Actually I have now been in Subic for going on 24 hours, well okay 20 hours, but it is getting there.
First impressions...
Hmmm, interesting little town. I have been trying to come up with an analogy. Similar to some of the rural cities in Indonesia perhaps. A bit more developed that Dili. Manila reminded me a lot of Jakarta, traffic included. So far the trip has reminded me just how nice the Filipino people are.
I have to say though that one thing I have been scratching my head about since arriving is why here? It is not all that convenient (it took me three hours by car to get here last night from Manila). There is some cool history here, but in terms of natural beauty, it isn't off the chart. They are pushing the town to be a tourist precinct, but it isn't there yet. But between Challenge and Ironman there has been two big long distance tris here in two weeks. So why here? Well the conclusion that I have come to is because the people seem to love it. The field for the race on Sunday is about 660 or so I think. Whilst that isn't huge for an Mdot 70.3 field, it is almost entirely local. Given Challenge Subic was here so recently, the fact that 600 people are turning up on Sunday says something about the local passion. Pretty cool.
The trip so far has gone fine. I figured out I was travelling for about 18 hours yesterday, which is a long day however you cut it. I am still not fully caught up on sleep, but I am getting there. All the flights, transfers etc went fine. I managed to catch up on a few movies that I have missed over the last little while. Win there. My only hiccough came when I went to find my lift in Manila. I had forgotten to print out the little mud map I had, so it took me about half an hour. Oh well, it meant we went into peak hour 30 minutes later, which was probably a good thing.
I got here about 10:30 last night, so that was pretty much my day done. This morning I tried to sleep in, but my body only let me get so far. I didn't really feel like breakfast so I got up and went for a wander about to get my bearings. I am in one of the race hotels which means there will be things like shuttles etc and there is even a race information desk at the entrance to the hotel, all very handy, particularly the shuttle. Today I got around by foot and bike. Foot was fine for getting to a shopping centre and finding a coffee etc and bike was fine for getting to the expo, but dealing with the traffic here on the bike is going to wear thin very quickly, so when that happens the shuttle will come in handy.
Speaking of traffic. It is okay. I have been in places that are worse, but I have been in places that are better. Part of the issue is that driving here is done on the right. I haven't had to deal with that for a while and it is taking me a surprisingly long time to adapt. Combined with a different set of road rules and it makes the bike particularly nervous. The other issue with traffic here is that the town is on the small side, so it doesn't take you long to hit main roads and then you don't have much choice but to deal with the cars and trucks. I went for a short ride today, and I am going on a hosted recce tomorrow, but other than that I am not spending to much time on the bike. I just don't feel all that safe.
Still where I am staying is pretty quiet and that has been nice, which worked well for my run this evening.
Today has been a surprisingly busy day, which wasn't accidental. Experience has taught me that these trips go better for me when I am occupied, so I have planned my day to go that way.
This morning I went for my walk as I said. Had some breakfast, spent a long time building my bike, went shopping and then went out and tested my bike. For my bike test I only needed a few kms but I was keen to go and find the registration centre, since that is where the bike recce is leaving from tomorrow and I wanted to make sure I knew where it was. Very glad I did by the way, since I got quite lost. Since I was at the registration I figured I might as well register and check out the expo. Impressive expo, one of the better ones I have been to recently. It speaks to the passion that I mentioned before that the expo was nearly entirely set up on the Thursday before race day. You don't see that often. Not just set up, but busy too.
Another indicator of the passion they have here is what came in the race pack. Pack seems to undersell it if I am honest. It all came in an Mdot backpack and included:
- Drink bottle
- bottle opener
- T-shirt (not the race T-shirt, another one)
- Number belt
- Skin care products
- Cans of tuna and other preserved meat (yes I am not kidding - the naming sponsor is Century Tuna after all)
- A draw string bag
- The list goes on.
After all the rego etc, I headed out for a bit of a run/walk this afternoon. If I am honest this run walk was supposed to be done this morning, but I read my program wrong and thought it was this afternoon. Annoying really because it would have fitted in very nicely this morning. Oh well. In the end I waited until just before 5:00pm, when the weather conditions were similar to what they would have been at 10:00 this morning which is when I was supposed to run. Despite the sutff up the run went very nicely. I haven't run since Sunday and so the legs were feeling super fresh. My main issue was reeling in the pace and the effort, which is a good problem to have. Watching my heart rate though was another reminder how much harder the weather here makes it. You either slow down or you pop, simple as that.
Speaking of the weather, it hasn't been that bad. This is the tail end of the cold season apparently and so the day has been on the pleasant side. I walked down to the shops in the middle of the day to buy food and it was quite bearable. Middle of the wet season and that just wouldn't be the case. Still warm and on the humid side obviously, but it is tough rather than unmanageable.
Well I think that is it for first impressions. As I have mentioned a couple of times, tomorrow will be a bit of a ride and probably my first look at some of the hills on the course. But other than that there isn't a lot of the agenda. I might make use of the shuttle and head back to the expo for a proper look around.
But before that. Dinner, stretching and bed.
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