In many Anglo-Saxon countries like the UK and Australia, the media seem obsessed with pitting drivers and cyclists against each other.
Australian TV reporter Charlie Pickering, host of ABC’s “The Weekly” and an avid cyclist himself, sought to fix some of these wrongs – in a hilarious little feature that also now airs on YouTube as a standalone video. It’s definitely worth a watch.
As much as we are solving many problems as cyclists, we have to be responsible road users too, and follow the rules of the road. I believe it is our burden to set that example in order to sow the seeds of a better cycling culture. Ultimately we all have to share the roads – whether we be cyclists or drivers.
Today is the first day of registration for this year’s BGC Cycle Asia Event which will be held in Bonifacio Global City on November 21 to 23. I’ll be joining the Challenge ride on the last day of the event. It’s a 40 kilometer ride starting in BGC and will probably take us to some parts of Taguig, Makati and Roxas Boulevard in Manila. You can register online via this link: http://www.cyclephilippines.com.ph/bgc/
Here’s the table showing the cost to register and join the event.
The Challenge
Early Bird
Regular Rate
Late
Ride Weekend
August 15 – 31
Sep 1 – Oct 31
Nov 1 – 20
Nov 21 – 22
Individual
P1,800.00
P2,100.00
P2,300.00
P2,500.00
Student
P1,600.00
P1,850.00
P2,000.00
P2,250.00
Package 3+1
P5,400.00
P6,300.00
P6,900.00
P7,250.00
Student Package 3+1
P4,800.00
P5,550.00
P6,000.00
P6,500.00
I’ll register with Alex, Marvin and Jorge so that we can get the 3+1 Package of Php5,400.00. Registration includes the bike jersey, timing chip, finisher’s medal and a Rudy Project sling bag. Not bad and definitely worth it if you ask me, (specially if you haven’t done this Challenge ride yet).
An interesting phenomenon is happening among the movers and shakers of the American business world. When they move out of the boardroom to network, a growing number of them are skipping the links for Lycra.
Credit goes to Parija Kavilanz of CNN Money for this story, which has been reposted in its entirety here.
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In Southern California, Michael Marckx spearheads a group of cyclists who regularly ride and network. Photo courtesy of Michael Marckx.
Across America, entrepreneurs and seasoned executives are sidelining a popular networking activity — golf — in favor of a different group sport.
“Unlike golf, cycling is also a great equalizer,” said Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists. “You’re the same as the person riding next to you. So it makes people more approachable.”
Entrepreneurs also gravitate toward cycling because it’s a better way to stay in shape, said Clarke. It’s also less time consuming and relatively less expensive.
“The trend is gaining momentum in bustling business centers,” he said. “But it’s also taking root in the heartland of the country, in places like northwest Arkansas.”
In 2007, Jason Kayzar founded the Midwest Cycling Network for those who enjoyed the outdoors but wanted a change from 18 holes.
“I wanted to draw decision-makers, business owners, c-level executives who are in charge of their own schedules,” said Kayzar, the founder and president of Milwaukee, Wis.-based MC2, a telecom service provider.
The rides started with just a few people he knew. But today, the group has 500 members and meets once a month for a two-hour, 35-mile ride. It usually attracts between 10 and 40 people — architects, web designers, builders and small business owners — most from the the Milwaukee area, but some from cities like Madison and Chicago.
Kayzar actually struck one of his firm’s most lucrative deals on a ride five years ago when he signed one of the largest scaffolding firms in the country as a client.
While Kayzar said there’s a little chit-chat as they ride (it’s legal to ride two abreast in Wisconsin), the big chance to network comes at the end when they stop at a Mexican restaurant for chips and salsa and a round of drinks.
“Unlike golf, we’re not committing to a couple of hours and all kinds of expenses just to network,” said Kayzar. “This is a free gathering, very informal and you’re done in 2 hours.”
Because the monthly rides are mostly male-dominated, Kayzar recently launched a second group in the hopes of attracting more women.
“It’s half the speed and half the distance,” he said.
There’s no escaping golf’s influence in the Southern California city of Carlsbad. It’s home to Callaway, the world’s largest maker of golf clubs, Cobra Golf, a top maker of golfing equipment, and a number of top-notch golf courses.
