Like you, dear readers, I’ve ridden a jeepney, a boat, a tricycle, an airplane, a car, the MRT, a bus, a Yamaha motorcycle, the subway train, a trisikad and, yes, on one occasion, Y101’s helicopter during the Sinulog. But, among all, what is the means of transportation that I savor the most riding?
(From www.artsbycraft.com)
A bike. Why? Because, in my brain’s definition, these words are inscribed: Want adventure? Go biking.
This time last year, I published this story in Sun.Star Cebu. Since the ’09 TLBF will be from March 30 to April 5, here’s my experience from a few years ago…
Atty. Gregorio “Goyo” Larrazabal is to RP mountain-biking what Dr. Potenciano “Yong” Larrazabal III is to Cebu running. Each year, Goyo organizes one of the biggest mountain-biking (MTB) events in the country: the Terry Larrazabal Bike Fest (TLBF).
This photo and all below from www.tlbf.org
Nearly four years ago when I often climbed Busay on two wheels and skidded through our Brgy. Guba dirt roads on an MTB, I joined the 3rd TLBF in Ormoc City, Leyte. Together with Jaime Gallego (who has since moved to Canada) and many others from Cebu—Boying Rodriguez, Joey Ontanillas, Dr. JV Araneta, Mike Flores, Atty. Jong Sepulveda, Joel Concepcion, JoMark Rodriguez, Chokoy Durano, Niño and Buddy Duterte (to name a few)—we navigated through hectares of Ormoc plantations, joined the X-Country MTB race and, after, celebrated by gorging on their sweet pineapples.
Ask me for my shortlist of five all-time sporting greats and this I’ll answer: One is currently the world’s No.1 pound-for-pound boxer, the other got knee-injured in golf but is now recuperating; the three others are long-retired: there’s a forehand specialist named Pete, a slam dunk champion first-named Michael and a cyclist who should have died in 1996. You all know them, right?
Well, here’s the good news. One of those three retirees is coming back…
He is Michael Jordan with a helmet, Tiger Woods on a saddle, Roger Federer wearing Nike tight-fit shorts. Of all the people on earth who’ve climbed a pedal-driven, two-wheeled vehicle, no one is faster. Or stronger. Or more famous. No one has won like he has and no one has a history like his story.
In headline news that splashed around the globe yesterday, Lance Armstrong announced two words: I’M BACK!
Are you sure? he was asked in an exclusive interview with Vanity Fair magazine. “One hundred percent!” he replied. “One hundred percent!”
(AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)
If you’ve ever climbed on top of a bike, pedaled, and traversed the road near JY Square then climbed up to Marco Polo Hotel, then ascended some more to Willy’s, to Bu-ak, then to the very top of Tops, then you know that climbing mountains is agonizing. Pedaling on flat asphalt is leisurely, but steering those two thin wheels upwards to the sky is, very often, tormenting.
Take the Tour de France. Last Sunday at 10:30 p.m., just minutes before shutting off the bedroom lights, I switched on the TV set and clicked to the Balls Skycable channel 33.
Sunday last week, on this same lazy day, my nine-year-old daughter Jana and I stared at each other at 4 p.m. to ask what we would do next. We had read three books, tossed the Frisbee at the parking lot, and were looking for an activity more exciting.
“Dad, why don’t we bike? Let’s go to Maria Luisa!” she said.
Our eyes lit up and off we sprinted to open the car’s back door as we snuggled in our two bikes. Upon reaching my mom’s house, we unloaded Jana’s BMX and my MTB.
One is ridden on a seat with two wheels and a handlebar; the other, on man’s dear friend with four muscular legs and a saddle. Both you climb on and dance with. Both you mount to achieve the same purpose: to propel you to move forward. Two weeks from now—the weekend of May 2 to 4—two events will bounce and gallop in Cebu: First, the bike…….
“Come celebrate 20 years of Mountain Biking in Danao City!” proclaimed Oscar “Boying” Rodriguez in an e-mail message he sent a few days ago. One of the most recognizable names in RP mountain-biking (MTB), and the chairman of the Danao City Sports Commission, Boying Rodriguez added: “In the summer of 1987, Tourism Secretary Ace Durano and his brother Congressman Red Durano, who were then studying in the U.S.A., went home for their vacation from their high school studies in California. They brought with them radical looking 21-speed bicycles with knobbed fat tires and ‘granny gears.’ It was then the craze in California. They brought back the first Mountain Bikes to the Philippines! We were all hooked. We all converted our road bikes to ‘mountain bikes!’”
Among the many Philippine websites devoted to sports, the Terry Larrazabal Bike Fest site is one of the best I’ve found. Check it out at www.tlbf.org.
In Nov. 9, 2004, I wrote this article for Sun.Star Cebu…
Jaime Gallego and I are members of the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals (BCBP). Our motto reads: Be Honest. So I’ll be honest. I’ll make a confession. I had an affair. And so did Jaime.
Three weekends ago in Ormoc City, miles of sea away from our wives’ radar screens, we each smuggled in “roommates.” We checked in at Hotel Don Felipe. Held their hands. Opened the hotel room door for them. Inside, our eyes sat frozen ogling at two attractive, sexy, ravishing frames. We massaged their curves. Gave each a long wet bath. To cut the long drama short, like most affairs, word leaked out and our wives found out. We had to spill out the truth. And be honest. How that weekend, we “roomed” our bikes.
