noel alanguilan

kikay
san miguel, manila

this is one of the first few pictures of kikay–my bike. she was still brand spanking new i was just savoring the knowledge that she was still unscratched at the time.

part of the lost rolls

since i read about administrative order 254 formulating a national environmentally sustainable transport strategy and how it favors non-motorized transport (walking, cycling)  i’ve been thinking of how bicycles can be a large part of this strategy and what kind of bicycle is juan de la cruz using to commute.

i walk a lot these days and i get to notice that a lot of bicycle commuters use mountain bikes (mtb) modified for city use. these bicycles have thinner city tires rather than the knobby, fat ones commonly seen on them. recently i’ve noticed that bike owners would take out the front and rear derailleurs and just use the bike as a single speed just like the one in the photo. all you have to worry about are the brakes. life is made a little simpler.

i also see people moving about on bmx bikes but not as much as mtbs. occasionally, i get to see the japanese easy riders and banana bikes. i seldom see people commuting on a racer. the only time i get to see a lot of racer bikes on the road is on weekends. full disclosure: i ride a racer and i was a bike commuter for about a year or two. on weekdays you’d only see me on the road early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

it also got me wondering, how cheap can you get a mountain bike that can be used for cummuting? well, i asked around a bit and apparently, you can get a decent commuter mountain bike for around php 2,500.00. cheap. of course its made of steel and parts are not of high quality but good enough for a beater. just try to keep it out of the water for the next few years.

i don’t normally do this but i just got mail from boss janix that its taking a while to bring the site back up as they don’t know the cause of the problem. so in the meantime just sit back and relax and know that people are looking for solutions.

you can temporarily use the pinoy roadies group in facebook. there’s another temporary site but i forget the address.   i’ll post any news i get about the site here.

the cyclist is actually wearing a face mask / air filter

administrative order no. 254: mandating the department of transportation and communications to lead in formulating a national environmentally sustainable transport (est) for the philippines.

i came across this tidbit from the blog of the tour of the fireflies organizers.

first, let’s get familiar with the acronyms:

tgff — task group on fossil fuels
est — environmentally sustainable transport
pacc — presidential adviser on climate change

the gist of the administrative order along with my comments below the items i find interesting:

a) Reform the transport sector to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels. The new paradigm in the movement of men and things must follow a simple principle: “Those who have less in wheels must have more in road.” For this purpose, the system shall favor non-motorized locomotion and collective transportation system (walking, bicycling, and the man-powered mini-train).

walking would actually be a fantastic option if the powers that be could maintain clean and proper sidewalks free of parked trucks and cars, tricycles, motorcycles, pedicabs, vendors, guard houses, utility posts and garbage as they are suppose to. in other words, make the sidewalks walkable as they should be. this applies not only to the major roads but for the minor ones and the side streets as well. people will walk as long as the places they can walk on is clean and safe.

now, using bicycles as an alternative form of transport in the metro is a bit more complicated. consider the jeepneys, taxis, passenger buses, tricycles, pedicabs that endlessly weave in heavy syrupy traffic for no apparent or logical reason and compete for that 1-meter space near the street corner just to get a single passenger. where would one place the bike lane? would these drivers even respect the bike lane when half of them do not give a hoot about the pedestrian lane? i am aware that people have been commuting to work by bicycle under these circumstances but the idea here is to get more people into it. how to accomplish this feat is going to take a lot. i’ll leave that for another post.

bicycling i get, but what exactly is a human-powered mini-train? the engineer in me is absolutely curious.

b) Through the DOTC and the DPWH, immediately transform roads using the aforesaid principle.

if this is what i think it is then i am so looking forward to even, well maintained sidewalks and bicycle lanes. i am just curious as to how the lanes can be managed and respected considering metro manila’s convoluted vehicular and human traffic.

c) Through Malacañan Palace and all Cabinet offices, bring down by fifty percent (5O%) the consumption of fossil fuels within two (2) years from the issuance of EO 774.

50% is an admirable target but is it realistic? i know the principle of leading by example is a good one but i think 20 – 25% would be a more practical target, wouldn’t it? and what with the two-year target? is this administrative order co-terminus with the current presidency?

these are the points i am mostly interested in. if you want the full text of administrative order you can download the pdf file from the website of the office of the president.

despite some of my comments being somewhat tainted by sarcasm, i am hopeful that manila can become cleaner. i have always found that there are always some difficulty in implementing laws especially new ones but i will try to be optimistic on this one.

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.

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.

finally. 2008 has become a memory. it hasn’t been a great year for me but it had its moments. the major event of 2008 at least for me was my strokes. they were thankfully mild enough that i was able to recover quickly but they did their damage, however small it may be.  my leg movements a little off. i can walk normally enough or at least appear to but have a little difficulty jogging. going up the stairs is easy but going down is not. its rather difficult doing an indian squat with some muscles being too tight. driving was harder than usual right after my episodes but it gets easier each time i drive. apparently, the fine motor skills in my legs has to be built up again.

i sometimes think that i’m going through the first kilometer of my life once more but this time its just a tad tedious. c’est la vie. still, i am glad of a handful of things — i haven’t had a smoke for nearly nine months now and i don’t think i’ll get back to the filthy habit in this lifetime. another one that i’m really  thankful for is that i found out i can still balance my bike. i love riding my bike. the downside is that sometimes i fall when i stop the bike but that can be taken care of with more practice. lowering the seat by a centimeter may be able to help also.

i’d like to thank lito b., felix m., janix, the professor from u.p. and al  for helping me not to loose interest in cycling by lending me cycling magazines, talking to me about bikes and riding, keeping me in the loop, giving me a cycling video and sending over a pair of cycling gloves. thanks a ton guys. i’ll get back to cycling soon. i promise.

one of the good things that happened in the early part of 2008 is that i found a friend whom i lost decades ago. the internet and its search engines have been quite helpful. i also got to touch base with a lot of my high school and college friends through facebook.

a good majority of my computing time — whether it be for work and/or play — in 2008 have been spent on linux. i’m surrounded by computers running the operating system — from my firewall to my file server. i do believe that its a system that can replace windows in both home and business environments. contrary to popular knowledge, it is a system that is quite easy to learn — my 10-year old son uses ubuntu linux for his games, e-mail and, occasionally, on his assignments. and it doesn’t appear that innovation and development in linux is going to slow down anytime soon. still, business for me was a bit slow and i would have to look at other streams of income in the coming year.

our neighbor gave us a puppy and within seven months ‘odie’ grew to be my largest dog yet. he looks like a golden retriever but is actually not. cherry and robin seems pretty happy about him because he adds some securiy to the house, that is, if he doesn’t touch the plants.

all in all, 2008 was an ‘okay’ year but i am so looking forward to 2009.

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.