Bike Touring

(Originally published in the Oct. 14 to 20, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---

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

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

BICYCLE touring has much in common with backpacking and mountaineering --- they are both form of self-propelled travel and bring the participant into close contact with the natural world in both its gentle and harsh moods.

According to The Sierra Club Guide to Outings on Wheels, “there is a special appeal to bicycle touring that makes it unique among the various types of self-propelled travel . . . the bicycle is a practical means of transportation as well as a recreational vehicle”.

There are many advantages of a bicycle as a means of getting around. It is relatively cheap and economical. It does not consumer fossil fuel (except for the relatively small amounts of fuel needed to build it and manufacture replacement parts such as tires and brake pads), it is compact to store and can be easily picked up and carried into a house or other building. It is a personal vehicle so that is is ready to go when and where you are. It is fast enough and efficient enough to cover considerable distances in reasonable time periods. 

A bicycle is the ideal vehicle from which to see the countryside. It allows you to travel fast enough to move from one pace to another at a reasonable rate but slow enough to permit you to enjoy the scenery along the way. It is quiet, so you can hear the songs of the birds and the wind in the trees. The touring cyclist isn’t cut off from his surroundings by walls of glass, metal and noise as in touring by car (road trip)

And because of its practical uses, the purchase of a rather costly, good-quality bike actually may save you money in the long run, unlike most other purchases of recreational equipment. 

Questions about gears preoccupy anyone starting out to a bicycle tour. Mistakes in choosing equipment can be disheartening as well as expensive. The touring bicycle us a precision machine that is highly sophisticated in design and the cyclist is quite dependent on its proper functioning. Good equipment does not make you a good cyclist, but even the best cyclist cannot ride well without equipment that meets certain minimum standards. Equipment provides a means of having a good time, of directly experiencing the world around you and of enjoying companionship of friends.

A bicycle tour can be a one-day event, a three-month journey across the country, or a decade-long adventure around the world.

THE LONG DAY TRIP: This is actually just a very long single-day bike ride and not really a “tour” in the strictest sense of the word “tour”. Typical rides of this type can go as far as 100 kilometers as compared “bicycle touring” which is typically an overnight activity.

THE GUIDED/SUPPORTED TOUR: This type of a tour is where your gear (food, clothes, camping equipment, etc.) is carried in a vehicle that meets you at various checkpoints along your route. Some of these tours require that you pay to be a part of them where the tour leader drives the van or truck while you get to ride your bike. The benefit of this type of bicycle touring is that you don’t have to carry a whole bunch of equipment on your bicycle as you ride and you can simply sit back, pedal, and enjoy the scenery. 

THE CREDIT CARD TOUR: Credit card touring is when you travel by bike and pack almost nothing but the clothes on your back and a credit card (or cash) to buy things along the way. Instead of carrying a tent, you pay to sleep in a hotel each night and instead of cooking your own food, you buy food along the way. 

THE GUIDED SELF-SUPPORTED TOUR: This is a tour where you carry on your bicycle everything (food, clothes, tent, stove, etc.) you need to survive while a guide from a touring company leads you along a specific route. With these types of tours, you ride with a small group of people and are then escorted on a daily basis by an experienced bicycle touring guide.

THE FULLY SELF-SUPPORTED TOUR: Then there is the self-supported bicycle tour, which requires you to travel alone (without a guide) and carry all the clothes, tools, and gear you will need to survive for days, weeks, or months on end. This is perhaps the most popular ways to travel by bike.

Until then and have a safe ride by putting on that cycling helmet each time get on your bike. Remember: YOU CAN BEAT THE EAGG WITHOUT BREAKING THE SHELL.*

The “Ten Commandments” of safe driving

(Originally published in the Oct. 7 to 13, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---

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

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

A UNITED Nations’ study revealed that nearly 1.3 million people are killed on the world's roads each year --- and is forecasted to rise to 1.9 million people by 2020 --- while up to 50 million people are injured and many remain disabled for life.

Ninety percent of the annual road deaths occur in developing countries like the Philippines and road traffic injuries are the number one cause of death for young people worldwide and by 2015, road traffic injuries is forecasted to become the leading health burden for children over the age of five years in developing countries.

At the same time, road traffic injuries place an immense burden on hospitals and health systems and the economic cost to developing countries is at least $100 billion a year.

In the Philippines, road accidents is the fourth leading cause of death among Filipinos and the Department of Health (DOH) feared that if this problem is not resolved quickly, road accidents could be the top leading cause of death among Filipinos by the year 2020.

