Falls Alarm

I did a morning ride last weekend and as I went along my usual route, I noticed a new sign: 'this way to Katinong Falls.' I love falls (who doesn't) so I strayed from my path. There were steep descents and steep climbs so it was really an enjoyable ride. Scared myself 'til I giggled on some parts of the track. But all the hype died when I found out that the said falls is no more than a 3-foot drop with water trickling through it. And they call it falls. False, yes.

 

This is the falls referred to. I don't feel bad anyway because the route on the way is really fun.

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.

Marshmallow : Sunday Ride at Kan-irag's Marshes

So much mudness to endure...

'

And the world spins mudly on...

Go to Hill: Tolo-tolo, Consolacion, Cebu

*This post goes out to Jazz, who is very supportive of my rise to porn stardom 

"'Look upon my works ye mighty and despair.' Nothing beside remains " *see footnote

- no other groups of people understand human race much better than athletes. we nourish our primitive drive to outdo, eliminate, and overpower others in a way that destroys morale (of a certain sub-group called losers) yet builds relationship (real, genuine caring relationship between the sub-groups of winners, whiners, and losers). so what's the big idea? instead of turning to cheap means of destroying others like gossiping, bragging about your genius, or making a big deal of your being a groupie (nobody really sees you as an individual, you are a groupie), you can turn to more creative ways to nurture your primitive instincts. competition builds friendship while you try to break others. even athletes who hate each other so much will die at the absence of one.

 - the human body, even in terms of mechanics, is still more efficient than the bicycle. we self-repair and self-preserve. with constant and intense use, our body becomes more fit. with constant and intense use, the bicycle wears out. we age gracefully, the bicycle depreciates. our disadvantage from a mechanical viewpoint: our parts are only partly serviceable, partly replaceable. and we need more than just allen wrenches to do those!

 - i am not a hater. i just find it plain wrong to like losers. 

 - when i was in high school, me and my friend michael brought a 'project' called dancing mothballs to our science fair. i got the idea (the whole of it, actually) from a book called simple science experiments. we placed mothballs into water with baking soda and vinegar, which made the mothballs would go up and down. the mothballs would accumulate carbon dioxide bubbles and lift them to the surface, where the bubbles would pop and the mothballs would go down for them to float up again. our tiny experiment got no citation for the scientific principles it presented (which i would rather not discuss in this blog). instead, the presentations that won were mostly miniture barnyards with fancy lighting. unfortunately, i could not point to any scientific or architectural significance for those things. but then again, we are a country that produces pop singers, import murderously cliched korean TV series, and generate an overwhelming surplus of nurses who can't even insert an IV properly: we cannot expect much from our science teachers. 

 - just to be very clear, i do not present myself as a downhiller. i am more of a cross country rider, if i have to classify myself. i do XC routes, highways, trails, climbs, descents but not hardcore drops and jumps. i am fortunate enough to know some really great downhill riders so i know what i am not 

 - i have been riding kenda kinetics 2.35 for the past three months and they sure grip pretty well, like duct tape across your lips. but it's unreliable on pebbly/sandy surfaces. nonetheless, these tires are very special to me. the Boss bought these, i just gave her the money. it was dress up day at work when she bought the pair and she was like dressed up and on cigarette heels while dragging those DH tires with her. what a picture it must have been 

 -today i rode the tolotolo-sacsac route. it's a hilly route and i go there whenever i want to have an express XC ride. it's quite near but you feel different when you get to the place. that's why i like it

from the Boss. Rox asked me where the photo is. here it is, yo

Your skull protects your brain. Do not abuse its function, wear a helmet.

A very long switch back.

Kenda Kinetics. I kenda like them.

This is what hit-and-run looks like.

My chain jammed between the rings so I was forced to stop.

**The line is taken from the poem "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley. It's about our man Ozy (the guy is a tyrant/ruler of some sort) and he ordered a statue made for him with that line. A traveler passed by that monument, it was completely wrecked but the line still readable for everyone to see the paradox between his claimed greatness and the wreck that his kingdom was reduced to.