Daanghari

It’s again a sunny day and I’m readying my gadgets for a long anticipated ride. It is my bicycle riding stretch to the famed “Daanghari.” I’ve been eagerly trying to compile my experiences on this uphill climb and I think it’s about time –less this will be left to the shadows and obscurity.

 

The last issue of my cycling adventure was the healing effect of mountain climbing. The purpose why I engaged in this cycling sport was to improve my health. Mang Bert, the heart-by-passed-man and seventy-two years old, is still pedaling in the mountain climb. He has just finished the 45-degree slope at the back of GSIS Holiday Hills’ “Christ the King” church in San Pedro, Laguna. This is the training climb in preparation for “Daanghari Expedition” via Victoria Hills and Tat Golf. And he is perspiring profusely climbing up and down without let-up, a mark of great health.

 

Actually, the cycling haven is the “South Portofino” portion of well-paved concrete road, adjacent to Daanghari and Victoria Hills and under the jurisdiction of the municipality of Las Pinas City. It has a total of five kilometers, two-lane stretch together with the opposite lanes. Meaning you will cover a 50-kilometer distance on ten-round laps. And it’s enough to drain your fats and other body excesses. Only few vehicles are passing this route as this is considered a dead-end road –nearby Victoria Hills Village requires payment in entering the road for cars and other vehicles without official receipt which is an illegal practice of homeowners’ associations. This road cannot be used for drag racing as the Las Pinas Police Precinct is located along this route and violators will be apprehended. I believed this is considered as the safest place for cycling enthusiasts.

 

At “Daanghari” I met many new friends; all are cycling “addicts.” But I’m interested with senior citizens engaged in bicycle riding who were actually conscious in improving their health. The oldest I met, so far, was “Ka Vidal.” He is frequently called as “Kapitan”, the captain. Would you believe he is seventy-three years old and an advocate of long distance biking! When I met him he right away invited me to join their group to go to Tagaytay. And he is not joking. I followed him one time and he was convincing. He was inviting many cyclists along the road. At one instant, we were already fifteen in a group. We took the route to Molino, Paliparan, GMA, Dasmarinas –a total of almost forty kilometers with only one stop-over to have a snack of “Beef Lugaw” with egg along the Paliparan road. And others have no food limit, took bottles of Pepsi and Coke –no concerns of being diabetics! It shows they are able and healthy.

 

I also met “Ka Romy”, a seventy-year-old cock-fighting aficionado who stretches all his body parts before riding his expensive bicycle; another was Conrad, a retired consultant from AMCOR, who cannot cross the street without assistance; and there were Americans, British, French, Italian and other foreigners frequenting the site.

 

As “Daanghari” is a cycling hub, there were also peddlers of cycling accessories who sell their wares at affordable prices –cheap uniforms, gadgets, and other special tools were sold on Saturday and Sunday only.

 

There were many events I encountered at “Daanghari” such as: keeping pace with the fast pedaling one-armed cyclist; the swift lady-biker wearing pink attire which we failed to talk with as my two aging companions who kept following her –their tongues already “hanging” and engulfing for breath- were not able to catch-up with; and other cycling stars who were champions in cycling competitions. I will be always there at “Daanghari” pedaling my health to great heights.

 

As I pedaled back home, descending fast at Victoria Hills and Tat Golf, there again I saw “Mang Bert” now easily climbing up to “Daanghari.”