P-Noy is taking up biking!

By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

AS the new father of the land, our President, P-Noy, inherited a bankrupt and corrupt state. It will take years and a gigantic sweat for him to solve the ills of this damaged nation. It’s a gargantuan task that P-Noy is facing these days and this is affecting his health what with the enormous stress. He said he needs a regular exercise to tranquilize the pressure and fretfulness that he’s enduring now. And believe it or not, he has chosen cycling!

We all know that his favorite sport is practical shooting, but he has now added biking to his list. And I guess like you and me, this could also be his New Year’s resolution.

“If there is a way to increase my output, hopefully I can find the energy to do that thing. To that extent, I will begin a regular regimen. I’m taking up biking,” P-Noy told media in an interview at the Luneta Park in Manila after leading the flag-raising and wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate 114th death anniversary of the country’s national hero last December 30.

“I hope we can still do more than what we have been doing. I hope we can have that strength to do so. And the first plan is to go through the huge backlog of documents that I have to read. These were even increased by the yearend reports that have been submitted and I am paying attention to them,” P-Noy explained.

As the news have it, the 50 year-old bachelor president received a bicycle as a gift from someone last Christmas season. And it is reassuring to hear Presidential Security Group (PSG) chief Col. Ramon Dizon say that PSG members are ready to pedal with P-Noy along the wide and secure PSG grounds in Malacanang and that would be huge enough for the scheduled workouts.

Once again this confirms what my private physician and town mate Dr. Demosthenes “Butch” Ydia told me: cycling provides one of the best exercises among all the sports that humans had ever created. I would say probably next to swimming. It’s really very good for the heart. I believe a regular exercise regimen will lead to a healthier, longer life. This is the reason why Dr. Ydia, a surgeon at Nazareth Hospital in Dagupan, now in his late 40’s, still roams around the non-busy streets of Dagupan City (especially the De Venecia Expressway Extension) using his sophisticated bike and pedals almost everyday. He has a group called “Sunday Bikers” and they have participated in races held Tagaytay and Ormoc cities under the executive category. They’ve lost some and won some.

But cycling can be a hazardous sport, especially if you ride through the busy national highways where undisciplined drivers rule. I know of four riders from Pangasinan who met their untimely deaths during their training period. Tour veterans Melchor Idos of Sto. Tomas, Romeo Valdez of Urdaneta City, Reynante Conde of Pozorrubio were sideswiped by a speeding vehicle. The latest victim was amateur rider Raffy Peralta of Alcala.

I was a victim myself when I was hit by a ‘farm-to-market-motorized-vehicle’ (kuliglig) at the barangay Longos junction in San Fabian on September 9, 2001. I was very lucky that the impact was not too strong because kuliglig is not fast vehicle. But that’s one of my unforgettable experiences as a bicycle rider starting in 1957.

Nonetheless, If P-Noy likes biking because he knows it’s really good for the health, particularly to aging people like me and him, then why don’t we?

Come on guys, let’s do it if we want to live longer.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’” Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. “Therefore if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind me Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.” LUKE 4: 2-8

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