But even here, many entrepreneurs are choosing cycling over golf.
“It’s a better cardio workout. You can get a great ride done in one to two hours as opposed to hours on a golf course,” said Michael Marckx, CEO of eyewear company Spy Optic. “And you can actively network with more people.”
Marckx is the driving force behind a cycling group of 60 people who gather every Tuesday and Thursday for a 30-mile trek.
“We get CEOs, entrepreneurs, and division heads of biotech and pharmaceutical companies joining in,” he said. “Cycling is absolutely becoming the go-to activity for 40- and 50-year-olds who find it’s a better compliment to their lives.”
Sometimes the rides result in business deals and new hires. On a January ride, Marckx met a fellow cyclist who he hired to run performance marketing at Spy Optic.
Brad Swope recently broke several ribs in a cycling accident, but he’s itching to rejoin his cycling group in Louisville, Ky., which he says is a “phenomenal cycling town.”
“You see people from all professions — doctors, lawyers, firemen, business folks — getting together for rides,” said Swope, a marketing director.
Swope said many riders in his group have ditched golf for cycling because it keeps them more active and is easier on the wallet.
And sometimes a ride can turn into a networking bonanza. It was on a group ride a decade ago that Swope befriended John Schnatter, founder of Papa John’s Pizza. Their conversations during the rides eventually inspired Swope to enter the restaurant industry. He and his wife are now partners in a local chain called Wild Eggs.
“It’s ironic that I gave him cycling tips years ago and he would give me tips about the restaurant industry,” said Swope. “Cycling can be very effective for networking.”
An office lady riding her “mamachari” (granny bike) up a slight incline. She wears a face mask because of pollen and other allergens that abound in the springtime. Osaka, Japan.
I was fortunate enough to go to Japan for six days in April. It was right in the middle of cherry blossom season, but it was also right in the middle of springtime – which, as it happens, is perfect weather to ride a jitensha, or bicycle.
Our first stop of the trip was Osaka. The third largest Japanese city by population, it is also home to two of the largest bicycle component companies around: electronics firm Cat Eye, and drivetrain colossus Shimano. It’s also immediately apparent that they love their bicycles here.
A row of folding bikes parked along an Osaka sidewalk at midnight. Osaka, Japan.B3F of Bicqlo in Shinjuku is home to a multitude of “mamachari” bicycles. In total, bicycles took up 1/4 of the retail floor space. Tokyo, Japan.Folding bicycle maker Dahon also has floor space at Bicqlo’s B3F area. Tokyo, Japan.
JUST RIDE AS YOU ARE
Everybody rides here, and by “everybody” I mean “adults.” It is not only the young and adolescents that ride, but also salarymen and office ladies. Most of them ride on mamachari or “granny bikes,” characterized by a hefty step-through frame, swept-back handlebars, a large rear kickstand, and the signature front basket. Mamachari are built more for reliability and personal transport than outright speed. I did see my share of folding bikes and small-wheeled mini velos, though, as these petite urban commuting machines steadily grow in popularity.
A salaryman riding another “mamachari” (granny bike) around a corner. Tokyo, Japan.A man riding on the sidewalk just outside the Imperial Palace Gardens – the residence of the Japanese emperor and his family. Tokyo, Japan.
Safety advocates will notice one trait most Japanese riders share with their Dutch counterparts: no helmets. This is in stark contrast to most Western countries, which strongly advocate helmet use while riding. Many Japanese riders also don’t make use of any special cycling-specific clothing. They can get on the saddle in three-piece suits and office attire, no doubt helped along by the spring season’s temperature range (8-16 degrees Celsius).
A construction worker and a white-collar salaryman – both riding bicycles. When was the last time you saw this in the Philippines? Tokyo, Japan.A spandex-clad cyclist, decked out in road shoes for clipless pedals and a helmet, with his road bike parked on the side while checking his phone in front of the Imperial Palace Gardens pedestrian crossing. These guys are more the exception than the rule here. Tokyo, Japan.
WHAT STIGMA?
