There are many ways I enjoy my Sunday morning, and being on two wheels isn’t one of them. Against my natural instincts, however, I agreed to join a bicycle tour of Marikina city in anticipation of Uniqlo opening a roadside store in Marquinton. It was an interesting proposition to explore a city through unfamiliar means, a mode of transport that has long sought out safer road mobility for all commuters.

Founded as a city in 1996, Marikina is a young but relatively bike-friendly town. Relative, because for the most part, cyclists still need to negotiate with thoroughfares designed for motor vehicles. But in Marikina’s case, there are clear signs that the biking community’s needs are slowly being addressed, and even its local businesses acknowledge that two-wheeled residents and tourists are a big part of what keeps Marikina alive. There are designated bike parking spaces near cafes and restaurants, and bikes are teeming during busy hours in public parks and even on the banks of Marikina River.

Marikina acts like a big city but feels a bit like a small town, and the Uniqlo team says that their approach to setting up shop in Marquinton is to be a part of the neighborhood. Their fourth roadside store is located along the busy Sumulong Highway, which runs through Marikina and connects it to Lower Antipolo. It’s a popular route for cyclists en route to Rizal, or those who’d like to explore the many dining and cultural haunts all over Marikina. Which was exactly what we were about to do that very Sunday morning — ride a bike and find out just how the Shoe Capital of the Philippines welcomes all those who pedal.

Here are some of the stops we took that day:
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Uniqlo Marquinton

The first stop is Uniqlo’s Marquinton store, which opened last April 28. Uniqlo invited cyclists from the community, each one with an online following of their own, to join the tour. Folks enjoyed getting coffee and a light breakfast before we all mounted our rides. I chose a rented white mountain bike to go with my outfit that day — the Airism Extra Soft Cropped Short Sleeve T-Shirt (on sale at ₱590) and the Airism Soft Pocket Biker Shorts (₱990) in matching purple. Like a giant ube on a bike. The t-shirt is cropped at the ideal length, with just enough space between the shirt and shorts so I didn’t have to worry about my stomach pooching out while biking. (I mean, real concerns.) The bike shorts have secure pockets on the side so you can conveniently keep your phone stowed away, but it’s accessible enough to pull it out whenever a photo opportunity comes up.

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The Attic Yarn and Hobby Studio

The bike ride to Attic Yarn and Hobby Studio started out easy enough; though I was in the group of inexperienced stragglers towards the end, the bike lanes did provide ample space between us and the cars. Though I gotta admit, if we weren’t being assisted by local traffic cops along the way, I don’t think the four-wheeled vehicles would be as hospitable. When we were a street away from The Attic Yarn, the road turned uphill and I didn’ t change my gears on time. The police officer blocking the traffic for us called out, “Kaya niyo yan!” and I just waved and hoped that he was right.

The Attic Yarn and Hobby Studio offers a selection of different crafting activities, as well as a Tamiya race track. There’s an entire wall full of knitting and crochet yarn, as well as tables for painting, beadwork, and just general creativity. You can even rent out an area by the hour for anyone looking for a content creation studio. We all did a paint by numbers canvas, which assured me that I am more certainly not an artist. It was fun trying anyway.

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Pan de Amerikana

This bakeshop-slash-garden restaurant is a popular dining spot in Marikina, and offers a taste of the 1950’s pan amerikano bread. Back in the fifties, American colonizers asked for a bigger size of the pugon-baked wheat bread made in local panaderias, which gave the bread its name. The restaurant continues to serve this dough recipe in many of their bread offerings, including pan de sal, biscocho, and ensaymada. We spent a few minutes here taking photos inspired by Uniqlo’s latest collection, and the restaurant’s chess plaza and cottagecore interiors provided an interesting background to our photos.

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Freedom Park and Tower Arch

We took a pit stop at Freedom Park, found along Shoe Avenue. It’s a pocket of a park that’s mostly concrete, but it was clean and provided ample shade from the sun. We met an elderly lady there lounging on one of the benches. She said that while she lived in another city, she often went to Marikina just to hang out because it’s so clean and organized. Just a block away is the Marikina Clock and Tower Arch, another city landmark, as well as the Marikina Sports Center, where the Metro Manila Pride March has been held a few times already.

At this point, the sun was beginning to bear down on us quite brutally, and I was thankful that I had my personal comforts readily available to help me stay fresh despite the heat. I kept a towel and a facial mist in my Uniqlo Round Mini Shoulder Bag in the color Natural (₱990). It has an adjustable strap so you can wear it close to the chest while riding. I also liked that it’s easy to wash because if you use it outdoors, you will inevitably sweat right through it.

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Sundays Cafe and Restaurant