First pedals

My hybrid bicycle Red on the day I bought him in 2014.

Let's talk about firsts, being that this is my first blog post as The Pinoy Cyclist.

1. I first learned how to bike in 1998. At that time, I was in fifth grade. There was a girl who lived next door to us and went to the same school with me. She was in fourth grade at that time. One summer day, her mother bought her a new bike. It was shiny little BMX that she showed off to us and which I was so envious of. She would pass by our house as I was playing my toy soldiers in our garden and each time, I would follow her with my eyes as she whizzed along the street on her bike. One day, as she was showing off her bike, I asked if I can carry a person on the back of the bike (angkas in Filipino). She touted her ability and let me hitch. One thing led to another and soon I was asking her if she could teach me how to bike. We got all sorts of bruises as she taught me how to balance the two wheels while pedalling. She was a good teacher for her age. And I learned quickly. Eventually, I would drop by her house to borrow her bike for quick errands. She still lives next door, but she's married now and has kids. We never really gotten close after that because her family is of a different religion.

2. I got my first bicycle in 1999. Like the girl next door, my bike was a BMX with blue rubber handles, a blue seat, a shiny chrome frame and colorful spoke beads that slid up and down with every turn of the wheels. My mother gave it as a present after my graduation from elementary school during the summer of that year. And since I was going to high school where my mom taught, that meant biking to the village next to ours to get to school, which was around four kilometers or a 20-minute bike ride from our house. I used that bike not just to get to school but to visit classmates' homes for group projects or activities. That was my first venture into exploring the ins and outs of our town. However, the following year, pedal problems led to the BMX being placed out of service and she was in the backyard for a long time until her chrome eventually rusted, rendering her unfit for service. She was sold for scrap when I was in college.

3. I got my first hybrid bike in 2007. At that time, I just graduated from college with an Education degree and had been accepted for a teaching position at the private school where I studied took up elementary studies. It was at least a kilometer from our house so I thought of getting a bike to commute to and from work. It was smooth sailing from the beginning as biking enabled me to get to work in just 15 minutes. But with the amount of paperwork I am bringing to and from work, it wasn't practical to commute using the bike. Moreover, when the monsoon rains started, it wasn't easy commuting in bike with my rain gear. Eventually, the bike was reduced to being used for errands and touring on the weekends. When I transferred to a different school in 2010, it completely got neglected and I decided to donate the bicycle to the foreman who helped in constructing our new house that year.

4. I first bought my bike Red in 2014. It was the year I began my career as a feature writer for a national newspaper. I would commute from our house in Cavite to my workplace in the Port Area of Manila everyday. With the hellish metro traffic and the scarcity of UV Express vans that take suburban commuters to Manila, my daily commute would take me around two to three hours the most. It was during these long commutes that I noticed the construction workers that ply Manila's streets daily to get to the different building projects that have sprouted in the city. At that time, there was also a bike boom, with cycling become more and more popular once more, especially on weekends. I would see young and old professionals on their road and mountain bikes along Roxas Boulevard. Single, stressed out, slightly overweight and still reeling from my first romantic relationship, I decided to go back to biking. I was also slightly inspired by my friend Cecil De Guzman who used to bike from her home in Las Piñas to her workplace in Muntinlupa. I bought Red at a local bike store for ₱4,000 complete with a helmet and a pair of gloves on November 8, 2014. That purchase eventually led to the start of my solo bike tours.

A map of my first long-distance bike ride.

5. I had my first solo long-distance bike ride in Las Piñas in 2014. It was a 22.60-kilometer bike ride from my home in Cavite, through the Molino Dam between the province and Las Piñas, and then BF Resort Village and back to our home. I completed it in just two and half hours, which I was able to track using the MapMyRide application on my Android phone. That route eventually became a regular route for me as it was the most accessible to my place and has very little disruptive traffic and obstructions. After that ride, I found myself itching for the pedal every weekend, thinking of and mapping out new destinations and going on farther journeys.

These are just some of the first pedals that I am willing to disclose. You'll read more of these first pedals in my next blog posts as The Pinoy Cyclist.

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