The Enduro di Braggadocio

(Originally published in the Nov. 18 to 24, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---

a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines ---

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

ALL trails lead to the Yellow Trail this weekend where mountain bike freaks converge for the Enduro di Braggadocio.

As of this writing, my “old” and “aging” friend Cesar Zulueta from Quirino Hill bragged that physical preparations of the trails are almost done and ready for bragging. What was originally a dream is now a reality, he bragged.

I say “old” because we have been friends since the early ‘80s when His Excellency Ferdinand Edralin Marcos was still the president of the New Republic. I can brag about that. 

That was when Quirino Hill, bragging aside, was not yet as crowded as it is now which makes anyone refuse to brag about it. Ces and I used to “jam” in the veranda of another “old” and “aging” brag friend German ‘Ulo’ Sales in Middle Quirino Hill, close to where I stayed when I was still in college.

I also say “aging” for obvious reasons. I call him “Manong Ces”, especially in the presence of the younger riders if only “to lead by example”. 

Meanwhile, I will brag about the “old” and “aging” brag ‘Ulo’ in another topic in the future, away from the subject of bicycles.

Going back, Manong Ces (who lately started spelling his nickname as Xes) bragged that the Enduro di Braggadocio will feature five “special stages” designed to test to the max the hardcore Baguio downhiller. 

“All downhill!” the old and aging Manong Ces bragged when I bumped into him at the Mandarin Restaurant last Tuesday, as if he can keep up with the braver and younger Baguio downhillers.

What’s the catch?, I asked. 

Nothing. No nothing. No prizes. 

What?! (I nearly fell off my chair.)

Nothing? No nothing? No prizes? Yes, Manong Ces bragged, obviously running out patience. The same old, aging and grumpy (and brag) Manong Ces!

The riders will just be timed for their run on each stage and the rider with the shortest accumulated time wins, Manong Ces bragged.

How would you be able to attract riders if you cannot offer even a bottle of SanMig Lite as a grand prize?!

Nothing. No nothing. No prizes. Just the bragging right, the “old” and “aging” (and brag) Manong Ces answered. Just the exclusive right to brag about being the fastest among the fastest riders in the very first Enduro di Braggadocio. 

They don’t call it Enduro di Braggadocio for nothing!

The generic Baguio downhiller is really a brag. Please don’t get me wrong. Mind you, he has all the reasons to be. I can brag about that.

He has the endurance. Endurance beyond compare. He has the speed. Blinding and dizzying speed! He has the power. Unbelievable power! And he has the best bike that makes my bike just ten pesos worth. He has the looks that I don’t have. 

And he has proven himself in many a-downhill tournaments such as in Sagada early this year. 

I was there! I’m a brag!

-o0o-

DERIVED from the word “endurance”, enduro (or ND for short) is a relatively new format which appears to have taken some inspiration from both car rally and motorbike enduro racing. 

Mountain bike enduro is essentially the competitive side of the mountain biking format often referred to today as “all-mountain”. It is a stage-race format where the winner is the rider who accumulates the lowest combined time from the various timed sections. 

International or world mountain bike enduro competitions take place over the course of one or two days. Week-long enduro competitions do also exist. 

A typical one-day enduro race consists of three to five timed “special” stages --- linked by predominantly ascending “liaison” stages --- on a technically demanding, generally descending terrain. Although a rider's specific performance on the physically demanding liaison stages does not affect his or her result, the liaisons are often associated with a time-cut off (i.e. a latest permitted arrival at the summit of the next special stage).*

It could happen to anyone

(Originally published in the Nov. 11 to 17, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---

a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines ---

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

Bradley Wiggins: Tour de France winner injured in crash!, BBC Sport reported on Thursday.

I am not surprised. I am not saying I have been expecting it. It can happen to anyone, even to the very best cyclists on the road. It can happen even to the champions.

As a matter of consolation, BBC Sport added that the 32-year old 2012 Tour de France champion and Olympic gold medal winner is now in hospital --- after being knocked off his bike --- nursing damages in his ribs and is being kept in for observation.

Wiggins’ injuries from the crash were first thought to be very serious but later it appeared that he suffered a number of broken ribs and cuts and bruises.

