now i know how it feels.

i haven't been able to blog as much as i used to.

nope. it's not because i don't want to, it's more of, there's nothing much to write much about.

no new "thoughts" have pushed me to excitement to write again. well, not until super recently.

since the inception of project training wheels, i wanted to try if i can be confident enough to ride on the highways. initially, i just wanted to roam around UP's acad oval and velodrome, and the usual BHS run route, but if i would be joining a bike race, much more a triathlon event, i must be able to have enough confidence to ride alongside trucks, jeeps, and other road menaces in order to test my mettle.

since the team had their long ride at daang hari & daang reyna a few weeks ago and a jala jala easy ride a weekend ago, i was so jealous because i was not able to join them due to work on saturdays :(

so, when i found out that captain erick guieb planned another jala jala ride, i wanted to make sure that would be able to join them this time. i even decided to skip swim training thursday night to make sure that i would be able to wake up early the following day.

for some weird reason, i was not able to wake up according to schedule. (so what's new?) and if not for some teammates' (thanks dasher, marvs, karen, emil) unending calls, i wouldn't have been able to wake up and eventually ride with the team.

without further ado, here are some of the pics i had during the long ride.
(i would like to say thanks to doc marvs for the pics, lalo na the action shots which he did either while 
a. biking with one hand on the highway or b. driving rico's SUV while still on the highway).

ellen: tim, akalain mo yun, after 26+ years, natuto din tayo mag bike? 

and now, andito tayo in the middle of this beautiful place riding.

me: (i couldn't agree less)

  one of the pic stops we had during the long ride.

as compared to the last time i rode with the group, 

i DIDN'T kiss the floor this time :)

from being a kenkoy runner, now a kenkoy biker

tootee running after a more experienced phumba

the team at the nearing the turn-around point.

another pic stop. so what's new?

the group almost decided to eat lunch here 

(buti na lang nag adik sila at hindi na dito kumain)

kenkoy biker seriously out to get them.

sinong THEM?

mga truck drivers na humaharurot after ka i-overtake, 

sabay bomba ng gas = todo usok

 

three words kept ringing in my ear: GO GO IRONMAN! GO GO IRONMAN!

(thanks to Commish Rico for the cheers and push literal as the support van passed by me)

after a few more kilometers from the last pic stop, 

the group decided to stop and eat lunch finally.

tootee needs his break, and KR needs to eat.

maaawa na kayo sa long ride virgin, 

hindi pa yan nag agahan para lang umabot sa 

long fun ride ng team kaya ganyan ang itsura nyan.

the team couldn't endure it anymore, we were all famished with the long but fun ride.

what else to finish the long ride with a nakabubusog pero cheap na lunch at kainan sa

after having lunch, the team trooped back to DPWH Morong where we all parked our vehicles and then called it a day. it was a fun ride, given that i only have been riding for 3 months, literally. 

as i was driving on my way home, i  thought to myself that this might have been the graduation rites for Project Training Wheels.  (or should it be a century ride?)

for now, i am happy i've had this chance to ride long and safe and i arrived home in one piece. no untoward incidents that day, except for marvz' double flat (which in a way turned out to be a blessing in disguise as he was able to test ride jonas' tri-bike [bagay talaga sayo yun marvz, ehehhe].

ganun pala ang feeling ng mag bike sa main roads/ highways.

unlike running where you can just stop when you think that the rude drivers are getting the better of you, in biking, you have to be a little bit more "understanding" primarily because, one wrong move and you're dead, figuratively and hopefully not literally. 

ibang feeling as compared to when you're the one in the confines of your vehicle. while biking along the road, you'd realize again you're just flesh and bone (and metal alloy/carbon, etc) and one mistake can be very fatal.

scary. but enjoyable.

i didn't even feel the heat as much as i would normally do when running under those conditions.

ang sarap and ang saya!

 until the next ride...

ayot? APIR!