Uling Road Race

The road race two weekends ago (Talisay-Toledo-Uling) was a success! Thanks to the efforts of organizer Jerome Rodriguez, everybody who joined had a great and fun time!

The MTB category was supposedly a rematch between Nino Surban and Rolly Cabaluna but for whatever reason, Nino didn’t show up. During the race, Rolly showed his rivals, mostly cat A road riders, that he was simply heads and shoulders above them. It would be interesting how Rolly would fare if he was to race in the road category instead of MTB, but it’s my opinion that he’d do well in road races since the Uling event was run on paved roads, not single track, and he wiped everyone out! It’ll probably take him a few races to learn the intricacies of road racing but I guess he’ll do well since he has a team around him unlike Nino who races without one.

It was a hard race (in Cat C) especially in the almost 40°C heat. I just rode my own pace and finished the race still able to talk! Normally, I would have stopped at the summit of Uling (Cats C and D cat u-turned at Landing instead of Toledo, before climbing back to the finish at Uling) but my sensations felt OK so I was able to finish the race.

Ramon Espinosa, an ex-grocery bagger and Raffy Bacaya, who is a fashion jewelry designer and manufacturer, won cat B and C respectively. Espinosa, who will be leaving soon to work as a merchant seaman, broke away from the pack right at the gun and never looked back while Bacaya dropped his training partner Ryan Ocanada on the last climb to claim his win.

Cat D was a great duel between 50-something Jaime Noynay and Kuijo Kuha, a 64yo Finnish national champion in the age cat ITT in his homeland. Jaime dropped Keijo on the first climb but was able to get back on the descent with a 75kph downhill dive! Only Jaime’s exceptional climbing one the way back saved the day for him.

Overall, it was a fantastic race that begged for more! Congratulations should also go to the sponsors, Mark Ylanan and the RECYCLE crew, and all the participants and supporters who braved the heat just to be there!

LA LAKERS, B2B!

I really thought that my LA Lakers was already a goner after the first half. Despite the power outage in my place of work, I was a mini nervous wreck the whole morning. I tried not to think about it but my palms remained sticky like glue!

The series had included all the ingredients of a classic- the most dominant teams in the history of the NBA, their unparalleled rivalry and the fact that both teams took it to the limit, well, what more can a basketball fan ask for?

Finally, I’d like to thank my gracious hosts Virna and Rex Tan in Ormoc, Phillip Sainz, Christine and Edwin Mansueto, and Jean and Jojo Yu in Tacloban. Thank you so much guys for such a memorable weekend of cycling! – THE FREEMAN