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Deep Field Relaxation The web site of Clif Sanderson who is famous the world over for his healing, teaching and seminars. One of his most notable achievements was helping the chilren of Chernobyl. Clif is well known in Asia Sport Fishing Asia |
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Established in 2001 by bikers for bikers and the motorcycle community |
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(James) (Rene) On the road, we see Ritchie and Charlie in front as James, Derek and I turn into the gas station. Andrew is already in the gas station, sipping his cup of coffee. Five aye-em and there is no sign of Jobo and company. We decide to wait for an additional fifteen as rain starts to fall. Jobo arrives almost fifteen minutes later, riding his Yamaha 750FZR, followed by a Honda CB750K. Jobo apologizes for being late. He worked on his front brakes last night and forgot to tighten the caliper bolts. Some fell off along the way and are now lying on the road somewhere waiting for an unsuspecting tire to puncture. He made a roadside fix by borrowing the bolts from the rear to hold down the front. I give him a couple of tie-down straps to keep his rear caliper from flopping around. Jobo introduces us to Biboy and Ann. Nice young couple.
(Andrew) 5:00 AM but two bikers are missing. A couple of minutes after 5AM they are coming. Jobo and Biboy with a pillion. A pillion is a nice young girl. First time she is going for a couple of days as a back rider. I'm worried. Both are in the age I used to be 40 years ago. (This brings some memories from my youth. I was 18 years old when I made my first long motorcycle trip. My girlfriend and I went for a one-month trip. We went from Poland to Bulgaria. About 9,000 km. round trip. We told our parents we are going to Warsaw to prepare ourselves for university study. No money but a tent and a lot of optimism. The trip was the best I made in my life. I started to admire Biboy and his girlfriend before we start our Luzon Adventure. Jobo starts his trip fixing some loose parts of the rear wheel on his bike. Minor technical problem, he explains with his charming smile. That makes me angry. He came late and with defective bike. He was aware of problem since some days. Two basic rules of a common sense rider are broken. This guy will be a lot of trouble. What will come next? We have over 1600 km in front of us. Some roads are crowded, it's raining and we have only 3 days according to our plan. We want to see something and we want to have fun. This first morning it seems to me that that equation will be impossible to solve. ME to be a leader? I have done biking in PH since 1995. I made more than 120,000 km on different bikes, alone and with groups, but never lead such group of motorcyclists. I was somewhere behind the leader and I felt good in this role. Now I must be the first to meet all problems and I must do my best to make the way for my follower easy and safe. Can I do it? Before the ride I had a meeting with Rene and James, and I was assured that all the guys are bikers. No need to go thru all basic safety rules. GOD BLESSES OUR TRIP. 5:15AM we are off. (Biboy) Jobo introduced us to the rest of the gang and 5 minutes later we were off to the North. I was awed by the bikes they were riding. Andrew, our lead rider on his Yamaha Dragstar ¥ enchanting power and growl of the twins; Rene, on a CBX750 police model ¥ switch on those red & blue lights and he can effortlessly breeze through the traffic; James on his Transalp - roads or no roads options for him; Charlie on a Honda CBR Hurricane and Ritchie on a Honda F4 ¥ they can travel at light speed; Derek on his Buell ¥ a 1200cc monster and Jobo ¥ he sure can squeeze every possible horsepower out of his old 650 XJ. And now his dad has given him a rocket to ride, a Yamaha FZR750. I knew even if these guys decided to go around North three times in one sitting, they can make it. I'm not so sure about my vintage. It sure felt like it will fail a quarter of the way. I stayed behind the 7 riders assessing how the ride is going to be. I just hoped that they will not leave me and Ann behind. I also kept an eye on Jobo's rear brake. If that rear caliper comes loose and got caught in the spinning rear tire, it will be the end of the ridefor him. Auto shops don't open until 8am and we estimated that by that time we could fix the brake we will already be somewhere in Tarlac. That was a long way to go with a broken rear stopper. (James) Delays see us riding EDSA in a bright but wet, pre-dawn atmosphere. I'm glad for the early light amidst the slick conditions. Since we're a mixed group, some of the guys rain-riding skills are an unknown factor, especially on heavily packed bikes. The group is right at the point where we're getting to know each other's riding and we're doing it under less than ideal conditions˜slick, somewhat dark, adrenaline and energy high. But we settle in nicely. (Rene) Rain is now falling hard as we rode through Edsa in darkness. Daylight starts to break through the clouds when we reach the NLEX. Soon we reach the section where roadwork closes half the expressway. We do our best to negotiate between vehicles and the cement barrier on the center lane. (Biboy) The traffic on the North Expressway was quite heavy. The weather was bad. It seemed the heavens would open its floodgates any minute. Weaving and dodging around cars and obstacles on a slippery highway with a heavy bike and a pillion is really a challenge especially if you have to keep up with veteran solo riders. Luck for us, we managed well. Ann is an experienced back ride. She can make herself feel invisible and not interfere with the driving. I can lean the bike until the peg scrapes the ground, crank until the redline without fearing she will fall. She knows how to stay put and be in sync with the bike. But this 1600 km run is the ultimate test for her. My bike doesn't have a backrest. (James) NLEX is even worse than EDSA. Even wetter but because one side of the tollway is under repair, traffic's the worst I have ever seen on a tollway. We snake our way through cagers whose tempers are clearly rising. They, like us, must have counted on early departures saving them from this kind of mess. The convoy breaks up into small packs, as riders choose their own lines through the mess. I notice Derek needs to marshal the torque on the Buell with extra care in the highly slick, tight conditions. His saddlebags make the bike really wide and he struggles with clearances as we lane split, Manila-style. A couple of cones and eventually, the concrete divider as well as his custom paint job pay the price. Derek is unfazed and later, just shrugs it off. “I can fix this easy!” he would declare later. (Rene) Derek's Buell and the wide panniers in the back scrapes along the side of the cement barrier once then twice. Ouch! Good thing the man owns an auto body repair shop back in Seattle. Less than an hour into the ride, we have our first incident.
