Negros Cycling Adventures

(Re-post of Island Adventures, September 3-9, 2006,Sun Star Weekend)

One fine morning as the sun rose, its rays covering the sheets of my bed while the rooster outside began his daily vocalizing, singing the ‘cock-a-doodle-doo’ little Aimee jumped into my bed and pointed out to the window saying ‘Mom, it’s already 15!’ (At the age of three, she still can’t tell the exact time but relates the number 15 with morning as she has begun to learn how to count up to 20.) Stretching here and there, the orange bicycle outside the window caught my attention as if sending a message to remind me how long it has been there near the chair all week.

 

I can still remember my first bike, actually, it was a trike and I shared this it with my sister when I was about Aimee’s age. Then, as I grew, the trike became a bike with balancer on both sides. At the age 10, during summer vacation in Dumaguete, my friends Joseph Raymond and Aries Alvarez would drive their BMX bikes with me along Silliman beach towards the farm and back to our house every morning. Driving around was easy then, not so much cars, there were small alleys where only our group would know where to drive passing through coconut trees, with fresh air and its cool breeze, we wouldn’t even mind driving faster every time dogs run after us.

This orange mountain bike has brought my son to places where the best trails are…he would drive with his dad on his side to the mountain on weekends and he would brag about how fast he could go uphill and how far he has reached even downhill. One day, I took the challenge and drove his mountain bike, it was fun driving along the highway in Granada where bikers do the same as early as five in the morning, passing through sugarcane fields, a cemetery, the Boy’s Home, a school and even a stop for ‘butong’ to quench our thirst---the destination ---Barangay Alangilan.

There has always been bikers in groups of five, ten and sometimes fifteen whom we would meet along the road some waving and others trailing. I even wondered if they had a club. Then, I realized that there is a federation of cyclist or bike enthusiast here in the province with about 22 member clubs. The Negros Cycling Federation headed then by Mr. Hernane Castro of MedTrek (composed of doctors, medical representatives, and their workforce) of which my specialist Dr. Moreno is part of the group. NOCFED was formed in 2001 with member towns and cities like San Carlos ( San Carlos Asso. of Mountain Bikers), Cadiz Cycling Team, SICAD (Silay Cycling Adventure), Taklad Bikers of Silay, Bago City Cycling Club, Menlo Mountain Trekkers of Talisay, Negros Outdoors, Cauayan Cycling Group, the Metro Bacolod Mountain Bikers, Saravia Mountain Bikers, Negros Bikers Association, Team Bokal and many more.

The various groups are composed of professionals like doctors, medical representatives, businessmen, and our children with about 99% dominated by males aged 15 to 65 years old who are mostly health buffs. Hernane Castor then  said that ‘ cycling is best for resistance from stress and develops stronger lungs, knees and heart and the best thing is cyclist are kept away from vices such as smoking, drinking liquor wherein one becomes more conscious with regards to maintaining proper diet.’

To complete the adventure, you should have the basic requirements such as jersey, cycling shorts, gloves, backpack, eye wear, hand pump, vulcanizing kit, alen wrench, water bottle and of course cycling shoes.

The trails in Negros is great and in Martin Langevoord and Jens Funk’s Cycling in the Philippines, trails are classified as Easy Trail (paved roads or wide rough roads and is easy even on rainy days, then there is Fun Trail where there is a rough road or easy single trail, and on rainy days the road might become slippery and difficult to manage.  Mountain bikers’ dream – it’s all single trails, river crossing, muddy sections, and trails are very technical.

Negros is classified as the trail with the highest FUN factor and top three in nicest trails and the most challenging with Kanlaon Circle and the nicest coastal rides in the Philippines.