True confession – Why I quit my sport
By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.
SOME of my cycling mates, my age contemporaries, my relatives, friends, media colleagues and especially numerous cycling avid aficionados, keep asking me if I still ride my bike even for just for fun, only. Their biggest question is, if I don’t…why not? My answer to that – I quit my beloved sport because of the injuries I suffered in an accident in September 9, 2001.
I was an aging 56-year-old man and I was determined to make a comeback in my favorite sport. I had planned on joining any grandmaster category event but fate was unkind to me on that day. I was riding alone home bound to my town Mangaldan on my Japanese made Tsukiboshi racer bike from my road work when suddenly a farm-to-market road vehicle (kuliglig) suddenly crossed my path along the national highway of barangay Longos junction in San Fabian. I was hit and thrown off my bike. But what exasperated me was on seeing that that the three-wheeled vehicle full of passengers was driven by a 15-year-old boy. Yes, “Only in the Philippines,” as we say it here.
According to the San Fabian police investigation, the kuliglig full of passengers came all the way from Tayug, Pangasinan and bound for Bonuan Blue Beach in Dagupan City to have a party. I suffered contusions and pain on my left chest, bruises in my right foot and right hand. These took me almost a month to heal. At any rate, the case was amicably solved, they paid for all my treatment and medications.
During my recuperation at home, I contemplated my accident. I asked myself why I met this accident, and not during my thousands of days of intensive and serious trainings in preparation for all my big races which were far riskier than riding alone on that fateful day, September 9, 2001. After days and weeks of weighing the cons and pros about my plans for a comeback, I concluded there could be a strong message from Above warning me of a worse fate that can cost my life if I don’t quit the sport. That’s how I felt about that road accident. Anyway, recall that when what I fervently prayed to Him to give me even just one national cycling championship, look what happened! He did not only give me one but three, in addition to being four-time first runner-up and giving our province six team diadems, and being made the skipper of our Pangasinan squad.
Yes, that September 9, 2001 accident stopped from riding my bike competitively. While my addiction to the sport ended my days as a player and a competitor, it led me to become an organizer and director of cycling events. The race last December 18 (my birthday) sponsored by Excellent Noodles owned by my long-time friend Alex Billan, was my 244th event since I started organizing and directing races on March 7, 1974. My main objective in organizing races in the province is to keep promoting the sport and to create opportunities for our local cyclists to develop their skills during races so they sustain Pangasinan’s supremacy in cycling. Remember, we already recorded 21 individual national Tour champions that started by Rufino Gabot of Manaoag in 1957, and lastly, by Joshua Cariño of Mangaldan in 2018. Long story. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYBODY!
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. MATTHEW: 7: 7
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