Was advised not to join the long ride this coming month end, to Quezon

Wheels of Happiness

This post has been furiously practicing for the long ride this month end to Quezon.  The journey will take 2 days and will cover 300 km  approximately.   However, a kapadyak who recently had a heart attack and was hospitalized advised me when he met, not to go with the ride  -  considering my age and the heat wave that is now raging.  The guy and I were DNF for the same trip - 5 years ago.  I banged my head after the bike oscillated going back from the  bitukang Manok back to Lucena;   he was simply poofed up -  (lack of practice) (We had about 20 chicks which died yesterday due to extreme heat exposure).

All my efforts seem to have gone to waste?   May be not.  Because I brought back the bike up to standards.   And my health too

If you were 75, your bike has been prepped, you practiced hard, and yet the external conditions are risky, would you go ahead or quit the plan?

Consult the google maps first so you will not get lost

Biking and health

I understand some guys got lost going to Atimonan about a month ago.  They made the right turn to Bondoc peninsula.  One can get lost easily.  The van and several other riders who have gone before to the same place got lost.

It is best to consult have google map with you.  When we went to Calauag last year, I had a google map printed.  It makes a good sense.

Here is an Atimonan google map (if you are in Gmail, you can just click maps at top bar)


View Larger Map

Some Memorable Views on the way to Calauag Quezon

Bike and Save the Earth

There were quite many interesting views on the way to Calauag,  I missed many of them because the memory of the camera was filled up (I was not able to engage the SD card and just used the internal memory of the camera which was good for  l00 shots only)

Here are some of them:

                                Rizal courtyard in Lucban, Quezon

                                   Rizal monument in Lucban, Quezon

                                My Last Farewell (Mi Ultimo Adios)

                            The Hotel Named after the park.  Interesting colors

                                   The giant Christmas tree, simple yet elegant

                         Virgin Mary's Image at Kamay ni Jesus in Lucban Quezon

                    Nicely decorated/lighted Municipal Hall of Atimonan, Quezon

                               The night view of Atimonan church

                                     The nice interior of the church

                         The bikers and the Pacific coast; that is east to our left; early dawn

Perils of Night Rider

Bike and Save the Earth

I have a student who has a blog Knight Runner;  I have heard talks of MTB doing night stages;  But the one I experienced was a night ride I would not forget.  And there were a lot of perils:

Two buses nearly rammed us head on;   2 long l8 wheeler trailer brushed by almost 3 mm in the darkness.

The night ride happenned at the stage that we were coasting downhill and doing 50 kph and distance of about l0 kilometers;  it was scary;  there were no lights and you could hear were chirping of cicadas.  Occasionally, an incoming vehicle with bright light would blind you and then the lights would be gone;  it was total darkness and you could not see a thing even a fellow rider.  It went on for some 30 minutes.

I would say the distance between Pagbilao and Atimonan via new highway would be 50 km and hard ride at that!!!

It was worse than the roller coaster ride at Space Mountain in Disneyland.

I would not do that again.

VM Photo Album Atimonan Ride June 2011

June 4, 2011