Bicycle Myth-breaker: Women don't know what bicycle-love is.

(Photo by Baguio Biker Girl Liza Maraan, Thanks, Liza!)

At long last, we got an all-girls' bike ride going in Baguio! Wheee! This has been my dream for YEARS! We started out in a group of four and struck out for Shilan, which is one of my most-favorite riding routes for its variety of terrain and because it's one of the easiest, least threatening places to hone one's off-road riding skills. Soon there will be more and more women with knobby wheels playing dirty on our mountain roads and trails. Mwahahahaaa! Go grrrls! No doubt the biker boys will be pleased to see more girls out there, but if these strong women were to be any more fond of their bicycles than they already are, I think some men might be worried.

Comments

Anonymous said…

Beautiful MTB posts, Padma! I always visit your blog when I miss Baguio! Is Shilan a secret playground? Can I come along one of these days? hehe- Paulo S.

16 March 2011 at 19:28

padma said…

Hey Pow, Shilan's no secret. There are no secrets in the mountains! Let me know next time you're in these parts. We can go bombing down Shilan with the boys and girls.

21 March 2011 at 12:48

Anonymous said…

Coolness!!! Thanks, Padma! I commute to work in Manila, twice a week! Exciting to dodge jeepneys, but I miss being on a trail and breathing fresh air. Will text you and Jose when I go up. Congrats with Mt. Cloud! :) -Paulo S.

23 March 2011 at 13:37

Cordillera Folktales and Story-telling

It was cold and wet outside on the day of the launching of The Golden Arrow of Mt. Makilkilang and other Cordillera Folktales . But inside Mt. Cloud Bookshop we were warmed by stories read and performed by the Aanak di Kabiligan community theater group. Storytelling on a stormy afternoon. Paco Paco. A Benguet story from the book, published by the Cordillera Green Network. Aanak di Kabiligan means children of the mountains. The theater group was born out of the Cordillera Green Network's eleven years of conducting workshops in which children transform their grandparents' stories into theater productions. Here they perform the title story of the Golden Arrow of Mt. Makilkilang and Other Cordillera Folktales.

Lola of Maipon

It's all too easy to fall asleep under the blanket of everyday life and to smother dreams with the mundane things I surround myself with. But once in a while, along comes a sparkling vision that jolts me out of my daily sleep and reminds me of the existence of convictions and worlds so different from my own. "Our beloved LOLA of Guinubatan, Maipon, Albay is the last true messenger of God. So, let us follow her holy teachings so that we will gain TRUE SALVATION without sufferings and without death." In another story I, the intrepid heroine, the adventurer seduced by mysteries, the pilgrim in search of truth, would follow them back to Guinubatan from Session Road, thirsting to see and hear their Lola for myself. However, it's all too easy -- much safer! -- to fall back asleep under the blanket of everyday life, and to smother dreams with the mundane things I surround myself with. Then along comes 9 a.m., and really, it's time to down the dregs of coffee at the bott...

Ritual for all Occasions

Attended a talk delivered by Dr. Albert Bacdayan, UP Baguio. Feb. 20, 2013. "Ritual for All Occasions: The significance and persistence of the 'Senga' in Northern Sagada." The senga is a ritual in which at least one chicken and one pig -- sometimes more -- are sacrificed. The senga is usually performed for milestones such as the completion of a house, the opening of a new business, a wedding, a funeral, when someone is ill, when someone is leaving on a journey. He spoke of how Cordillerans have a ritual for almost every occasion or ailment. Indeed, the word he used was not ritual but "remedy."Dr. Bacdayan described this as a "healthy agnosticism."He mused that the abundance or such remedies and rituals is the reason there are rarely feelings of helplessness among Cordillerans. He described ritual as a bundle of activities that assures people and anchors identity. When one calls the old men and is the principal of a senga, you are perceived t...

Now/here no/where woman

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