Latest available records from http://www.car-accidents.com say the Philippine National Police reported in 2006 about 15,000 traffic accidents or an average of 41 traffic accidents per day which resulted in 674 fatalities, 3,767 injuries and 10,623 instances of property damage. 

The report concluded that most the traffic accidents in 2006 were caused mainly by driver errors (4,182 instances or 27 percent), vehicle mechanical defects (15 percent), speeding (13 percent). The report also cited cell phone use while driving as an increasing cause of road or traffic accidents.

Between the months of January to June this year, the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) reported 2,300 injuries and 593 deaths caused by car crashes, again, driver error, vehicular defects, and bad road conditions as the principal culprits.

In a similar study, thephilippines.ph said that road accidents actually are largely caused by the lack of knowledge and understanding of motorists about traffic signs and road markings on the road as well as lack of personal precautionary measures when on the road. 

“But not only non-omniscient road motorists themselves contribute to their own respective accidents on the road, but also road ignorant people crossing the roads,” it said. “However, the ignorance of the people is not actually their own fault but rather the fault of the government to ensure proper education of the people especially the motorists regarding traffic signs and road markings the government have installed, especially the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in the Philippines who are in charge of this public obligation.”

“It is obvious that many drivers still fail to follow the basic rules of safety,” wrote Alexander Villafania of YahooNews adding that many suffer from vehicular accidents with high incidence of deaths despite the Philippines having joined more than a decade ago the United Nations’ Decade of Action for Road Safety.

Formally launched on May 11 last year, the United Nations’ Decade of Action for Road Safety has the official goal of establishing and reducing global road traffic fatalities by 2020, seeing global road death and injury as “a major public health problem with a broad range of social and economic consequences which, if unaddressed, may affect the sustainable development of countries and hinder progress towards the Millennium Development Goals”.

Thus, the UN General Assembly proclaimed the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety from 2011 to 2020 in a landmark Resolution co-sponsored by 100 countries, again, including the Philippines.

There is also the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic --- an international treaty designed to facilitate international road traffic and to increase road safety by establishing standard traffic rules among the contracting parties. The convention was agreed upon at the United Nations Economic and Social Council's Conference on Road Traffic (from October 7 to 8 November 8, 1968) in Vienna. It was ratified by 70 countries, including the Philippines.

Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) offers the  Unified Ten Commandments of Driving Safely. While these “commandments” are targeted at companies with heavy load transporters, they are equally necessary for drivers and traffic managers in keeping with the goal of road safety. These have been shortened to help readers to immediately grasp the essential parts.

1. LEADERSHIP AND ACCOUNTABILITY. Leaders at all levels of the company must visibly and personally demonstrate their commitment to managing all aspects of operational safety. For driving safety, there is a clear definition of role, responsibility and accountability to nominated individual down through the management structure.

2. REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS. All drivers and helpers must wear the seatbelt when inside an operating vehicle. Drivers must be familiar with and must respect vehicle codes, laws and regulations (i.e., speed limits, stop signs, load limits, etc.). Drivers must not drive and work under the influence of alcohol, drugs or any other substance or medication that could impair their ability to safely operate the vehicle.

3. PERSONNEL QUALIFICATION, SELECTION AND TRAINING. Drivers and helpers must be qualified, fit and capable of driving safely or spotting according to established criteria. Drivers and helpers must be within the legally prescribed age limit.  Drivers must be with valid licenses with the applicable restriction codes.

4. STAYING ALERT AND FATIGUE PREVENTION. Drivers must be appropriately rested and alert when operating the vehicle. Hauler companies shall monitor and follow the principal company's prescribed work hours for drivers and helpers.

5. VEHICLE SELECTION AND SPECIFICATION. Selecting the right vehicle for the task will ensure that transport activities are carried out effectively with minimum risk to the driver, to the load and to other road users. Hauler companies must ensure that all minimum regulatory requirements: Tires, horn, lights, mirrors, seat belts, emergency devices, wheel chocks, early warning devices.

6. VEHICLE MAINTENANCE AND SERVICING. Car owners must ensure that all vehicles are in a roadworthy condition and well-maintained. A system must be in place to monitor, record and ensure that preventive maintenance is conducted for all units (i.e. interval based odometer reading or operating hours). Vehicle must be routinely inspected prior to their daily journey through pre-start checks.

