tour of friendship 2010 may 1-5 in thailand

From FRANZIA support crew and camera crew here are some fotos. thanks to Nellie Ng, edwin mansueto, margie see for the fotos...the captions by the blogger raymond see


beautiful Orbea Orca time trial set up...from team SEVEN LAKES




von ricardo ongkiatco from team SEVEN LAKES stands in front of nothanburi palace hotel




erwin rili owner of GREEN PLANET bike shop in philippines...had tough time but is the highest placed Philippine rider in 49 below age cat..Bravo
erwin...




bandaged BMC of franzia rider 412 dennis datu...the hairline crack appeared after dennis hit thomas...damaging the $6000 bmc bike...not to be discouraged...dennis bought steel epoxy and bonded his frame...until he finished all the remaining stages...bravo dennis!




FRanzia dennis datu had to check his bmc everyday to see if its road worthy (because of the cracked downtube.)




starting him young...BMW team's best young rider...




Franzia philipg...rides for 50 and up category...but had to continue cycling beyond his finish line just to help Franzia boss Lucio Cochanco Jr in stage 3..bravo philip...







thats the guy memorizing the fast pace action for his blog...THE BLOGGER raymond see



madam Khun Kai titaree , the blogger and my wife margie




Franzia left to right...doctor ramon liboro, tiboy reyes and enald tan (thanks to soitan for foto)




tony aspel british gent in yellow (his wife filipina) on top of podium day in day out for Team Excellent Noodles PHILIPPINES "boring to have all the trophies in yellow(for first place) can you change from some other guys different color helmets tony? ...the red one for king of the mountain looks nice though " his wife said... that gave me a big big laugh.....the wife dont know how hard it is to even get a single trophy...




if some of the 39 below guys wondering who the heck PINPIN is ....when his lead out guy jojoyu shouts "PINPIN...PINPIN"....here he is..pinpin uy with beautiful wife robin...."I made the mistake of joining a big bike race in subic philippines a week before thailand..my legs sore..and im cramping in thailand..but me and my wife will be back next year" pinpin said...




Pavel Krizan 335 in black and white team CUORE SWISS...looks like a champion bodybuilder...weighs in at 100kilogram so michel velasco of team Joyriders singapore and pinpin uy of franzia thought the big guy couldnt climb Khao yai....big mistake..."pavel guy climbed khao yai like a monster truck 4 x 4...we were speechless he left all franzia riders behind doing zigzags" says enald tan from team Franzia....seen here on white caad9 and red helmet behind pavel...enroute to khao yai.... (thanks to soitan for the foto)

foreign guy said "when he goes down those mountain...pavel shouts "get out of my way"....we were all tucked in behind him...he has a force field with him....i guess if he runs into a cyclist....its roadkill ..and you'll need a spade to pick the poor guy up..."






if you notice..most of the Franzia guys are phiten titanium hulabalu powered...thats Franzia rider Roy See "EL GATO" (49 below cat) "the cat with nine lives" crashed 3 times in 2 days...fortunately...no broken bones...and always up smiling and running the next day



Franzia teammate Jojo Yu to me is "THE MARINE"....after staying put...sacrificed his high GC...saving the dying BLOGGER on the last day..."ill leave no one behind" he said...so raymond see and jojo yu finished together...in big DRAMA fashion...5th stage 120kms of Tour of friendship 2010...yes Philippine television captured that drama too....




the guy in Franzia Maroon T SHIRT ...is our thai mechanic whom Franzia boss hired...in Thailand...our interpreter too...thats Mr OY...am sure he will be hired back to help Team Franzia..in 2011...Good Job mr Oy...




lucio cochanco jr..Franzia team owner in red lazer helmet...inside peloton enroute to khao yai





raymond see the blogger inside peloton enroute to khao yai..towards the first mountain..




whats with this group? thats the PHILIPPINE TELEVISION CREW led by lady jackie aspiras...who was sent here to document FRANZIA drama documentary in thailand...



thats my wife in orange ..margie sitting on a natural tree vine "swing" with nellie ng the wife of Franzia rider and constant podium finisher TJ Carey from Hongkong...




THE BLOGGER raymond see of Franzia inside Khao yai park the last 10kilometers of suffering...heart rate 165 to 179 tops...thats MR PONG (designer of trophy and wife of madam Khun KAi) on the BMW motorbike..."Mr pong...can you help me....I want to finish todays race in Khaoyai...can you send another marshall go tell MAdam Khun KAi....wait for me at the finish line...DO NOT REMOVE THE FINISH LINE TAPE...Franzia has 3 riders want to finish with me today" i think i will forever be grateful to mr pong....

the orange guy holds a BLACK trash bag..he is picking up all the garbage and plastic water bottle GU wrappers too...which we cyclists threw away...(thanks so much dear marshall for picking up the garbage...)




thats what im afraid of everyday.... thats the RACE MARSHALL removing the finish line at the end of race...imagine riding for 6 hours and arrive at finish with the masking tape nowhere to be found....(fortunately i didnt get cut off in khao yai)




strong guys finish first...its the tough guys who finish last ....raymond see , lucio cochanco jr and edwin mansueto BMX EXPERT biker (he did a wheelie on his PARLEE in khao yai)....at the finish line in KHAO YAI..."that was extremely difficult im happy just to finish with you guys..without you Franzia guys am sure i will also abandon this stage" the Franzia boss said...



TJ carey and Franzia playing coach cesar lobramonte...consistent winners for age 50 up category BRAVO TJ and Coach!





thats my boss and my friend LUCIO COCHANCO JR..team owner of FRANZIA cycling team...happy to receive his souvenir trophy in PURPLE for his support of TOUR OF FRIENDSHIP..."ill make sure we will be back next year..." he said