16th Tour of the Fireflies

Last Sunday, 15th day of November was the Annual ToF. Amats once again volunteered to be a Marshal. I was prepared to ride alone. But God is good at the last minute I heard that friends Iggy and Bernie our neighbors also planned to join. I was up early at 2:30 AM with Amats cursing me to be up an hour earlier than we were supposed to be-- cooked cheesey scrambled eggs on Pan de Manila for breakfast. We got our Peerless foldies and loaded the Vitara. Arrived at Tiendesitas at 4AM. I was totally unprepared for this ride. I was a bit sleepy still and I thought I would have time to sleep in the car first. This is the first time that I will be riding again Hannibal (my old foldie) in a very long while. Past year I was riding Peppa my mountain bike. As expected the beginning of the 30km ride will be uphill on Julia Vargas and on to EDSA- this is rare as I've never cycled on EDSA in the middle of the highway. I guess you can only do this with a peloton. Just as I was about to enter the highway, I had some back to back bloopers ahahhaha the seat cover just flew out (thanks Iggy for picking it up) and I just quickly tucked it in the carrier. Buses and cars on a stand still on EDSA waiting for us to pass by. Engines of cars and motorist growling waiting for a break in the peloton. I was on the thinning middle part as I made my way cheering out of J.Vargas someone called out that something is almost stuck on my rear wheels. Oh blooper number 2 but thank God no accident. My angels on high alert again that day. All this time I felt that the bike was set way too low for my legs. I kept saying and laughing I felt like riding a kiddie bike and my legs starting to ache. Had a thought of passing by the house at QC city hall to change bikes but I think the keys are with Amats. Sigh. Waited here a bit for Bernie to join in and met up at PNB then we made our way to Commonwealth ( a deadly highway limiting cars to only 60Kph I would not bike there alone). The second stop over was at the Marikina City Hall where we grabbed some gatorade and taho. Finally had the chance to adjust the foldie (yey!) such a relief. The rest of the ride towards Libis was better. I saw Amats do a Heneral Luna stunt shouting "Tulak!!!" to push the thinning peloton through a thick line of traffic. Iggy had to go and Bernie and I lost each other for a bit then towards the end the peloton became a single file Ahahaha. But what was nice, the marshals were all lined up near the finish line and just clapping and cheering the riders on to the final stretch. Then only at this point I realized I didn't wear my gloves. Ahahaha! Just goes to show how (un)prepared I was for this BIG ride as it were. But still happy sub-4 hours on very slow pace hahahaha! Padyak lang.

PS. The big surprise was Up Dharma Down was there live to sing my favorite "Tadhana". Something sweet to end a long ride :P. PPS Since today is a Thursday, I thought I would share a favorite post here. My first encounter with ToF here in 2005 ten years ago today 2015 Back to the Future :P.