7. HIGH-VISIBILITY (DRIVERS AND VEHICLES). Vehicles must have all lights working at all times (head lights, tail lights, warning lights)

8. JOURNEY HAZARD MANAGEMENT. All risks must be assessed, particularly risks associated with long-haul journeys, night-time driving, use of higher-risk routes and areas, weather conditions, etc. When scheduling new journeys, drivers must help to identify and mitigate all known and potential journey risks.

9. ON-SITE ROAD AND TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT. There must be road traffic management plans where driving is required to separate people from moving vehicles.

10. INCIDENT REPORTING AND INVESTIGATION. Companies with fleet of vehicles must report incidents including near-misses within 24 hours to the principal. All incidents shall be investigated and learning points shared.

Until then and have a safe ride all the time by putting on that cycling helmet each time get on your bike. Remember: YOU CAN BEAT THE EAGG WITHOUT BREAKING THE SHELL. Most of all, road crashes are preventable. There is no such thing as an accident.*

Aerodynamics

(Originally published in the Sept. 30 to Oct. 6, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---

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

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

EVERY cyclist who has pedaled into a stiff headwind knows about wind resistance. It's exhausting! And in order to move forward, the cyclist must push through the mass of air in front of him. This takes a lot of energy.

Overcoming air resistance is every cyclist’s mission. Cyclists (racers and commuters alike) are aware of this problem and over the years have developed riding techniques and bicycle designs for reducing it.

Experts say that a cyclist accounts for 65 to 80 percent of the drag (wind resistance) while the rest is attributable to the bicycle design and properties. This is because the human body is simply not well designed to slice through the air. 

Most recreational bicycles in which the rider sits up have very poor aerodynamics and where air resistance is therefore at its highest. Aerodynamics is easily defined as the branch of fluid dynamics concerned with the study of gas or air flows which involves calculations of velocity, pressure, density, and temperature. 

In cycling and in bicycle design, improved aerodynamics aims to increase or attain the desired speed at the least effort (force or energy) spent. By reducing the drag by even 1 percent, experts believe, a rider can possibly gain more than a five-foot advantage for every mile at 30 mph.

The rider's position is very important to the overall aerodynamics of both the bicycle and rider. Researchers have shown that proper body position can reduce drag by 30 percent over an upright riding position. 

The most aerodynamic position is obtained by using the hill-descent position where the hands are on the center of the bars. In this position the elbows are tucked in and the chin is on the hands. Also, the cranks are at 90 degrees and the knees are squeezed into the top tube. 

Advances in the aerodynamics of bicycle frames have also taken place starting in the 1980s. Among the first was to utilize oval tubing believed to help streamline the frame to reduce separation downstream of the tubes. Another trick is to add fairings to the seat tube. This fills in the gap between the tube and the wheel which, in turn, decreases the pressure drag. 

New handlebars have allowed riders to achieve an optimal aerodynamic position while still allowing for efficient pedaling. These handlebars allow the rider to achieve the same effect as the hill descent position while still allowing the rider to pedal efficiently. 

Aside from modern materials such as carbon fibers, bicycle manufacturers are eliminating some of the tubing to decrease the drag. Usually, the crossbar is eliminated as well as the chainstays. Some designers have eliminated the seat tube which they claim reduces the amount of separation behind the rider. They agreed that when designing an aerodynamic bicycle, the combination of the rider and the bicycle must be examined together. Bicycles are custom-fitted for the rider’s body.

As early as the late 1890s, one cycling journalist wrote that the importance of wheels to the production of aerodynamic drag has been known. At that time, a company in England produced a solid disk and a four-spoked aerodynamic wheel. These wheels are capable of reducing the overall drag of a bicycle and rider by about 5 percent. However, these original aerodynamic wheels were significantly heavier than typical spoked wheels. 

By cleaning up the protruding parts such as the derailleur and brakes and using smooth curves as opposed to sharp corners, modest reductions in drag can be obtained. Another important source of drag comes from the brake and derailleur cables and in order to eliminate the associated drag, cables are routed through the bike frame and handlebars whenever possible. When cables must be exposed, they are placed either immediately in front of or behind the bicycle frame. When taken as a whole, again, the experts believe, the overall drag reduction for a complete bicycle will be larger by utilizing aerodynamic components.

Racing cyclists often wear the creaseless ‘skin suits’ in order to reduce direct friction contributory to drag. They also shave their arms and legs of unwanted hairs. 

A helmet can also help to decrease the aerodynamic drag that a bicyclist encounters. Researchers have found out that an aerodynamic bicycle helmet reduces the drag by approximately 2 percent over a rider with no helmet. The right helmet not only protects your head, but can also give you a competitive edge in a bicycle race.*

Stripped!

