Editor’s note: You can also read this story on Talk of the Town on the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

I am Dino Alberto E. Subingsubing, 44, a communication specialist working with a non-government organization (NGO) health project. Married with three kids, I’m just your regular working dude — except that I’ve been a regular bicycle commuter for the past 15 years.

Yup, I bike to work three to four days a week from Novaliches (where I live) to TM Kalaw (where I work). Let’s see…that would be about 20 kilometers one way. It takes me one and a half hours of leisurely cycling along my regular bike route, which covers Quirino Highway, Mindanao Avenue, C5, North Avenue, Agham Road, Quezon Boulevard, España, Earnshaw, Legarda / Mendiola, Ayala Bridge, Taft Avenue and TM Kalaw (where my office is located).

That would be 40 kilometers in a day, 160 kilometers in a week, 640 kilometers in a month, 7,680 kilometers in a year. Imagine how it translates into the number of calories burned!

Translated in the amount of money saved in terms of transportation fare, that would be about P150 a day, or P600 a week, or P2,400 a month and P28,800 a year. Imagine what you could buy with that.

I really didn’t start out a hardcore bike commuter. In fact, I only learned to ride a bike in 1992. But the appeal of being able to travel at your own pace, being free to choose your own route at will and not getting stuck in traffic gridlock made me choose biking as my ideal commuting mode.

The decision to bike to work (and almost everywhere) came at a time when I turned by all things ecological and environment-friendly — organic backyard gardening, home birth and Lamaze birthing techniques (two out of my three children were born at home, with my partner being assisted in childbirth by a health center midwife), traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture, and eating lower on the food chain (vegetarianism and macrobiotic diets).

It was also a time when such a lifestyle (diet and all) contributed to my being very physically fit and mentally laid back. I also noticed that I tended to be cranky, tense and irritable whenever I would get caught in traffic while riding the bus, jeepney or taxi (there weren’t any FX transports at that time). I’d get impatient, all sweaty and smelly while being stuck in traffic. By the time I arrived in the office, I’d be like a wilted plant, and my mind would be so fogged by car fumes and tired that it would take me a while to be mentally prepared for work in the office.

So the segue into bike commuting was almost seamless. Bike commuting was, for me, not just a commuting mode. It was part of a way of life that I entered into in the first half of the 1990s, and which I maintain to this day.

Aside from the obvious economic benefits of bike commuting, staying healthy has been an incentive for me to keep biking for the past 15 years. I’ve rarely had a bout with colds or flu. I haven’t suffered hypertension or high blood pressure (which has been a family curse) even in my 44th year.

In my experience, bike commuting has kept my mind sharp and alert, because that’s what is needed when you’re biking in traffic, with buses, cars, trucks and motorcycles passing you by front, back and sideways. It’s like meditation in motion. At the same time, by the time I arrive at the office, my mind and body are alert, because blood is in full circulation after about an hour and a half of bicycling.

Of course, the impact on air quality cannot be overestimated. One thing, though, for newbie bike commuters — don a face mask (or even a gas mask, which I used to do) when traveling on routes where motor vehicle traffic is heavy. You don’t want to be inhaling all those car fumes. Our cyclist physiology — being more cardiovascularly efficient than your car-pampered motorist — just makes all that air pollution circulate faster within our bodies. I would personally recommend the face masks sold at any ACE hardware store, with the replaceable filters.

Socially, I’ve started making friends with other bicycle commuters. The pace is slower and more relaxed, and there is even time for conversation among cyclists traveling alongside each other, or when traffic is stopped at intersections. During my everyday commute along Quirino Highway in Novaliches, or along Quezon Boulevard, several familiar cyclists ride alongside me. There is the black clad mountain cyclist who has a small backpack with the yellow smiley face imprinted on it; there is also the young lady (who I call Manang or Sister) who bikes from Philcoa to a bike shop in Quiapo.

To date, I am a semi-active member of the Firefly Brigade, a volunteer citizens’ group advocating bicycling as a sustainable means of transportation and sustainable cities. I am one of its e-group moderators and ride during the annual Tour of the Fireflies every Earth Day.

My bike commuting life hasn’t exactly been accident- or trouble-free. I’ve had my share of spills, collisions with both vehicles and pedestrians, even the occasional guerrilla warfare scrapes with abusive motorists.

When I was learning to ride on the road — around 1993 to 1994 — I remember two spills when I tried to avoid a taxi cab and a passenger jeepney approaching from the left side. I tried to avoid them by swerving nearer the pedestrian curb. I shouldn’t have done that because it resulted in my front wheel being caught in the gutter, causing a spill and a tumble.

