 7:50AM - The roosters of St. Peter

38.89KM in 1:58:28 - Touchdown!

The sumptuous breakfast Pau prepared for me - perfect after 2hrs of pedaling

An unfortunate occurrence: I lost the rubber stump found at the end of my kickstand. I guess it got scraped while I was on my way to Laguna.

Unfortunately, there's no replacement avaialable

Good Friday

I intended to spend Good Friday with my family in Paranaque so I woke up early to bike from San Pedro to Sucat. I didn't make a route map since I'll just need to backtrack using the route from the day before.

The bike ride was 16.06KM long. It took me 46 minutes. It could have been a shorter ride if not for the 11 sinakulo re-enactments that I passed along the way.

Black Saturday (April 6, 2012)

For my bike ride back to New Manila, I decided to try the C6 route.

View Sucat to Acacia in a larger map

My Dutch friend Mau told me that the C6 is a better, more scenic route. Biking is in the Dutch's DNA so I knew I had no choice but to believe him. And boy was he right! The C6 runs along the west bank of the Laguna bay. It was refreshing to bike along nature instead of the usual traffic and the buildings of concrete.

C6 at 7:00AM - Aside from a motorcycle caravan, there few vehicle sightings

A view of the Laguna de Bay

Taken on a bridge in Pateros: Where a Pasig River tributary meets the Bay

The ride was generally a smooth one except for a couple of things. First, after crossing Pateros, my phone couldn't get any data signal so I had to stop for a few minutes so that my Google Maps app can load. There were several intersections and the delay in the loading of the map resulted to a couple of wrong turns. Second, before I got to Ortigas, the magnet that my cycle computer uses to track the speed of my wheels rotation got misaligned. When that happens, the cycle computer cannot read the speed and the distance traveled by the bike. So I had to stop for a couple of minutes to fix it.

After 30KM of biking, going up Temple Drive can be tiring, so I decided to have an ice coffee break in UCC near Corinthian Hills.

Refreshing indeed!

While I was drinking my coffee, a woman came arrived while carrying a folding bike. Her GoGoBike's front wheel got punctured with a stray wire. I approached her to see if I can  do anything to help her. Unfortunately, she didn't bring any spare inner tube for her bike. Fortunately, she lives in Corinthian Hills. So she ordered breakfast while she wait for whoever she talked to over the phone to come and pick her up. The incident was quite serendipitous because the night before, I was quite wary to go through the C6 route because I was afraid that if I get a flat tire, I won't be able to ride any public transportation to continue on my journey. I too didn't have a spare inner so a puncture that cannot be patched with my kit will be end of my bike ride home. Little did I know that it would be another person who would have to suffer through a punctured tire.

This 14-incher is small but surprisingly swift

I arrived in New Manila at 9:10AM. I pedaled 36.22KM for 1:35:52. The route was longer but it does seem to be faster.

In the afternoon, I went to Ateneo to bike around campus with a couple of my friends - Cands and Josh. Cands was on a Peerless Crescent and Josh was on a Giant Revel mountain bike. After about 5 trips around campus, we ventured outside. We were supposed to go to Camp Aguinaldo but the U-Turn in the Katipunan-Aurora Blvd. intersection proved to be challenging for us so we just went straight for Riverbanks then we went to Libis, and then up Greenmeadows and up to Temple Drive. We took a short coffee break in Starbacks-Corinthian Hills (do you see the pattern here?) then up Katipunan flyover before entering Ateneo again.

So how was the biking experience during those three days?

Obviously, I wanted more.