A Pinoy Biker’s Philippine Rural Adventures

After a week of bike-to-work hiatus, I finally found the strength (here I thought of the biblical quotation: the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak-Matthew 26:41) to take the bike for a spin around the neighborhood. With the exhaustion I felt after my last biking sojourn still fresh in my mind, I resolved to at least make a 15-minute envirograting ride, without any stress or commitment to do more than necessary.

I finally came to that lowgrade incline I wrote in my last post. Like a David facing Goliath, I started slow, spinning my cranks as I was taught to do in the biking clinic I recently attended. I moved my gears to the lowest settings, the granny gears, in biking parlance to ease the slow and lonely climb. It would be about just over a hundred meters to the top but with my physical condition, it could be 200 or 500 meters just as well.

I hyperventilated just before I hit the foot of the incline so as to build up lungpower. With this I felt I could go straight to the top without stopping. Huffing and puffing I went, with the will of a Frodo to conquer the power of the ring climbing the ultimate mountain of evil.

Then I had to hit the brakes, three fourths of the way. I couldn’t go on. Exhaustion was again my conqueror. Still, it would have been a nice victory, a personal best, to celebrate. If only the obviously older guy mounted on a rickety and noisy bike did not overtake me exactly where I stopped, and continued on to the top. At that moment, I felt my defeat was complete. Insult and injury together conspired to bring me down. And in order to salvage my last remaining pride, I walked all the way to the top instead of going back.

Was I envigorated? Was I relieved of stress? Was it an empowering experience? Yes to all three questions! I love biking and would do anything to continue riding to the trail least traveled.

I will do it again.