First Time Official

Not Too Late To Float

I had my first day of formal swimming lesson today at Saint Paul College in Pasig under Bert Lozada Swimming School. As the title goes, it's never too late to learn how to swim.

Living in archipellagic country gives an impression that people there are good swimmers. But not really. Lots of Filipinos aren't good swimmers. How many times I've heard foreigners say they were surprised to learn that many of us can't swim well. Aside from the dream of joining triathlon this also challenged me to enroll myself in a swimming class, a little bit late for my age though. I'm taking the Adult Novice Program for basic skills, basic paddling, kicking, breathing. This is a 10-hour course in a once a week session/1 hour or 1.5 hours per session. I'm doing the latter so I can gain some skills in time for my next Palawan adventure in December.

My problem in the water is that I never learned how to swim properly. I didn't grow up near any body of water. But I can do snorkeling pretty well without the vest. Just the mask and me there I go. The funny part is I can snorkel good enough if my head is under water that's why I need the mask so I can breathe. If I put my head above the water I go sink down the bottom. If you put me in a 5-foot deep pool there's no way I would float. But throw me in a 20-foot ocean then I go paddling like a dog back to the boat. I can even give you a good plunge head first like a real swimmer into the salty water. I do really need to correct it and start with the basic. High school classmate Let Guieb and wife of fellow biker Eric told me about the swimming class that she herself went into. She told me she really learned how to swim after the course. After today's session, I wanted to believe I would still be able to float well after completing the program. On my first day, I was able to do a 25-meter stretch freestyle with just two stops. My coach, Vivian told me I was a fast learner except that my legs were so stiff. I guess it's the result of too much biking.

First Official Birdwatching

Last Sunday I was able to do my first official birdwatching with Alice Villa-Real, Vice President of Wild Bird Club of the Philippines (WBCP) and Dr. Rene Callado at University of the Philippines grounds. I biked my way to the campus which was 15 km away from my pad so coming back and forth gave me a good 30 km exercise. Better than no miles at all. I was able to observe the White-collared Kingfisher, Brown Shrike, Pied Thriller, Phil. Pygmy Woodpecker, Zebra Dove, White-breasted Wood swallow, Low-land White-eye and Yellow-vented Bulbul. Too much for a first timer to see eight "lifers". A lifer is what professionals refer for any bird you see first time as a birdwatcher.

Photos courtesy of Starbird

More Century Rides

Lately, my rides seemed to be longer and harder. I guess my overall biking was improving. Last Saturday I joined the Philippine Mountain Biking Forum (Philmofo) on a ride to Sta. Inez, in Tanay, Rizal. The route was along Marcos Highway in Lower Antipolo passing the town of Baras and down the trail of Barangay Cayumbay of all the way to Sta. Inez which was already part of the town of Tanay. Trail head was some 30 km from the meet-up are at Jollibee in Marcos Highway in Marikina. It was located at Sitio Batangas which was about 6 km before reaching Sierra Madre Hotel.Going to the meet up area was already a good warm up for my legs since it was some 12 km from my pad in Pasig-Makati-Pateros area. Every biker knew that this route to the hotel was only half of what was called Sierra Madre Loop which was the training grounds for most riders of Metro Manila specially for roadies since it's a long and hard climb.    (Photo to the right courtesy of Mountguitars, Philmofo. All other pictures were taken from my Canon PowerShot A470)

The ride was generally fun but I can't understand why most member of this club seemed to enjoy racing against each other. Based on my counting there we crossed Sta. Inez River eight times. After the seventh crossing and more than an hour of pedaling in a valley with beautiful view of the Sierra Madre Range, I and another rider decided to backtrack. Five of us were on the middle group now sipping soda from one of the houses along this riverine trail. The lead pack passed this point about 15 minutes ago according to the store owner. Locals told us that it still some 1 hour and a half to get to the falls. It was getting cloudy up there, I reckon. I didn't want to get stuck in that place if the rains started to pour in the mountain which would flood the river as a result. Some part of the river we crossed earlier had strong currents and about thigh deep. Can't imagine how bad it would be when it rains. Reached home about 8:00 in the evening. My cyclocomp registered 121 km. Was dead tired.

