MOUNTAIN MEN

Because they ride mountain bikes.

Bicycles, which as the name imply, are designed for the mountains.

I ride a mountain bike, so I am a Mountain Man.

An 8th place finish from the Guyabano Trail will attest to that.

And after dueling with the raw power of the mountains of Carranglan, another 8th place finish of proof.  

It was the best ever 32 kilometers of pure riding joy, an excellent fulfilment of Edward Abbey's wish for every mountain biker that "may [their] trails be crooked, winding, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view... [and] may [their] mountains rise into and above the clouds".

To top that all, Ariel Guieb Tangilig finally came face to face with Carranglan's centuries-old Church of St. Nicolas of Tolentine, rebuilt almost exactly the same as it was from the rubbles of the Great 1990 Earthquake, and an itch that can now be scratched from my biking calendar.

The next day, me and Ariel Guieb Tangilig took Bulan and Lupo Domingo Quilban to an almost-mountain-biking dirt-road-ride to discover the source of the big ditch that runs through Tondod in San Jose City.

That brought us to the foothills of the Caraballo Mountains where the Pantabangan Dam empties its reservoir to feed the rice fields of Nueva Ecija, and to the over-dressed Church of St. Joseph the Husband in Rizal, then to the laidback Church of the Immaculate Conception in Llanera, before again traversing the big ditch in A. Bonifacio Norte for the ride back home.

An interesting footnote because Dr. Rizal, Ka Andres Bonifacio, and Gen. Llanera are my brothers too in an ancient fraternity...      

ANG MASAHISTA

Kay Angie sa spa ni Mang Tasyo ako huling nagpamasahe.

Mahusay siya, medyo napagaan niya ang mga pumipintigpintig na mga kalamnan, kaya binigyan ko siya ng magandang tip.

Hindi ko nga lang nalaman kung kahawig siya ni Mr. Bean o ni Katherine Luna dahil sa suot niyang maskara nung tinadtad niya ako.

Katulad ni ex-Fr. Ed, gusto ko uling magpamasahe nang sumampa na sa alas-8 ng gabi ang ika-apat naming meeting sa loob ng isang araw.

Pero ayoko n'ung sinsabi nilang spa-kol, gusto ko 'yung totoong masaheng ala-Tokyo-Tokyo, kaya iniuwi ko na lamang sa Nueva Ecija ang sakit ng katawan na dulot ng napakadaming meeting at pagtatae.

Linggo, madaming kliyente si Mang Tasyo, kaya napagdiskitahan kong kamutin na muna ang matagal nang kati na dumungaw kami ni Ariel Guieb Tangilig sa Simbahan ni San Isidro Labrador sa Talavera.

Huwebes, umakyat kami ni Bong sa aming project site sa Bayangbayang Falls ng General Luna sa Carranglan kung saan kami inabutan ng ulan.

Pagbaba namin sa munisipyo ay may inabutan kaming mga OJT ng TESDA sa pagmamasahe.

Libre daw, kailangan nilang maka-30 para grumadweyt, basta pumirma lang sa kanilang assessment form.

"Operado po ba kayo, may high blood?"

Mukhang maalam ang natoka sa aking masahista.

Pero puro madiing haplos lang naman yata ang kanyang natutunan dahil halos hindi ko naramdamang minamasahe na pala ang binti ko.

Kulang pa sa praktis pero ganun pa man ay binigyan ko na din siya ng pasadong maraka.

Puede na din kasi libre, at may konting xxxxxxx. 

At xxxxxx...

40 KMS TO CUYAPO [and more]

Cuyapo is a loaf of good memories.

There's a big slice of that very "Stand By Me" weekend in Burgos with Freddie, Arbel, and Leo when good life is just a cocktail of gin-Sprite-KoolAid and an unexpected kiss from the college sweetheart.

Even the crumbs are bursting with funny moments, like Arbel's eternally gelled hair and Leo proclaiming to the world [read: us] how he will amass all the coins in Cuyapo and dump sacks of these at the doorstep of a former high school girlfriend who will be married to a US Navy retiree.

Oyet P. too has a slice with his story of how the Americans captured Apolinario Mabini by bribing a young boy with candy, and a pilot swooping down the Paitan Lake every time his plane passes by Cuyapo.

And there's Bulan and Lupo Domingo Quilban riding the gentle slopes between Munoz and Talugtug and keeping up in the harsher rolling hills between Talugtug and Cuyapo.

It was their first ride together and Ariel Guieb Tangilig's first encounter with Cuyapo's St. Roch, so I thought that deserve a huge slice from the memory loaf too, plus a heaping plate of miki from Joy-Ling's Pansiteria.

I'm not sure what happened two days after except that I woke up on a Wednesday reeking of beer and nuked Spam, then me and Ariel Guieb Tangilig scratching the itch of a mysterious unnamed dirt-turned-muddy road which took us to Palusapis, then another which brought us to San Anton, and then the company of two buxom ladies in a late-starting forum and their gift of a take-home Jollibee spaghetti which I suspect is the culprit in my 4-day bout with diarrhea.

Now that [the diarrhea] don't deserve a slice from the memory loaf but the lingering perfume of the two buxom ladies surely do.