Category: 
May 14, 2007When I am excited about an activity that I will do the next day, I usually find it very difficult to sleep the previous night. So last Saturday morning, May 12, I was still awake at 4 am and my bike buddies and I have scheduled a ride that morning. We were supposed to meet at 6:30 am in San Mateo. I didn’t know exactly where we are going, but one buddy mentioned up there in the mountains of Montalban.
I woke up at around 5:30 am, feeling woozy for lack of sleep but still excited enough to push myself out of bed and have a quick shower to awaken every nerve on my body. I ate my breakfast, consisting of four toasted slices of wheat bread, spread with herbed cream cheese, plus a cup of hot cocoa. I put everything I have prepared to bring the night before in a day bag that I usually bring on my bike trips.
I left the house at 5:30 to meet up with a buddy who was coming from Paranaque. I learned that he left his house at 4:00 am so he could meet me at the usual place at 6:00. He arrived ahead of me and upon meeting each other, we proceeded to San Mateo to meet up with the others who would be joining us.
We were supposed to be at least eight but the other five failed to make it. There were only three of us but still we decided to go on. Rodel became our ride leader and he suggested going up to the Grotto of the Virgin Mary. He himself has gone up only once but he was positive we would like it, once we have gone up there.
This trip would be one of the best I have ever gone to in all my biking years. I have never gone this far up in a mountain bike and the scenes that greeted me up there highlighted one of the fears that I have in life: acrophobia, which until then, I have forgotten that I have.
We passed through ravines on paths that only one person with or without a bike can go through. We went through a section where the pathway had disappeared because of erosion and one slip could send you down somewhere at the unseen bottom of a cliff.
After about three prolonged rest and water stops and some picture taking, we finally arrived at the Grotto at around 9:00 am. And this is the part where it really gets exciting for me.
The image of Our Lady is very near the edge of a cliff and when I tried to approach the edge, that’s when I felt something that only those with acrophobia can understand. There was this tingling sensation down on my scrotum, if you will pardon the use of the word, which was somewhat like being mashed and pulled at the same time. I don’t know how women with acrophobia would describe it though; I have no idea where they would feel this sensation or if it is the same with women as with men.
My buddies were teasing me and daring me to come near the edge, but no way would I oblige. I could take their ribbing and more, but I would not do what they wanted me to do.
More stories and pictures to come.
Sphere: Related Content
My StumbleUpon Page
2 similarities:
1) I too get insomniac when I’m excited for the next day’s activity or trip.
2) I too have acrophobia before. and yes, the scrotum thing is real.
but I have somehow resolved these two before. Whenever I get excited, I drink a glass of warm milk, watch a really boring movie and read a book that would somehow make me sleep.
I decided to resolve my fear of heights by joining a mountaineering club in Junior high which continued until my 4th year in college. in between those years, I never felt anymore fear of heights. I dont know if the fear came back, precisely because I did’nt climb another mountain since I entered the seminary.
The funny thing is, Meron naman ako ngayong “Claustrophobia”. - and that’s a different story haha..
God Bless!
So I wasn’t just imagining about the scrotum thing, as my bike buddies suggested! I’ll tell them to read your comments here. LOL. Good for you to have conquered your fears. I hope to conquer mine too, we will see.
doesn’t those tingling sensation come from wearing testicle-hugging cycling shorts? anyway, nice experiences on biking. m red in envy. though i doubt if i can go to work on a bike in makati unless i want my brains get splattered all over the road.
m thinking of joining the tour of the fireflies too. next year’s a good start for me when i hev the budget to buy a bike. my old yellow bike got stolen 2 years ago and haven’t done biking since.
I wasn’t wearing one of those “testicle-hugging cycling” shorts, but just ordinary loose shorts (see photo) so definitely, hindi dahil doon. Bluepanjeet can testify to that (testify is actually derived from testicles…lol)…
Hope you can join us in next year’s TOF, as it will be a special one because it will be our 10th anniversary.
I also lost a bike to thieves, about 5 years ago. I didn’t bike for a short time because of that but I bought myself a new one and I’ve been guarding it like crazy because I don’t want to lose another bike again.
hmm… now i see why. it’s because the testicles are the only witnesses when humans copulate.
some people in the workplace were sending out invitations for the tour of the fireflies i remember (though i don’t remember who exactly because we’re like 11,000 employees in the company). i was thinking it was sort of brazilian festival on the summer so i didn’t pay much attention. never knew it’s gonna be good for the health and the environment. thanks for the info, bro.
sorry to turn your awesome adventure into a scrotum discussion, but i can’t find info on that sensation anywhere! I’m a bio student, so I’m interested in how that is explained medically. its definitly very real.
It’s alright, Mike, anybody is most welcome to post comments and I do appreciate it.
I haven’t done any research about acrophobia and what I wrote is what I actually experienced up there. I have another similar experience when I was in Barcelona, Spain. We were visiting a famous monastery there and we had go to this viewing deck. To be there, one has to pass through a narrow sort of bridge with high enough railings to prevent one from going over the edge. I remember having the same feeling and same ridicule I got from my bike buddies. Those who were with me then were laughing at me for holding on to the railings to cross over to the viewing deck while they themselves just casually walked.
When you find the answers and the medical explanation to this “phenomenon” please don’t forget to post it here.