Lesson: When biking on the road, claim the entire lane. After all, your bicycle is a vehicle and you have an equal right to the road. By being visible in the middle of your chosen lane, you are also training motorists to respect you as a road user. Just signal them to pass you by, if you are going at a slower speed than they are.

Other lessons I’ve learned from more than a decade of bike commuting include:Practice, Practice, Practice: Pedal between parked cars at malls, supermarket lots or in your own neighborhood to get used to having all that metal around you.

Don’t worry excessively about the traffic behind you. The majority of city car-bike accidents (about 25 percent) happen when driver and rider cross each other’s paths at intersections and driveways, especially when drivers turn across cyclists’ paths.

Have an experienced road warrior accompany you on your first ride, alternately leading and following. When you’re in back, try to determine why he’s doing what he’s doing. When you’re in front, try to do what he did and listen to shouted advice.

Learn how to look behind without swerving. This is a key skill for surviving busy streets. We call this scanning the road. Don’t rely on peripheral vision. You should be able to turn your head far enough to make actual eye contact.

Make eye contact. To be recognized for what you are, wiggle your handlebar (but not enough to cause instability), and use body English on your bike. This helps you register in their peripheral vision and also helps indicate your direction.

Be seen. Wear bright clothes. Helmets are another potential eye-catcher. Use a good rear flasher, a front light with side visibility and as much reflective material as you can bear to put on your helmet and bike frame.

In normal situations, ride in the right lane, but as far to the left as is practical. Drivers won’t be tempted to squeeze past you. Claim the entire lane if that’s what you need to ensure safety. Stay out there where you belong.

Use your position in the lane as a signal of your intentions. Use the left part of the lane when you’re preparing to merge or turn left. The center is for when you’re traveling straight at cruising speed — quick enough to not be a nuisance to traffic. The right is for merging or turning in that direction, or permitting cars to pass.

Scan the street (and sidewalk!) ahead. Identify potential hazards. Predict their movements. Decide on a course of action. Execute the maneuver that takes you safely along your chosen line.

Vehicles that don’t signal still give notice of their turns by the angle of the wheels or the drivers’ heads. Check the car alongside — you can often see the turn signals on the dash. In heavy traffic, scan 2 or more cars ahead for exhaust smoke (indicating acceleration or deceleration) and ‘shivers’, which indicate potholes and other rough spots.

Don’t get squeezed. Drivers will try to squeeze past you then cut you off to turn right. Stay centered in the lane to make them wait for you — or just slow and stay out of the way. Your call.

Don’t get nosed. Gas guzzlers test for traffic openings by sticking their noses out of driveways and side streets with limited visibility. When you approach such spots, stand tall in the pedals and try for eye contact. Take the center of the lane and check for empty escape space to the left.

Watch for slippery surfaces. If you find yourself on a sketchy surface: straighten the bike, level the pedals to 3 and 9 o’clock, don’t brake, keep you elbows and knees flexed and let momentum carry you through.

When you stop, be ready for emergency take-offs. Keep a foot on the high pedal while you check your rear. If that bus driver doesn’t notice you, you want to be able to move. Fast.

When you can’t avoid road hazards such as potholes, ride over them as lightly as possible. Level your pedals as you approach the obstacle. Just before impact, lift the front of the bike or at least take your weight off it. When the front clears, lean forward to take weight off the rear wheel. Pedal away. To get safely down from a curb to the street, reverse the process. Level your pedals. Lean back on the seat as your front wheel touches down. Hop lightly off the pedals as the back of the bike drops down to street level. Be sure clearing a curb doesn’t distract you from traffic.

Do unto pedestrians. You will sometimes ride the sidewalk. It is not your place. You are a guest. Don’t bring the rush of street riding over the curb. When passing, don’t ring, whistle, or shout within 5 feet of pedestrians. Otherwise, all you’re doing is scaring them. Don’t dog them, riding on their heels until they let you pass.

Learn to ride the rhythms of the city. One of the most powerful is ‘the pulse’, when a series of timed traffic signals create a solid mass of vehicles that catch synchronized green lights. Don’t let traffic force you into meaningless sprints to red lights. Maki-BIKE ka, huwag matakot! [Bike with us, don't be afraid].

As a bicycle activist as well as bike commuter, I predict that in the next couple of years, bicycle commuting will increase, given the continuing price rise in oil products (despite temporary falls), the increasingly gridlocked main road arteries in Metro Manila, and the increasing affordability of good quality bicycles.

This, coupled with the increase in bicycling groups — from the different cycling clubs to advocacy groups like the Firefly Brigade and Cycling Advocates (CYCAD) not only in the National Capital Region, but in other major urban centers as well (like Baguio City, Bacolod and Davao).

To paraphrase an old activist slogan, the call of the time for commuters is Maki-BIKE ka, Huwag Matakot!