Jitensha are class-less vehicles in Japan. There is no stigma attached to people making their merry way around the city on a bicycle, unlike in the Philippines where bike riders tend to be treated like second-class citizens, and where bike commuting is attributed to construction workers and manual laborers. The closest automotive equivalent of the “class-less” vehicle is the 1959-2003 BMC/Austin Mini, driven by both celebrities and plebeians and a reasonably affordable family car. However, the BMW-reborn Mini has since morphed into a style-led plaything for a rich, moneyed person and one passenger.
Many of Osaka’s sidewalks have guard rails separating pedestrians from vehicular traffic. It is not unusual to see bicycles of all shapes and sizes locked and chained to them.
A row of bicycles parked on the sidewalk right in front of a “Don Quijote” discount store at midnight. Osaka, Japan.A lone flat-handlebar hybrid bicycle parked and locked to the sidewalk guard rail at midnight. Osaka, Japan.
You may have heard of Carlos Celdran’s recent altercation with the security agency of a certain mall in Ermita. Said agency so vehemently opposed Celdran parking and locking his bike in front of the mall that they essentially “detained” it with handcuffs. You will not see that kind of power-tripping shenanigans in Japan. The Westin Osaka is a swanky hotel, but there were three mamachari parked on the sidewalk right in front of its parking entrance. No harrassment, no shooing, no power-tripping, nobody thinking that the bicycles were eyesores.
Three “mamachari” parked right in front of the Westin Osaka’s parking entrance sidewalk. Admittedly not one of my best photos, but the point is obvious here: bicycles are respected and not looked down upon. Osaka, Japan.Bicycle parking just outside the pedestrian underpass across the Grand Front Osaka mall. Osaka, Japan.
SHARING THE ASPHALT AND PAVEMENTS
In Osaka, Akashi, Kyoto and Kobe, four cities of Japan’s Kansai region, riders tend to wheel along on the sidewalks and use pedestrian crossings more frequently than they use the roads’ travel lanes. By comparison, riders in Tokyo and the Kanto Plain more frequently ride on the same travel lanes as motorized traffic does.
A “bicycle crossing” running parallel to a pedestrian crossing at an intersection in Odaiba. The hiragana characters read “jitensha” – the Japanese word for “bicycle.” Tokyo, Japan.
Plain to see, also, is that bicycle lanes and other infrastructure aren’t as widespread in these cities as the bicycle-centric culture would have you believe. Sure, there are bicycle lanes and crossings, but many of them share space with pedestrian traffic. In Tokyo’s Asakusa area, the sidewalks just off the Kaminarimon (“Thunder Gate”) are usually packed with pedestrians, but cyclists patiently crawl and tiptoe along at the same pace to get to where they have to go. Once the congestion opens up, they get back up to speed.
A segregated bicycle lane in the city. Notice that part of the sidewalk was used for this purpose. Tokyo, Japan.A cyclist pedaling through a pedestrian lane in Asakusa, near the Kaminarimon (“Thunder Gate”). Tokyo, Japan.
All of this may seem like a recipe for danger, but the overwhelming majority of Japanese drivers are so courteous and polite that cyclists usually aren’t in any peril, even while they ride alongside large vehicles and sightseeing buses. For the Japanese, the concepts of discipline in transit, road safety and keeping traffic flowing are so deeply ingrained into their heads that it is almost second nature. Even while climbing and descending the tight, twisting mountain passes of Hakone, our tourist bus’ driver kept a measured pace — even decelerating almost to a complete stop at blind corners to make sure that any traffic on the opposite lane isn’t impeded by the huge size of the vehicle.
A bicycle commuter riding on the travel lane for motorized vehicles. There is real cooperation between drivers and cyclists here, neither party harassing the other and respecting each other’s journey. Tokyo, Japan.
Lots of failure and expense needed to successfully obtain that Japanese driver’s license – so stringent are the requirements. And yet, Japanese drivers are some of the most courteous. Photo courtesy of Gakuran.com.
While bicycle commuting in Japanese cities is very safe even without helmets and hand signals, there are explicit limits. Drivers are served well by how steadily and smoothly bike commuters handle their machines – I never saw any cyclists wobbling and wavering. Japan is well-known for its extensive network of elevated high-speed highways; bicycles are expressly forbidden there and along certain main thoroughfares. Alternatively, for longer travels, cyclists can make use of dedicated cycle paths. Our own Byron Villegas once messaged me about a cycle path linking Osaka to Kyoto, which would take a total distance of 50 km to pedal. As far as ride distances go, that’s not bad for a reasonably fit cyclist.
