A Pinoy Biker’s Philippine Rural Adventures

I call my recumbent bike “Ulingling”. It was actually Judy, my wife, who gave the name. She took it from a well known dance and song female group’s TV show with the same title. The name denotes the color black, which is the color I painted the bike. “Uling” means charcoal.

I rode Ulingling for today’s CMR. As per my previous post, the ride started from UP. However, I did not go there but rather met the group at the foot of the Tumana bridge, QC side. I called Ricky at about 7:00 am to verify if the ride will push through. He said yes and he would send me a text message once they leave the place. At 7:45 am I left the house. I did not wait for his message anymore but went ahead to the place where I said I will meet them. I took a roundabout route so I would time my arrival at the same time as them.

I passed through the center of Marikina City, where there was a huge traffic. Ironically, it was caused by bikes. There as a road bike race being held around the Marikina Sports Center. Vehicles were being rerouted as some parts of the main road were blocked to give way to the bikers.

I crossed the Marikina bridge and turned right towards the bike ways. This part of the bike ways leads to the Tumana bridge. When I arrived there, there were already some bikers led by Freddie, who came from the Industrial Valley area. Like me, they did not go to UP. Freddie told me that he read my message in the FFB forum and decided to wait there with me.

The main CMR group arrived at a few minutes before 9 am. Fara was leading them. Ulingling got different sorts of reaction from the bikers. Answering their questions, I told them how my brother and I built the bike, how we road tested it to Montalban and the problems and solutions we discovered as we built it.

I saw Mia and biked along side her. We talked about some Firefly issues and then we found our selves at the tail end of the peloton (lately, my usual place; I am slowly becoming a “sweeper”, one who is always at the last position.) We actually lost the main group as we failed to see them turning right just after the bridge going to a side street from the bike path. We went past them and reached the Riverbanks amphitheater. There Ricky called Fara to ask where they were. She said they were way back where he Pagoda is. It was then that I realized they turned right to go to the oldest church here in Marikina.

We backtracked but still failed to see them. Ricky called Fara again and she said they were in the Our Lady of the Abandoned Church. I knew where it was and I led Ricky and Mia there. But still we did not find the rest of the group there! Then we saw Fara approaching us. She said they were at a small eatery just down the street. So finally we rejoined the group inside the eatery. I ordered tokwa, (tofu) which was served in a bowl swimming in a mixture of vinegar/soy sauce and pepper.

Some of the bikers tried to ride Ulingling but were afraid they would fall. So they just contented themselves sitting on it.

After this short break, we proceeded to the Bicycle Station in the east terminal station of the MRT. Rosar said we could lobby the MMDA through Chairman Bayani Fernando to provide the Fireflies with an office in one of the free spaces under the station. I agreed with him but the question is who among us will start the ball rolling.

We biked our way to the San Antonio de Padua Parish Church, which is uniquely situated at the bank of Marikina river. We spent a short time there admiring the place. Freddie then led the group out, going to the Marikina Riverbanks Amphitheater and out to Marcos highway. I left the group there as I turned right to A. Bonifacio on my way back home.

This CMR was a short one for me as I did not start from UP nor did I join them when they went back to the starting point. But the ride itself was just as exciting for me as for any biker who was there. I met Wehstser, a biker I came to know through this blog. He works at call center like me.

The road bike race was still going on when I passed the Marikina sports center. I was at home at a little before twelve noon.