It has been five years since I stopped riding my bike every Good Friday. It became a day off imposed by my wife and my mama. Nakakahinayang kasi masarap magbike during Holy week because of almost empty roads, pero para wala ng diskusyon, wag na lang. Para iwas disgrasya, mangilin daw muna ako. I obliged, ok lang din siguro yun, minsan lang naman humiling si misis. While almost all cyclists in the country were having their long rides and enjoying the empty roads, I am having a day off. (more…)

• First performance trial as a new member of the team (almost 3 weeks of training with the team every mon-wed)
• 34.5 km individual time trial in trece martirez
• Average heart rate – 185 bpm; maximum heart rate – 198 bpm
• Terrain – uphill; maximum speed – 58.2 kmh
• First time to use Cannondale Six13 as an ITT bike

The road team with the mountain bikers and the tracksters left the quarters at 6 in the morning of April 12, Thursday. It was earlier than usual because our destination, Trece Martirez in Cavite, is 54km away and about 2hour ride. It was the venue for the first performance trial, an individual time trial, for the new team. The route was 8.625 kms one way, 17.25 kms complete round. The every member of the team was asked to do 2 rounds so the total distance covered by each cyclist was 34.5 kms. (more…)

After wounding himself a number of times while tinkering his ragged bmx bike, the boss turned his attention to his Cannondale Caad 4 Aero Multisport 600. I am proud to say that like his dad, hehehehe….. the kid in his tender age, has an impeccable taste. As soon as he laid his eyes on the bike inside my awards cabinet, he endlessly bugged his mom to let him have it. He claimed that he is already a big boy so he deserved to have it. He had 2 identical Cannondale Caad 4 Aero Multisport 600 but lost the other one when he was 2. Since then, he dreamt of having the other one, but his mom told him in due time, when he grows up. And now that he’s grown and became very creative in his art of persuasion and reaching for the objects of his desire, his mom can’t do anything but to give in to the wish of boss. He has his own elite bike. He beamingly showed it to everybody while declaring, “Like daddy’s bike!” 

After more than a month of speculations and unofficial statements, I finally received a notification informing me of a scheduled meeting with some officials of the National Cycling Team. (more…)

• April 3, 2007, Wednesday morning in Amari mid-week criterium race
• Racing with a new 7-man team
• The team: 5 newbies (Lloyd, Baler, Hardin, Hualda, Me) and 2 sprinters
• Total distance: 70km 35 laps, 2km/lap

Lloyd started an early attack during the first round, followed by a series made by Baler and Jardin, then Lloyd again until group was split. 7-10 cyclists formed the first group. I was in the bigger second group. When I saw a rival attacking, I immediately checked him until we reached the first group. As we reached the first group, I decided to further split the group to increase the chance of the team to win, so I started the attack. The same rival checked me, so Lloyd made another attack from the back. But the group was still fresh so it was hard to break away. During my second attempt to break, the rival tailed me and one of my team’s sprinter. The three of us managed to break away a few meters from the group. The rival was convincing me to continue the break at magpalitan na lamang kami. Since mahaba pa ang karera, katamtaman lang ang trangko ko. (more…)