Bike ride: Tanza and Trece martires (Oct.30)

Before I start let me just say that the traffic at Coastal road toll gate entering Manila bullshit!

I feel you south folks (Nov.2)

Backyard exploration this holiday weekend the route Governor drive naic, governor drive tanza-trece martires road.
With Four days of vacation at my grubby hands I should have ridden my bike everyday until my knees get mushy. That was the plan but I had other commitments like subdivisions trick or treat celebration, cooking my specialty pasta dish for my mom-in law birthday and mall runs with the family. As always I like taking long relaxing rides on a Sunday, because the buses and other road warriors out there less stupid.

Straps not just for BDSM play

The governor drive run through parts of tanza (naic) fairly flat. Reaching governors dr. going to trece martires where all the fun is at. Climbs are long but moderate the only real problem on this route is if you are fat and your bike is not properly geared. Again the folding bike 52-24 lowest gearing is not low enough as the sustained climbs not kind to the knees. Add to that all the open fields left and right and you long haul cyclist know what that means.
When you finally get the feeling of despair you will see the first sign of HOPE "SM 4km away". At this point a mall starting to sound not expensive, while sawing through four kilometers of climbs you will notice that false flat roads starting to get hilly. Here you will start with steepest ascent counted 3 punchy hills before a long ascent with final hill. When I finally stopped huffing the rest stop was in sight.

Somewhere in Governor dr. Tanza

Two blocks from the mall the intersection going to tanza-trece, Dasmarinas (if you go straight), and Indang if you turn right. Tanza-trece route going home.

No V8, gutted Mustang mach 1.
American pony car shell waiting for the earth to reclaim it in Cavite.

Mustang mach 1 on the road to Manila

First time doing this route and will probably make this my Saturday route warming up.

You see this sign a lot in Cavite. But I would rather stay.

Ernest "no sock" Hamster

Hamster wheel

Keeps on spinning...
When I started driving 18 yrs. ago Metro manila was awesome place to have a car. Now it is the worse place for any motorized or pedal powered form of transport.
Why? Lack of implementation of the law, congestion and road works that just will not get done.
On some places you see compliance but in most areas it is just a mere "suggestion" for the constituency.

Motorist with erratic behavior tend to dominate the streets, with courtesy and common sense not usually present.
So how do you deal with said people? Be predictable.

Be the sheep follow simple rules and for fuck's sake use your common sense. Instead of imposing your "privilege" just comply. We all need to go to our destination in one piece so being one less dick on the road will help.

Pedestrian
No grand theft auto video game here you cannot plow unto people.
The real problem lies on the mindset of pedestrians that they can get away with being stupid most of the time. YES you can but with serious consequences if that person you are challenging wielding a ton of moving metal does not yield.

Back to basics
Teach them while they are young, have somebody from concerned government institution draw up a campaign to educate. Stop wasting money on senseless "traffic parks" and Pokemon go cosplay...REALLY do shit. An hour a week extra class educating about traffic basics on the streets will do wonders than a field trip to some park for traffic awareness.

Heck! I would even volunteer for this joint.

"Splash its super effective!" Pic from the net

Do it yourself
Teach your kids. I do it while driving with my son the same way my Tito Joe would while we accompanied him while driving around Manila in the 80's and 90's.
As a parent you are the first line of defense against IGNORANCE of common traffic/road sense.

And?
Walk, ride a bike, take public transportation once in while. Having a car or two nice but having to experience the raw mess your daily commute dishes out to MOST of the people around you makes you appreciate how good you have it and somehow reduces that urge to be an asshole on the roads...or not.

Ernest "slap in the face...its super effective" Hamster

Bike ride: Tagaytay...

Tagaytay my mythical unicorn staring at me saying FUCK YOU while its horn glisten with discontent and failure. Honestly I do not like the place because it feels like any other city, polluted, congested, and expensive but because of its elevation and somewhat cold weather it attracts cyclist looking for that casual weekend challenge, or stupidity in my case.

Pic from the net

Last weekend weather in Cavite was like a child favorite basic crayon color Yellow which means RAIN and lots of it.

