Six months after BGC Cycle Philippines 2014, I sign up for its summer counterpart. This is the first time I’m joining the Alaska Milk-sponsored version of one of the most popular mass participation ride events in Manila. How will it differ?
THE ROUTE
Because Bonifacio Global City no longer figures in the name of the summer event, the organizers have a little more leeway in the route design. They seem to have taken their cue from the SM Mall of Asia area, whose posterior bayside streets are now the stomping grounds of road cyclists that do loops upon loops of the streets in various pacelines every weekday morning.
The route reflects this. The start/finish straight is along Seaside Boulevard, where riders ply J.W. Diokno Boulevard and the southernmost tip of Gil Puyat Avenue. This three-kilometer leg is a launchpad for the meat and potatoes of the route: a 4.15km-long stretch of Roxas Boulevard to the Solaire Casino at Aseana Avenue, encompassing the Gil Puyat Avenue and EDSA Extension flyovers before doubling back on itself, over the same flyovers, back toward Vicente Sotto Street. (Ignore the Bradco Avenue U-turn on the map; that was scrapped.) This main 8.3km loop splits the difference between the 20km Community Ride and the 40km Challenge Ride; the only difference is the number of laps you make. Challenge riders do four laps; Community Riders do two. After their final lap, riders turn at Gil Puyat Avenue for the final approach back to the Seaside Boulevard finish line.
Apart from the flyovers, which provide elevation as well as bottlenecks, this course is flat, fast and wide-open. As far as road cycling goes, it’s basically a criterium race course. This compact layout allows the route organizers to minimize interference from the vehicular and rail traffic of the very busy Gil Puyat Avenue-Osmeña Highway intersection, which was an issue half a year ago.
CLAIMING THE RIDE PACK
The distribution of ride packs was done at Microtel Inn at the corner of Seaside Boulevard and Coral Way. Due to delays in the supply of the jerseys from long-time supplier F2P, Challenge Ride participants had to wait until 12:00pm on May 15th to claim their packs. I claimed mine on the morning of the next day, parking my bike at the secure bike parking area and walking into the second floor.
As with last November’s event, Sunrise Events have gotten the distribution process of the ride packs down pat. I was in and out within twenty-five minutes. I was fortunate enough to have had a jersey size still in stock, though; one common complaint I heard was that some of the other sizes were exhausted.
What I did find somewhat questionable were the contents of the ride packs.
Rudy Project’s contribution is a “transition bag” that’s really three drawstring knapsacks meant for storing your stuff for swimming, cycling and running. A few of my buddies joked that we may have unknowingly signed up for a triathlon. Useful, I guess, but odd all the same.
The second item is a musette or feed bag. This is patterned after the same items that soigneurs (support staff; pronounced “swan-YOORZ”) of professional cycling teams hand out to their riders when they pass through designated feed zones. It’s a decent cycling-related freebie, but it could stand to be a little larger. I’m not sure many Pinoys even know what a musette/feed bag really is – they might just see this as a fancy printed bag with questionable capacity and usefulness.
Finally, Regent Snack Foods gives you a bag of snack foods and chips arguably larger than the actual ride pack itself; that seemed really out of place for me. I had trouble packing the thing into my panniers because of the sheer air volume inside the snack packs. Besides, with Alaska Milk pushing exercise on people with events like these, exactly how well does Regent’s snack food fit into the whole picture?
THE EVENT JERSEY
Delays in delivery and supply issues aside, this has got to be the best-looking Cycle Philippines event jersey yet.
The print is striking yet flattering. By keeping the belly area free of large expanses of white, those with prominent guts need not be as ashamed of wearing this jersey as they would have been with the 2014 BGC Cycle Philippines one. I returned to my original XL size and appreciated the clingier, more form-fitting cut of the material. Finally, the pockets are of a decent depth. They’re at that Goldilocks compromise between too shallow for security and too deep for hand ingress.
I still miss the silicone gripper tape on the rear bottom hem, and the extra zipped pouch on one of the pockets, but otherwise, a great jersey.
THE RIDE
Wave A was released at 5:30am, with yours truly, Ems Chua, Xander Chua, Bryan Rivera, Nick Bordeos, and “Kuripot Biker” blogger Jojo Bartolome among the UFB representatives present. As people navigated the initial 3km leadout into the main loop, it was immediately obvious that the regulars of the SM Mall of Asia “peloton” might as well have had a homecoming.
In the early minutes there was a bit of wind to power through. The open asphalt and lack of shelter meant that a number of pacelines soon formed, with cyclists drafting one by one in measured efforts. This is in direct contrast to the start of BGC Cycle Philippines 2014, where the atmosphere was more “every rider for himself” and people pushed themselves “into the red” almost immediately.
Unfortunately this event would prove to be just as accident-prone as its November cousin.
For some reason, a 10km run coincided with Alaska Cycle Philippines – and used the exact same route. This resulted in me and other cyclists almost running over a few runners as we climbed the flyovers – which were slow areas by default not only because of the climbing, but also due to the bottleneck they created. The presence of the runners just complicated things no end. Sunrise Events insisted that they had secured all the necessary clearances and permits from the local government units, and did not know why this footrace was allowed to push through while its event’s cyclists were still out. I hear they may plan to take legal action on this matter as of this writing.
Even with the runners having largely gotten out of the way by lap 2, there were still quite a few mishaps. I heard a few cyclists hit the asphalt mid-ride. Some participants succumbed to mechanical issues; I saw one of the SM Mall of Asia regulars coasting on his bike barely carrying speed due to a snapped chain. As the early starters caught up with the slower riders, the more inexperienced cyclists posed a danger because they were weaving side to side and not paying attention to approaching faster riders to let them past. One of them weaved so far left that he hit a traffic cone and sent it flying into the other lane where oncoming participants were pedaling.
After four laps around the main loop, I turned off into Gil Puyat Avenue to ride to the finish. I heard a lot of complaints from riders losing track of the number of laps they had done, losing time because they put in more distance than was necessary. It was starkly, immediately more serene as I joined fellow Wave A riders and cheered them on. Sprinting down Seaside Boulevard for the final 200 meters, headlights on and whooping like an idiot, I finished in 1:21:12. This was ten minutes faster than the same distance six months ago, at an average of almost 30 km/h. Not too shabby.
POST-RIDE
That favorite Cycle Philippines recovery meal, the Sausage McMuffin, was waiting for the finishers. It’s a good shot of protein, sodium and some carbohydrate – you could do much worse as far as recovery foods go. As with the hydration stations, bottles of Gatorade were being handed out as well.
ABS-CBN news crews were on site interviewing a lot of the finishers. Those that weren’t headed to the photo booth, where a long queue was forming up. I felt the onset of cramps on my glutes and quads on the final sprint to the finish, so I quietly ate my meal and walked my bike around the baywalk.
Mishaps, jersey shortages, questionable ride pack inclusions and cramped route aside, overall this was a good ride. I had invited a number of first-time Cycle Philippines participants, and all of them finished safely and happily.
We’ll see you again in November.
Let's Bike, Philippines! 