Bike Nirvana
Yet another cycling blog
Holy Thursday 100 km ride
April 13, 2017
A few of us planned to embark on a 100 km ride today, holy Thusday. Due to previous committments from other riders, there were just three of us but that did not deter us from continuing. We planned to cover as many cities as possible from East to North then South.
Not exactly sure of the route we are going to take, I decided to ride the Niner RLT 9 steel. I switched the wheelset from CNC to Gipiemme (with Clement LAS tires) so that the tires will get some mileage.
Murphy's law
We headed towards Marcos Highway en route to Quezon City when I noticed that the bike I'm following has the rear wheel wobbling bad. When I informed Elbert about it, that's when we discovered the one of the spokes snapped. After miraculously finding a rubber band along the road, the loose spoke was tied to the others and we tried to go as far and as safe as we possibly can. Unfortunately, a crippled bike will still compromise rider safety and that's when Elbert decided to just take Uber and switch bike in Manila.
Carlo and I continued our journey to meet up with Elbert at Aristocrat in Manila. Thankfully, our ride went smooth and we didn't have deal with serious traffic along the way. Upon reaching Manila, I just had to take this photo.
Upon meeting Elbert we headed towards Alabang via Alabang-Zapote road. At La Huertas, a monster of a traffic made our ride really uninspiring and frustrating due to idiot drivers that abound the route. Upon reaching Alabang, we went to Elbert's Cheesesteak along Commerce Avenue to have our first meal and rest and this is when I discovered the haunting experience I'm having with my Garmin Edge 25.
I noticed something new in the menu and I was excited to try it out. It didn't disappoint and I recommend it highly.
Garmin Edge 25 woes
The Garmin Edge 25 has a limited battery life of about 5 hours which is not sufficient for longer rides. I discovered that using a power bank to feed the device actually works, with one caveat- that if the power is interrupted, such as when the charging cable is removed, the ride will be saved (good) but ended (bad).
In a previous ride from Bocaue to Pampanga, I already experienced this issue and the recording of the ride was interrupted. Today, it happened again. I discovered that along Tambo the device supply was interrupted again and the ride ended and that's why there's a part 1 and part 2 in Strava.
Sadly, this will not qualify for the challenge I participated in. I'm disappointed and that's an understatement.
On with the ride
After the deserved rest, we took BF Paranaque and Multinational Village enroute to Makati where we had to deal with more idiots. At Pasay City the feeling of an aircraft passing over your head to land was awesome.
At this point, I am very thankful that we've been rolling safely and wishful that it continues that way. Upon reaching Makati, we stopped over to look at the construction of Elbert's new Japanese restaurant along Pasong Tamo extension.
We went around Makati in a leisurely pace and headed towards Ortigas where Elbert had to part ways with Carlo and I.
We have been lusting for Halo-halo and we got what we want at Chowking!
I am thankful that we completed this ride safely despite the idiots around the city.