A week ago, I was able to pedal another century via Bugarin Pass in Pililia, Rizal. Obviously by now, Rizal Province is the nearest playground for most bikers in Metro Manila. It offers almost all kind of terrain for biking. I had 114 km this time, matching the miles I made during the Licao Ride five months ago, my very first century ride. A century ride is when a biker covered at least a hundred kilometers. Bugarin Pass is the zigzag portion of the town of Pililia that connects the provinces of Rizal and Laguna. It has the panoramic view of Laguna de Bay. This is a major route for buses and cars going to Laguna and Quezon Provinces.

Birdwatching

I never thought watching birds up close was more fun than just listening to their chirp in the morning. Yesterday, I went to the still under construction C6 road to see the amazing birds on this northwestern shore of Laguna Lake. This road will connect the Alabang in the south to Taytay, Rizal to the north, an alternative route to decongest the heavy concentration of vehicles in Metro Manila.

Armed with a newly bought 8x40 Hahn binoculars I pedaled to the area which was a mere 3 miles (5km) from my place. Reaching the compacted road of gravel and sand just after the C6 Bridge, the last along the mighty Pasig River almost very close to the mouth, I don't need to go far to get a glimpse of the birds. Right on the table to be feasted on were a handful of Cattle Egrets right next to a group of carabaos in a small patch of land on the edge of the lake teeming with water lilies. They were about 20 meters away almost mixing up with the ubiquitous Eurasian Tree Sparrows hopping from grass to grass. I immediately took my binoculars off my backpack and started to zoom in. It was 7AM and there's an overcast. Almost no wind. On the horizon were a flock of black-feathered birds with white undersides and white beaks flanking to my direction. What a vantage point.  At fist I thought they were the beautiful Philippine Falconets but after reviewing the Photographic Guide to Birds of the Philippines of Tim Fisher and Nigel Hicks, it told me they were the White-breasted Woodswallows. Falconets are normally spotted on edges of forests and come in pair, sometimes singularly. Though both birds have the same size between 16 and 19 cm, the book said the latter is more abundant in open grass, coastal areas and are seen in groups. C6 is nowhere near any forest. It is on the shore of Laguna de Bay with the Rizal Mountain Range in the horizon miles away to the northeast and the skycraper of Makati to the west under the billowing smog. And I was looking at a flock of birds.I was convinced they weren't the falconets. My rookie error as a birdwatcher.

Moving my lense panoramicaly I gazed upon birds hidden amongst the lilies. They would make short flights from one location to another as if they knew I wanted to have a better view so I can identify them. They were Great Herons according to my field guidebook and as was confirmed by my later reaseach online. Another cuties on that day were the Chestnut Munias with their noisy eek-eek chirp and an almost burst-stop-burst flying motion. Once considered the National Bird until deposed by the Philippine Eagle, Munias give me a hard time telling which is which against the Eurasian Tree Sparrows. I grew up just like any one of us seeing the Eurasian everywhere. That gave me the impression they were the Mayas until lately books say it was the Munias who are the real mayas.

It was fun for a first time. Well, I'd say it wasn't the first since I've done something like this with a group of Japanese students back in 1997 just outside the Saint Paul Park in Palawan. But I didn't have any gadget then and came there for a different agenda and not really for birdwatching. This time I was on my own with the intention of observing the birds and get to appreciate more these creatures. And I've got my binoculars this time. This is not going to be the last for sure. Unfortunately, my Canon digicam is not capable of shooting images or zoom in to small details like birds as far as 50 meters or so. Lol!

First Crash, Third Century

Things have to be measured in numbers if to be remembered. Last Friday, I registered my third 100km and more mileage. I did 102.67 from my house to Calinawan Cave in Tanay, Rizal. I can still remember my first century ride last April during the Licao-Licao tour. It was memorable since it was a major ride where 85 riders participated and I was freaking dead tired when I reached home after 15 hours when I left home at 4:00 AM. My cyclo comp showed 110.78 km. They call it century ride once you hit at least 100km on the saddle . My second on the other hand happened last June with about 114km enroute to Tagaytay and back. Being "paydak-all-the-way" (pedal all throughout/no car) makes century rides achievable and more in the horizon. Only one denominator with these three was the seemed to be never-ending roads. It surely consumed my energy almost to the limit. Unfortunately, my ever growing century rides gave me another stat. This time my first crash on my mountain bike ever. Yeah, I had a couple of misjudgement over a rock, a stump, or rut but they were all minor. No wounds to worry, no cuts gained. This time I literaly banged myself to the ground hard.

