Southern Discomfort

Ever since I started cycling, going south has never appealed to me. In fact, I abhorred going anywhere south of Talisay. I always had a ready excuse for friends who'd invite me to ride there. A) roads and bridges were narrow and were always in a state of disrepair. And b) there's way too many tricycles, c) too many pedestrians for such a narrow motorway. And this is what really gets me: d) the traffic. Motor vehicles playing the southeastern and southwestern route use the roads as if it's a NASCAR racetrack and drive their vehicles like it's a one-way highway, depending on where they're headed. And the size of the vehicle is disproportional to the eyesight (and maybe the brain) of the driver.

Last September, Toto Iral, a gym instructor at Big Foot, invited me for a ride to Mantalongon. Right away, I said no, for the above reason. But he insisted that the roads are now well paved and twice as wide. He also told me that other than a few bridges that were under construction in Minglanilla, the southern route was definitely better than going the road going north. And finally, he said that traffic would be fine. Ah, ok, I told him, but I knew didn't sound convincing.

But during the second week of December, my curiosity was aroused. The weather was bad and I thought that a quick ride south would spare me a long wet ride. I also thought would confirm my biases.

Neil Duhaylungsod, the 2005 Cebu Cycling "road cyclist of the year", and I agreed to meet at the golden arches near Rubberworld 5:30 am but when he didn't show up, I put on my bravest face and rode alone. With the early morning traffic hardly a factor, the paved road going to Talisay was smooth. But after passing by the Mananga Bridge, I was shocked! The once constricted highway has now become a modern four-lane road with pedestrian lanes to boot! And this would go on up to Naga. Anyway, I think that Congressman Eddie Gullas should be commended for this neat job. (But wait, unless the authorities can clean up the sidewalks with those illegally parked vehicles, pesky trisikads, maniacal and undisciplined bus drivers, this beautiful highway will be "nada".)

But as you exit the town of Naga, the road again becomes a two-lane highway to hell (no offense to AC-DC). Last Monday, my fourth ride since my first foray, I was forced out of the road and into the shoulder (thank God for that shoulder!) 7-times! Twice by Ceres buses, twice by multicabs, once by a flatbed 10-wheeler, once by tricycle and finally, (gulp!) by a motorcycle! The secret in not ending up as a road kill is to act nonchalantly and drive defensively. It works for me (and it should work for types of vehicles out there).

In Carcar, I made a right turn towards Mantalongon. There, the winding roads were smooth as a baby's butt (to borrow Dan III words). The last time I was in Mantalongon was almost three years ago on a Holy Thursday. I had my pit stop at the bakery in there to fix a flat and then went back on my merry way.

Yes, the first ride there was a scary experience as far as the traffic was concerned but 2 rides later, I adjusted already to the rhythm of the chaos. I'm now planning to do my rides there.