Cris and I just finished our first Tour of the Fireflies. Didn’t exactly go according to plan, but nonetheless, she can now say that she went from Tiendesitas to somewhere in the north… to Makati and back on a bike… pretty impressive for someone who just learned how to ride a bike. I’m so proud of her!
I love GoogleMaps! It’s perfect for chronicling trips like these. Just like the past trip, I plotted out the path of our own “TOF” (since we kinda strayed from the program a lot) that day. Check it out here
Here are things to consider that make this a very memorable experience for the both of us:
- Cris isn’t that good at gaining momentum from a full stop yet. Unfortunately, the tour is the worst thing that could happen to someone with that “weakness”; lots of people, stopping and going all the time, traffic from vehicles, you name it. The whole situation is quite unnerving to someone who just learned how to bike; but she took everything like a champ!
- We ended up putting her seat back down because of it (so she could easily plant her feet down during panic stops), the problem that arose from that is that her legs would tire easily. 1 Because they would never reach the proper “extension” for optimal pedaling Given the route of the tour, you can imagine how hard it must’ve been for her.
- Her maid put her bladder in the friggin’ freezer… so it was a block of ice for the most part… which didn’t really melt when you needed it to melt. We ended up drinking from my hydration pack – which ran out at the critical moment (going back home… mostly inclines)… since she couldn’t drink while riding yet, I noticed how few the times she actually got to drink. She was severely dehydrated without her realizing it.
- We actually broke away from the whole TOF group eventually. So we ended up “bike-commuting” on our own 2 Buti nalang area ko na the time we separated, so all I had to do was keep her safe and not die myself. 🙂 That was a very interesting experience.
So we’ve got a dehydrated woman who just learned how to bike, biking in a not so comfortable position, in the sun… in daily Philippine traffic. She’s a real trooper; taking all that punishment just so she could share this experience with me. I love her so much!
Also some fun facts/musings:
- Someone PLEASE invent sunblock that isn’t oily/shiny when applied.
- Next time, i’ll make like a ninja and cover my whole damned head to protect it from the sun. With sunblock, kahit 75SPF, umiitim pa din ako, punyeta!
- Insulated bladder tubes are the best thing that ever happened to hydration systems.
- It’s BAD to be at the back of a group… because in the event of extreme congestion; I’d take bumping into fellow bikers over crashing into actual vehicles. Don’t even get me started on the buses.
- Bells on handlbars are so ewwww, but damnnit, are they practical to have… lemme think about it. Someone should make a passively powered, light, and elegant sound-making-thing instead of those goofy looking (but useful) bells.
ey, congrats on your first TOF! (inunahan mo pa ako. chiz.) cris looks so cute in her bike get-up!! he-he. btw, get one of those multi-use headbands. they can cover your face & serve as air filters as well. i love those things.
Yay congrats Carlo and Cris. 🙂 Have you guys tried Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Body Mist Sunblock? Its spray is also efficient, halos you won’t need to spread it with your hands anymore. Medyo expensive nga lang, considering it’s around P500 and Dex and I used it all up within 4 days at the beach.
@Elaine: Yep, I think they call them “buffs” (at least yon yung sabi sa ROX, pero the ones they had, puro Korean Flag yung design) San mo binili iyo? Meron ba yung solid color lang?
@Ria: Gamit namin now is the Beach Hut na aerosol din… ang pinaka-concern ko yung makintab yung mukha hahaha. Neutrogena ba nagiging “shining, shimmering, splendid” din ba yung balat after application? Hehehehe.
Sa kamay or legs, I don’t mind the oily feeling, but sa face, baka I’ll try the totally covered route the next time. Ok lang mukhang magnanakaw, basta hindi uncomfortably oily (and better protected yung face)
500 is not bad assuming you got it in the Phils, kse the one we got was 495 na din, I’d rather add 5 pesos and get the Neutrogena brand if I had the choice hehehehe.
Biked almost everywhere, Batulao, Antipolo, Maarat (almost), Boso-boso-Sierra Madre, Tagaytay, etc… and this EDSA firefly is ONE of the hardest. those buses and unforgiving cars made it 9 out of 10 in my difficulty meter. Not to mention the heat which again gave me a free shirt. Nice riding with you and everyone, til next!
@Paul: that’s great to hear! For a while I was considering re-evaluating the feasibility of Cris joining our future “cross country” trips. But then I realized there are a bunch of things in our itineraries which make it much more doable than this recent TOF.
While wala talaga tayo magagawa sa mga madugo na uphill, all I really have to do is train her to go faster on straightaways and/or downhills (since nauunahan pa din siya ng takot rather than pagod sa mga ganon). My goal is to have her reach Elaine’s “cruising speed” (e.g. how fast she was going in commonwealth when we did our Maarat attempt)
@Elaine, do you have any idea what your average riding speed is? Para when I give her my old computer I know what speed I’ll have her try to maintain whenever we’re doing our regular Sunday UP rides.
my “cruising” speed is about 15-20kph. i think. he-he. that’s about as fast as those abnormal runners that win the races. ha-ha! chiz.
btw, i bought my buff in BIKE TOWN in pasong tamo. mine’s blue with a simple pattern. (pia took pics of me using it in different ways, she posted it in her japan album. he-he.)
congrats to you and Cris! 🙂 naku yun lang ang maisip kong sabihin…