My Type of Weekend - Biking

 

My name is Renz, I’m currently working as a Training & Quality Assurance Specialist and I’ve been employed by Telexpress Manila, Philippines for more than 5 years now. Recently, I enjoy travelling and exploring the beauty of nature and I do this on most of my weekends.

 

Life of a typical Filipino call center employee goes like this: work on weekdays, couch potato on weekends. Yeah I know, stressful and boring! One should find ways to de-stress, recuperate, and have fun once in a while. May it be travelling, engaging into sports, or partying like there’s no tomorrow. Here’s how I do mine – Hiking and Biking!

 

Biking

 

It has the same benefits as with hiking however, you need stronger leg muscles for this activity especially when going through elevations. At first, I was skeptical in trying this because I thought it’s boring but I was wrong, I really enjoyed the first time we went for a long ride. What I like most about biking is the thrill and challenge, it makes me feel stronger each ride. You’ll know you’re getting stronger when you don’t have to go on foot and walk your bike when you have to pass on an elevated road. Let me share you some pictures of my bike adventure.

 

▼By the way, this is my mountain bike; I named her “Jennylyn”. J

 

 

Our first long ride was in Tanay (Rizal, Philippines). It’s around 50km travel from Manila. We made it back and forth using our bike, that’s a total of 100km! One way trip took us around 5 to 6 hrs.

 

 

▲    The guy wearing purple/orange shirt is Alvin, another colleague in Telexpress MNL.

He’s the one who invited me to try biking.

 

▲    We ate our lunch in Rambulls, a restaurant in Tanay. Their specialty dish is “Bulalo”

(Boiled beef bone marrow or beef shank soup) and it’s oh so delicious! It’s a local delicacy in the Philippines.

Our second long ride was in Pintong Bukawe, San Mateo also located in Rizal, Philippines.

It’s around 30km travel from Manila.

 

▲    Although it’s a shorter distance, we passed through a steep trail inside a forest and crossed a river 7 times.

So far, it’s the most difficult ride I’ve experienced.

Our third long ride was in Daraitan, Tanay (Rizal, Philippines). It’s around 90km travel from Manila, a very long ride indeed!

We also had to cross steep trails but not as difficult as Pintong Bukawe.

 

▲    We had a champagne party and enjoyed swimming in a river in Daraitan.

Our fourth ride was in Timberland, San Mateo (Rizal, Philippines).  It’s around 30km travel from Manila.

It has the longest elevation of all the rides I’ve been through, 3 kilometers of non-stop heart pumping uphill action!

 

▲    Do we look tired on this picture? Haha. The succeeding rides that we have are in Antipolo (Rizal, Philippines).

 

▲    We usually eat porridge, boiled egg, tofu, and spring roll in a small restaurant in Antipolo.

It’s a very cheap and healthy way to spend my weekend.

 

 

▲    See the guns? Haha

 

 

We’re planning to go to Baguio, Philippines this November 2016. It’s going to be our longest ride ever as it may take up to 2 days to get there (around 300km travel from Manila). As early as now, we practice and prepare ourselves by doing regular exercise and eating healthy choice of foods.

 

Oh, and did I mention that I smoke cigarette before? I quit smoking since I started biking. This hobby will require you not to smoke if you’re determined to get stronger. I hope you guys were inspired and enjoyed reading this article. Thank you so much for you time! J