Normally when such information constantly being fed to you a sane person would just stay indoors do nothing for the rest of the day and wait for the deluge to past. On hamster land we are not having that, plus I already made a bold commitment on facebook that Sunday is the day of truth so I had to do it.
Carbo-loaded hard the following day, slept like hibernating bear the rest of the afternoon. Saturday went by with almost no rain but during dawn and the rest of Sunday morning the storm unloaded HARD.
Break on downpour happened around 9 am had around 6 hours to go before we travel back to Manila so I proceeded with my journey.
Route was Tanza junction/city hall going to inner road to intersection of Gen.Trias and then entering conchu road until reaching amadeo, and tagaytay boy that was easily said than done.

Entering conchu I was already pushing my lowest gear slowly grinding. The climbs are mild but it goes on for meters, to kilometers without a break in elevation. The rain (surprise) made it even worse as most of the road badly paved, on some parts small potholes covered with streaming rain water will catch you. Grip was also an issue as slick-ish tires of the bike was slipping on puddles, roots and leaves that littered the road. On two instances the rain came with a vengeance and I had no choice but to take shelter on one makeshift waiting shed, and some trees for 10-20 minutes killing may momentum. Still the climbs looked to end and I realized that I had way more road to travel and not much time left on my schedule. Plus I was arrogant/stupid to not properly haul food and enough water bad for a fat diabetic person.
Turned around and blasted my way down. It was the highlight of the day as for the first time in hours of pedaling my legs could finally rest while the bike magically took control  and rolled on its own until I reached main road.

Point of surrender

Trip back around the town of Bagtas I came upon a small roadside stall which was selling some Lambanog (local moonshine) got to chat with the dude about how wonderful cavite is and about his libation business.

Orange flavored lambanog

Really hate not making it to tagaytay. During the car trip back to Manila later that day I did not feel numb, nor did I feel frustrated, I wanted to surprisingly tear tagaytay a new one or blow my knees trying to, or its just the Lambanog talking?

Ernest "buy local products" Hamster

Hamster wheel: meet kesong puti, following the OLD Hamster blog

Keeps on spinning...
Previous "bike ride" I said my final goodbye to my old car. Now I introduce my new car.
Still on Mitsubishi camp I call "it" kesong puti (local white Carabao cheese) because it looks like one.
It does the job as city car, cheap to maintain, cheap to run, and cheap on fuel.
Kesong puti welcome to the family!

Kesong puti

Mirage G4-the one with the ass

OLD
Visitors of this site will notice that I had changed to a new format. The old one was getting tired and I feel that change is definitely needed. I am also reverting my write-ups to "casual style" on which I will not censor any cuss words. Although I will be limiting it to just the basic ones. NO special Tagalog or any other weird slang expressions.
Will also include other stuff in the content like video games from PC, console, and toy's because I have a kid and we both love toys.

NEW
Will not include ANY ride data from Strava. I use the app just to look at how I suck compared to my contemporaries so I won't be "embedding" that crap on my blog. You could follow me if you like HERE.
For monitoring ride and mapping I will be using and posting Endomondo data. It just shows the basic "all you need" to know information on my bicycle rides.

NO WAY
Political, religious and all TOPICS pertaining to...will not be showing its ugly head near my blog. I will also DELETE all comments pertaining to such.

Ernest Hamster

Bike ride: Exploring Cavite

Hello, after a messy crash on valentine's day I am now back riding my bicycles.

But first let me say my final farewell to my old car "boxy". We spent 17 years together through college, work, play. Boxy was the first vehicle that my son rode and it was the car that I used to carry my bikes.

Boxy was there through the good and bad times sadly the body rotted by rust so instead of blowing our budget for costly repairs we decided to just sell the car and buy a new one.

