ToF (Tour of the Fireflies) Experience

What is the Tour of the Fireflies?
Reference: www.fireflybrigade.org/

The 13th ToF route covered the Cities in Metro Manila: Pasig - San Juan - Quezon City - Manila - Pasay – Mandaluyong.

My cyclometer read almost 35 kilometer. We joined the peleton from Tiendesitas to CCP however choose a different route from CCP back to Tiendesitas. It was reported that 15,000 joined this year’s run. It’s a big 87.5% increase from last year’s participants.

Despite being an almost 2 decade old biker, it was my first time to join the 13th Tour of the Fireflies in Metro Manila. I’d like to share some of my observations during the 5 hour affair last April 17, 2011.

1- Biker Family
Father & son, father & daughter, husband & wife, husband & other wife... It's a family affair. Even the star rangers were there. You know the star rangers, right? (Link Star Rangers)

2- Quiapo, Quiapo!
So Quezon Blvd street in front of Quiapo church (officially known as Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene) experiences traffic every day. It’s one of the busiest areas in the metropolis and April 17 was no different. Bike traffic was turning from bad to worse and the culprit was…that everybody wanted to take a picture of the “mass” of bikers.

3- Water share
We were in Ortigas Avenue approaching Edsa when I spotted a sweet biker couple. The biker guy shared his hydration pack with his lovey dovey. It actually sounds unsanitary but my focus is more on the act of sharing.

4- Bike gamut
Mountain bikes, road bikes, recumbent bikes, folding bikes, cruisers, low rider, tall bike, low end bikes, high end, name it and they all had it. Well, almost as I didn’t see any triathlon bikes. There were a number of bike clubs as well like Smart, Globe, Unilever, location based bike clubs or just a group of friends.

5- Manny insight
One of my bike club co-members Manny P. (not Pangilinan) provided a very valuable insight. He said that the reason why he always joins the ToF is because it is the only time he gets to bike around Metro Manila major thoroughfares free from dangers (read: motorized vehicles). During that ride, bike is the king of the road.

The almost 5 hour Sunday ride actually achieved 3 personal objectives: support in lessening the carbon footprint, burned some calories and bonded with my fellow SCC members.