noel alanguilan

2.5 kilometers. this morning. i know its not far by my normal standards but its far enough for me today. its the first time i’ve been out on a bike on the open streets since april last year and my cycling skills are a bit rusty. this ride was meant to familiarize myself with the road and the traffic and to tell me what my body can do and where my skills were at.

i didn’t fall. that’s one good thing. i can really still balance the bike. that’s another good thing although i found out that i am more stable at speeds faster than 10 kilometers per hour–a strange but welcome thing. i weave at lower speeds which i do not like and i would have to work on that skill. i can clip in and out easily enough. my hands got tired halfway through the ride which means i have to do more hand exercises.

today, i accomplished what i set out to do for myself. i think this is good. its a great short ride. thanks to gerry, lito, felix and al for the encouragements–it helped a lot at the start. i’ll probably do a longer ride next sunday but for now its time to rest.

my brother tagged me in facebook. 25 random things about me. i’m not sure that if i ignore it the sky would fall on me so rather than risk bike, life and limb i’m listing 25 things down. now if i tag you, you’re not required to make your list but there is that possibility that the sky might fall. on me. would you want that on your conscience? besides its fun. (later on i found out that it was also difficult)

despite the seeming mayhem there are rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

1. sometimes my dreams come with subtitles.
2. i’m a hopeless romantic.
3. they wanted to name me after the holy family but someone realized it was too long and dropped a name hence–emmanuel jose.
4. they nicknamed me “cute” in college. the name is still used–on occasion–to this day.
5. my roots are in san pablo city. i was born and bred there.
6. i want to ride my bicycle in tuscany.
7. someone said i am an old spirit. i guess i’ve been around for a while now.
8. i am reasonably obsessive compulsive.
9. i’m a beach person. i like the mountains but i’m a beach person first.
10. i’m trying to see if sketching is for me. pencils. two of them. i have yet to use the eraser.
11. i prefer wine over beer.
12. i’m getting back into film photography. i found out how to get everything a lot cheaper. thanks kat.
13. i really want to speak and write in japanese.
14. i like romantic comedies and sad/depressing movies.
15. i like to keep my kitchen knives sharp i have one those sharpening rods.
16. yes, i can cook. but not as well as my girlfriend, brother or mother. well, at the least, i am comfortable in the kitchen.
17. according to my girlfriend, i make great omelettes.
18. i like my hotdogs toasted and my coffee black.
19. i name inanimate objects that i regularly use — chong for the car, kikay for my bike and oscar for my workstation.
20. i was able to bike from my house near ust to tagaytay and back. 130 kilometers total.
21. 59 kilometers per hour is the fastest i’ve gone on a bike. it was made on my way home coming from tagaytay.
22. i wear an earring. left ear.
23. i actually saw the bone inside my left pointy finger. gross. i was trying to create a wooden gun with a bolo and at one point i missed. it was a mess. five stitches.
24. all of my jeans have a hole over the left knee. and none of them was intentionally made.
25. i shook hands and had small talk with former presidents cory aquino and fidel ramos (he was then secretary of defense), and john taylor (of duran duran and power station fame).

i just got a heads up from the firefly brigade — this year’s tour of the fireflies will be on the 19th of april. the start and end will be at tiendesitas and “we’re doing edsa this year“.   it sounds crazy but fun! edsa. wow.

to anyone not familiar with the metro manila area, edsa is an acronym for epifanio delos santos avenue. it is the main highway of metro manila. it is mostly 10 lanes passing through five cities so its a pretty big roadway used by 225,000 vehicles on average per section per day.

you can watch for updates at the brigade’s multiply site.

i am not sure if i can tackle the stop and go nature of this ride (it might not be the case because its going to be edsa this year) but i had fun the last time i joined. i’ll post news as i get them.

its been almost 10 months since i got out of the hospital. i’ve followed the doctors instructions, sometimes to a fault. i do not smoke anymore. i’ve gone through physical and occupational therapies. i’ve religously continued my exercises on my own and i have felt the improvements flow and then creep in. i have tried riding the bike a couple of times within the shaded confines of the empty first floor of the house just to get the feel of the bike and how it feels to be on it again. the first floor has become my safety net where i can make mistakes and crash without hurting or embarrassing myself too much. i think and i feel that i can ride out there again beyond the walls of my safe zone. i think i’m ready.

a couple of days ago i took my bike out from storage to clean it. i made a few adjustments and lowered the seat a bit to make dismounting a little easier. early this morning i pumped up the tires. and then i got too lazy to get dressed. and i wasn’t able to ride. i hit my head onto a virtual blue plank of wood. stupid. idiot. stupid. what am i scared of? am i scared of crashing and making a fool of myself in front of strangers who doesn’t even know me from juan? am i afraid of the eventual scrapes and bruises i’ll get if i fall? or am i just paranoid that some universally stupid driver sent from hell will run me over? or that i will have an attack in the middle of a ride?

i know i’m not fully recovered and i may not get to be 100% the way i was before the strokes but that’s always something to strive for, as my girlfriend always says.

