The past 30 days saw me go through the toughest part of my life. Ondoy left us full of mud ( literally! ) last September 26. Just when I thought that we were done with the devastation this nasty typhoon brought us, I was admitted at The Medical City last October 10 for leptospirosis, a bacterial infection I got from wading in the floodwaters stricken with rats' pees....eeeewwwwww!
After getting out of the hospital last October 14 and getting some rest, I was back at the office last October 19. Though I still felt a little weak coming from my bout with some vermin's urine, I thought that going back to the office was the best way for me to get back on track and get stronger after the 3-day, 40-degree fever and horrendous diarrhea sapped the athlete out of me. NOT!
I craved for the road, and needed to release some endorphins and have that feel-good moment.
So, in October 20, I RAN.
It was great pounding the pavement again, but sad to feel like dying and gasping for air after running 4 kilometers when I used to run 20 kms during training and still have enough strength left to lift some weights. It was frustrating to clock 33.46 minutes for a 5K run when my worst PR for a 5K is 32 minutes flat!
So I abandoned the idea of running and postponed it until after I really recovered from the damn rats' pees.
Then... I saw my bikes! My beloved bikes...staring me in the face...
I placed my roadbike on my bike trainer and tried spinning for 30 minutes....heavenly!
From then on, it was spinning on the trainer until I get my running legs and lungs back.
But after getting bored with watching TV while cycling, I decided to take my bike on the road. Fortunately, Rico ( Korix in pinoyroadies.org ) organized a Pasig PR riders ride and meet last October 25. The idea was to do 30 kms around the Valle Verde 2 loop which covers C-5, Julia Vargas and Lanuza. Each loop was around 2.2Kms.
Meet up point was Mcdonalds Tiendesitas at 6:15 a.m., ride out was by 6:30 a.m. The meet was well-attended. There were more than 10 of us.
With the PR guys after the ride, having breakfast and coffee
L-R: Doc Dennis, Emjaybeltran, LItoBen, Jim, myself and Gadjie
Before riding out
The ride started out at a leisurely pace, say around 20-23kph. After doing around 2 laps, Alfred Racho ( of Team Sunkist ) and I broke away from the peloton. I hang on to Alfred for about 3 laps or 7kms, but then, the headwind started blowing at Lanuza St. which drastically slowed me down. Alfred had it better with his tri-bike, an Argon 18 with HED components including the wheelset, what a beauty! He slowly put a gap between him and myself which swelled to around 300 meters. We started at around 36-38kph and he was almost able to maintain that speed while I slowed down to around 32-34kph. I saw him join the peloton again.
After doing 26 kms around the loop, I decided to catch up with the peloton. Once I was back in the pack, Doc Dennis and I had a good conversation which actually slowed us both causing us to lose sight of the others.
After doing 30kms, and seeing Mcdonalds again, it was breakfast time for me. I had a good ride after a month. Though I skipped the hill repeats at Ultra, I know I'm back from sickbay.
The breakfast with the guys was priceless. Though I have ridden with most of them for the first time, it was as if we knew each other for quite some time already.
At 9:30 a.m., I head back home with Emjay and Jim, taking the Ortigas Extension route.
I rode a total of 43kms that day, but that 43kms is by far the most enjoyable ride I have ever had.
Can't wait to ride with the guys again!
Deo P.
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