dear atty J, dr jv, my friends from cebu...
finally....someone beats me to my team waterwood reports....and its a detailed story also! hahaha i will write my lengthy report in a few minutes...my hamstrings still hurts! its lunch time...and my wife and myself are having prawns (sugpo from cebu)...
I am back at the Rocka bikeshop and relaxing on my laptap reading your side of the story...a few annecdotes from my side of the story.we from Manila arrived on a friday Nov24 (closed the Rocka Bikeshop...not because of poor sales......the boss is in cebu and went road racing!...hehehe) and stayed at Crowne Gardens hotel in Lahug.morning of saturday Nov 25, my group went to hook up with atty Jong, larry ,rolando pagnanawon, rex, dr Jv and rest of cebu cycling at reclamation area and did some spinning...afterwards we did half day cebu city tour...climbed mactan bridge...go to shangrila mactan...ate fresh seafood at shoot to kill... had picture taking at Fashion TV big foot studios then climbed Fernan Marcelo bridge going back to Lahug...we passed by aison bikeshop and met maymay in cabahug and had our bikes tweaked and re oiled! wow i saw that porsche mt bike on display...we took a look...its an eye catcher...would have bought it for 100thou...the price is 190thousand! too bad.
back to hotel...dr butch and dennis wants to go to sleep...as we did 50kilometers city tour on our bikes...me and millionaire dondie went to ykk and take a look at the goodies (maybe 10million pesos of bicycles on the showroom alone...VERY NICE! YKK bigger than any manila bike shop)..thats 3pm in the afternoon.race day....Sunday Nov 26...we got lost..then made a u turn after calling Dr JV araneta for directions...race about to start...we filled the forms...took photos...cat a started 5 mins ahead of us...last minute planning...told dr butch ydia maybe i can bribe one arm Rex Gonzeles with a fine dinner, a sexy lady or instant cash ....just dont attack...just pull the 4 of us to the finish line...i will be happy with a 5th place win seeing all the super fit cyclists cat c at the starting line...millionaire dondie laughs....says blood is thicker than water...cebuano will always fight for cebu...forget my bribe...we laughed....my wife taking photos of pink jersey guys lead by Rex... Team Kalit (cebuano...kalit in english means Team Sudden Attack...i get scared)race starts...dr JV up front on a motorbike...neutral zone..taking pictures...i always start up front...i dont want to get cornered inside peloton...
i dont want to get caught in a crash...teammate dr butch ydia laughing behind me...he says to dennis dionisio (my business partner)..."there goes raymond...wanting to do the break again"...so i slowed down...millionaire dondie asked..."do you intend to attack?" i said "later"....dondie said..." ok ill be the one to attack"so off went dondie over 50 kph on the straights... he got caught by team Kalit...rex gonzales countered...some cebuanos said "rex wants to show off in cebuano"...5 mins later he got caught and even before people starts to recover I attacked over 47kph on my speedo...but after a few minutes... i got caught...so slowed down...somebody countered...dr butch and i gave chase...we caught him...i saw atty jong being "protected inside peloton" went to left side opening and attacked again this time on a short climb...a bit harder this time...saw some cebuanos sit up and got left behind...a few minutes later....i got caught again...Rex Gonzales countered with 2 or 3 guys on the real breakaway...going farther and farther...and we got caught flat footed nobody chased...i attacked again ...team kalit counter attacked left side and right side of me! Im cooked!..blood is thicker than water...the locals left with me didnt want to pull so we sit up...game over by now(only 5 trophies......and there is a 3 man break...plus around 10 local riders chase group team Kalit)...
so me and dr butch ydia and Atty Jong plus couple of others formed 3rd group...on one of the uphill climbs i wanted to stand up and then it happened...double cramps and its just the 30kilometer mark??? my wife saw me being left behind by atty J and company and only Dr butch can stay with them...my wife asks "what happened?" I shouted "darn it...double cramps!" so i slowed down...recovered...got caught by 2 riders...then shared pulling swaps...until i saw the group of atty J again...on the uphill climb...my lead man punctured...i attacked and caught up with atty J's group.going into 45km mark there was a steep downhill zigzag route...the motorcycle escort of atty J was doing traffic choirs and protecting atty J from on coming traffic....atty J was very very careful on the descent doing about 45 to 50...
i know my teammate from Dagupan Dr Butch Ydia (son of the Dagupan mayor) will be the strongest on the downhill so i let him pass...(sorry atty J ...no offense meant to you...i am just afraid i might crash on to your motorcycle escort) i have to shout at your motorcycle escort to give me space as i can do over 60kph also with dr butch my teammate up front and by just following his line i am very sure i will not overshoot...because dr butch ydia rides marcos highway Baguio every sunday! now doing 62kph with dr butch i am confident we already left the sparkling clean dressed in all white atty Jong...to my surprise atty jong caught the two of us again!....on the u turn point there was this uphill and i am sure i cant hold on to dr butch ydia anymore so i let him go with 2 riders with him...he went into racing mode...and in a few minutes he was gone...i have for my company the strong rider atty J and two others...the other rider riding a colnago Titanio...we talked for a while...
i understand its really game over for me now so i can afford to laugh and share stories with atty J...my wife margie was giving me water and i shouted to her to give atty Jong some water (to make ammends for shouting at your motorcycle escort...sorry atty its the adrenalin ) few more climbs later my cramps returned and i let go of atty. J at around 70km mark.at the 80 km mark there was a zigzag downhill again...i was going solo when i saw 3 guys with a vellum pick up truck pass by... the first rider was around 6 ft tall and boy he was on this nice vellum bike and doing easy spinning! i understood there is a very important person in this trio...so if i wheelsuck...i could get shot by the bodyguards (just joking...sorry Mayor Durano...i only learned later that it was you who is the VIP!) so instead of wheelsucking...i attacked on the flats...went away for some 3 to 4 kilometers to try find myself a cycling buddy up front...nobody was in sight...
i am cramping again...tired ...weary...delirious...half awake half asleep...the sexy lady half lady half machine appeared...the queen of the BORGS of Star Trek the MOVIE ...and she tells me .... "RESISTANCE IS FUTILE" ...i followed her advise...so i sit up and let the trio including the good mayor go. VERY VERY IMPRESSIVE HONORABLE MAYOR!near the 90km mark i saw a cyclist on a blue bike...painted helmet and we rode together and crossed the finish.i saw Dr Butch Ydia (sitting on the ground) he says he cramped badly and can only managed 9th place (9th isnt so bad doctor butch...you are head surgeon and owner of Nazareth Hospital dr butch...i dont even know how you find time to cycle!) i ask how many minutes he was ahead of me...he says 15 minutes...and i am a happy man...in between that 15 minutes there were 7 local riders who beat my time ...that elite category c group included atty Jong and Mayor Durano.
few minutes later my teammate millionaire dondie azarcon arrives with dennis dionisio...both cramped so badly they couldnt even stand up and had to be held up for a few minutes.we couldnt believe how it was for Rex Gonzales (an arm amputee ex pro) to win a 100km race...and how he managed to even hold up and drink water from his canteen. We are very impressed. Pain is temporary...we will definitely be back for more.Congratulations to all the winners and to the organizers.cebu cycling classics 2 is a real classic road race...please dont change this route...ill try to coax more execs from manila to come.thanks again to the organizers, to dr JV and the marshalls...no accidents in this race... a fun filled sunday afternoon... We had fun...i hope you had fun racing with us slow riders also...!
raymond see
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