Xtra XTerra

This has been a long overdue post about my ride with Eugene and Edward. I usually write to complain about everything but life has been so good lately I can't complain. Hence, I got nothing to write about. The only thing I could complain about our ride was the weather. The sun was burning red when we met at Liloan Church only for it to rain heavily when we were in the middle of the trail. Then the sun lit up again at 4pm when I had mud all over my nape. I don't know how those two felt, they seem to be indifferent to the bludgeonings of nature. But I couldn't take it. I had to constantly worry how much mud was going into my locks.

Eugene was at the peak of his love for mountain biking and Edward just got off a series of flight from Luxembourg. He still came out strong during the ride and I was secretly happy that he had jetlag. He could have been much faster if he didn't. Triumphalism over other people's misfortune--so many Filipinos have that attitude that we came up with a phrase for it "crab mentality." You know how when crabs are placed inside a bucket, they try to bring down the guy who goes right above them. I'm not sure if they do that on purpose or out of the desperate need to have something to cling to. It sort of reminds me of a short story I've read in high school, the Spider's Thread by Royunusuke Akutagawa.

Anyway, we did the Xterra 2013 route for mountain biking, the entirety of it. Thanks to Ed's all-knowing GPS we couldn't stray to the wrong path. We made some slight diversions, not because we were lost, but because we're creative. Writers weave stories, bikers weave trails. That's one of life's simplest formulas.

I took them to one more extra route--the trail run route. Rocks jut out several inches out of the ground. That must be how it feels to fly through an air pocket on a no-flight weather. Anyway, I am amazed by their valiant effort--they made it through smoothly on their hardtail cross-country bikes. "I once did this on a hardtail and I promised not to do it again. I thank you both for sharing my agony." That good old thing of sharing your misery to others, it makes you feel better. You do that on Facebook, you get mockery. You do it on a literary blog, you get reviews. You do it on the trail and you make friends.

After the all-afternoon right we hit the Rosquillos store for the initiazation of our protein recovery process (that's a grand way of phrasing eating snacks after a ride). It has been a ride to remember, I thank Eugene for being on top of his game with the photos and Edward for his British humor. We're riding again this week. Rock on!