A man on his bike resting at the deck by the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. Akashi, Japan.
WHERE DO THEY BUY BICYCLES?
If you’re like most Japanese and all you need is a mamachari, you can easily get one in the mall – and you will be absolutely spoiled for choice. Bicqlo, a collaboration between apparel chain Uniqlo and electronics retailer Bic Camera, has five above-ground floors and three basement floors of space in busy Shinjuku. The very bottom of the basement has a quarter of its retail floor space for bicycles, tools and accessories.
Various bicycles for sale at the main entrance of the big discount store Don Quijote. Osaka, Japan.
Walking around Osaka, the large branch of the discount store franchise Don Quijote also carries various mamachari, flat-handlebar hybrid bikes and small-wheeled mini velos and folding bikes. In Kobe and Akashi, you can find Cycle Base Asahi, and the branches our tour bus passed mostly had stocks upon stocks of mamachari as well.
The Y’s Road “custom” bike shop in Shinjuku. Tokyo, Japan.
The Japanese do have their respective local bike shops (LBS) dedicated to enthusiasts, such as Y’s Road in Shinjuku. There are actually two Y’s Road bike shops separated by a single street; you cross it to get to the other one. The one I visited was the “custom” bike shop, which carried stocks of road bike parts and components such as wheelsets, drivetrains, saddles, stems and handlebars.
Framesets and forks at Y’s Road Shinjuku. Tokyo, Japan.A clear display shelf at Y’s Road full of Shimano groupset components. Note the top-end Dura-Ace groupset selling for JPY215,000. (I have a feeling I should not have taken this photo, but I didn’t take notice of the sign in yellow at the top at the time. Oops.) Tokyo, Japan.Right next to it was the Campagnolo display shelf – full of groupset and drivetrain exotica from Vicenza, Italy. Tokyo, Japan.A huge collection of wheelsets at Y’s Road, some of which were being sold at a discount. Tokyo, Japan.
JITENSHA WA SUBARASHII ~ BICYCLES ARE WONDERFUL
Thanks for reading and I hope you were able to live the Japanese bicycling life vicariously through my ramblings.
I will finish this post off with more photos of regular Japanese folk just enjoying their bicycles.
Some of the bicycles on sale at Bicqlo even had electric-assist drivetrains. Tokyo, Japan.A man resting on a bench in the shade with his bicycle, at Odaiba Marine Park. Tokyo, Japan.Two Lycra-clad dismounted road bike riders entering the main gate of Osaka Castle. Osaka, Japan.An elderly man pedaling right under the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. Akashi, Japan.Bicycle parking at Odaiba at night. Odaiba has such wide parkways and non-vehicular thoroughfares that using a bicycle to get around makes so much sense. Tokyo, Japan.An elderly lady and her “mamachari” on the seaside deck just under the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. Akashi, Japan.One of the few drop-bar road bikes I saw in Tokyo, ridden by a bike commuter in pants, button-down shirt and messenger bag. Tokyo, Japan.A couple pedaling their bicycles along the coast of Odaiba Marine Park. Tokyo, Japan.
Just a plaything? Just a poor man’s form of transportation? Just a hobbyist’s obsession?
We have, for some reason, rightly or wrongly, adopted the American way of thinking that bicycles are either children’s playthings, or sporting hobbyists’ pricey obsessions.
We have also added to all that, the local Pinoy notion that bicycles are a poor person’s form of transportation because we are averse to physical effort. Many Filipinos would rather queue up to ride a crowded bus, jeepney or train, instead of riding a bike to our destinations, because “it’s more convenient,” “I don’t have the energy” and “I don’t arrive in a wet sweaty mess.”
By extension, some of us have the notion that people who ride bicycles have no place on the public road, where the automobile rules supreme. “People who bike-commute must have some sort of death wish,” they may say. And yes, they do get bullied on the street.
You gotta wonder. How long will we be able to keep up this kind of thinking? Will we cling to this mindset while we are struggling every day – paying rising transportation fares through the nose just to get around a ridiculously overpopulated, smog-smothered and congested metropolis?
