Ride:// Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! One of the best nights to ride your bike, it's also my birthday so I'll be having a beer with some office friends and go home on the bike :D Photo credit: R. Kurtz via Flickr

Ride:// Fashion:// Iva Jean

Iva Jean's Reveal Skirt

Well here's a company that thinks about the fashionable female bike commuter. One of the cyclist-friendly clothing out of Seattle-based Iva Jean is the Reveal Skirt. The straight skirt unzips at the back to give it more fabric at the bottom that makes it easier to cycle. They've also got a Waterproof Rain Cape which is way not your typical plastic rain cape. Photo courtesy of Iva Jean (used with permission).

Bike:// City Bike at Sofitel's Spiral Bar

City Bike in a hotel bar

My sister just had her wedding this weekend and she had her reception at Sofitel Manila. This good looking bike greeted guests at the Spiral Bar. I love the color scheme and the white side wall tires just makes it pop even more.

Ride:// Gear:// Garmin Forerunner 10 GPS Watch

Garmin Forerunner 10 GPS Watch

Cyclocomps are great, but your adventures don't always happen on your bike. Track your next adventure with the Garmin Forerunner 10 GPS Watch, Garmin's lightest watch so far. GPS Watches are designed primarily for runners but its features are pretty useful for bikers too. It can track your time and distance and then you can upload your tracks to Garmin Connect.

Bike:// FlyKly Reinvents the Wheel

I've been wondering about when I could actually find an affordable electric bike that I will not be embarrassed to go to work on. It's just that a lot of the electric bikes that are available here in my country (Philippines) look more like scooters first then bike second. It's good that I found the FlyKly smart wheel on Kickstarter which has given me some hope that a workaround to what I'm looking for will soon be more available. The smart wheel will make commuting easier for cyclists and a lot of us will worry less about getting to work all sweaty since the FlyKly can do some of the heavy work for you. Let's support the team's Kickstarter campaign, they're still shy of their $100,000 goal but I really think they deserve a shot at getting the device to market.

Race:// Duathlon:// Bangkong Kahoy Valley Trail Run and Off-Road Duathlon

I haven't gone up to Mount Banahaw but I definitely would like to go there some day. For anyone who wants to see the Quezon landmark, you might want to join the Bangkong Kahoy Valley Trail Run and Off-Road Duathlon. The event is scheduled for November 16-17, 2013. Venue will be the BK Valley Nature Retreat and Field Study Centre, Bangkong Kahoy Valley, Kinabuhaya, Dolores, Quezon.

Trail runners can register for a 10 km run (Php 550) or a 5km rum (Php 500) while duathletes can either join as an individual (Php 1,200) or as part of a relay team (Php 1,000 per person). Participants get singlet, finisher medal, duathlon shirt, and race bibs. Check the poster for more details.

Contact details:
Elena - 09291496458
Dion - 09064381410

Ride:// Critical Mass Rides:// 15th Tour of the Fireflies

15th Tour of the Fireflies

The 15th Tour of the Fireflies will be held on November 24, 2013 and will start and finish in Tiendesitas, Pasig. The event just gets bigger and bigger every year and continues to spread the message that cycling is an environment friendly and healthy form of transportation. I've joined several ToFs in the past and if you haven't experienced it and will be in Manila on the 24th and have access to a bike, I highly suggest that you try it! It's a great way to see the city and meet new friends. Finishing the route will give you a sense that it IS possible to ride your bike to work, school, or pretty much everywhere. You could register online for Php100 or pay extra for souvenir shirts or jerseys.

Bike:// Classics:// Schwinn Bicycles

Roger on Richland Avenue with a Schwinn Bicycle

Here's Roger Wollstadt on his Schwinn Bicycle in front of their house in Lakewood, Ohio. His caption on this Flickr photo says this was taken around his tenth birthday in 1946 and that he used this bike to deliver newspapers in Lakewood and in Millburn, New Jersey. This photo shows just how beautiful Schwinn bikes are and highlights the history of balloon bicycles and what they represent to Americans that grew up riding them after the war. I think a lot of us remember our first bikes or at least the bikes we rode when we were around Roger's age when this picture was taken. I never got a bike of my own while I was growing up and I had to "borrow" (basically steal) my sister's BMX bike or my cousin's black road bike when I was young. What about you? What was your first bike?

Bike:// City Bikes:// Hermes Bicycle

Hermes Bicycle

You could get a bike for free on freecycle.org, but for anyone with enough spare change or is a fan of the luxury Hermes brand and want to spend a quiet afternoon riding a bike in the Hamptons or whatever exotic island their private yacht has set its anchor on, there's the Hermes bike for you. The omafiets-looking stainless steel bike is available for $4,650 on the French brand's U.S. website.

Bike:// Art:// Ai Weiwei's "Forever Bicycles" gets bigger for Toronto

Ai Weiwei's "Forever Bicycles" sculpture at the Toronto Nuit Blanche festival

In yet another example of the intersection of art and bicycles, Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei has brought his an upsized version of his "Forever Bicycles" sculpture to Toronto for the Nuit Blanche festival. This new piece is a bigger than his earlier "Forever Bicycles" sculpture which was exhibited at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum as part of the "Ai Weiwei absent" exhibit.The original only had 1,000 bikes while the Toronto piece features over 3,144 bikes. The piece strikes me as a nod to M.C. Escher what do you think? Leave a comment! Photo courtesy of Alex Meoko via Flickr (used with permission)

Ride:// Gear:// Topeak MTX Trunk Bag

If you're a regular commuter and a bike basket can't quite hold your gear and a backpack weighs you down, consider the Topeak MTX Trunk Bag. This bag has 1,010 cubic inches of storage and has rigid molded side panels, enough to fit extra clothes and shoes to change into once you get to work. It's also built with water-repellant 420-denier nylon construction to help keep your gear dry. The bag is compatible with all Topeak MTX Quick-Track rack system and when you need to take it with you, carry it like a messenger bag with its included shoulder strap.

Happy weekend!

It's the weekend! Where will you be riding this weekend? Post it in the comments below! As for me, I won't be riding the bike this time but I'll be joining my first full marathon (42 kms.) this Sunday. I can't say I've trained well enough for this one like I did for my 32-km run last June since I've been busy job hunting lately. I found a new job and I plan to ride my bike to work most of the time for this new job since I could get to the office faster on my bike than if I ride the public transpo. It takes 20 minutes plus the time to freshen up and change clothes if need be versus 45 minutes riding two jeeps and a train. I'll probably post a pic when I've adjusted to this new job. Wish me luck - but more than that, wish that I have the guts to stick to this one.

Ride:// Gear:// GoPro HERO3

GoPro HERO3

Make sure you capture your next epic ride in all its glory . GoPro has released the HERO3, its most advanced model yet. Its mounts help you secure your GoPro HERO3 securely to your helmet or handle bar or pretty much anywhere so that you can focus on enjoying the trail. The HERO3 Black Edition has twice the resolution and twice the frame-rate of older models and also doubles its low light performance. Just want to capture photos? You'll be glad to know that the Black Edition's photo performance is three times better than previous models. Users can also download the GoPro App which lets you control the GoPro camera remotely with your smartphone or tablet. Check out fellow riders as they savor the trails of Peru in the video below.