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Rene

(Rene)
This ride report is the work of all the bikers who rode together on May 5-8, 2003. Each one of the writers below wrote a separate composition to document their experience. The separate pieces of work were put together in one story below. At the risk of being redundant in some areas, we thought it would be fun to see the different perspectives offered by each rider from the vantage point of their own ‘saddle’.

Andrew

(Andrew)
Here comes the "sun"... This Rene Y (Pinoy-americano from LA) is really an insolent type. First he "took" my MC, secondly he "forced" me to lead several crazy MC guys round Northern Luzon and now he forces me to write about it. Ufff. The last task is a real torment. But what can I do? In 2004 or sooner , I'm planning to go to Rene Y in the USA, so I must be nice to the guy. So -I have tried to describe my way to see North Luzon Trip AD 2003.
He-he-he.

Jobo

(Jobo)
A week or so before the first annual Bike Week Philippines and Rene Ybardolaza's arrival in the Philippines, my cell phone beeped with an SMS message from James Mirasol. It was about a plan to have a motorcycle tour to Northern Luzon. With the memorable 3-day trip to Pagudpud I did with two of my biker friends from Los Banos two years ago still fresh in my mind, I started a thread in the private forums of the Freedom Riders Motorcycle Club where a sketchy plan was hatched with the help of Andrew Klajnak, James, and Rene. Tentative dates were set for April 28 to May 1, 2003 with the goal of reaching the northern tip of Luzon from the east and going back to Manila from the west. More details of the plan were to be discussed when Andrew and Rene had arrived from Australia and USA, respectively. With the date and the route more or less set, I had two problems. First, I work for a company where my boss is a typical "all work, no play" Japanese guy. I didn't know if he would approve the 3-day leave I wanted to apply for. Second, a trip like this will cost money. I estimated the entire length of the trip to be around 2,000 kms. With my bike doing around 16kms/liter, I would need around 125 liters of gasoline. The cost of gasoline increases as you go further north so I set the price of gasoline at a very safe level of PHP25/liter (just in case Saddam is still alive and uses his weapons of mass destruction). So for gas alone, I'll need around 3,000 bucks. I set food at PHP100/meal. Three meals a day times 4 days equal PHP1,200.00. And then, there's board and lodging. Maybe, 600 bucks a night will do and that is another 1,800 bucks. These add up to a total of (katching! katching!) around 6,000 bucks. Yikes!

I guess the planning of the trip was very much left with Andrew for he had the most experience doing Northern Luzon trips. I wasn't able to involve myself very much with the planning of the trip except for a few suggestions on places we could visit. I was not sure I would be able to come along. I also didn't have much time and energy at the end of my workday to haul my ass to Manila or elsewhere to attend the few informal meetings we had. Early during the week before the planned trip, Rene called me up. They were moving the take-off date to Sunday, April 27, 2003. The adjustment on the date was okay but it meant I didn't have much time to prepare because I still work whole day Saturdays. I later learn that it was upon James' request. He and his wife planned to meet in Baguio on the 29th of April so they can celebrate their wedding anniversary together.

The only time I was able to get more details on the planned trip was on Friday, April 25, 2003 when I went to Manila to have a glimpse of Bike Week and return James' bag. James had a dilemma. Although he was the one who requested that the trip be moved a day early, he won't be able to make it because nature had to take its course. James can only make the trip on the original date. Since I also preferred the Monday take-off date, James and I were already contemplating on doing an exciting duo catch up trip that Rene foiled. The take-off date was moved back to Monday, April 28, 2003. Yeehah! The planned sleepovers of the 4-day trip will be Tuguegarao, Pagudpud, and Baguio. We will also not be taking the normal Sta. Rita NLEX exit enroute to Tuguegarao to avoid the traffic in the towns of Bulacan and Nueva Ecija. Despite the relative certainty of the plans, I still didn't know if I would be able to come along. I haven't solved my two problems yet. My application for leave had not yet been signed and I didn't know where I would get 6,000 bucks! Two days before the trip, my Japanese boss finally approved my 3-day vacation leave. I only had around 3,000 bucks in my wallet and it was supposed to be allocated to something else (talk about screwing priorities). The only way I could augment my cash was to take a loan from my kumpare... and loan I did... and dug myself a few inches deeper in debt, tsk tsk... Dos problemos no more! Houston, I'm good to go...

Back Home Again
(Rene) Bike Week is about to happen and this time around, the happening is in Luzon. James and Pia greets me at the airport under the biting heat of the midday sun. My home away from home is the Mirasol's residence where I stayed for a few days to get my clock readjusted. While having dinner with Pia's family, her father casually inquires, “how's your flight, and where did you stop over?” “Seoul, Korea,” I responded, cautiously aware of the current SARS scare going on in Southeast Asia. Fortunately, Seoul does not have the same negative implication as Singapore or Hong Kong. A few days later, I met Andrew at Rockwell who took me to Matabungkay so I can pick up the police bike he is generous enough to lend me for the next 10 days.

Rene & Andrew  at Andrew's house in Matabungkay

A year has gone by and Andrew and I are together again, doing what we like to do best, riding around Batangas, discovering new places and at the same time, getting my riding skills acclimated to the Philippine way of driving. My iron steed is a Honda 750CBX police bike, equipped with all the gadgets including flashing lights, wailing sirens, radio communications, full fairing and side panniers. Evening is upon us and yet, the air is hot and thick with humidity.