(James) I'm following Ritchie and Charlie in the construction zone and Ritchie has the misfortune of finding out just how deep a hole can be camouflaged by a rain puddle. He bounces pretty hard but keeps the bike moving. I thank God that I am on a dual-perp on this run. Minutes later, I notice that the bag attached to his tail is falling off and point it out to him. When he pulls over, his rear is totally flat. Our first road-side party, in the midst of bumper-to-bumper NLEX traffic in light rain is now officially underway. Those are the breaks˜or is it my luck again? We make the most of it and decide to take some photos and the guys ham it up for the camera. Rene pulls up and takes over the repair job. The tire inflator goes in but succeeds only in inflating the tire partially. Meantime, Andrew, in the lead, has motored on unaware of the incident, the only member of the group that failed to stop. He eventually doubles back and catches the group just as we're about to get underway again. Ritchie and Charlie veer off towards the next off ramp after telling me that they've decided to find the nearest vulcanizing shop. I nod that I understand and keep moving. In my mirrors, I notice that Rene has decided to follow them off. The rest of us keep moving slowly and Andrew, point man and the other Road Captain, decides that we'll cruise slowly and wait up for the others towards the end of the tollway. (Biboy) We stopped somewhere in Bulacan to fix Ritchie's flat rear tire. It has a 1 inch gash and the gooey stuff they pumped into the tire can't keep the air in. So Charlie and Ritchie (the Duo) decided to separate from the group to look for a vulcanizing shop. It's fairly easy to find one in our country. They are like mushrooms cluttered along our national roads similar to our sari-sari stores. (James) We take a break from the rain under a bridge. Jobo and Biboy break out the smokes, Andrew and I chat. Minutes later, Rene pulls up, letting us know that Charlie and Ritchie will catch up with us on the road. Finally, we're off onto clear highways and it feels like the run is finally getting underway as it looks like we've got our requisite dosage of bad luck out of the way right from the start. Even the bad weather seems to be leaving us well, as the rain seems to clear. Breakfast at Luisita (Part 1) (Andrew) This is our first real stop - for breakfast - approximately 120 km from Manila. In Luisita we had a chat about the way we are riding and how to proceed. Everybody was satisfied with the speed and pace of our ride, so I decided to continue in the same mode. (James) We pull into Luisita Mall at 7:50am looking forward to a good breakfast at Pancake house. It's only been 118 kilometers but its taken us over 2 hours. Ritche and Charlie pull in just a few minutes behind us. Rene studies the map while waiting for the food to arrive and declares gravely that we might have to camp out well short of Day 1's planned stop at Tugegarao. “We're way behind schedule”, he declares. Andrew and I protest that the worst is behind us, traffic wise. The first leg, escaping the city, is always the slowest. We'll make up time on the roads ahead. Over breakfast, the enthusiasm and excitement is so obvious. Biboy and Jobo relate how Biboy and Ann came along literally on the spur of the moment. We're fresh and ready roll again. (Biboy) We proceeded to Luisita, Tarlac for our first major stop. The Duo, Ritchie and Charlie, were able to make it just in time for breakfast at Pancake house but the tire problem was still not solved. We had a nice chat with Derek and a chance to break the ice with the rest of the group. I met James twice and he's really a cool guy. Ann thought he does not know how to speak Filipino. Wait till she hears him speak, I said to myself. She was really surprised. At first we also thought of Andrew as a very serious, straight type kind of guy, and to our delight he was not. Rene was a real gentleman. Rene and Derek came all the way from the US to attend Bike Week. Derek brought his Buell with him and Rene was fortunate to have friends like Andrew who is willing to lend him his spare bike. Ann and I hoped that someday we are able to visit, and ride with them in the US. Unfortunately we never got a chance to talk and get to know more about the Duo. (Rene) We left Charlie and Ritchie to finish their breakfast and we continue north in search of more road adventures. Our plan is to bypass the nightmarish traffic of Cabanatuan by taking the side roads. Upon arriving in Tarlac, Jobo breaks off, followed by Biboy and Ann. Jobo is in search of bolts for his rear brake and saw a hardware store on the side of the road. Our convoy is now