Near where I live, across EDSA, is an exclusive, gated subdivision
where the country’s tycoons, CEOs and politicians live. It’s also where,
as of late, in the absence of long, group rides, I’ve been doing my
short, solo Sunday rides.
I have a high school/bike buddy who lives there and because I am, as
Italian gangsters say, “connected,” I have a car pass that gets me into
this nice village, and allows me to bike on their nice, wide, tree-lined
streets. On certain days of the week, at certain times of the day,
traffic is slow, and all you have to deal with are the annoying road
humps.
I’ll take it. I’ve taken so much of it that I’ve created a bunch of
Strava segments in this village. (There’s a 4.5km loop, a 2.5km loop and
a gentle 600 meter “climb.”) It can get a bit mind-numbing, the number
of laps I have to do around the subdivision, just to get some kilometers
on my legs, but it’s safe, the homes are nice to look at, and it will
do.
I’m not the only guy on a bike on this route. Especially on Sundays,
it’s a bit of a mix. There’s the usual executive-class, Lycra-clad jock
on this TT bike (ugh), some helmetless, expat country manager on his
$10,000 all-carbon ride, a retro eccentric on his steel Pinarello, and
the random politician on his $14,000 custom ti*. A bunch of them,
including me, are in t-shirts, unclipped, on mountain bikes.
This afternoon, to make up for a week of bad legs, I had set my mind
on attempting to crush my Strava PRs. The KOMs are totally beyond me,
but the plan was to hunker down, suffer, and get some power on.
But the afternoon was just so nice. This late in the year, the air is
cool, and the light, golden and pretty, filters through the leaves of
all these old acacias and tamarind trees lined up along the streets.
While I was trying to perfect my pedal stroke on a long downhill, I saw a
religious procession and stopped to instagram this unfamiliar ritual of
people bearing banners and statues, lighting candles at small altars
set up by the househelp on the driveway of mansions. While I was time
trialing across a nice flat portion of the route, I noticed that I was
casting a long shadow, and decided to stop and instagram that shit too.
Families were out on whatever bike they kept in their garages for days
like these. And a pretty, leggy, European girl in a nice, short outfit -
thank you, tropical climate - was on her dutch commuter. Soon, I was off
my bike, pretending to fiddle with my drivetrain, having a sip of
water, but actually people-watching. Strava PRs be damned.
Eventually, I got back on, found some strength in my legs and tested
them on a couple of quick laps. Nothing that broke personal records, but
enough to think that, maybe next Sunday, I could.
*True story. I was going counter-clockwise on the 4.5km loop
when, coming towards me was this middle-aged dude on a beautiful custom
Ti Baum. He says hi, I say hi back and like any jerk on a bike, I
surreptitiously check out his bike, saw what it was, and decided to
chase him down and talk to him about it. Of course I couldn’t catch up
and decided to turn around, go on my route, knowing for sure I’d run
into him. True enough, a few minutes later, he’s coming down towards me
again, I yell, NICE BAUM!, he yells back THANKS!, quickly turns around
and chases me down easily. After introductions, we talk shop about
custom bikes, bike fits and his beautiful Lightweight Wheels. A real
nice guy. Later on, we peel away on our own routes, I let him and his
Land Cruiser full of security men pass me first, and it takes me a few
seconds to realize that this nice Baum dude I was talking to is a
controversial congressman, son of a senator, who is planning to run for a
Senate in the coming elections. Bikes make strange bikefellows.