I searched for external comfort in the coolness of the pool and internal satisfaction from a cold bottle of San Miguel beer. Andrew and I have three unexpected guests from Manila and they are in the pool with us making small talk. One of the young women, who have the skin color of coffee that had too much cream mixed in it, rose from the pool like Venus de Milo, dripping wet. She wraps the towel around her waist as we walk over to the cabana where Andrew is sitting with his laptop. He wants to show us the pictures he took earlier in the day. As I look over her shoulder, I observe water dropping softly from her hair to her shoulders forming beads that sparkle on her skin. My eyes followed some of the beads slowly course down the small of her back like liquid diamonds, to be absorbed by the towel around her thin waistéé “Get into focus, Rene. You are here to ride motorcycles,” I remind myself.

After three days of riding throughout Batangas, Andrew and I rode back to Manila to get ready for our upcoming four-day ride and sample a bit of Bike Week. I left Andrew with the capable hands of LERAP and rode back to James' house to see him. James is excited as we sort through our equipment, review what tools to take, count how many pieces of clothing to bring, select the type of boots to wear. Is it going to rain or not, how much money do we need, where do we want to go and stop? Lots of questions to be answered. Bike Week Later in the afternoon,

Ony & Rene meet up with Frank at Bike Week

I ride to The Fort to enjoy a little bit of Bike Week. What an event! Rock and roll music blaring in the background, motorcycles stunts, booths sponsored by different vendors, colorful flags fluttering in the air, bikes of different makes, ranging from dirt to cruisers to scooters to sports. This is one big undertaking. I finally met some of the people that I've gotten to know through MotorcyclePhilippines. A big Øthumbs up' for the organizers and participants of the event. I only hope that this is a beginning of a good thing that will give all motorcycling enthusiasts in the Philippines a stage to showcase their passion ¥ motorcycles.

Prepwork
(Jobo) On the night I was at James' house to return his bag, Rene commented that my front brake lever pressed in too deep. He said that one- or two-finger braking is difficult because the lever will be hitting the other fingers that are left on the grips as you press the brake lever further. With the weak front brakes on the previous bike I was using (1980 Yamaha XJ650) and me having short fingers, I was quite used to using four fingers when braking so that I had more leverage when I needed to press on the brake levers harder. The FZR had better and more sensitive front brakes that I intentionally adjusted the screw on the brake lever of the FZR so that braking wouldn't be too abrupt when I held the lever and enabled me to modulate the braking to my liking. Nevertheless, I guess it was time to learn how to brake using only one or two fingers (which was more feasible on the FZR than on the XJ) so I told myself that I was going to check my brake pads, change brake fluid/bleed lines, readjust the brake lever screw and practice two-finger front braking.

I also made a mental note of adjusting the mixture screws of the carbs because I noticed my bike was running a little rich after cleaning and adjusting the carbs and an oil-change a week before. Saturday after work, I didn't have much time to think about the trip. It was graduation day at UPLB and my wife and I got invited to a thanksgiving get together at my kumpare's house. When my wife and I got back home, I just tried to start a list of things I have to do to prepare myself for the trip. I also made a list of things I have to buy like toiletries. I was alone when I woke up a day before the trip. My wife had left early. I had wanted my wife to come along but she couldn't because of a weeklong work-related endeavor in Pangasinan that she couldn't postpone. I didn't have a bag I could use yet. One of my knapsacks was used by my kids when they went to my parents' place in Bulacan while the other one was used by my wife for her trip to Pangasinan. So first thing I did that morning was go over my brother's place to see if I could borrow his knapsack. He wasn't home. I called him and he was somewhere in Alabang and gladly gave me permission to use his bag.

Because I needed some help in bleeding the brake lines of my bike and what not, I then headed over to Biboy's place. When I got there, I started cleaning the right front brake caliper then the left, and soon, it was lunchtime. I normally work non-stop on my bike but I haven't had breakfast and the smell of inihaw na porkchop and the look of the ice-cold Coca-cola was just too temptingé After lunch, I didn't bother to bleed the front brake lines. Instead, I went to readjust the mixture screws of the carbs on the bike and tune it a little. Biboy was also working on his bike and he was cleaning and lubing his chain when his girlfriend, Anne, hinted at wanting to come along. Biboy also wanted to come along but he already had tentative work-related plans for the week. When Biboy started contemplating, I just couldn't stop from urging them to come along. I was on them like a devil tempting them to sin! Anne was easy prey while Biboy was still trying to rationalize things and resist! The last straw came when Biboy finally made a call to his boss to ask his permission for a few days of leave and nyah hah hah hah hah, another soul in hell! I guess the good angel was still trying to fight. Biboy was not yet sure if they'd come along despite getting work leave.

Biboy and Anne on the road

They still have some budget problems. Biboy kept pestering me about the budget needed for the trip and I told him that 7-8 thousand bucks would get them by. Payday was just around the corner, anyway. After getting my chain cleaned and lubed, I bid my thanks and farewell to Biboy and Anne. It was getting late in the afternoon and I still needed to buy some stuff. Aside from that, I wanted to be home just in time to watch the MotoGP round in Welkon, Africa. I just told them to text or call me. The 250cc race was just about to finish when Biboy called. He invited me for dinner so that we could discuss the trip further. While having dinner, Biboy and I was just too glued watching the MotoGP race and I was in a hurry to get home that we weren't able to discuss much except, we needed to meet up 3am at the Caltex station in Los Banos, Laguna and leave for Manila 3:30am. I guess I was too preoccupied with tinkering my bike, tempting Biboy and Anne to join, MotoGP and other stuff to do, that I forgot about James' invitation or option for me to stay at their place for the night. I just reassured James through SMS that I will be on time tomorrow (yeah, right!) and that I'll be bringing along company (surprise, surprise!).

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