363 days before the next Tour ni Frank

Three races in two days. Even though I wasn’t racing, I was just as tired as the participants in the just concluded 6th edition of the Tour ni Frank. Pelting rain, slick roads, poor visibility and speeds of over 40kph isn’t my perfect racing weather. And that there is just inches of space between riders and you get the drift.

Veteran riders will tell you that the first few minutes after a downpour is the most dangerous. The oil on the road rises above the water making the road very slippery. But if you wait for the oil to be washed away, then the riding will be a lot safer.

There’s something with wet weather and bicycle road racing that conjures danger. F1 and football look epic when the roads and the field are wet. And that’s what makes sports in the rain exciting. It takes a special breed to excel under harsh conditions.

The first and second stages in the TniF were wet. Unfortunately, there were no serious accidents. But the second stage (the first stage was a 72km road race, Danao-Lugo-Danao) was what I would call epic. The skies were angry and the rain seemed like it would not let up. The finishing area in Buak was described by Ome Rodriguez as “Tour de France-like” with fog reducing the visibility by a few meters. A slight wind was blowing yet everybody felt like Mr. Sunshine was out in full force.

Congratulations to the overall winners in their respective categories- Lloyd Reynante (Padyak Pinoy stage winner and son of cycling great Manuel) for cat A, Cuba Hendrano (a Marlboro Tour vet and a contemporary of Boyax Pagnanawon) for Cat B and Noel Ting, the reed thin but brash moderator of www.cebucycling.com for the invitational cat. 

But the biggest applause should go to Frank Gatdula, for spending his precious time and money for this race. He could have simply gone to Hawaii or France and rode his bicycle there. Frank, we expect a bigger TniF in 2008!

Local vs. Manila cyclists

What I noticed about the executive cyclists from Manila are their seriousness regarding their racing, equipment and training. Someone told me that the 2007 TniF champion Ernie Hortaleza of team VELLUM bought a house at the foot of a mountain to be near his training ground. Alexander Billan, owner and team captain of team Excellent Noodles, took along two former pros as domestiques.    Most hire current and ex-pros as coaches and training partners.

Dondie Azarcon, a Tondon-based contractor for the telecommunications industry, says that he spent more than a quarter of a million going out to race in 2005 alone! I thought he was joking but he said that his conscience bothers him when he races and the family stays at home. Solution, bundle the family with him. So imagine a family of four from Manila coming to Cebu or Ormoc or Matabungkay for a weekend race. Try to add up the plane tickets, hotel bills, food, sightseeing/shopping and all, multiply it by one out-of-town race a month and Dondie’s figure adds up.

That’s why I think we’re luckier here. Going to Bohol or Leyte to join a bicycle race is cheap. As for training, Busay is just 20 minutes if you’re staying in the city so you don’t have to buy a house in Lahug to be in the proximity and Toledo is about 2 hours away. And best of all, we still could train early in the morning daily, have breakfast with our family and be at the office by 8:30. Compared to Cebu, training in the capital is a bitch. Cyclists there spend the whole day just to go out for a long training ride, never mind the smog.

We are as serious as the Manila guys but we have more fun. And who can beat that?