“He was taken to hospital with injuries that are not thought to be life-threatening; his condition is stable,” police said.

A witness who saw Wiggins shortly after he was knocked over later told the police that Wiggins “was on the pavement; he actually thought he had broken his ribs; his hands looked bruised and they were curled up a bit and then his color changed; he was obviously in a lot of pain.”

Wiggins was on a mountain bike on his way to meet a group of local cyclists. The driver of the Astra, a local woman, was uninjured, news reports added.

His Team Sky has confirmed the accident on their website. “We can confirm that on Wednesday evening Bradley Wiggins was involved in a road traffic accident whilst riding his bike near his home in Lancashire (North West of England),” it said. “He is being kept in hospital overnight for observation but the injuries he has sustained are not thought to be serious and he is expected to make a full and speedy recovery.”

Wiggins, a father of two, is the first British winner of the Tour de France in July this year. Weeks later, he won a fourth Olympic gold medal at the London Olympics with a expected victory in the road time trial. 

In the 2000 Summer Olympics, he won bronze medal in the team pursuit. In the 2004 Olympics, he pedaled to win gold in the four-kilometer individual pursuit, silver in the team pursuit and a bronze in the Madison. 

The madison is a conventional race but with riders in each team riding part of the distance, handing over to the other member, resting, and then returning to the race. Teams are usually of two riders but occasionally of three. Only one of the team is racing at any time and the replacement rider has to be touched before he can take over. The touch can also be a push, often on the shorts, or one rider hurling the other into the race by a hand-sling.

How long each rider stays in the race is for each team to decide. Originally, riders took stints of a couple of hours or more and the resting rider went off for a sleep or a meal. That was easier in earlier six-day races because hours could pass without riders attempting to speed away from the others. As races became more intensive, both riders from the team began riding on the track at the same time, one going fast on the short line around the bottom of the track and the other idling higher up until his turn comes to take over. Modern six-days last less than 12 hours a day and the madison is now only a featured part, so staying on the track throughout is more feasible.

The aim of each team is to ride more laps than any of the others. Tied positions are split by points awarded for placings at a series of sprints at intervals during the race.

The madison is a feature of six-day races, but it can also be a separate race, as in the Olympic Games. It has its own championships and specialist riders. A madison typically lasts between 30 and 60 minutes, but can take up to 90 minutes. The Madison was a Summer Olympic event for men from 2000-2008, but was dropped ahead of the 2012 London Olympics.

Born on April 28, 1980, Bradley Marc Wiggins started his cycling career on the track where he specialized in the pursuit and Madison disciplines and eventually evolved towards road racing.sad

Wiggins won a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics, three further medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics and two golds at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Wiggins' haul of six Olympic medals, which includes three gold medals, make him the sixth most successful British Olympian and is the most bemedalled British Olympian alongside rower Steve Redgrave with six medals. In road cycling, he turned professional in 2002, but his involvement was limited by his track cycling until 2007.

After the 2008 Olympics, Wiggins took a break from the track to focus on the road. Initially viewed as a time-trial specialist and a rouleur (a type of racing cyclist considered a good all-rounder), Wiggins showed his ability in stage races when he finished fourth at the 2009 Tour de France --- the joint highest placed finish by a British rider in Tour de France history. 

With his impressive 2009 Tour de France finish and a podium finisher in the 2011 Vuelta a España, Wiggins displayed excellent racing form the entire season by winning the overall title in the highly important stage races of the eight-stage 1,155.5-kilometer Paris-Nice (established in 1933 and is also known as The Race to the Sun) last March, the Tour de Romandie (5 stages, 1 prologue for a total 695.1 kilometers) the following month, and the 1,052-kilometer Critérium du Dauphiné (7 stages, one prologue) just last month. 

The son of an Australian professional cyclist Gary Wiggins, Bradley started racing at south London's Herne Hill Velodrome at age 12. In 2010 he was inducted in to the London Youth Games Hall of Fame. 

At 20, Wiggins won a bronze medal for Britain in the team pursuit at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Wiggins became the first British athlete in 40 years to win three medals at one Games.*