2007 Tour of the Fireflies

Well, last year was Spanky's first appearance at the Tour of the Fireflies - a critical mass ride to generate awareness for clean air and bike advocacy. 2006 saw a group numbering 5,000 taking over the streets of Metro Manila...back then I think it was Jay and myself who were the only singlespeeders in attendance (well, at least to my knowledge).

2007 saw no less than ten of us...myself, JM, King, Edmund, Matt, Michelle, Noel, Doy, Boyet, Elvin, Norman...am sure there were others out there! It was fun and I think the number of participants swelled to 6,000. Our route was sort of the opposite of last year's, from Tiendesitas to Makati to Pasay to Manila to QC and back the Tiendesitas...here are some snaps



We're camwhores! JM and myself SSing and snapping along McKinley Road, Forbes Park.


Slow down? We ain't slowing down for anybody today, mister! Bikes rule!


Rest stop along Ayala. Hmm...this is the opposite side of this pic from last year.


At the Stock Exchange. Buy low, sell high!


Second rest stop at Magsaysay Center, Roxas Blvd., Manila. Yes, that's Polly.


and now on to the Ayala Bridge in downtown Manila.


JM, Polly and Rina hanging on my shoulder...


Edmund of All Terra and Mark Ellis of Fitness First share management strategies.


We swung by Quiapo church!

Overall, this year's Tour felt like it was going at a faster pace, not sure why. Another thing, nobody was hooting and hollering a much as last year, where we had bells and whistles and stuff. I did bring a whistle and was tooting it, but I think I ended up annoying the riders next to me.

Well, next year is the 10th anniversary! Let's see what Ricky and co. have planned!

Thanks to Jed for this neat snap. More pics from his Flickr photostream here.

More photos here as well.

I'm sure Karlo has some nice photos too, if only he unbusied himself long enough to post em!