Goodbye friend

Last weekend got to ride my folding bike around neighboring towns of Tanza cavite. My wife purchased property on tanza, during the weekends and holidays we leave shitty city life for bundoks a mere 36 km away from Manila.
Tanza a wonderful place with rich Christian heritage (old churches) and beaches a couple of kilometers away from our place. Most are situated inside towns so you have to rely on satellite map based applications on your mobile phones to find them or just go old school and look at the road signs littered along the road. Beaches facilities and rates differ from town to town but they all share the same coastline. Going further south you end up on mountain road "Nasugbu-ternate highway" to Batangas which also has a ton of beaches.

This was the second time I got to go around the same route. Couple of weeks ago I used my newly resurrected Beater SS (single speed) which was fun but very wrong (52-24 gearing). Antero soriano highway (NAIC highway) hilly until you reach NAIC junction, coming from the junction you have a choice of going to Indang, General Trias, or Maragondon-ternate.

Folding bike 10 speed drive train got fucked so now its sporting the stocks bits (Shimano 6 speed, 14-24, grip-shift). Said it before that the stockers are nice piece of drive train with only limited range and weight as negative.
6 speed fine the 52 km Sunday ride along NAIC and parts of maragondon was easy on the knees although I did not push hard anywhere.

Goal for Sunday ride was Maragondon Bonifacio shrine had a vague idea where it is located. According to googlemaps it is just past the maragondon river-bridge, the 2nd street to be specific. Couple of kilometers from entering the st. you will end up on a junction with a waiting shed in the middle "donated by korean missionaries" at this point turn right on dirt-rough road, going straight be cautious on climbs as trucks from the nearby quarry share the same road. A mountain bike right now starting to sound GREAT as the 20' inch almost slick bike tires would slip on muddy road when your giving it gas. Shifted on lowest gear and slowly spun to avoid blowing it on climbs, mud-ruts and I do not want to mangle another RD. At the end of muddy road you will see two paths a narrow paved one straight from the main road, and rocky, mud filed one on the left going downhill. Take the one on the left and proceed down until you reach the river, cross the bridge and climb the rock filled road until you reach the farm gate on the right. When I arrived at the gate it was close with just a chain casually keeping cows from wandering outside, asked a couple of locals swimming at the river where the shrine was and they told me to enter the gate and go follow the path. Entering the place felt like trespassing on some haciendero property. Couple of meters from the gate there was mud so opted to pass by the field of grass with lots of cow-pies, and curious cows looking at this idiot with a folding bike and camera phone. The path reminded me of La mesa's ecopark fire road, it was surrounded with trees which is quite relaxing. Upon traversing the fire road you will encounter a makeshift bamboo gate which is cleverly constructed, couple of meters ahead you will end up on a paved road with horses. Climb the road until you reach a fork at this point you should be able to see the shrine at the right.

Environmental/entrance fee is P20 but during my Sunday visit it was closed. No dice but for couple of hours exploring cavite and doing it on the wrong bike it was all worth it.

Next ride: Tagaytay

Ernest Hamster

Bikes: Hamster little friend saddle, bag, lights, essentials

Seat yo' ass down
One the most important contact point on a bike the seat, saddle, most of your weight a lot of your butt and junk perched on piece of plastic, cloth, and metal. With a proper bike seat that suits your riding you can go far without the discomfort.
Since the bike came with OE seat the first order of business adjustment, and saddle time to feel for the seat. For my huge butt and privates the saddle felt awful, it was comfortable for a couple of meters, longer the pain was unbearable. Luckily I have a used saddle installed on project beater. It has a longer nose, had minimal padding around the seat bones, a profile for relaxed MTB riding position. Installed the seat on my previous bike (El camino) and it was torture but on the folding bike it felt right.

DDK bike seat

Top peak saddle bag

Not getting thirsty
Bike comes with one bottle cage mount on the top tube, installed water cage along with hand pump holder. Top peak seat bag (review soon) keeps all the essential stuff like a pair of birzman tire levers, birzman multi tool, patch kit and two 20 inch tubes.

Bottle cage, M.O.B hand pump

Free visibility, paid visibility
The bike came with bunch of reflectors a red one for the rear, white for the front, four rectangle ones for tire spokes. Cateye rapid 3 blinker (review soon) replaces the red one out back while the white along with the Energizer LED light (preview here) shares the front.
All the reflectors might look "Baduy" or newbie-ish to some but who cares...the hamster needs to be seen day and night. Metro Manila one of the worse road NOT to be seen.