(Originally published in the Sept. 2 to 8, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---

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

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

LIKE a hydrogen bomb 25,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb detonated by U.S. over Nagasaki, Japan in August 1945, the decision of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) eventually came last week stripping Lance Armstrong all of his seven Tour de France titles.

The USADA --- the national anti-doping organization for the Olympic, the Pan-American and Paralympic sport in the United States --- maintains that Armstrong has used banned substances as far back as 1996, including the blood-booster EPO and steroids as well as blood transfusions --- all to boost his performance to gain a competitive edge. 

By doing so, the USADA puts lifetime ban on Armstrong, all of achievements eliminated from the record books.

Obviously tired and sick of the many years of doping accusations, Armstrong decided to forego arbitration while pointing to the hundreds of drug tests that he passed as proof of his innocence.

Calling the USADA investigation an “unconstitutional witch hunt” and a “one-sided and unfair” process, Armstrong told the press “there comes a point in every man's life when he has to say enough is enough”.

“That time is now,” he said, 

He could have easily pressed his innocence through an arbitration process, but said he believes most people have already made up their minds about whether he’s a fraud or a persecuted hero.

USADA retaliated by saying it will certainly treat Armstrong's decision (not to go for arbitration) as an admission of guilt.

Armstrong insisted that his decision is not an admission of drug use. He argued that a refusal to enter an arbitration process is improper and unfair to athletes facing charges.

Lisa Delpy Neirotti, a sports management professor at George Washington University opined that “from an economic standpoint, Armstrong made a wise choice”.

“Since then, he has built his goodwill around the work he has done in battling cancer,” Neirotti says. “We, as a society, have a short memory. It’s old news now, when he performed, if he used drugs. People want to believe in their heroes. Since there is no hard-core evidence, they are going to side with someone they’ve loved and have done something good off the cycle.”

“By not letting the case go to arbitration, particularly with USADA planning to call more than 10 witnesses, Armstrong prevents the possibility of new evidence that might cause sponsors to squirm,” she said. By using the moment to also declare he will give more time to his Livestrong Foundation for cancer patients, he promotes a more positive narrative.

“I bet there are more cancer victims than there are cycling fans; I don’t have those statistics, but I bet that’s the case, definitely in the U.S.,” Neirotti added.

“I know who won those seven Tours, my teammates know who won those seven Tours, and everyone I competed against knows who won those seven Tours,” Armstrong said, insisting that the USADA cannot assert control of a professional international sport and attempt to strip him of his seven Tour de France titles.

The USADA doesn't have the authority to vacate his Tour de France titles, he said. USADA said it can.

Included in USADA’s evidence are emails written by Armstrong's former U.S. Postal Service teammate Floyd Landis, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title after a positive drug test. Landis' emails to a USA Cycling official detailed allegations of a complex doping program of the team.

USADA also said it had 10 former Armstrong teammates ready to testify against him, including Landis and Tyler Hamilton --- both of whom have admitted to doping offenses. USADA refused to say what they would say.

“There is zero physical evidence to support (the) outlandish and heinous claims,” Armstrong argued. “The only physical evidence here is the hundreds of (doping) controls I have passed with flying colors.”

Earlier, Armstrong sued USADA and was supported by the sport’s governing body Union Cycliste Internationale or UCI, the sport's governing body. But a judge’s heart is with the USADA.

“USADA's conduct raises serious questions about whether its real interest in charging Armstrong is to combat doping, or if it is acting according to less noble motives such as politics or media attention,” U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks wrote.

“Today I turn the page. I will no longer address this issue, regardless of the circumstances. I will commit myself to the work I began before ever winning a single Tour de France title: serving people and families affected by cancer, especially those in underserved communities,” Armstrong said.*

Mountain Bike: Its early origins

(Originally published in the August 26 to Sept. 1, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---

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

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

ALTHOUGH most of the credit to the beginnings of mountain bikes is given to a northern California group that was around in the ‘70s, people have been riding bikes off-road for nearly as long as bikes have been around.

One of the earliest references you can find was a group of black soldiers in the 1890s. 

Known as the 25th Infantry U.S. Army Bicycle Corps stationed at Fort Missoula, Montana and set out in 1896 until 1897 across the country on their single-speed bikes that were modified for long distance travel with supplies over rough terrain. They weighed about 70lbs-120lbs when loaded.

