i gawk

tons too look at. all goodies.

tons too look at. all goodies.

whenever i am in a bike shop i immediately turn into this open-mouthed five-year old child inside a toy store unable to speak a coherent paragraph let alone complete a sentence. all you will hear from me are “uy“, “uuuuuy“, “uy!“, and “!uy!” — its the equivalent of “omg! omg! omg! omg! omg!” but with lesser syllables.

 a couple of days ago i met up with a friend of mine at cristy’s bike shop to look at what’s new at cristy’s and hopefully take some photos. and as expected — i gawked and the camera sort of stammered so these were the precious few photos that i was able to take. i’m officially calling it a disorder.

but i did see some yummy stuff. i promise to take more photos the next time i visit.

yup. track bike (just take off the brake). high profile rims. loving the handlebars.

yup. track bike (just take off the brake). high profile rims. loving the handlebars.

 

fixed gear. i think its the katana ii by rh+o. its got flipflop hubs and semi-aero fork profile.

fixed gear. i think its the katana ii by rh+o. its got a flipflop hub and semi-aero fork profile. and its in bright green. there’s a bright orange one somewhere in the shop.

 

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maundy thursday ride

noel on ayala bridge. photo by litoben.

noel on ayala bridge. photo by litoben.

 litoben and i rode about town last maundy thursday. the ride wasn’t long and it wasn’t even difficult mostly because there was hardly any traffic on the roads. the streets of manila are almost always deserted during holy week so its an ideal time to go out for a bike ride or two. it was the most fun i had riding in a while. we ended having a light breakfast by manila bay.

photos were taken by litoben. i don’t really know how riding no hands comes so easily with some people and lito’s one of them. i think that photo of me (above) is the first one taken of me riding. thanks bro.

looking at the photos (yep, there were more) i realized that:

  • i need to get a new helmet
  • i have to raise my seat a bit (done that)
  • i don’t look good riding a bike wearing walking shorts
  • i have to get thinner
  • and try to get a sideview photo of me riding (hint, hint)
our bikes -- laling 2.0 and alli. photo by litoben

our bikes — laling 2.0 and alli by the bay. photo by litoben.

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other than riding

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i didn’t feel like riding today but i still wanted to be around my bike (is that weird?) so i decided to give it a little tlc and just do some cleaning and waxing. this would also give me a chance to look for rust or dings in the frame, any chipping or scrapes on the paint job or any wounds on the tires. at the end of the day i am left with a squeaky clean bike and a silly, satisfied smile on my face. this actually made me more eager to ride.

i think this little cleaning session should be done at least once a month or once every two months.

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commuting in manila traffic

morayta - españa, manila

that’s morayta (on the left) merging with lerma (on the right) into españa (bottom). traffic can get much, much gnarlier than this. there are cycling commuters but not bike lanes in sight.

cycling in manila traffic is crazy. there’s no other way to put it. the jeeps, pedicabs (or sidecars), taxis and fxs are all over the place. these vehicles sharply swerve left or right just to pick up or drop off  passengers. sometimes these creatures just stop in the middle of the street with no consideration for the safety of their passengers or the other vehicles behind them.

when i wrote this there are no bicycle lanes along major thoroughfares to speak of in manila. none. nil. there were designated “bike lanes” in the cultural center of the philippines (ccp) complex but that was viewed more for recreational purposes and the bike lanes lasted as long as the paint they used to make the lanes which was a handful of months.

mandaluyong has been allocating road space for use as bike lanes for quite some time now and they have been well received by the locals. but i don’t live in mandaluyong. i live in manila and i fervently hope that more can and will be done by the city to make it a little more bike friendly.

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WeFXD

WeFXD Trailer from Leo Diño on Vimeo.

Trailer of WeFXD's upcoming short film/documentary about the local fixed gear scene in Manila, and the Philippines as well.

Stay tuned for an awesome journey of a group of friends and their lives with their fixed gear bikes, the streets, the paries, the good vibes and good rides and everything in between!

SUMMER 2013!

Good vibes, good rides!

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andy white (fyxomatosis) – turning pedals

Andy White – Turning Pedals from Gavin Bannerman on Vimeo.

Andy White of Fyxomatosis talks about how he got into bikes, from riding on his parents' property to touring in South America to being a bike messenger in London. He discusses the events such as Melburn Roobaix, the ins and outs of trading bikes, his Llewellyn road bike and the story of when he broke his neck on a training ride. More details at www.bikingbrisbane.com

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first ride 2013

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my first ride of 2013 was short and sweet — it was a trip to the local drugstore about three blocks away. on my way to the store another cyclist struck up a conversation telling me where the broken glass were along the road, no doubt the result of drunken new year revelry last night. he also showed me the small bag neatly tucked under his seat where he puts his tire repair kit.

there was almost no vehicles on the roads so the trip back to the house was super easy. halfway through the ride back a slight drizzle started which made the rest of the ride more pleasant and relaxing. this was great first ride for 2013.

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updates updates

its been such a long time since i’ve updated. i’ve been preoccupied with a couple of sites in tumblr which holds some of the film photographs i take and the other is about bicycles. go figure. i’ll tell you guys more about it (and my tumlbr sites) later. a huge lot has happened between the last post and this one. and now that i have a little more time, i’ll effect changes slowly starting with this site’s theme then slowly work my way from there. so bear with me.

++ i’ve also decided to clean up my installed plugins — deleting inactive ones and looking for better plugins — so some posts may get messed up.

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london to paris

this video is about going from point a to point b. london to paris on bikes. and this vid has gotten me pumped. it can be done be mere mortals. this bunch of people did it. and it has been on my mind a lot — to bike the cities. just ride. its a dream. and videos like this keeps it going. its almost 30 minutes long but i thought it was worth it.

LONDON TO PARIS (FULL VERSION) from Ladoja & Sons on Vimeo.

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