Energizer LED bike light, Cateye micro wireless

Right smack in the face

Nice rack...
Removed the included rear rack figured that I can always install it when needed. Since the rack comes with its own braze-on removal was simple, doing so the bike lost 3 pounds.
Installed Cateye mini wireless cyclo computer for monitoring speed.
Both of the fenders stays crap, wet patches, and varying weather always looms.

Giant OE rack

Ernest Hamster

Bikes: Meet Hamster little friend

Man from Manila

Giant FD806

Out of the box capable commuter with all the options not found on other folding bike brands on this price range the rear rack, fenders, kickstand looks nice not cheap. Giant also includes all the needed safety reflectors for night and day usage even the folding pedals have them, they also included a loud bell which is nice way of warning other road users. The only cheap piece is the strap which secures the bike front and rear wheel together when folded which can be easily replaced during a visit to 60 peso knick-knack store.
Folding stem, handlebars, grips, brake levers, v-brakes, rims, hubs, spokes, tires, seat post, seat clamp, saddle, crank and the pedals are all Giant OE.

The only non-giant branded parts on the bike Shimano SL-RS45 shifter, rear derailleur RD-TY21, and MF-TZ21 14-24 6 speed cassette, drive train surprisingly quiet, smooth and does the job of city jaunts pretty well. 

Fit of the bike OK with my wide and short 5'7 Clydesdale stature, stand-over height exceptional due to low slung frame.

What makes a folding bike special

It folds...and it accelerates like a bat out of hell.
Plus other typical commuter bike characteristics like hauling stuff, maneuverability on traffic (filtering), and you can bring it anywhere with you if you like.

Little friend, big smiles
FD806 great bike easy to ride, easy to maintain, parts are made by Giant and Shimano so you know that it will be reliable plus it comes with all the essential accessories to get your ass somewhere while bringing crap (rack), and not getting crap on your self (fenders). Fun bike for the city and with the right upgrades can probably do long rides.

Hybrid

Month of ownership and already replaced and upgraded parts of the bike to my own riding needs. Just completed a 80 KM ride with the bike and further upgrades are already in line to improve bike comfort and acceleration.

Hamster little friend updates will be posted every Thursday, while weekly rides on Tuesdays.

Ernest "on the turbo" Hamster

Hamster wheel: frustrations and change

Welcome 2016
April 2015 was the last article that I published the reason "I got bored" . Riding a bike not a new thing for me been doing it since the 80's, mountain biking however was just a three year affair..."Affair" because now I know that I'm done.

Sold my mountain bike and bough a folding bike.

Origami bikes
A bike that folds for ease in hauling, storage, majority have 16-20 inch wheels.

Braze-on for racks and other carrying accessories are standard.

Riding position relaxed, upright, some have adjustable stems for changing positions.

This bike lives in the city it could easily filter through traffic, accelerate quickly, with low stand over getting your foot down, dismounting not a problem.

Running cost low parts like v-brakes (most), drive train, rims, tires are cheap, and since most of the parts are shared with BMX crowd they are easily available.

Initial cost of purchase varies from very affordable to wallet wrecking high.

Why?
Not a mountain bike, needed a bike that could fit inside the trunk of my car, storage moving out of the big house soon, bi-modal travel.

Ernest bike
Had a lukewarm history owning GIANT branded bikes but everyone knows including the Hamster that Taiwanese bike manufacturer offerings are bombproof, and also quite a bang-for-the pesos so I went with their entry level model the FD806.

Bike with short wheelbase, Shimano 6 speed drive train, giant parts, fold able pedals, kickstand, fenders, bell, reflectors and nice shiny rear rack inside the box.

Giant FD806

Man from Manila

Upgrades are us
I love bikes, I also love making them better. Since purchasing the FD806 early December last year had already performed some upgrades, post for future installment of "Project: Hamster little friend".

Ernest "centuries" Hamster