Lt. James A. Moss led the company of black soldiers on several obstacle intensive test runs of the iron two-wheeled alternative to horses for transportation. Their two greatest trips of note were a nearly 800 mile round trip ride from Missoula to Yellowstone and a 1,900 mile one-way trip to St Louis, Missouri and returning to Missoula by train. 

The 25th Infantry gained fame and was nicknamed the Buffalo Soldiers who were probably in better shape than most of us are today.

Another well-known group of “mountain bike pioneers” was the Velo Cross Club Parisian (France) in the early 1950s that developed a bicycling sport that was similar to modern mountain biking. 

This group of cyclists was customizing their 650-B bikes with some remarkable modifications for their time. They had handlebar shifters, fat tires, and even some suspension.

650B is an old tire size designation for what is known today as 584mm ETRO --- a currently obscure size, at least in North America, that has been used in the past on some of the finest bicycles. The 584mm sits nicely between the standard road bike wheel size --- the 622mm ETRO (i.e. 700c) --- and the standard 559mm ETRO (i.e. 26”) for off road bikes.  The tires currently available in the U.S. range from about 30mm wide to 38mm wide, though there are other sizes available in Europe.

Just several years later, in 1955 in the UK, the Rough Stuff Fellowship or RSF was formed by cyclists who focused on off-road and hard terrain biking. Bikes then were a world away from their modern-day counterparts. Steel frames, no suspension, no disk or V-brakes. The RSF promotes responsible access to the countryside. It has a Code of Practice which members are asked to adhere to. 

Further credit goes to a guy named John Finley Scott who modified his bike “The Woodsie” in 1953 for fun rides in the outdoors. He too had shifting gears, fat tires, flat handlebars etc.

Although all of these sources sound much like mountain bikes, nothing really ever developed from their efforts.

Most of the credit for the success of the modern day mountain bike goes to a group of riders from Marin County, California who were developing their own versions of mountain bikes in the 1970's. They even had their own races that they liked to call the Repack Downhill. The name Repack came from when they always had to repack their rear hubs/brakes after burning them out on the way down.

Although they weren't the first to put big tires, flat handlebars, cantilever brakes, or even derailleurs, on a bike built for the mountains, they did spawn all of mountain biking as we know it today. From a few of these pioneers came the marketing, innovations and technologies that tipped mountain biking into the mainstream.

To most, names like Joe Breeze, Otis Guy, Gary Fisher, and Tom Ritchey don't mean much, but those of us who know the industry, these guys are the ones who built it. Mike Sinyard who joined in just a little later should also get quite a bit of credit for bringing the first real mass produced mountain bikes to the market.

From there, it's just been one innovation after another for nearly 30 years.

While the general layout of mountain bikes such as flat handlebars, derailleurs, big tires, and powerful brakes, has not changed, a lot of the details of mountain bikes have evolved over the years in ways that have altered the sport immensely.

Probably the biggest changes that have influenced the user experience in mountain biking have been with the introduction of front and rear suspension.

Suspension forks (front suspension) were introduced in the late 80's and our hands have been happy ever since. Suspension forks have proven to not only increase control but make a much more comfortable ride, and are now included on nearly every modern mountain bike.

Rear suspension (also introduced in the late 80's), like suspension forks, has also proven to keep riders under control in more situations. The rider comfort level is greatly improved with rear suspension as well. There are numerous different types of rear suspensions and rear suspension linkages that perform at different levels.

Disk brakes were introduced in the early 90's and have also made quite a difference when it comes to performance enhancing innovations. Disks are more reliable in more situations and have nearly limitless power when compared to some of the older cantilever style brakes that they replace.

Other innovations have come in materials and manufacturing that have resulted in increased performance, part life, and significant weight reduction. Some of the biggest advancements have been in frame materials such as carbon fiber and advanced Aluminum alloys. Other advancements such as indexed shifting, the threadless headset, and better bottom brackets, have made bikes easier to work on and longer lasting.

P

The mountain bikes of today are much faster, lighter, reliable, and way more expensive than the bikes of the past.

The typical modern day mountain bike has 4, 5, or 6 inches of travel in both the front and rear. The weight of a full suspension cross country race bike can easily be as low as 22 pounds with no compromise. Downhill race bikes may have as much as 10 inches of travel and can take 30 foot drops.

Our bikes and the parts on them are engineered to perform flawlessly and will last much longer than anything we had even 10 years ago.

