Truly A Simple But Wonderful Bike Date

Truly A Simple But Wonderful Bike Date

By Ernie Catanghal

Saturday, around eight in the evening Ahlie and I decided to take our bikes outside for a roll. We planned of having a little time out after a week of so much catching up since she just had a ton of paperwork for her teaching work as a professor in a university, while I just came back from a week-long ride to Ilocos Norte for Bike and Beyond's charitable cause.

Upon reaching C-5 (circumferential road-5) there was a light traffic already on both directions so we enjoyed our 5 kilometer ride to Tiendesitas which is found at the corner of E. Rodriguez Ave. and Dona Julia Vargas Ave.

Tiendesitas is a Spanish word for a small store or a collection of small stores like that of a market place. The shops here in Tiendesitas normally opens in the afternoon and closes late in the evening. They showcase a rich variety of Filipino native delicacies, clothes and fabric, furniture and antiques, plants and pets, and other novelty products.

  

Stopping by in front of Transcom Center which houses off-shore call center facility of NuComm International in the Philippines. This building is located on the northern side of Tiendesitas while on the opposite side is the SM Hypermarket.

SM Hypermarket is open from 10:00 am to 11:00 pm which  makes it suitable for those late shoppers. One more thing good about this place is for being biker friendly. They have  racks for parking bicycles near the side entrance and they would even allow you to bring them in while you shop or dine if your bike is a 20" wheel folding type.

After spinning around the vicinity we went inside the hypermarket. Ahlie decided to have something light for the evening so we stopped by her favorite pastry shop, Icing's.

It was such an ease for us because we just simply folded our bikes and park them beside our table. Folding bikes like our Dahon Mu series are designed to be rolled easily even when folded provided the locking magnet are firmly connected or an extra strap will do the trick in securing the bikes from accidentally unfolding while pushing it. Once you have done it walking around a mall or an establishment like this will not be a problem at all. 

Ahlie had one of her usual delights, their "Green Salad With Nuts and Fruits". It is a salad of mixed lettuce greens, grapes, mangoes and oranges with toasted cashew nuts and drizzled with balsamic vinegar reduction and olive oil. She matched it with a cup of their house coffee.

While I simply had a glass of cold "Banana Havana", it is a serving of vanilla ice cream with sliced banana, peanut butter, whipped cream, sprinkles of choco bits and a piece of cherry on top.

After that delightful meal from Icing's we went to Watson's to buy some necessities for our kids. At first we asked the security guard if we need to leave our bikes in front of their shop but he told us we can bring them inside with us. 

Rolling our bikes to around was a bliss! But the people around can't help but to watch us move with our unusually looking bikes. Some even approached us just to ask where to get a bike like this and how much. Some would even take pictures of themselves with us and our bikes. We are always delighted to share to the people some ideas about this type of bike and the advantages of what regularly biking can do for our health and fitness, the traffic issues and our fragile environment, not to forget the fact that they are easily loaded on taxi, bus, plane and now even allowed to be boarded with the passenger on LRT, MRT and PNR trains. Special thanks to the people who worked hard to make this thing legal.

After securing the things that we needed we simply rolled our bikes outside through the ramp, unfolded them, and off we go again.

Before heading home Ahlie suggested to add more "miles" to burn extra calories. So we turned right to Lanuza Street and made two loops around Ultra (University of Life) before heading back down town.

Biking at night can be done safer if you know how to do it. There are some strict essentials that one must secure on every ride. First, don't bike alone and avoid those dark and remote streets. Second, don't ride on highways with very fast traffic. Third, always observe traffic rules to avoid surprises. Once you fail and make some untoward surprises you will be on the losing end, you know what I mean. Also, safety gears should fall on its place and never miss them. Below are the basic standards:

A certified bike safety helmet for your one and only. You lose your head and your gone!

Tail light or blinker. Mine is a Cat Eye Reflex Auto that turns on automatically when motion and darkness are detected.

Bike Bell to call some attention.

Front lamp or head lamp. Normally this lamp is mounted on handle bars but we got a special skewer mounted lamp holder that's why the one in the picture is at hub level giving a more intense lighting on the foreground.

The U.S. CREE XML-T6 light.
This is a special bike lamp that gives lighting power up to 1,200 lumens and is powered by a separate rechargeable battery pack. This type of lamp is waterproof and can work up to 4 hours on high beam but can last up to steady 48 hours on glimmer. This kind of bike lamp once turned on is so hard not to get noticed by motorists because it throws very strong light much brighter even than cars on high beam. Just don't point it on the face of anyone or they will surely not see you anymore.

A reflector like a vest type or button type, or simply a wrap around reflector like this in the picture is an optional safety gear but its effectiveness and importance can not be discounted. 

 Other than these safety gears in the picture you can also consider a pair of night goggles to protect the eyes, a  whistle for emergencies and of course tools for fixing your bike.

One can add a little more security just like what we always bring with us in defense from bad elements and stray dog attacks. Our "Sabre pepper spray" is not like the ordinary pepper spray, it is designed to shoot at a long distance of 3 meters (10 feet) and is effective to repel attackers in advance. It comes with a holster that snug perfectly on our bike frame, this holster is made of stretchable material which  makes it good for runners and hikers too. 

The SABRE Dog Attack Detrrent. This spray has an adjustable strap lending accesibility and ease carrying both in the palm and on bike. The small, yet powerful .75 oz unit provides a 10 foot (3 meters) ballistic stream delivery which decreases wind blow-back.

One more pit stop for the night. As Ahlie got a bit thirsty from those climbs that we just did so we drop by the Original Pares food house at A. Luna St. in Bambang, Pasig City and had a couple of their popular super ice tea in giant glass mugs. 

It is already 10:45 pm when we got home, our kids were still awake excitedly waiting for us to see what we got for them. After having some more quality minutes with them we kissed each of them good night. Now we can call it a day, what a very simple bike date yet a wonderful one indeed with my wife!