..strive to the finish!

It's summer in Europe and the yearly Tour of France is on-going. We’re able to see and watch the telecast of the action via the Italian RaiSports channel. The tour itself was very exciting especially during the last 500 meters before the finish line. You can see the eagerness and the power each cyclist is exerting just to win the lap. Equally exciting was the pleasant view of the scenery. The greens, roadside towns and suburbs, old ruins and new buildings, gorgeous mountains with its tall and green trees. The tour is the showcase of France itself.

When I was in high school, I have to pedal my way to St. Dominic in the earliest of each morning. Together with my classmate and friend (now a “kumpadre”) Ted, we will glide our way to the town with his old but reliable “diskanso”. I’m using my racer bike bought by my father for 200 pesos. He intentionally didn’t put any brake system for the purpose of me not going very fast. An idea which I many times don't agree with. To cut the story short, I finished my high school seldom riding the tricycle.


Whenever I’m coming home, I still see the same racer bike I used. It’s now hanging in one corner of our “bodega”. It was dismantled but was kept neatly tied and hanged. My father kept it. There were other bikes inside, but this is special. As if a trophy was there standing out with the rest.
Someday I will ride it again for sure. Not joining any race nor going to school. But only to feel my younger years of striving. To feel again how is it get going on places on top of my bike again. It took a lot of pedalling and bumps, scratches and faults, but its’ worth will always remain.