Getting ready for the TLBF

The preparation for the Cebu Cycling folks has been upped a notch today with the Tour de Larrazabal, one of the many events of the Terry Larrazabal Bike Festival, with just under two weeks to go.

I was out on a training ride yesterday with TyreLambo and Dr. Paul John So going to the town on Dalaguete. Man, Dalaguete is a very pretty town and it’s as rustic as it can get! Except for the smattering of resorts along the coast, it’s my idea of what an ideal Philippine countryside should look like. The place, the people and the smell reminded me of home when I was just a kid.

All in all we covered a distance of a shade under 170km, and a saddle time of about 6 hours. It was my longest ride in the past six years or so. While the long duration of the ride made unknown aches come forth, the smoothness of the road made it a bit easier. There really is a big difference between the qualities of the southeastern roads compared to the northeastern roads, with Art Lambo calling the latter as the longest stairs in the world!

After our brunch in Dalaguete, another group of cyclists composed of Jerome Rodriguez, Tony Codina, RaldyVios and another 20 or so riders arrived. It seemed that Dalaguete was the destination of choice by Cebu Cycling today!

Tour de Larrazabal.

The organizers of the TdL has announced the race route last week. The 3-day, 4-event stage race will include a 5km prologue, a 100km rolling road race (Ormoc-Isabel-Ormoc), a 135km mountain stage (Ormoc-Mahaplag-Ormoc) that will have its turning point at the top of a 15km climb and criterium at the unused Ormoc Airport.

The most difficult stage is obviously the 32nd stage (a prologue is not considered a stage).The length of the stage and the length of the climb will really test if our training rides will pay off.

Cebu Cycling will be fielding three teams while a number of Manila executive teams will also be there. It should be an exciting event.

Milan-San Remo

The first of the 5 cycling “monuments, which was held last Saturday had a surprise winner in the 24yo Australian, Matt Goss. Goss, who plays a domestique role for the best printer in the universe today, Mark Cavendish, beat some of the best classics riders in the 298km race that started in the northern city of Milan and ended in the San Remo.

Milan-San Remo usually ends up in a bunch sprint but Goss’s win didn’t follow the script making it one of the best Milan-San Remo in recent memory. Goss relegated two favorites, Fabian Cancellara, last year’s winner of Paris-Roubaix in second while another strong classics rider, Belgian Philippe Gilbert, winner of last year’s Tour of Lombardy, came in third.

Finally, my friend, Engr. Cesar “Sasai” Salazar, almost got to meet his guardian angel in person last Wednesday when he was accidentally shot (actually, the slug “just” grazed his back!) by an unidentified person with a handgun as he stepped out from his home for a ride. This guy is one lucky cat!