and now my bike — kikay — is just standing there at one corner of the dining room looking all shiny, sad and abandoned. sigh. this can’t happen. 20 years from now i know i’ll be banging my head on a real wooden plank, regretting not taking that risk and do that first real ride. i’m not really afraid of the scrapes and bruises (although the scrapes really sting) and i know i’m sensible enough to stay clear of any devil drivers. i don’t really care if i embarrass myself in front of total strangers in the unfortunate event that i fall from the bike. and i know my angel will be there to guide me.

so this weekend i will take a ride — barring unforseen acts of god.

i practiced riding again today and it was better than the last time — i only fell twice out of more than 10 tries. hurts less. for now, i just wanted to practice dismounting and look for my weaknesses so i can correct them in the future. it seems i succeeded in that sense. found out that my legs are tight. i have to loosen up my legs more by stretching before and after any riding. i can try again tomorrow…

i tried biking a couple of days ago. the house where i live has an empty first floor. it is big enough to practice my, by now, rusty cycling skills. the last time i got on the saddle was a little over five months ago. i know i have lost some fine motor control over my legs after my strokes but i do not know if i lost my ability to balance a bicycle. that thought has always been a bit scary for me.

i had a little difficulty getting on the bike. muscles were tight. i was able to pedal off and balance the bike and myself for about three rounds. yey! but stopping is another thing. i slowed down a bit so i can come to a complete stop but i fell instead. but i got up and tried again. all in all, i fell about four times. i got two bruises on my left knee, a bruised left elbow and a little bruise on my right shin. there are parts of my body that hurt a little but i don’t mind. i found out that i can still hold my balance. i can still bike. i just have to work on my stopping the bike.

for now, i’ll let the hurting pass before i try again.

well, it crept up on me. food tastes a lot better after i quit smoking. lots better. even plain rice tastes good these days. it doesn’t help that my girlfriend’s culinary skills have vastly improved.

but the price is that i have a harder time tying my shoe laces. i come up for air every handful of seconds. and my pants can now be called corsets. i actually popped a button once.

my weighing scale tells me 67 kilos. my doctor’s scale is less forgiving — 71 kilos. but everyone knows this type of weighing scale is not 100% accurate. they may show more than you actually weigh. or they may show less. which is actually worse.

in any case, i’m putting on weight which is only good if i were a toddler. so i have to cut down on my rice intake. ugh.

i don’t get to exercise as much as i used to. i get to walk a lot but the kilometers taken in stride does not fairly match the calorie taken per bite. i have get back to cycling. and soon.

its been a hundred nicotine-free days. i still consider myself lucky because i did not have the physical, mental and emotional withdrawal symptoms associated with quitting smoking. at least not the major ones — intestinal disorders, headaches, mental confusion, irritability, axiety and depression. it has been said that the first two weeks of quitting is the most critical because the withdrawal symptoms peak during that span of time. my strokes might have helped in washing away the symptoms or at least made me numb to them. i am gaining a little weight though. this is considered normal especially now that food actually tastes better. cycling would help in that department once i get enough confidence to get on my bike again but that’s another story.

for now i celebrate my first 100 smoke-free days. i’m looking forward for more.

okay. i got a little lazy. bite me.

last 5th of july i got to attend the opening of mt pro bikes — a bikeshop located in pasong tamo, makati with lito benitez (rudy project) and vic espiritu (philippine cycling team). the place is a warehouse converted into an bike shop and its huge! i think it has more than 500 sqm. of floor space. they even have a half pipe in there.

there were mostly mountain bikes on display. there was a handful for downhillers and a couple of racers. there’s even one or two bikes using an axle for a drivetrain instead of chains.

i wasn’t familiar with the brand of bikes that they sell but most look really cool — commencal, cube and iron horse (thanks to lito for remembering).

btw, some of the pictures came out “blued” because of the lighting they used to display some of the bikes. the display were impressive though.

kwento. there were a lot of pretty promotional ladies around that night who essentially was there to usher in guests and just generally look, umm, pretty. one would expect that the ladies would compete with the bikes for the attention of the curious. that was not the case. most of the people were actually more interested with the bikes believe it or not. take, for example, the people i was with: lito and vic preferred to take pictures of the chainless bike than pay attention to the lady beside them. talk about obssessed with bikes.

this was the firs time i’ve been out socially since my stroke and it was… refreshing.

i have been preoccupied with my recovery lately. that’s the main reason why i haven’t been posting or writing anyone for the past few days. i have been walking, exercising my arms and legs, stretching and doing more walking — just about everything to get some improvement however small it may be. i got myself (and robin) a rubick’s cube so i can exercise my fingers and wrist; i have a rubber stress ball so i can make my grip stronger and, these days, you can see standing on one foot at a time like a pelican to help improve my balance. that last one is actually a very good yoga tip from bernard (my thanks). i think and feel that all these things are doing some good. of course, i have been working also — bills to pay and debts to settle.

during the past week i saw my physical therapy doctor and my neurologist — both saw good improvements i think but i still have to see them after two and one month, respectively and my cardio in three months just to make sure. yup, i’m getting there.

and yes, i can solve the cube.