You tell me. I tend to be very jaded when it comes to Pinoy culture and its ability to unlearn mistakes and ugly cultural traits. We would’ve gotten rid of corruption, laziness, bad drivers and mendicancy/beggar culture a long time ago if we were truly serious about them, in my opinion.
And yet, despite all of these odds, despite even being rich enough to buy a car or two, despite the classic Pinoy cultural stubbornness and obstinacy…you have somehow decided to become a bike commuter.
Congratulations.
AS A FILIPINO BIKE COMMUTER, THERE ARE SOME HARD TRUTHS TO SWALLOW
A bike lane in front of the Bonifacio Monument along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA). Photo from the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Let’s be honest.
The spiffy bike lanes we see in other countries are a utopian ideal here. They’re non-existent in many of Metro Manila’s so-called “cities,” and those that do exist are terribly designed (red paint on a converted tiled sidewalk?! good luck in the rain) or abused by vehicular traffic. Nowadays I don’t even think about bike lanes any more, as they are the exception rather than the norm. Bike lanes or no, I think a Filipino bike commuter must learn how to behave like a responsible road user by keeping with the flow of traffic, being vigilant, practicing proper lane etiquette, and using hand signals.
Compared to almost any form of motorized transport, the safety of riders on two wheels rests more squarely on the “active” side of the equation rather than the “passive” side. Think of active safety as accident avoidance; riding in such a way that you don’t get into one in the first place. For most of us riders, the only bit of “passive” safety we have is our helmet – and body armor, if you ride that way.
Motorcyclists have the benefit of motorized boost – twist open the throttle, a butterfly valve opens, and a motorcycle rider gets additional speed. By comparison, us bike commuters earn our speed. If active safety were measured by the amount of time we can maintain motion, momentum would be our gold standard currency. Our acceleration when in motion is not nearly as instantaneous. We usually need to grab a gear and raise our cadence by 20 RPM for a meaningful increase in speed, and whatever amount of speed we can carry on a bike takes effort to build back up after a standstill or an uphill slope.
Lastly, air pollution is an ever present danger. Then again, it will hunt you down whether you are a bike commuter, pedestrian, or vehicle driver, anyway. For a few years I ran a jerry-rigged, DIY air conditioner filter in my car made out of a sheet of 3M’s Filtrete material. You would not believe how dirty it got after just a month of urban driving, and just how fine the particulates it picks up are. Just rubbing your fingers against a darkened area will rub very fine soot and dust onto them.
On the left, a fresh sheet of 3M Filtrete – used as a DIY car air-conditioner filter. On the right, the same sheet material with a month’s worth of Metro Manila’s finest particulates trapped in it.
In return for all of these hard truths as a Filipino bicycle commuter, there is hope.
ON A BICYCLE, YOU EASE ROAD CONGESTION
No matter how truly small and space-efficient my car is, at least by today’s standards, it’s still designed to accommodate five people and a bit of grocery shopping. (Or two people and a boatload of boxes, as that’s just what a Honda Jazz can do – really well, I might add.) The many times I drive it all by myself, it can be a waste of road space. Granted, it’s half the space hog a typical SUV is, but I bet you could fit at least six of my Dahon Vitesse bike, unfolded, fitted with panniers, in the same amount of space.
At least six of my pannier-fitted Dahon Vitesse will fit in the same space my GD1 Honda Jazz occupies.
And let’s not get into close-quarters maneuvering. My car was reputed to have a gloriously tight and small turning circle of around 10 meters. Impressive for low-speed maneuvers, and shoehorning into a tight parallel parking slot nobody else will dare want, but also nowhere close to what a small-wheeled bike can do in an urban gridlock.
ON A BICYCLE, THE ROAD IS YOUR GYM
Local news presenter and anchorman Paolo Abrera, of the departed sports show “GamePlan,” has embraced the very subject matter he used to report on as an athlete. Since then he has had his own half-hour show on ANC called “Green Living,” showcasing tips and ventures on the eponymous subject matter.
Not many people may be aware, however, that Mr. Abrera lives out both his reportage subjects as a bike commuter. I had read somewhere that due to a busy schedule, he usually doesn’t have time for gym, so his bike commute from Parañaque to Quezon City – and vice-versa – nicely fills in as an efficient use of his time, striking two birds with one stone.
