A cool cycling trip to Tagaytay

My bike, Red, with Taal Lake and Taal Volcano on the background.

By now, you’ve probably noticed already the sudden drop in temperatures these past weeks. Some parts of Benguet Province are a freezing -2° Celsius, while in Metro Manila, it’s been fluctuating between 21° and 24° Celsius. It’s winter in many parts of the northern hemisphere and cold winds coming from Siberia, China and Japan are being blown into the country. Waking up these days are defined by sweater weather and cold feet. Taking a bath necessitates having hot water mixed with the tap water in your pail.

This is also a great opportunity to bike, given that it’s not too hot in the day and the chilly amihan provides a lot of ventilation.

And one of the many destinations that bikers in the Philippines love to go to in this kind of weather is Tagaytay City in Cavite, the Second Summer Capital of the Philippines after Baguio City in Benguet.

Last October, I attempted my first-ever bike ride from Bacoor to Cavite’s City of Pines. It’s a 35-kilometer distance from my home through uphill roads and foggy terrain (depending on the weather). 

Normally, bikers take the usual route via the Aguinaldo Highway, the main artery that passes through Cavite from Bacoor to Tagaytay City. However, the highway also has a reputation for being accident prone for both bicycles and motorists. Being that my safety is of my foremost concern, I decided not to go up to Tagaytay through the highway.

Instead, I took the safer route via the country roads of Silang to reach the city. From Bacoor, it’s just a straight line to Governor’s Drive in Paliparan, Dasmariñas City, where the Molino-Paliparan Road connects to Paliparan-Road that would lead me to the backdoor of Silang town.

I realized I never really talked about biking along Molino-Paliparan Road. This 23-kilometer road runs from Talaba Junction in Bacoor and goes all the way south to Paliparan, Dasmariñas City. Among the major roads in Bacoor that connect through it are Aguinaldo Highway, Bacoor Boulevard and Daang Hari. It also intersects with Salitran Road and Governor’s Drive in Dasmariñas City. It is probably one of the oldest roads in Bacoor since it passes through some of the older barangays of Bacoor like Aniban, Ligas and San Nicolas. As such, throughout much of its stretch through these barangays, the road is a two-lane asphalt that widens once you reach the barangays of Molino. Bikers must share the road with motorists in this section so tread carefully.

From Molino I to Paliparan, it transforms into a four-lane cemented road because much of the road widening can only be done in the newer barangays of Bacoor and Dasmariñas City. However, because of the widening, motorists tend to hog even the outer lanes, especially at intersections along Bacoor Boulevard and Daang Hari where traffic is common. After passing SM City Molino, it’s generally smooth sailing until you reach Paliparan.

After a rest at a 7-11 along Governor’s Drive in Paliparan, I made my way to the Paliparan-Silang Road, which is just a few meters to the right. Your landmark would be the Paliparan Barangay Hall. Paliparan-Silang Road is a two-lane concrete road that runs through subdivisions and sugarcane plantations in Dasmariñas and Silang. You would know you’re already in Silang because you’ll pass by a marker with a large clay pot on top. The Silang section of the road begins to have an incline because of the increasing elevation. You’ll also notice that flower and pineapple plantations, as well as flower and plant gardens begin to line the side of the road.

Before noon, I reached Silang Proper. I didn’t pass through downtown Silang though and instead pedaled through the back streets of the town. I had lunch of rice and dinuguan in one of the carinderias along Sabutan-Iba Road. After that, I made my way to Ulat Road, which is an old, two-lane road that leads all the way up to the Santa Rosa-Tagaytay Road. The uphill terrain is more pronounced here than in the previous roads. There were sections that I had to literally get off the bike and push forward. To make things worse, it began to rain and despite wearing a raincoat, I was drenched in sweat and moisture underneath. I was forced to stop and take shelter at a store in Brgy. Balite.

Posing with my bike to beautiful backdrop of Taal Lake behind.

Finally, after about an hour, the rain stopped, and I proceeded despite being wet, shivering and pedaling uphill. At around 2:30 p.m., I reached Santa Rosa-Tagaytay Road just near Tagaytay Haven Hotel, but still a few kilometers from a decent view of Taal Lake.

After an hour’s rest at a sari-sari store near Tagaytay Haven Hotel, I continued my journey southwest along Santa Rosa-Tagaytay Road. There’s plenty of traffic once you’re near the Tagaytay City Public Market because of an ongoing road construction. Plus, it was a Sunday, so there’s a bigger volume of vehicles on the road. Do take care while biking along this road because there are plenty of trucks and buses that ply this two-lane asphalt road that has no provision for sidewalks. Use hand signals to indicate turns or stops.

Around 3:30 p.m., I finally reached the Tagaytay-Calamba Road in front of the Tagaytay Econo Hotel. From there, one can already get a spectacular view of Taal Lake and Taal Volcano. I was shivering in the 24° Celsius weather, but I still made a few obligatory shots to record my achievement.

Having made it to Tagaytay, the next predicament was going home. Since it was already past the middle of the afternoon, I figured I’m going to be on the road until nightfall. It’s going to be a scary, dangerous gamble if I pedaled the way I came or if I go back via Aguinaldo Highway with only a lamp as my light. I decided not to take the risk and headed to Tagaytay Rotunda where I took Red and myself aboard a Baclaran-bound bus and went down at Patindig Araw, Imus, where I pedaled the rest of the way going home.

My total bike distance and time via MapMyRide.

All in all, my bike ride from Bacoor to Tagaytay was 35.49 kilometers long, which I completed in just four hours and five minutes. Not bad for an inaugural bike ride to the country’s Second Summer Capital. But for all the toils and sweat I poured for this tour, it was one of the coolest bike rides I’ve ever been to. I’ll definitely go back to Tagaytay this year and see if I can bike to and from it.

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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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