There will be plenty of advancements in suspension and materials in the future, but what will probably make the biggest difference to us will be a replacement of the front and rear derailleur and maybe even the chain.*

Who can stop Go? About Road Rage

(Originally published in the August 19 to 25, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---

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

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

A WAVE of condemnation by netizens has spread like a wildfire on social media networks after a Metro Manila motorist was caught on video assaulting a traffic enforcer who called the motorist’s attention for a wrong turn at the corner of Capitol Hills Drive and Tandang Sora in Quezon City.

Robert “Blair” Carabuena, a resourcing supervisor at cigarette maker Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp. (PMFTC), was caught on video by TV5network producers while mauling a Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) traffic enforcer identified as Saturnino Fabros. 

“I don't want to imagine what could've happened if this Blair Carabuena had a gun in his car,” Jong D.G. tweeted. Twitter user Kristine said: "One of the reasons why Pinas is not improving is because of some people who think highly of themselves."

“We may have a lot of things against the government but it does not warrant us to act like arrogant douche bags," Vincent Benjamin said via Twitter while Pau Rosales tweeted: “They (MMDA officers) work rain or shine to make sure our traffic situation is somehow bearable, must we abuse them? They are also humans.”

ON July 2, 1991, 25-year-old Eldon Maguan, a De La Salle University engineering student, was driving his car down a one-way street in San Juan and nearly collided with Rolito Go's vehicle, which was traveling the wrong way. The businessman got off his car and shot Maguan who died a few days later.

Go was convicted in 1993 of murder in absentia after he escaped from the Rizal Provincial Jail a few days before the sentencing. Go was finally caught in 1996 in Pampanga and then served his life imprisonment sentence at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa. Early this year, Go was transferred from the prison's maximum security facility to the minimum security area, allowing him to walk around the facility without security escorts.

Just this week, the Department of Justice said Go “has gone missing and may have been kidnapped”. Justice Secretary Leila De Lima confirmed that Go has been unaccounted for at the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) since 11:30 p.m. of August 14 during the inmates’ head count.

The assault of Carabuena on Farbos and the killing of Maguan by Go are cases of aggressive or angry behavior by a driver of an automobile or other motor vehicles known as ROAD RAGE.

Road rage is a serious threat to public safety. As an extreme case of aggressive driving, it can be unsafe, thereby threatening other motorists as well as pedestrians. Some transportation experts claim that traffic congestion may be considered as a contributing factor to driver frustration subsequently leading to road rage. It includes rude gestures, verbal insults, deliberately driving in an unsafe or threatening manner, or making threats, leading to verbal altercations, physical assaults, and collisions which result in injuries and even deaths.

In the US, more than 300 reported cases of road rage yearly have ended with serious injuries or even fatalities. According to a six-year AAA Foundation study that examined police records nationally, there were 1,200 road rage incidents per year.

As early as 1997, therapists in the US have been working to certify road rage as a medical condition. Road rage is already an official mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. According to an article published by the Associated Press in 2006, “the behaviors typically associated with road rage are the result of intermittent explosive disorder.” This previously-published conclusion was drawn from surveys of some 9,200 adults in the US between 2001 and 2003 and was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.

A 2007 study of the largest US metropolitan areas concluded that the cities with the least courteous drivers (most road rage) are Miami, Phoenix, New York, Los Angeles and Boston. In 2009, New York, Dallas/Fort Worth, Detroit, Atlanta and Minneapolis/St. Paul were rated as the top five “Road Rage Capitals” of the United States.

Sadly, there are still no comprehensive road rage statistics in the Philippines. We can only cite some.

On November 18, 2009, 27-year-old Renato Victor Ebarle Jr.’s vehicle had nearly collided with another SUV driven by a foreign-looking man on Santolan Road, Quezon City. The man reportedly blocked Ebarle’s path, stepped out of his blue Honda CRV, with the diplomatic plate number 20903, and shot Ebarle --- the son of an undersecretary for the Office of the Presidential Chief of Staff --- three times at close range through the car's windshield before escaping. The suspect’s SUV was later traced to Stephen Pollard, a British economist at the Asian Development Bank.

Police later identified the alleged killer as American Jason Ivler, 27, son of Pollard’s wife Marlene Aguilar (Freddie Aguilar’s sister) from a previous marriage.

Another motorist, Manolito Cuya, 47, said that the night before Ebarle was killed, Ivler pointed a gun at him in New Manila, Quezon City after he blew his horn at Ivler’s vehicle on Hemady Street in Quezon City, saying: "Masuwerte ka may kasama kang mga bata. Pero pag nakita kita uli, papatayin na kita (You're lucky you have children with you. If I see you again, I'll kill you)." Cuya was with his wife, sister-in-law, daughter, and niece at the time.

