Tour of Bohol

I never thought that the Tour of Bohol would be a success, I even believed that it was going to be cancelled, but I know that I’ve never been good in the art of prognostication. Instead, the ToB turned to be one of the two best events (the TLBF was the other) outside of Cebu that I joined this year, thanks to huge shoulders of Cong. Art Yap (Bohol, 3rd District) who carried the event not only financially but by his presence during the two-day, two-stage event. It is rare for a politician-sponsor to be all over his event when most would simply show up for the opening and the awarding ceremonies. I have never been a fan of Cong. Yap but if the way he run this race was an indication, he’s starting to proselyte me.

There was no cutting corners in this race, with Raul Cuevas of Bike King organizing the event. Bike King is one of the premier cycling/triathlon organizers in the country today and the group didn’t disappoint. Race safety was tops, and transponders were in effect, making it a trouble free race from the cyclists’ perspective. Cuevas was also able to bring with him at least 40 Manila based, executive riders who came from as far as Malaysia, Hong Kong and the US.

Day 1 was a 90km out and back road race, starting at the town of Loay and going east to the progressive town of Jagna and back to Loay. Stage 1 was won by Isaiah James Tiples (2h20m50s), a 20yo of Team PLDT-LiVen. Romeo Camingao (46m40s) of team Excellent Noodles took the 22km stage 2 ITT from Loay to Bilar passing the floating restaurants rolling easily along Loboc River, the tarsiers and the must see Man-made Forest.

The real reason for the ToB was to promote the eastern side of the province, which boasts of some of the finest, yet, unknown, beaches in the country. I have no problem with that, knowing that cycling is a perfect vehicle in selling tourist destinations and bringing business and opportunities to these areas, especially that Panglao is already a well established tourist destination.

On December 3, Cong. Yap and Bike King will be presenting a full triathlon (3.8km swim, 180km bike, 42km run) to be held in Anda, potentially a booming tourist town on the easterly seaboard of Bohol.

My only regret was that a lot of my CebuCycling teammates missed the race for personal reasons and that most of the Bol-anon cyclists opted to volunteer as race marshals rather than join the event.

Thanks also to Mayor May Lim Imbol of Loay & Mayor Tata Palacios of Bilar for being such gracious hosts. Cong. Yap told me that he will be making this an annual event with organized fun rides quarterly. I hope that I will be completely converted.

Road Revolution: The time is not now

Last April, I got an invite to join an advocacy for bike lanes but I declined since I didn’t believe that the advocacy had its wheels firmly on the ground. Cebu’s roads are narrow and ancient to start with. Add to the equation the car to road ratio, sidewalk vendors, squatters and what you have is lawlessness. Therefore putting bike lanes in such small piece of land is not only unacceptable but unlikely to work. It’s like ordering fried chicken when somebody had yet to catch the chicken.

Marikina City had bike-friendly lanes before but it failed. I’m not naive and so are most of the Cebuanos, but if they change their advocacy to, “Authorities-Please-Implement-the-Law-Now” Revolution, Cebuanos will embrace it. - THE FREEMAN