2017 Insane Tour By TD Romy Delima

Part 1 Prologue

The Simple Question

Why do you do what you do?

A friend asked me that question long time ago. Of course what he meant was the yearly extreme biking called the Insane Tour that I always joined where there is no monetary reward waiting. Is the question the same as “Why do men drink? or Why do people smoke?”. Well, I love to answer puzzles until my head felt like splitting, a habit that made me busy and silent when I do so. To answer a difficult question is a challenge that I’ve always enjoyed, and mostly I missed the right answers but I still attempt every now and then even so. Finding the right answer to a question is the ultimate goal but perhaps the seeker may also find joy, like in a math problem, in the struggle towards finding the solution then arriving in an answer, be it wrong or right. The question is simple but what puzzles me, honestly, is that I could not bring myself to answer the simplicity of the question even until now. Sadly, I leave it blank.

For now like many other tour masters, I just continue to submit myself to be subjected to the punishment this tour may inflict, and of course, the joy and satisfaction it may bring afterwards too.

Perhaps someday I could grab the tail of the elusive answer to that eternal simple question….someday perhaps.



The Lance of the Knights

It was many years ago during the age of chivalry of AMTA, where challenge was always quickly accepted, where nobility prevailed over mediocrity, where honor was a badge worn in the heart, where adventure was perpetually sought, where excellence was the aspiration, that too many champions emerged. They were not champions for merely getting first but they were champions for arriving in less than 24 hrs. Those were the fashions of those days, 24 hrs or less. They were the biking knights aiming their lances steadfastly, aggressively leading the peloton onward without fear. That age was sui generis.

As time went by, the fire that drove bikers to do chivalrous feat was quenched. New era Champions settled for way much more than 24 hrs arrival. Some blamed that AMTA bikers were getting sloppy. More adopted the notion that the advanced age was the culprit. I begged to disagree. I say, “No to ageism”. It was been proven that many times that that age, especially advanced age, neither was not an obstacle to touring nor getting on the podium. Complacency corrupted the desires of the hearts of modern bikers in pursuing perfection.

There was a need for new breed of champions to duplicate those previous heroes. I saw a new hope in 2016 Insane tour champion Billy that we can resurrect the golden age again. It was his first attempt, he clocked 26 hrs. And that was more than hope, it was a start.

We invented this tour… we can redeem our lost glory again. I know because I was there. I know because I know we can make that happen.

True indeed, our 2017 Champion Sandy clocked 23hrs-25 minutes.

It was his first attempt too.

Now he holds 3 honors in one event:

1. A rookie

2. A Champion

3. A breaker of 24hrs barrier



And here is the side of my story…..


Part 2 The Accelerated Insane Tour

Atangi!