Ronda Pilipinas - Cebu Leg

Ronda Pilipinas -- Cebu Leg. There was so much to see, I can't find anything to say.

Taptap - Kan-irag with Egay and Chy

Mind your left

So this guy on a white triathlon bike passed the three of us by and I thought he has been saying good morning to my friends. I later realized that he's been saying "Mind your left." Mind your mouth, it's the only thing I can tell you old guy. Maybe you'd have some traumatic experience with a cyclist swerving your way or probably you're afraid of the least possibility that someone will scratch your TT bike. Oldie, we're making our slow, merry way uphill on all-mountain bikes that are full-suspension, have 2.35" tires (that's the mountain bike tires' equivalent of human obesity), and forks that are at least 120mm (definitely not for climbing). We were naturally slower but we would in no way get in anybody's way, because we share the road.

And dear old dude, why did we find you resting and you haven't even reached Willy's yet? And you said Chateau de Busay is the steepest portion of the trip? You clearly did not have any idea where we were headed. Cheers, genius.

Riding with Egay and Chy

My superclose friend (like atomic-distance kind of close friend) Egay came home (partly) to get married (mostly, so he can ride his bike). I'll have to place a disclaimer that I'm just joking because his wife, which has also become a good friend of mine, may ban him for life on the mountain bike. But anyway, he'll be living a happy life in Bangkok soon with Kate and so he got a whole-day visa to ride his bike. (PS: I was the wedding's bestman and I delivered a bro-some speech. Best wishes, hoe.)

I invited Chyrel Gomez, who is a common friend, mainly because I have not accompanied a trail newbie for so long already. Rain plus trail plus newbie is always fun. She fell off a few times on her bike, to say the least. I have to admit that there were quite a few times when our ride almost ended up as a hospital drama. But I did enough prep talk to make her wanna do it again. She said she'll be back with a vengeance, to whom, I do not know.

Pangamihan-Lake Casuy: Hoorah

I almost picked up a fight with a “parking valet” this lunch. You know one of those guys who pretend to look after your motorbike or car when they are not really doing anything at all. How can a guy who has never had a motorbike in his life, never rode one, never had a driver’s license, and does not even have a shirt on know more about you on how to park your bike properly?

They do not even own the street where you park on so why do we have to pay them? They get five or ten pesos by doing some hand gestures, half of them I don’t even understand. I earn every money that I get by actually doing something. There are people near the place I live who earn five pesos by carrying 25 gallons of drinking water to your doorstep. And they actually help.

Sometimes these parking valets would be hovering around even if there are already traffic attendants collecting 15 pesos for parking fee. You’d have to pay 10 pesos more and that’s 25 pesos. I get 24-hour unlimited prepaid internet for 50 pesos and even if the service sucks that allows me to download at least one movie. Their help does get me anything at all.

The carton they use to cover your seat when the sun is high is not even worth ten pesos. If you ever pay, you should take the carton home with you.

**

I think I took a wrong turn when I was trying to find my way to sanity. I'm only glad that this wrong turn does not involve a bunch of wood-inhabiting, dentally impoverished, and misleadingly portrayed red necks. Anyway, I don’t have a camera anymore so I barely blog. To paraphrase Alice in Wonderland: “What good is an outdoor blog if it does not contain pictures?”

**

I rode the Pangamihan route yesterday. The drop off point is at Gaas, just along transcentral highway. I used Russ’ bike for this ride. I have a love-hate relationship with that bike. I love it so much when I’m riding downhill but I brutally hate it when I’m doing climbs. But everything feels worth it when it just tears thru rain ruts, and I’m not too good at taking care of myself but that bike does it for me when things get a little out of control. Summary: Fox Float RL and Jamis Parker make a really good pair.

Pangamihan is mountain barangay in the midpart of Cebu City. Along it runs a dirt road which plunges all the way to Toledo, in a sleepy lakeside barangay called Casuy. Not too many vehicles pass by in the area and so nobody bothers to take care of the road. After rainy days, you’ll get ruts that eat up the road from all directions. It’s a major test of cornering skills and judgment which I have none and which I pretend to have. My favorite part of the area is that place we call Windows XP. It’s a meadow that looks like that default Windows XP wallpaper. It wasn’t so green yesterday though, but it’s still as breathtaking (because the climb there is quite steep).

Once you reach the bottom of the descent you’ll have to tread thru a river which also doubles as the main road. From Casuy, it’s a slow decent to another barangay, I forgot the name. And from that barangay is another half hour of pedaling thru a flat, endless fire-road. The boredom makes you suicidal.
When I reached Toledo City, I went to this place called Sangi where the buses are. I paid 50pesos for the bike and 60pesos for myself. Some smart guys asked me why I’m boarding the bus when I could have pedaled all the way to the city. Those people cannot tell one bike from another so it’s a question I prefer not to answer.

Le Mon

I’ve been away from my computer the most of this month. Last week I went to Malapascua with my friends and I was gonna write about how dirty and inners of the island is. Also was gonna say that no part of my expectation told me that the beach would be splayed with sharp pebbles and the sea would be still shallow even if you are several meters far out.

But then again, compared to where I spend most days of the month, the place is a paradise. I just wish they do something about the drainage system in the inner barangay. But then again, I could not speak for the whole island. We only covered the southern part of it. I’m curious what it’s like up north. It’s a good reason to go back up there.

I didn’t do my usual research when I went up the island because I was with friends and I planned to spend the time sleeping (I didn’t want to do all that exploring and stuff). I did get some good sleep. I even took an afternoon nap by the seaside, under the shade of course. I’m not European enough to want to spend the whole afternoon bathing in the sun.

Malapascua is located nearly 8 kilometers north of Maya, a barangay in Daanbantayan, Cebu which is also the final stop for Ceres and Rough Rider buses. You’ll never miss the jumpoff point. 24 kilometers to the east is San Isidro, Leyte and some 22 kilometers of blue to the west is Batbatan Island (I’m not sure what exactly is in the Island. I’m trying to do some research but my Smart Bro connection keeps failing me. It’s more primitive than the dial-up I had back in highschool. At least that one was consistent). Check out this grab from Google Maps

The fare from north bus terminal is 170pesos, Maya to Malapascua’s southside is 80pesos per person, 1,200 if you’re taking the whole bangka to your group. Food is difficult to find in the island. If there are, it’s not that good or if it is good, it comes with a good price (which is natural because it is an island).

I’m supposed to do some philosophizing to make this blog entry more interesting. But then again, who wants to figure life out when you’ve got a long stretch of white sand beach all to yourself.

When life gives you lemons, make Mojitos shots out of it.