down to four bikes ¥ Andrew, Derek, James and I. The morning is not over yet. (James) As we gear up to hit the road again, I wonder what the run, now about to really start, has in store for us. We pose for a few more shots, fuel up at a nearby gas station and head off for adventure. Charlie and Ritchie need another vulcanizing job, while Jobo and Biboy break off as well to find some parts Jobo needs. Two pairs break off, leaving four bikes to soldier on. The others will catch up. (Biboy) After our hearty breakfast we got the bikes gassed up and headed next for San Jose, Nueva Viscaya. Charlie and Ritchie remained to try their luck with another vulcanizing shop. After a few kilometers, Jobo stopped at an auto shop and we got separated from the group. I passed him when he was just making a U-turn and stopped some 50 meters away. The traffic in that area was heavy and I lost sight of him after he made that turnabout. Jobo and I in turn got separated from each other. Then it started to rain for the nth time that day. Ann and I just had to scamper across the street to find shelter at the gas station. Our bags were not waterproof . There we waited for Jobo to pass by. But the concoction of trucks, busses, tricycles, jeepneys, cars, AUVs, SUVs clogging the road formed a formidable wall making it hard to notice any bike passing by. We had to strain our eyes over the traffic and our ears against the miasma of noise they created. Unfortunately, the stock pipe of Jobo's FZR was unlike that of Derek's monster. After 10 minutes, we began to worry. We called his phone but he was out of reach. Its either he turned his phone off or he was in a dead spot. I told Ann that we left the map with him and if another 20 minutes passed by without hearing from him, we will head home. I have no idea how to get to Tuguegarao. Just before the 20 minutes mark passed, he called. What a relief. He was already 15 minutes away from where we were and had turned right at a junction at Gerona, Tarlac. (Andrew) I was aware of the fact that we have real foreigners in our group. By that I mean people who are not biking in the Philippines "permanently.” Rene and Derek. I was worried about Derek. He is used to proper roads and proper behavior of all user of the roads in USA, how he will manage here, when we are now out of the North Expressway? Derek assures me that he has ridden in the Philippines before and that there are no problems. (Rene) More rain on the horizon. I shed the Acerbis enduro jacket ¥ too hot ¥ preferring instead the flow-through ventilation of the sixsixone armor in black. Inside the armor, I wore a long sleeve Dri-Fit shirt. Unlike cotton, the Dri-Fit material wicks away wetness quicker than any material I've worn in the past. The cool wind dries up the wet whenever the rain stops. (James) Some guys have donned rain gear, others, including me, take their chances, which ultimately proves to be a good move as it never really rains very hard and several hours later, stops completely. (Andrew) With this we were heading for Tugegarao. Rain is following us all the time. My prime worry is how to reach Tugegarao before dark. Around 11:00am we passed San Juan-Nueva Ecija. I sense a strange smell from my engine. We stopped after San Juan, in front of the monastery. Oblate Apostles of two hearts Jesus and Mary. Nice church.
(James) A little while later, when, for the first time at last, in an opening where it looks like we've finally broken free of cities and towns and it looks like the sun's finally got the upper hand with the rain clouds, we pull over next to a seminary in San Jose. The bikes are FILTHY! They're covered in black slick and grime that we picked up in the wet run through Tarlac. All the headlights and auxiliaries are nearly totally covered and to think that we rode for a couple of hours, counting on oncoming traffic seeing us in the dark and rain through lights that it turns out were barely visible! Leaves and trash clear the lenses and restore illumination. The guys fear that since we've been riding dry for about an hour now, the black sludge may have already been baked onto the engines. This stuff is everywhere and it looks like getting the bikes back to their pre-run glory will never happen again. I am extremely upset by that possibility but the mountains in the distance are breathtaking and I decide to just enjoy the ride and hope for best, cosmetically. I take the opportunity to text the missus and she can't believe that we're already so far away and it's only around 10am on a Monday. I thank God that this time, I am lucky enough to be able to get away from all my responsibilities! We take more pictures and hit the road again. |
