Zedrick Honorica arrived at the Asian Cycling Confederation Track and Para Track Cycling championships with little to no expectations. After all, his place on the national team was almost accidental — he had only joined an invitation for a power test, essentially an informal tryout, last January.

Still, it wouldn’t hurt to try.

The 21-year-old food delivery rider from Marikina City stunned even himself when he shattered a decades-old Philippine record in the men’s elite sprint at the Tagaytay CTV Velodrome, turning an unlikely opportunity into a breakout moment.

Riding on grit more than gear — armed with a ₱2,500 bike frame and wheels worth ₱12,000 — Honorica blazed through the field and clocked 10.865 seconds to erase Jan Paul Morales’ 20-year-old record of 11.42 seconds set at the 2006 Doha Asian Games.

His performance placed him 21st out of 22 riders in an event won by Japan’s Kaiya Ota, who timed 9.348 seconds. Yet, for someone so new to the sport and with a bike gear that paled in comparison to his seasoned competitors’, it spoke volumes about his determination to make a mark and chase big dreams.

“I had the mindset that if I couldn’t really qualify, at least I needed to beat the record using my own bike. I just gave it my all,” said Honorica, a native of Gasan, Marinduque, in Filipino.

That very bike — though slightly upgraded — was the same one he relied on for his job as a food delivery rider. He had entered the gig to earn extra cash, all in the hopes of improving his bike.

It wasn’t easy.

He started with just ₱3,000 in savings, then borrowed another ₱3,000 from his grandmother — barely enough to piece together a second-hand bike. Every peso that went into it came from his daily allowances, stretched thin to keep a growing dream alive.

Money was only part of the challenge. Day after day, he braved the grind of delivering food, each shift different from the last.

“There’s that part of being exhausted being on the bike all the time, but there are also slow hours when there are no bookings, which just leaves me waiting around and feeling like I’m wasting time,” he said.

He pedaled through scorching heat and pouring rain, driven by the hope that one day, he would earn enough to fuel his ambition. He turned his gig into motivation, imagining a future where he and his bike wouldn’t just be navigating the streets of Manila, but tearing up the velodrome instead.

Eventually, he made the difficult decision to quit his job last January, dedicating himself entirely to training after passing the informal tryout. Much of his work was done alone at Marikina Heights — the same grounds where Morales hones his craft. It wasn’t until early this month that he finally got to train at the Tagaytay CTV Velodrome. But even then, it was nothing compared to the months of preparation his veteran counterparts had already put in.

Not long after, he found himself rewriting the national record books.

“It all happened so fast that I still can’t believe I got to compete in the ACC,” said Honorica, who only started joining races last year.

“In my journey, delivering food became part of the process so I could upgrade my bike and eventually join races,” he added.

Honorica said he hasn’t returned to his food delivery job yet, hoping that his latest achievement would give him a chance to be part of the national team and join more races.

“I only see them (national team members) when they’re training near us, but I haven’t had the chance to take a photo with them or get close to them yet,” he said.

“My goal is to become part of the national team and show what I’m capable of in this sport. I still lack experience because I’m very new to the cycling world, but I’m ready for these kinds of challenges,” he added. (Photos from Honorica's Facebook)