For a couple of months now, I've been planning to ride up Mt. Palay Palay. On paper, it's easy. It's one long roll down from Dasmarinas, Cavite to the coastal town of Ternate. From there, it's about a ten kilometer climb to the peak, with 300 or so meters of elevation.

That's a sixty kilometer ride one way from Daang Hari and I never make it. I don't even get to within thirty kilometers of the Ternate. Either the heat gets to me, or I feel suddenly anxious biking alone. It's fcking mental, I know.

But when I turn around and get back to Daang Hari, there's this short but steep ramp that always used to push me to the granny. Nowadays, I big ring that sucker (to blow up on the top, gasping for sweet oxygen).

I've been biking for a year now, I wish I'd been biking sooner.