Local anchorman Paolo Abrera, best known for “GamePlan” and current host of “Green Living.” Yep, he’s a bike commuter.
Well, if he can do it, so can you. And before you say that you don’t have the energy to pedal on city streets, one great paradox of the human body is that the more exercise you engage in, the more energy you gradually have.
ON A BICYCLE, YOU LET MOTHER NATURE WIN
Since I got my Giant TCX SLR 2 cyclocross bike in May 2014, I’ve saved 370 kg of CO2 over seven months and 2779 km of riding.
To me this is the least interesting reason to ride a bike and commute with one, simply because it’s the first thing that pops into most people’s minds so often that it’s become a bit of a cliche. As an amateur racing driver, I am not exactly a tree-hugging environmentalist saint.
That said, there’s something remarkable about a mode of transportation that can get you around at 18 km/h average speed without a single puff of hydrocarbon emissions…well, other than the methane in farts, I suppose.
ON A BICYCLE, YOU SAVE QUITE A BIT OF MONEY
I am lucky enough to have been able to drive since college, and I’ve been paying for maintenance and fuel from an early age. It can be a little appalling how much of your money goes into the cost of fuel, insurance, maintenance, parking and toll fees – the latter, a fact of life for people from the south of Metro Manila. Let’s not get started with the other, usually unmonetized costs: time, congestion, and a low average speed of travel…especially on Saturdays.
A bicycle does away with almost all of that. Your fuel is the cost of food and water. Your insurance policy, your bike locks (and I hope you have at least two different ones). The cost of maintenance: a degrease-and-lube job on the chain, cassette and chain rings – and perhaps a brand new chain every year as the links inevitably stretch out. Bicycle tires last a pretty long time when kept properly inflated.
Parking fees? WHAT parking fees? 😉
Parking? Toll fees? Do you have to pay for those? There’s only one location I know of that charges for bike parking (yes, I know right?), and even then it costs chump change.
No more long queues, no more waiting, no more pushing – no more of the victim mentality many commuters get on a daily basis. I bet you’d earn a lot of jealous stares when you break out your folding bike, unfold it, and pedal off in front of a long snaking queue up the stairs to the MRT ticket booth. And even if you don’t get jealous stares, well, you’d still have an undeniable head start.
Many folding bike riders use them in a bimodal commute (bike + public transport), but having the bike with them means that as long as they have a good route in mind, they could just as easily pedal some more of the distance if the queue for the bus, MRT or LRT is especially bad. The way I see it, Metro Manila isn’t actually all that big in terms of land area – it’s the traffic and congestion that give the illusion of taking more time to traverse the city from north to south, and/or east to west, than is actually needed.
And for those commuters out there who’ve helplessly hailed a taxi and gotten snubbed by chauffeurs – don’t you love having a mechanism of payback?
SO AGAIN, CONGRATULATIONS.
You’ve gotten over the hang-up of treating a bicycle as “only” either a children’s plaything or an expensive hobby piece.
You’ve also looked past the “poor person” notion of bike commuting, and identified it as a ridiculously smart, sensible and simple solution to the age-old question of urban mobility in a suffocated Metro Manila.
You’ve also graduated into the realization that automobiles are not kings and queens of the road – that other forms of transport, motorized or human-powered, have an equal right to be on the road – as long as they abide by its rules – and claim the space they need to travel safely.
Being a bike commuter has its downsides, but it’s got quite the slug of benefits as well.
Stay safe and ride on.
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This post basically concludes my little “project” called TypeVertigo Style, as I have accomplished what I had originally set out to do. My thoughts go back to the middle-aged Chinese-Filipino couple I met at Junni Industries a couple weeks ago shopping for their folding bicycle(s). I wasn’t able to get their names or properly introduce myself to them, but I am grateful to them for giving me the impetus to start writing.
If you enjoyed reading my series of ramblings, and/or want to see ramble on more, please leave a comment and let me know what you think.
I can’t recall when my love affair with bikes began.
I have vague memories of a yellow tricycle I rode when I was 6 or 7, around the dining table. The family easy rider with its curved frame and curly handlebars. Most of the memories I treasure involved a bike of some sort.
