The new outdoorsy, active me.

Week 3.

This is how my bike-building project is looking on Week Three. I'm going to be a gearhead for a couple of paragraphs and talk about what's in that photo before getting existential. Feel free to zone out.

The frame is a Voodoo Bokor 29, size 19. Picking that frame was a bitch. I'm 5'9 1/2" (177cm) and it's a size that's apparently quite tricky to size up for bikes. Depending on the manufacturer, I could be a Medium or Large, or to be more precise - or not - can fit sizes 16 to 18, or 17 to 20. I've never so diligently used what little math skills I possess to convert units and compute for ratios and differentials. Inseam length finally came into play, and after getting cozy with Edmund, the bike store manager who measured my inseam, we figured my frame and 34" inseam could comfortably ride this particular Bokor 29.

Other frames I considered were On-One's 456, a Surly Karate Monkey (the name alone!), and a Santa Cruz Chameleon. I picked the Voodoo Bokor 29 because it's relatively affordable and easy on my eyes. I like round tubes over common, modern, sleek frames that are products of aerospace engineering. Also it's versatile. Though designed as a mountain bike, you can stick a rigid fork into it, hitch it on narrower tires, and ride it as a touring bike. I can also configure it as a single speed but hipster skinny jeans won't fit me. The over-sized 29 wheels will roll over almost any terrain while still looking proportional under my, er, hefty body.

Also, in that picture is a Fulcrum Red Metal SL wheelset. Though it matches the Bokor's colors, the decals are a bit gaudy. Maybe after it's been scratched up a bit, I'll refurbish and repaint the rims white. The tires are Kenda Nevegals, which I might return in exchange for Karmas. In the box is a Deore drivetrain and a Race Face headset. I traded in the brake set that came with it and got Hygia Usagi hydraulic brakes. My brakes are beyond my biking skills but it was on sale and can be carried on to future, more advanced bike builds. So far I've got a Salsa Shaft seatpost, and free Chunky ESI grips from my distributor. I've yet to decide on a fork and cockpit configuration, but hopefully, by next week, this bike-building project will be a bike-riding reality.

The awakening of my inner gearhead is just a means to an end. I just want to be outdoors more. I realized that I spend an unhealthy amount of time staying indoors, literally sitting on my formidable ass. Being a photographer is an active job relative to desk jockeys. But for the most part, I'm in airconditioned studios, conference rooms, kitchens, homes, or sitting behind my tripod during the inevitable downtime between layouts. The real workout is lugging the gear around. And I've got a guy for that. My assistant is lighter by at least 20 pounds now than when he started working for me three years ago. I kid you not.

At the end of the day, I get home, sit at my desk editing photos, or kick back to watch a ballgame or my favorite shows. My activities are split between hanging out with friends, eating out, and catching movies. That's all good but I could do more.


One day, a shoot finished early. I exited a canned goods company's test kitchen after a whole day of shooting their products and stepped into the beautiful light of a day at its end. Street lights were like morning stars against the deepening of the purple sky. It was mixed lighting in all its glory, and I barely experienced it, caught between an exhausting gig and the allure of just making it home.

I wanted to realign my life then and see the world during other times of the day. I usually wake up when the sun is out. I want to spend dawns riding to places, with my perspiration evaporating into the cool morning air. I want to see the end of a day again, not framed by a window but a 360 degree view of the expanse. I want to be frenemies with Gravity, defying it to get to the top, giving in to it riding down.

Should I shave to be more aerodynamic?

The other weekend, a friend lent me his road bike and planned for us to ride from Tahanan Village to Daang Hari. I acquitted myself well for a first timer, getting out of Sucat, dodging vehicles, crossing intersections, and riding over potholed roads. But in the empty, vehicle-free Madrigal business district, I misjudged my speed as I pulled up to the curb and crashed. I biked back to Tahanan, taking with me a little souvenir.

Last weekend, another friend lent me his full-suspension bike and brought me all the way to the Timberland course up in San Mateo, Rizal. I won't deny it. I got winded pulling out of the parking lot. My high school buddy tried his best drill sergeant impersonation on me but after about two kilometers inside that course, I gave up and turned around. I actually surprised myself with the control I possessed biking down hill. And I'm nothing short of amazed that I didn't fall off the bike completely. But that's not really hard to do considering I spent a lot of time walking beside it.

So the outdoors hasn't embraced me back as much I tried to embrace it. Yet after both those rides, I felt so alive. It was like I chewed some Native American Indian plant and my mind expanded and melded with the cosmos. The endorphins finally kicked in. But I wanted to get in shape so I could do them again and complete them. I want to bike in other places in this world. I once saw the Blue Mountains in Australia. I want to bike up those mountains. I've seen the Grand Canyon from the air. I want to see it up close, biking along side those giant walls of stone carved by water over eons. I've never seen the Alps, I hear the biking is good there too. I want to bike through our rice paddies, head up to the beaches of Pagudpod, or make it down to the hills of Bukidon. (Where we have our own little Grand Canyon. I know because I saw it, through the window of a fast moving service van.)

When people find out I take pictures for a living, they ask me if that let's me see the world. That's just about one of the corniest questions I ever get. But I really want to see the world, I think I can bike my way all around it.

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Props to Dino, JC and Jun who lent me their bikes while I figured things out. The guys at All Terra never sold me a bad buy. Agu, the local Voodoo distributor, is now my text buddy and is great at answering all my questions and making sure my bike is matched up with quality parts.