Aren't Folding Bikes Awesome?!

Last weekend in Camotes, Cebu I had my first folding bike ride. Before that, I had no opinion about folding bikes. I don't hate them but I don't adore them either. It's like my opinion about Mitt Romney, I had none. But when I had my ride with the Boss last Saturday, my perception has changed. We rented our folding bikes from Mangodlong Island Paradise, the resort where we stayed at for my birthday (will post photos of the place later). The rate was at 100 pesos for the whole day. We went from Mangodlong to Santiago Bay, a place famous for its very vast sandbar.

It was a 5.3km folding bike ride along a mostly empty highway. Except for the occasional vans ferrying tourists and locals going about in their motorbikes, we had the road to ourselves. The best part of the trip was somewhere along the way when I pushed the Boss downhill while pedaling. That was the fastest yet she rode on a bike, I bet. The momentum gave us a nice push up the coming ascent. We had a breakfast of egg, milkfish, and coffee when we returned to Mangodlong Island Paradise.

We checked out at 12pm but the van that would take us to the port was not there yet so we rode our bikes again. We hit some trails just near the highway. We did not really go deep into the hills but just rode some single tracks that stretch several meters from the road. Then we went back again and searched for another trail. We did three mini-trails in all on our foldies. Folding bikes handle pretty decently. It rides fast on the pavement and you can actually spin if you get the seatpost high enough. Being a commuter bike, the seats are quite comfortable and with small, slick tires my bike just glided on the road. Unlike my trail bike, it feels like sawteeth when riding on the paved road.

Our foldies did not handle technical singletracks pretty well but it is understandable. The bike was not made for it. It's meant to give city commuters a sweet ride to there workplace, with a carrier on the back to take care of their bags or luggage. I often see foreign tourists ride around Cebu City on their foldies and now I know why. The small foldies packs a lot of power and makes your ride quite convenient.

Cheers to my friend Ed Carlson. He is foldie rider I met in Toledo in June 2010. He practically covered the whole of Cebu on his folding bike. I don't know which part of the world he is right now but I'm pretty confident he has a foldie with him. Cheers to him and all foldie riders!

Here's a map of our travel from Mangodlong to Santiago Bay in Camotes, Cebu.