I learned to ride in Baguio’s famed Burnham Park, back in the day when it was actually a park and not SM Baguio’s front yard. My dad hired someone for P20 to teach me how to ride and I was riding in 30 minutes, haven’t stopped ever since. I started with BMX in my early teens, executing bunny hops and cherry pickers. Single speed was all you need, my legs were my gears, I was invincible.
Then you have your first spill and realize that you’re not immortal. went home with a gash running from my wrist down to my ankles, stopped racing for about a week and then it was back on the tracks, but it was never the same, caution and care started to creep in, dang I was maturing.
A few years pass and the BMX is replaced with another acronym, MTB, which meant climbs, trails, mud, ruts, downhills and heart. I conquered every mountain around my region, Antipolo, Pilillia, Tanay and finally Sierra Madre. It was fulfilling, it was tough and made me feel like I’m grown up.
All that disappeared when a road bike zipped past me at about 60kph, no matter what I did there was no way I was going to catch up with him or it for that matter, there was something magical about the roadie, almost angelic.
Fast forward to today and I have hit mid-life with my Roadie, my MTB and a Folding bike. Cycling is still a huge part of my life.
UFB’s Gilbert Serrano riding his road bike through a tree-lined avenue.
Sharing a great anecdote from Gilbert Serrano of the United Folding Bikers.
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Sometimes people ask me…
“Why do you ride a bike to work? You got a car. You even have a motorbike. The company pays for your gasoline consumption. You’re not really out of shape and you’re in the pink of health.”
Is it because of the thrill of riding? The exercise i can squeeze in my schedule? Because it releases happy hormones that uplifts my spirit everyday? Because it saves Mother Earth?
At long last, cycling is being supported by American business – not out of environmentalism but because it’s delivering profit
Cyclists on Market Street San Francisco Photograph: People For Bikes
Cities are driving the US economic recovery, and as they do, Americans are getting on their bikes. In 85 of the 100 largest metro areas cycling is increasing. All part of a deeply healthy – and profitable – reshaping of urban economies.
“Cities that invest in biking infrastructure are going to win,” predicts Jeff Judge, a Chicago-based digital marketing entrepreneur, who said the presence of on-street protected bike lanes was his number-one factor in assessing a city to locate in. “It’s better for business, planning, infrastructure. It’s better all round.”
After years of battling “the business community” for every inch of road space, many cycling advocates seem disoriented by the idea they might now be on the same side. But from Denver to Memphis, some of the loudest voices for a move toward Danish-style protected cycling infrastructure are those who sign the paychecks. In last month’s report (PDF) for US non-profit People For Bikes, which I co-authored with Mary Lauran Hall of the Alliance for Biking and Walking, we outlined four reasons why:
In November last year, our group, the United Folding Bikers joined the annual Tour of the Fireflies. After the 20+ kilometer ride, we were interviewed by the staff of Tropang Pochi, a weekly TV show for kids on GMA. We talked about folding bikes and this is what the segment looked like. (special thanks to Retro Man for the youtube upload).
This is the proposal of Transportation undersecretary Dante Lantin, as he noted that ongoing and scheduled road repairs in portions of EDSA, coupled with the increasing volume of vehicles in Metro Manila, will make the 23.8-kilometer thoroughfare more notorious for heavy traffic.
“On weekend naman ay carless day,” Lantin said in an interview with GMA News reporter Bam Alegre. “In that way makakatipid sa gasolina at makaka-contribute sa pag-improve ng environment, and we can encourage more bikers.”
Lantin conceded that his suggestion may appear “wild” to the public.
“Wild in the sense na baka ang initial reaction ng mga tao is masyadong marahas o masyadong mapusok,” he said.
Among the road construction and repairs expected to slow down vehicular traffic on EDSA are the Skyway Stage 3 project, which will connect South Luzon Expressway and North Luzon Expressway; the NAIA elevated expressway project; and the structural retrofitting of Magallanes interchange.
“Ire-retrofit natin itong buong ito, north and southbound ng Magallanes flyover. Papalitan ‘yung existing expansion joint, papalitan natin ng hindi slippery,” said Rey Tagudando, head of the Department of Public Works and Highways-National Capital Region.
Let's Bike, Philippines! 
