Laguna Loop

C5, 4:30AM meet time

Pila Laguna, probably 60 km later

L-R: Jof, Dennis, Gary - who reconned this route 2 days before

Greg and Art, the guys who wouldn't leave me behind

Lunch venue

Started climbing to the town of Mabitac. Gave up, climbed into support vehicle soon after.

Pre-mature recovery meal. Note my own bite mark before thinking of taking a photo.

Quick flat fix.

Been taking advantage of this gap between Christmas and New Year to get some kilometers in.

This Laguna ride was two days ago. Had I completed it, I would biked 180++ kilometers for around 8 or 9 hours. I gave up on the climb, which came at kilometer 114. But got on again for an awesome downhill run. Felt dirty finding pleasure in something I didn't completely work for, but no judgement from this group, haha.

It's a great bunch, and I feel lucky to have been invited on this ride that allowed me to see Laguna, and the bay, in another way. It's been a couple of days and I'm still thinking about the whole thing, and about how, only half a year ago, I would have never thought of doing all this.

I'm really happy. Haha.

Sierra Madre

en route to Sierra Madre

turn around point

Attempted to ride up the Sierra Madre today. My first time. That's around 25 km from Cabading where I met up with the rest of our group. I did okay, but I think I slowed the group down. By the time I got to where everyone was resting at kilometer 15 - after, what, 14 kilometers of climbing - it was midday, hot, and we were hungry.

We turned our bikes around, and headed to Mang Vic's where the bulalo is awesome. I should probably do this climb in parts, wear the same outfit, and pretend I did it all in a day.

One of those few occasions when I like both the song, the music video... and the parody video.

Almost exactly a month ago, I dropped by Ave Maldea's workshop in Cainta to have a steel road frame built for myself. Despite looking past my shoulder, and looking this intense, Ave, Manila's famous custom frame builder, is a genuinely nice guy. You get straightforward answers for your questions, and with his years of experience, his opinion makes a lot of sense.

I brought my dad's Colnago C40 for him to measure up, since it was my exact size. We agreed to tighten the head tube angle a little, and slightly lengthen the headtube so I don't have to stoop over so low while trying to lose this huge gut.

That's my 55.5cm (toptube) frame he's holding. I picked it up this morning. My friend, Toto, came along. Turns out, Ave used to work for Toto's uncle's old bike shop in Magallanes. The same bike shop Dante, my dad's favorite wrench, worked at 20 years ago. Ave and Dante know each other, and they also know, Medy, the guy doing the paint job on my bike. It's a bit cool meeting and getting to know these grizzled, wise men of biking.

Below is a photo of my frame and fork at Medy's shop car body shop in Makati. I brought it there straight from Ave's shop. I had to decide how orange I wanted this bike to be. I almost picked a yellow-orange mix but decided to go full orange. This is major for me. I'm the guy whose default t-shirt color of choice is black.

I should get it back before the new year. There's no rush. I don't have the money to buy the components anyway. I haven't quit my day job. Hire me. I still take pictures for a living.

I know this is silly, and I’m sorry to be one of those guys. But my bike in afternoon lighting. Taken with instagram. Haha.