It was hot and humid afternoon, must be nearing 3:00PM. Just passed by an overlooking view of the town of Tanay and was now about to go downhill on a fireroad approaching the first village in Pinugay. The gang was traversing the inner trails of Tanay-Sampaloc-Pinugay that would show us back to Marcos Higway. It was a sort of Rizal Loop but instead of doing an all road we did the inside trails going back to the jump off point after visiting Calinawan Cave. Oh boy, it was fun to hit above 50 kph on your cyclo comp. I was on the tail end of the group since I was having some problems with my chain which already sucked in between crankset and frame a couple of times. How can anyone explain the great feeling when the wind is blowing on your face, great scenery, the mood of the countryside. Still sipping the last seconds of the downhill rush the jeepney fully loaded with local people from Pinugay was also taking advantage of the downhill portion to gain some speed. She was some 25 meters ahead of me. The jeepney was occupying the road somewhat a little bit to the left of the center, taking half of the other lane which was supposed to be against the law. But if you were in places like this, who cares much about the law? Few vehicles and wide open countryside. So there was no way for me to overtake her from the left, the normal way. My momentum showed faster than what the jeepney was doing. She slowed down a bit. Now I was caught in the moment whether to pass to her right or not as she kept her pace while keeping her place to the left of the center of the road. Stupid of me I know it's not a good idea to pass any vehicle to the right side. I applied some breaks, a little to the rear and a little to the front. Suddely i felt my rear tire wobbling, she must be skidding. It's okay I told myself it happens when you are pressing breaks when going down the hill. I know it would hold since I was now using Crossmark 2.1 which is much better than SmallBlock 8 that came with the bike when I bought it. Crossmark had bigger threads for better traction. As they say, accidents happen very fast. After just one second that my wheel came wagging, I saw my handle bar making a swift circle to the left. I realized I was in deep shit. Next thing I knew my right shoulder banged against the compacted road, can't really remember if I spin but review of what happened and the prescence of bruises and small cuts in both of my shoulders and legs told me I did. Yeah, I remember my head slammed to the road, thanks to my Specialize helmet. I was also lucky that my cleats disengaged on it's own I don't know how. All of this happend very quickly. I would say in just about 3 seconds from the time my tired wiggled. I can still hear the voices of the shocked young girls who were straddling at the end of the jeepney..Haha, young girls on estribo, what a sight indeed. Plus, a stranger in a beautiful bike to their eyes crashing. Lol.

Instinct told me to get up and check my body for any injuries. My hands run through the side of my body, my arms, and my legs. Seemed perfectly ok. The last two fellas came and one asked what happend. It seemed he didn't see a thing and was wondering I was coming up the side of the road with my bike laying down. An indication that something bad happened since it wasn't a resting position or anything to that effect. And who the hell in the world would rest at the end of the downhill part. I told him my bike skid. The skidmark was still there some 5 meters from where the bike was but the mark was not that long, maybe just a meter and a half. That gave me a conclusion I did flip over, thrown away sideways from the bike after it skid. The bike might have fully stopped and I fell to the right like a log. The other biker told me he saw everything. Yes, my recollections were true. Fortunately I didnt have any visible injuries. Just the scratches, bruises, and small cuts. I was worried of the colar injury that any biker is prone when crashing. But since I was able to make some shoulder, head, and arm rotation, I guess I was Ok. My helmet held on and wasnt broken. they were amazed to see me get up as if nothing happend, my jersey was intact with no tear. We continued to bike.

The following morning I went to the doctor to have some xrays for some peace of mind. Luckily, all was well. Just two days of rest and I was back to what I love doing. Lessons learned. Much care to be taken next time.