My favorite destination every Sunday a few years ago was up north was a very small carenderia under the Caimito tree owned by Jojo at the top of Barangay Lugo, just before you turn left for Tabuelan. Jojo had a nice family and his wife and kids always helped out in the business.
Lugo is 69km from the Capitol and is pancake flat until the last K’s. Until Catmon, the route is great for people new to the sport since theirs no extreme rise of the tarmac. There was relatively little traffic then and if there was it was along the old Consolacion market, where Fooda now stands. From ‘Lascion on, it was cycling heaven! But as you enter Sogod, the route becomes rolling. As you reach the fork on the road at km 63, you can go to Borbon if you turn right or left, to a more challenging 6km of gradual climb to Jojo’s.
The carenderia offers just basic stuff- pansit, mongos, beans and sometimes tinolang manok. But if you’re looking for native delicacy, you have to double back a few kilometers to Catmon for the famous “adobawngmanok”. The soup just tastes out of this world but the problem is just the serving is just too little in relation to the meat. For whatever reason, there is never enough soup and if you ask for more, they’ll give you the soup of the Knorr variety. That’s why I prefer Jojo’s.
The last time I went for a training ride to Lugo was 3-4 years ago. It was still a fantastic ride. Last weekend, I stood as a wedding sponsor to LitoyPetalcorin in Danao. To my surprise, the route was now strange to me. What used to be a huge construction office was now SM. Traffic was clearly heavier and probably more challenging to cyclists. I know that a lot of my friends still train along the route so it must still be fairly ok yet, it feels rather strange and new to me. Seemed like a Rip van Winkle effect on me.
These days, it’s getting harder and harder to find a nice training route. Even Busay is getting congested but then we can’t rein in progress. As a user of the road, we all have to learn to be patient and make adjustments to the things around us.
In spite of everything, Cebu is still a wonderful place to live and ride. If you don’t believe me, try Manila.
Finally, The Tour of Smiles in Tacloban, organized by Jojo Yu, will be on September 29 and 30. The road event, comprising of a 16km ITT and a 70km road race will be held on the first day followed by MTB events on the second day. Although my participation is getting hazy, I still hope that I can still suit up and race in Leyte/Samar area for once……I got a text message from Dr. Jaime Gatchalian last Saturday informing me of the annual Ormoc Medical Society road race will be held on October 14 this year. Although the good doctor didn’t include the route in his text message, I’ll just assume that wherever the route will be, it will still end up in Barangay Milagro, a monster, 14km climb going to Lake Danao.