Five Sundays ago, my three best friends and I biked at the back of Cebu Doctors’ Mandaue (Zuellig Road), near Mandani Bay. It’s a 4-km. loop that’s closed to vehicles every Sunday from 6 to 9 a.m.
The entire three-lane road was ours. But we had a plan: to do drafting. We would alternate; taking turns at the front for about 30 seconds before slowing down to allow the lead rider to take in the wind resistance. This is called slipstreaming. It’s estimated that you save up to 30 percent energy by “sitting in.”
Sadly, in one of the alternating moves, my two best friends’ tires clipped resulting in a bad crash. My friend’s shoulder hit the deck; so did his back. It was an agonizing fall. We had to go to Chong Hua Mandaue for an X-ray and cleaning of the wounds. Luckily, no major injuries happened.
I, too, have had my share of bike crashes. The worst was over 15 years ago when my friend Celso and I biked the back of Talamban and we headed for Barangay Guba. We were on our MTBs and were descending fast. Celso was ahead of me in a downhill when a dog crossed in front of him. He tumbled to the ground. Good thing he sustained only minor abrasions.
The week after, it was my turn in the front. In a steep downhill section, my Vellum bike hit a boulder and I flipped forward and smashed my face straight into the gravel patch. My helmet tore open. I rushed to North Gen Hospital and, with the help of Dr. Ronald Eullaran, was transferred to Chong Hua Fuente. Dr. Susan Verallo put a few stitches on my lip.
POGACAR. Two days ago and entering the Stage 8 of Vuelta a España, Tadej Pogacar had an insurmountable lead of nearly four minutes on Enric Mas. But with just 31 kms. to go to the finish in Xeraco, the unthinkable happened: Pogacar crashed. His face and shoulder hit the pavement hard and he had to abandon the race.
From near-certainty in winning to riding the UAE Team Bus and heading home to Monaco and recuperate.
What happened? Well, this is cycling. There were 184 riders when the Vuelta started the other weekend. Right now, at least seven riders have abandoned. When your tires are inches away from each other and you are traveling at 54+ kph, the margin for error is miniscule. Just one simple movement or error by a rider can cause massive damage.
This is so unfortunate for Pogacar. This 2026, he won an incredible 22 victories in 45 days of racing. And the Vuelta is the only Grand Tour that he hasn’t won. But it wasn’t meant to be.
The same thing happened to Jonas Vingegaard. In the Tour de France, he crashed in a turn and had to abandon.
The most dangerous is the downhill. These pro riders can go as fast as 100 kph downhill! I’ve been watching (almost nightly) the live footages and they’re scary. Three nights ago, in a technical downhill, Pogacar nearly crashed. Good thing he was able to brake and went to the grass area to slow down. He could have crashed then. He crashed the day after.
Mario Cipollini, the retired Italian cyclist, said it best: “If you brake, you don’t win.”