Police raided three houses in Quezon City in November but failed to find Ivler. A manhunt was launched for the “armed and dangerous” American, with P1 million offered to anyone who could provide information leading to his arrest. Ivler’s name was also included in the International Police Organization’s ‘red notice’ list, which meant he could be arrested abroad and deported to the Philippines.

On Nov. 27, Ivler’s mother went to the National Bureau of Investigation and claimed that the allegations against her son came about after she wrote a book ‘that denounces America and its killing machine’. Aguilar also said she had no information on the whereabouts of her son, whom she described as ‘a highly trained soldier’ from the US Special Operations command who had been sent to ‘risky’ missions in Iraq. He received an ‘honorable discharge in October 2008.

On December 23, a Quezon City judge issued an arrest warrant, without bail, for Ivler. In the same month, Aguilar told police she had received an e-mail from Ivler saying he was in Hawaii (where he finished AB Psychology at the Hawaii Pacific University) and that her son would not surrender without a fight. 

On 18 January 2010, Jason was arrested by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation or NBI in his mother's home in, Quezon City. Two NBI operatives were wounded after Jason instigated a brief shootout. Jason sustained gunshot wounds in his right shoulder and in his abdomen that cut through his spleen and large intestines.

Ivler also figured in a 2004 vehicular accident on the C-5 Ortigas flyover that killed Nestor Ponce, then presidential adviser for resettlement, and injured Ponce’s wife and another passenger. For the 2004 incident, Ivler was charged in a Pasig City court with reckless imprudence resulting in homicide and slight physical injuries. He pleaded guilty to the lighter crime and was sentenced to public censure. He asked the court to quash the more serious charges, claiming double jeopardy, but his motion was denied. Ivler’s petition for review is pending at the Supreme Court.

When he was 22, Jason was charged with homicide due to reckless imprudence when, in August 2004, he reportedly lost control of his Toyota Land Cruiser and crashed to an Isuzu Trooper. This resulted in the death of Nestor Ponce Jr. who was President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s adviser for resettlement. Jason posted bail and allegedly attempted to flee to Malaysia by boat but was arrested in Zamboanga City. He was considered a fugitive after failing to appear in the homicide case hearings that are still pending in a Pasig City court.

Early this year, Bureau of Customs Commissioner Paulino Elevado (and his companion Florencio Bato) mauled a 20-year old student during a traffic altercation along the South Luzon Express Way. Elevado then shot at the student’s vehicle as he drove off in his P5-million Porsche. Security cameras on SLEx caught the incident.

On June 21, 2009, a traffic altercation turned into a deadly family feud, leaving six people dead. The trouble started at a traffic jam on the Nueño Avenue in Imus, Cavite as Sowaib Salie repeatedly honked his vehicle's horns at the car in front driven by Raul Bautista. A confrontation erupted when both motorists arrived at the public market. Bautista then left the scene only to come back later with reinforcement in tow. A brief firefight left six people dead, including Bautista, his two sons and the family driver, and Salie and his fellow trader Mahmod Sultan.

In 1998, Feliber Andres family's All Saints’ Day eve pilgrimage to the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina took a ghastly turn when their vehicle nearly collided with the one driven by Inocencio Gonzalez. Noel Andres tailed Gonzalez’ vehicle first before he cut his path which resulted in a confrontation between the two motorists. In the heat of the argument, Gonzalez pulled out a gun and shot at the Andres’ vehicle, hitting Andres and his pregnant wife, their two-year old son, and their nephew. Feliber did not survive the attack but the doctors were able to save her baby. The son and the nephew were discharged from the hospital a few days later. Gonzalez was found guilty of murder and two counts of frustrated murder in 1999. The Supreme Court then modified the 2001 trial court's decision, finding him guilty of homicide.

On January 10, 2003, Jay Llamas was traversing the northbound lane of Taft Avenue when his Toyota Corolla was bumped by a motorcycle as they neared the Buendia intersection. Llamas and the unnamed motorcycle driver got into a heated argument which ended when the suspect drew a gun and shot Llamas at close range three times--twice in the head and once in the body. The suspect then hailed a parked tricycle and fled the scene. The case remains unsolved to this date.

