To Bike Or Not To Bike

TO BIKE OR NOT TO BIKE: Will You Care To Understand?

By ERNIE CATANGHAL

Every time I visit FB pages of bikers and bike groups I see myself years before, just like them with so much vigor, fire in their eyes, smiles in their face, enjoying every stride, every distance, every destination. And sometimes I can't help but to envy them. Because that kind of a biker is just a shadow of the past for me. I am not saying I do not enjoy biking anymore but what I mean is I have changed a lot not in heart but in capacity to do what I love to do. I have been sick through the years as some people have known and just the same it was my bike who was by my side through those battles sharing with me all the scars and happiness.

As I have journeyed through the years some people have seen my predicament, my fight and my high hopes, my faith in God. They learned, they shared some laughter and tears, some pity me while some were inspired. But above all people has known me as a biker with an advocacy, always bringing some cause to my rides. But the years of fighting has taken so much toll on me, as the level of pain I experience every time I ride has grown so fast that I already find it strange to pedal with ease. My head and my body most of the time has been bursting in pain every saddle time. It seems biking is like "Via Dolorosa" for me.

Looking deep inside, I am battling so hard. But I can't just cry out. People are fighting their own battles because they see me how to stand and fight. People are smiling because they see the joy in my spirit. People started to care because they see me serve. People are getting together because they see me around. But of the same people some can't just understand, some can't just accept, some can't just afford. For them I can't falter, for them I can't quit. But how will they understand?

Today, when I look around I see a closing curtain, a fading light, and some faces who cared to stand with me through it all. This is a defining moment for me and for the people I so called "friends", how shall we welcome the turning of the tide. I still bike, because that's what I love doing. But not the way like I do before. I have shifted on lower gears, but rolling still none the less. Maximizing my time with the people who are dearest to me. Still trying to pull the same passion for benevolence, sharing some love in every stride.

So I still push harder for the coming days as I will traverse the western side of Luzon from my place all the way to the tip of the island, Pagudpud of Ilocos Norte. It might not be a strange feat after all, some might have done it once or more before in far better passion, stronger, longer and faster if I may say. But still I am doing this for one same reason, to raise awareness and some help for the desolate people of the tribes, the people I have been sharing my life with for the past thirteen years, the Mangyans of Mindoro. Together with a friend I will bike the distance once more in spite of my condition, not to prove anything, not to gratify oneself. But I will bike once again to humble myself in their sufferings and to lift myself in their dreams and inspirations. I will bike again because I love them.