Cycling in the Philippines

@Arizonaexpat I have a friend who cycles a lot near S. Manila area. Maybe he would be interested.

I have cycled quite regularly in the Philippines on my road bike and keep one there. It is extremely risky near the larger cities. I used to bike the Transcentral Hwy from Cebu City and it was very dangerous, with maniac GT Express drivers using the entire road and lots of obstacles. But steep and an amazing workout challenge.

Dumaguete is much better but not really great, although heading south from Dauin and around Negros could be an amazing tour. Panglao was idyllic (but small) so you might look into that for road biking. Little traffic, a good road running around the island, and many more on nearby Bohol. I think Siquijor would also be excellent.

There is a contingent of road bikers but far more Filipinos ride mountain bikes, due to the rugged terrain when off the main roads. And there are definitely local clubs and races - I just never hooked up with any of them as I come and go and am older than most of them. I do not know of specific guides, but certainly there must be some. I will take a look.

Keep in mind the humidity in the Philippines, and all throughout Southeast Asia is brutal. Another thing is most of the islands are mountainous - very steep in the interior with flat circumferential coastal roads, which tend to have more traffic. I generally ride up into the mountains but you need to be a good climber and average speeds will be very slow.

You might laugh but parts of Manila have great cycling lanes and I see a ton of pro cyclists use them, around BGC anyway.

Good to know. I have spent very little time in Manila - almost all in the Visayas. Even in Cebu they train - in the traffic and bad air, lol. I guess it's what you're familiar with.