Rest in Peace, Mario

March 8, 2008

                       

 

I'm sitting here in Tagaytay with Noel Morales, and we're both completely stunned to hear that Mario Sison has passed away.  Mario was in great physical shape. He was probably the best biker in our group, and to hear that he succumbed to a heart attack (after a bike ride around the La Mesa Reservoir with Angel Gomez and some other friends - I'm guessing Miguel and Oye were there a well) is just unbelievable.  Hell, if he can die, then I can probably go any minute too.  Angel  (who is a doctor) says they had just completed their ride today and it was at this time that Mario started to complain about chest pains. They asked him to lie down on the ground, and raised his legs. But pretty soon he was convulsing uncontrollably, and no amount of CPR would resuscitate him.  

 

On Dec 23, 2007 we (Mario, Angel Gomez, Miguel, Isaias, and Alex) completed an epic ride, starting at the Sierra Madre hotel (in Tanay), going all the way down to Pillila, then barreled our way up to Bugarin, then down again to Siniloan/Famy. We had a great lunch at Siniloan (by which time I was surprised to hear that Mario was suffering from cramps and would be unable to continue).  We then started a slow and tortuous climb across the Sierra Madre range. Mario follwed in our support vehicle.   I think we must have climbed up to 3000 feet before descending again, this time into Real.    When we finally glimpsed the Pacific Ocean, we were ecstatic (as none of us had scouted the toue before, and we had no idea how much longer the trip would last).  We started at around 9 am and hit the ocean at approximately 430 pm. We then found a nice resort near Infanta where we were able to swim, have a few beers and eat a great dinner. 

It was fun riding with you, Mario. We'll be thinking of you on our next ride.