Bike
for Life: Using the Past to Pave the Future
Zachary
Pangan
"Life is a perpetual journey, till it
stops; so take a wheel and drop a hop." - Anonymous
Breeze
rushing past your face, colors zoom by your side and an exhilarating feeling
welling up inside - that's what I have felt when I first rode a bike. Learning
how to ride a bike is my first real milestone, for I've accomplished it myself
- well, mostly; I have a little kick start from dad. At that moment I felt I
could do anything, that nothing could stop me. It was something special and
dear - It is a rite of passage for children, a bragging right. Wheeling past
your friends who could not ride a bike and seeing the looks on their faces, it
is priceless: it is something that jumpstarts your childhood.
La
Bici Mountain Bike, a common bike used by Bike for Life participants
As I grew up, I've lost interest
in biking; it has become something mundane - a child's play toy. My first real
milestone became nothing in comparison to what I have been facing as I grew up.
That became my notion for biking for a long time, until I saw the program, Bike
for Life - it is a program that encourages biking for the citizens of Pasig. It
uses biking to advocate environmental awareness and instills the feeling of
community among the people. It was that moment, I have realized that biking has
gone past its stereotype and propelled itself into the present; from its humble
beginnings to the near imminent future.
The
Humble Beginnings of the Biking Industry
The
bike has been invented during the early 19th century by Karl Drais, the body is
made up of wood, 2 wheels are attached at its front and back, the front wheel
can be controlled and directed. It became the general template of a bicycle.
Back then it was utilized to solve the problem with the horse-drawn carriages:
the horses' refuse pollution and horse maltreatment. As years passed by and
industrialization progressed, the body became metal, then into titanium, but
the general format remains. The bike is another step of the evolution of human
transportation. The bicycle was developed into engine-powered machines, then
into automobiles of the modern age.
The
draisienne, created by Karl Von Drais
As
time progressed, automobile production increased and bike utility declined. It
is now only a choice of transport, a less chosen one. Biking has been mostly
considered a leisure activity. The beginning of the 21st century sparked a new
perspective for biking. Since health awareness has sharply increased during the
turn of the century, exercise activities were given the spotlight. Biking is an
exercise activity with varying intensity, from non-strenuous to rigorous: given
how long does the activity take and how steep the road is. Biking has been
given a fresh breeze thanks to health awareness. Since then, its popularity has
been increasing exponentially. Bikers and bike enthusiasts started forming
biking groups: they travel together as a pack into mountainous and idyllic
places around urban regions. People started to take notice of this rising bike
movement.
The
Bike Industry Wheeling up the Ramp: Bike for Life
Bike
for Life event featuring Pasig Cathedral Church
It
was only four years ago when the Philippines, specifically Pasig and other
cities of Metro Manila, decided to look
back and revamp biking into its full capacity. The "Bike for Life", a
non-government biking program at Pasig city was initialized by former mayor,
Robert Eusebio. The event organizers, Mr. Gregorio Evangelista and Ms.
Andromeda Calapi, say "Bike for Life is for the people, it encourages
Pasigueños to bike; for their health and for the environment”. It is a program that envisions the incorporation
of biking into people's lifestyle to advocate health and environmental
awareness alongside creating camaraderie and the sense of community among
Pasigueños. The Bike for Life event is held every last Sunday of the month.
Around 800 to 1300 bikers join the event to bike around temporarily closed
roads at Pasig City. “Bike for Life is for everyone who appreciates biking,
people who love and live it. People join the event just for the fun and leisure
it brings them. Former Mayor Robert Eusebio was a bike enthusiast himself; that
is why he chose biking to be the central concept in alignment with the “Pasig
Green City” motto. Aside from its eco-friendly front, Biking is
fitness-friendly too; it is a great form of exercise, not only for the body,
but for the mind as well. It clears up the mind, de-stressing it from the daily
pressures people encounter. It balances you, makes you whole and one with
nature”. People from all walks of life could join the Bike for Life event, for
biking is a cheap hobby; decent mountain bikes have amounts ranging from three
thousand to five thousand pesos. Its maintenance and other peripheries are
cheap as well. That is why, presently, the urban population turns to biking for
it is a cheap way of transport, which also saves them time from traffic jams
here and there. It is a rising movement
which is transcendental from automobiles that produced different problems we
are now facing. Biking is a growing trend among travellers and leisure hunters,
multiplying in numbers as time progresses.
Bike
for Life event featuring Pasig’s Revolving Tower
Bikes
of the same Rubber Flock Together
There
are some bikers who take biking seriously; they spend a lot of money for the
bike itself and its peripheries. Established bikers like them are forming
packs: biking groups where they bike together almost every weekend to nearby
provinces. Provinces like Rizal and Laguna, for these provinces are
mountainous, the roads are steep and difficult to climb – a challenge for them.
For them biking is not just a simple
leisure activity, they take it as a challenge, a competition. One of the
participants of the Bike for Life event, Andy Rubia said “I took pride in
biking, it motivates me, it presents me difficult challenges that I would like
to overcome. When I overcame a steep road atop a hill, I took pride in it. I
have done something others could not do, and that is the prize I get from
biking.” For them biking is serious
business, a neck to neck competition.
“What
are the benefits you get from biking?” I asked a participant of the Bike for
Life event. Jomar Garicia said “It is a good form of exercise for me, It helps
me burn fats and stay in shape. During weekends, I bike alongside my biking
group to Rizal; I enjoy the lush green scenery around me. I enjoy the fresh air
zipping past my face; lastly I cherish the camaraderie between us bikers. They have my friends, my support group and my
brothers.”
“What
do you make out of the future of the biking industry of the Philippines?” I
asked an adept biker that has attended the Bike for Life event. He is Leo Tusi, He has been biking for almost
five years now; a biker since the boom of the biking phenomena in the
Philippines. He answered “I think the Biking Industry will increase at a faster
rate for programs like Bike for Life has been popping up all over Metro Manila.
A lot of people would be encouraged to bike for it is a leisure activity at the
same time a good form of exercise. It also saves money and time when commuting;
bikes occupy less space and can maneuver easily at tight spaces. The biking
industry could also be a possible solution to the environmental problems that
we are now facing. Global warming and climate change is an effect of the air
pollution from the exhaust fumes of automobiles, bicycles produce no pollution
and at the same time it discourages the use of automobiles.
Biking
Frontiers, Soaring to the Future
The
rise of the biking industry leads to the deepening of the environmental concern
of the people. It made them realize that it is a possible solution to the
traffic and environmental problems of the country. It is an alternate form of
transportation that is cheap, eco-friendly and readily available to the masses.
The biking movement all over the cities of Metro Manila reflected the trending
bike industry, making a permanent and lasting impact upon the people. With
these things biking would soar into the future, with its wings spread wide.
Bike
For Life event in front of Pasig City Hall
Biking
is an excellent way to relax and enjoy life, an ideal way to lose weight and
maintain a healthy body and mind, and the perfect medium to instill
environmental concern among the people. From its humble beginnings up to now, the
biking industry underwent a lot of twists and turns on the road. It went
through changes, to make it timely to each generation, like the Bike for Life
event; from being a solution to the pasts’ problem to being a possible solution
to the present’s problem giving us the promise of a brighter future.
I felt breeze rushing past my face, colors
zoom by my side and an exhilarating feeling welling up inside, I was riding a
bike again, after all these years. I have found new perspective on biking,
encouraged by curiosity driven by the problems we are now facing, I have a
new-found courage. Now, Will you step up and join me and the whole biking
movement wheel up the ramp to help save tomorrow?
Picture Sources:
The First picture was taken by Zachary Pangan
Secondary Sources:
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