Training log: May 24, 2016 at 07:50PM, Ride activity on Strava

Activity name: Evening Ride
Distance: 25191.6
Elapsed time: 1 hour, 54 minutes, 7 seconds
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Training log: May 24, 2016 at 01:30PM, Ride activity on Strava

Activity name: Afternoon Ride
Distance: 23023.5
Elapsed time: 1 hour, 29 minutes, 21 seconds
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Training log: May 23, 2016 at 07:29PM, Ride activity on Strava

Activity name: Evening Ride
Distance: 24151.7
Elapsed time: 1 hour, 19 minutes, 50 seconds
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Training log: May 23, 2016 at 01:37PM, Ride activity on Strava

Activity name: Afternoon Ride
Distance: 22345.7
Elapsed time: 1 hour, 15 minutes, 45 seconds
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Malolos century ride

Last 1 April 2012 I joined the Pinoy Mountain Bikers on their trip to Malolos, Bulacan, roughly 50km from Manila. We gathered at McDonald's North Avenue. After meeting the organizers, they gave us name tags to place on our persons. However, after only a few minutes, the stickers fell off. Good idea though.

We started out by riding along Mindanao Avenue at a leisurely pace of 15kph, making our way towards Valenzuela and Bagbagin road, crossing NLEX and eventually coming out MacArthur highway.

SM Marilao was the major stop. There we waited for everyone to catch up, especially those that had flat tires along the way. By this time we had ridden 20km.  After an hour of waiting, we were off again, riding the  until we reached the turnoff to Bulacan.

Another 10km we reached our objective, Barasoain Church.  It being Palm Sunday, the parking lot was full and we had to make do with photo ops outside the church.  There is also a museum but we decided to forgo due to our hunger.

Lunch was at Ihaws Grill, just a kilometer away, where you pick and choose what you want to eat, pay for the meal, then they'll grill the food for you.  It was a test of patience for the hungry bikers!

After lunch, we headed to Calumpit to reach the 50km goal. Once that was achieved, we turned around and went the same route back to Manila.

The return trip took a bit longer, as a couple more flat tires delayed the main body. With the number of pitstops, we joked that we were definitely stopping if we see a halo-halo place (there were none, however).

By the time we reached the turnoff towards Malinta, a few of us, including myself, said our goodbyes and rode on down MacArthur highway until Caloocan.

When I got home, my odometer read 97.46 km.  (I added a few more kilometers in the evening thus making my total 103.8km).

A stall selling Ube Siopao caught my fancy near the Bocaue Market and I just had to try it:

For Php10, why not, right? It had the consistency of siopao and the filling was also ube.  However, you really had to work your taste buds to find that yam flavor.  In other words, blech...

Here's the map of the route:

View Malolos Century Ride in a larger map

Army Navy Burger + Burrito

We had a quick dinner at Army Navy at their Timog branch.

First up: Tortilla Soup. Served in what looks like a coffee cup, this soup is hot and spicy, although I failed to see any tortillas. Sadly, this turned out to be the highlight of the evening.

Fried Chicken. Two pieces of deep fried chicken served with a ball of rice and gravy. The chicken was not bad -- the skin was crunchy and the insides were tender. The rice was a different matter; it felt like eating a glob of sticky bread. Add to that the salty gravy (too much chicken powder!) and the whole meal reminded me of something I'd be better off eating in McDonald's or Jollibee.

I remember their burger to be decent, not spectacular, and that remains the case on this visit. My sister was disappointed, as she had a hard time savoring the taste of burger will all the toppings. The side of Freedom Fries were good, although we were surprised that the size of the fries were like shoestring potatoes.

We were very disappointed with Army Navy's pork burrito. For one, it didn't have any beans. And the killer was that the pork had a butcher-y taste to it, like their supplier didn't give them clean stock.

After this disappointing visit, it's not likely we'd visit this chain anytime soon.

Army Navy Burger + Burrito already has a number of outlets. This one we ate in is in Timog, Quezon City, beside Popular Bookstore. They have branches in Tagaytay, Bicutan, and North EDSA to name a few.

Almon Marina

Been hankering for a good sandwich recently. Almon Marina has been around for a while but it's my first time to try their food. It's a semi-self-service restaurant where you order and pay at the counter. The waiters will then bring your order to your table. The waiters at this branch are well trained and helpful to the needs of the customers.


I had the Rueben of New York sandwich. Corned beef, sauerkraut, and cheese. Pretty good, although I would have liked my beef to be more flavorful.


My sister had the smoked salmon sandwich. She gave me a taste and I liked how you can really taste the smokiness.


They also have combination plates -- half a sandwich with salad and pasta.

Almon Marina is located at the various SM malls. The one we ate in was at the ground floor of The Block, North EDSA.