In the Zone

Blue Trail, Timberland Heights, San Mateo, Rizal. Pen joked that I needed off-road/trail riding training before I moved away. So Pen and Levi took me to their little playground for some fun on the trails. Trails are a chaotic mess that wreak havoc on your mind, body and bike, but then you hit that zone where absolute serenity happens. Then the madness happens all over again.

The truth is, these trails frighten me. There is always that drop, curve or that insanely steep climb with the loose rocks and soil where you ask yourself if you can ride it or if the bike can handle it. Truth is, it's always the latter.

It's a stubborn relationship where the bike keeps asking more of you, but you hold back. It's aggressive and wants to let loose on the trails, while you're tightly gripping the handlebars-- heart thudding, sweat dripping, legs turning to jelly. Eventually, you give in and it turns out the bike was right all along.

Well, that paragraph turned into more drama than expected. I just imagined all that in my head, actually. Bikes will make you do that.

SHEroes Behind the Scenes

March 2015. I received a message the other day from Charley, a good friend of mine, asking if Pen and I were available for a shoot on women on bicycles for Rappler. So on a Saturday afternoon, I sat on the steps of Vargas Museum with Mia, Tina, Nitya, Julia, Charley and Pen. As it usually goes with people with similar interests, we fell into easy conversation talking about what we loved the most: bicycles.

We know that people like this exist: women who brave the streets of Metro Manila everyday to get to the office or school or for leisurely pursuits, despite the obvious challenges and risks. We knew that there were other women who are as passionate about bicycles as you are. But outside of our little group of friends, we've never talked about cycling in the city. We introduced ourselves, how we got into biking, why we do it, the risks and challenges of cycling in the city. When you do something so often, you forget that what you're doing is something special. That day was a much-needed reminder.

The afternoon was getting late, still we kept talking.

Lei, Pen, Tina, Julia, Nitya, Mia. Photo c/o Charley

This was part of Rappler's feature on #SHEroes for International Women's Month. The article can be found here. You can check out our video here:

The Rest of Myanmar: Bagan and Inle Lake

The Rest of Myanmar

The first few days felt like no time passed between our previous Southeast Asia trip and this one. The roads are still flat, hot and dusty. The days are still long and the language barrier can be frustrating. Also, the lack of English characters ANYWHERE drove us nuts. We don't know where we are or how far we have to go, just relying on GPS and paper maps.

We passed by temples where ladies stand on either side of the road clanging metal buckets. Apparently it's their way of asking for donations. Cars speed by and people just throw money out the window, which the ladies pick up on the road. 

Locals are incredibly gentle and hospitable. At our hotel in Okekan, the staff was literally attending to our every move. They volunteered to bring all our bags, including helmets and water bottles to our room. They carried our bikes for us and even volunteered to wash our clothes. No matter how much we protested that we could do everything on our own, they wouldn't have any of it. Also, we were having lunch at a mini carinderia at the side of the road and one of the locals ended up paying for our entire meal!

The language barrier can be quite frustrating but because the locals are too eager to help, they end up crossing these barriers for us. After I injured my knee on day 1, I decided to take the bus to Pyay to rest for a couple of days. Thankfully, LA agreed to join me. While trying to flag a bus, we didn't really need to do much. We sat by the side of the road as the locals took charge. They stopped every bus headed to Pyay and made sure we found a bus that had enough cargo space for our bikes.

From Where I Sat

I injured my knee after riding 107 kms on the first day. I felt sharp pain on the outside of my left knee that I could barely bend it. It got so bad that I had to take a bus on day 2 to Pyay and stay there for a couple of days to recuperate. Luckily enough, I wasn't alone as LA decided to accompany me. It was a pretty tremendous blow as all sorts of negative things crept into my head.

Is this it?
Is this the end of my bike life?
What will happen if I can't ride anymore? 
Will I become sedentary for the rest of my days?

My confidence was shattered and I felt absolutely useless. The pain was excruciating, but there was nothing else I could do, but rest and hope for the best. Those 4 days helped immensely. I was taking ibuprofen, bandaging my knee, and using a beer bottle as a foam roller to massage all the tight muscles. I was raring to ride but worried how much mileage my knee could take. We finally left Pyay on January 1.

The new year meant new life for my knee. I was actually able to ride. Gently at first, that LA and I were too far behind Pen and Levi. Then slowly, I became stronger and more confident in the succeeding days. The rest days must have done wonders for my mental health too, as I appreciated the solitude during these long and slow days biking along the barren landscape.

Most days, before Pen and Levi get too far ahead, I whip out my camera and snap mindlessly. Other days though, we are all at a leisurely pace and I can take photos without huffing or mashing my pedals. This never lasts long. We exchange a few sentences, barely enough to be called a conversation, then the wind picks up or we shift gears, and then they're gone.

The light from Kalaw to Inle Lake was the best that we had. Everything else was harsh, bright, and dusty.

Myanmar: Scenes from Nowhere

We saw animals. Lots of them. We didn't see much of anything else. We were almost frightened at the lack of rest stops along the way and that we would run out of water.

On one lucky day, a truck honked at us and we thought he wanted us to get out of the way. He flagged Levi down and handed him a 1.5L bottle of water.

We drank soda. Lots of it. We don't drink it in Manila, but Royal and Sprite became very good friends.

And the sun was so so bright. We didn't sweat much, but the intense glare made us imagine things. Pen regularly heard the Cornetto jingle.

The road signs drove us crazy. The route markers were in Burmese characters so we had no idea about the distance to our next destination. LA had his GPS and we always had a rough idea at the end where we should be at the end of the day. But seeing route markers and not knowing, well, it wasn't much fun.

After a while though, we gave up and accepted our fate. We'll always end up somewhere.

     

Burma by Bicycle

How does one take decent group selfies on a Go Pro while biking?

December 25, 2014 - January 12, 2015. Pen, Levi, LA and I traveled to Myanmar on our bikes and completed a 17-day bike tour around the country. This trip takes place in two phases. Phase One of the trip started from Yangon then made our way to Bagan. Phase Two was more spontaneous, where we took the bus from Bagan to Kalaw, and rode our bikes from there to Inle Lake/Nyaung Shwe town.

Let’s get a few things out of the way. 

All Saints: Cabanatuan to Baler

Nov. 1, 2014. 730am. An ominous start: Jollibee had no eggs, gravy or coffee. Then they completely shut off their breakfast menu. Flat roads then we saw the mountains in the distance.

Baler is over these mountains.