On October 2, 2007, Edgardo Canizares was traveling with a passenger along Gen. Roxas Street near the corner of Shaw Boulevard when his Nissan Cefiro almost hit the car of Manuel Hernandez Jr., a Pasig City Hall legal officer and nephew of a Sandiganbayan Justice. Hernandez was reportedly driving against the flow of traffic, prompting an angry Canizares to get out of his car and insult Hernandez. Hernandez pulled out a gun and shot Canizares four times and his passenger, twice. Homicide charges were filed against Hernandez but he was freed after posting an P80,000 bail.*

Riding between raindrops

(Originally published in the August 12 to 18, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---

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

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

RIDING under the rain or in an inclement weather is a discipline by itself.

For the cyclist, visibility is a necessity of life, like food and water. Bright clothing and equipment is the cyclist’s first line of defense. Chose the brightest ones you can stand. Think in terms of drivers who are road-weary, timid and inattentive, often with wet or dirty windshields. Wear anything that attracts attention such as reflector vests. Even if you have the best lighting systems, many motorists won’t see you. If you have to ride in an inclement weather or if you are caught in it, be aware that you are virtually invisible.

Wet weather impairs traction, braking and visibility, both for the cyclist and for the other vehicles sharing the road. The risk of an accident is dramatically increased in wet conditions. Under wet conditions, the stopping power of your brakes (as well as the brakes of the other vehicles on the road) is dramatically reduced and your tires don’t grip nearly as well. This makes it harder to control speed and easier to lose control. To make sure that you can slow down or stop safely in wet conditions, ride more slowly and apply your brakes more gradually than you would under normal, dry conditions. Remember that you have to squeeze much harder to slow down or stop when your rims are wet. 

The ideal clothing for cycling on a rainy weather is yet to be perfected though they have dramatically improved through the years. The trouble with rainwear for active sports is that any clothing that covers your body and is waterproof traps your perspiration. If the air and rain outside are cool, chilling the clothing, then the moisture evaporating from your skin even though you are not sweating condenses on the inside surface of the raingear like a dew, soaking you from the inside.

Since it is impossible to make a suit that sheds the rain from outside and completely eliminates condensation and perspiration problems, any cycling raingear is bound to be a compromise.

Riding into the rain creates additional problem because rain will pour through any ventilation openings in the front of your protective gear. Even if your bike is equipped with fenders and mud guards to minimize splash from your own wheels, you are likely to catch a lot of spray from cars, generally mixed with mud.

Many cyclists simply ignore the problem, choosing to get wet if it starts to rain. If you are not wearing a protective gear and if the weather is cold, you can lose a lot of body heat, draining your energy reserves and badly chilling the body. If you are cycling in prolonged rain, you may be a lot more comfortable if you can keep the amount of mud and precipitation hitting you to a minimum.

One type of rain garment is the cyclist’s cape which covers the upper body and hooks over the thumbs or handlebars to form a “rolling tent”. One problem though is that it obscures your vision of the road directly beneath you, distorting your perceptions and reactions. In order for the cape to be of any use at all, fenders may be used to cut the spray from below and rain pants may be necessary. But the cape increases wind resistance, flaps badly when riding fast, and acts like a sail to carry you in the direction of the wind whenever there is a gust or a passing truck thereby posing a severe hazard.

A rain suit is another alternative. While it covers most of your body and creates less wind resistance, it increases condensation problems and the trapping of sweat. 

The traditional hood used on parkas for mountaineering and backpacking should not be worn while cycling because it is difficult to take a quick glace over your shoulder while wearing one. The hood continues to face straight ahead while your head turns inside and all you can see are the inside seams of the parkas instead of the car bearing down on you from the rear.

First used in 1969 as an alternative to fabric coatings, a film called Gore-Tex® is sandwiched in between a lightweight nylon fabric and an inner material, usually a light, non-woven mesh. The film, made of a material similar to Teflon®, has billions of pores so small that liquid water droplets cannot pass through in most circumstances, but molecules of water vapor can. The material is thus waterproofed but allows water vapor evaporated from the skin to pass through so that condensation and perspiration build-up are far less that with conventional coated nylon. 

Gore-Tex® is a great improvement over the other materials. But it is expensive and requires greater care since dirt can act as a wetting agent, reducing the surface tension of water droplets and allowing them to leak through the pores. Fairly frequent washing is therefore necessary. And whether a raingear made of Gore-Tex® is worth the considerable additional cost depends on your budget.

Until then and have a safe ride all the time. Put on that cycling helmet each time you get on your bike. Remember: YOU CAN BEAT THE EGG WITHOUT BREAKING THE SHELL.*