I was reading my dad's back issues of Bicycling magazine and I found a funny list of the author's cycling milestones. Items included shaving his legs, choosing which car to buy by the ease of installing a bike rack on it, and his first tumble.

I found it funny because I sort of kept a mental list of milestones myself, but didn't think other people did it too. My first tumble is certainly on it. But in this past week, I've marked three milestones:

#1. I did my first solo long-ish distance ride a few days ago. My car was in the shop in Quezon City, and instead of cabbing to the shop, I decided to bike it. That's from Rockwell to Tomas Morato, through the congested streets of Mandaluyong and the hilly parts of San Juan and New Manila.

All of that came under the distance of just 15 kilometers. I thought it would be around 9 to 10 km, and ignorance was bliss. But that's not really the point. I did it alone, going around potholes the size of manholes, and mixing it up with jeeps, trikes, and delivery trucks. I don't want to be that guy who has to drive to where he bikes, and it felt good knowing I could take on the streets of Manila. But let's hear me say that again when I've biked to Rizal or Tagaytay.

#2. On that trip, I was able to pull my water bottle out from the downtube cage, take a few gulps, and return it, without falling off or having to dismount. And at the risk of embellishing, I think I was going slightly up hill too.

# 3. Last night, I changed my own tires. Granted it wasn't on some deserted trail with the light quickly fading, I changed my own tires, in my living room, with only YouTube to help me out. I had gotten new, road-friendly tires, and wanted to put them on them myself. It took me almost two hours of for two tires. That's about 1 hour and 50 minutes more than how long it took the guy on YouTube. It was like wrestling with rubber and I kept getting trapped in a half nelson.

Anyway, milestones mark progress.