The Motorcycle world recently offered several activities which the club participated in. One would be the Asian Bikers Conference & Exhibit Held at Le Pavilion, Macapagal Avenue, Pasay City during September 2 & 3, 2006, and the other, the NRA Endurance Race at Batangas Racing Circuit last September 10, 2006.

In such events, man power is a necessity; brainstorming alone is tremendous task, let alone the preparations and most especially, execution. Like everyone, we volunteered our time & efforts to these events, considering we each have our own day jobs where we try not to get fired from, charity work plus day job is a mind-numbing thing to put together.

The Exhibit for one thing took a lot of hands to put up, designing and execution of the booth took a lot of creative efforts, let alone manning the booth for 12 hours for 2 days is exasperating. The Endurance Race on the other hand, as it is, took a lot of patience and stamina from the team; likewise it gave unanticipated incidents to each of the riders. With these sacrifices in mind; one would always think, what does one get out of volunteering for a job? Volunteer defined as unpaid labor, in beauty pageants, it is often referred to as the Thank You Girls.

Bottom-line?

Brotherhood. We do great things for our brothers, sacrifices as well, and what is remarkable is that we are not even blood brothers; we are brothers by choice and not by fate. Which again brings me another thought, what actually initiated this brotherhood?

Notable here is that all of us are bounded by one significant thing in our lives, our love for bikes. Biblically, love for material things is often passed as worldly, but in this case, it isn’t because it’s what brought this brotherhood together.

Metaphorically speaking, all of us form that big mean machine in between our legs. A faction of riders may form the chain, but even as a faction, it works within the group, for without that chain faction, the rear sprocket and the engine sprocket won’t have a way to communicate if one should start turning, in addition, one link missing from that chain the entire faction may not work as well. One or two may take the form of the CDI which may act as the brain; the big healthy ones can be tires which are again supported by not so big ones who act as rims. The noisy ones and well versed can be the honks to carry out instructions and messages, where as the initiator can be the throttle who pushes everyone to work harder; the logical ones are the brakes or the instrument panel, the wise ones, the headlight being the one to guide the way, the vain ones are the side mirrors, a resilient one can be the tools to aid everyone else. Well, even a persistent appellant can serve as a key which pushes everyone to start.

As it is, Xplorers Philippines was fostered to bring different people of the same bikes together to maximize the z200 and other forms it comes in. The brotherhood came as an additional benefit, as such; the z200 as it is tied these people from different walks of life to become brothers by choice. Team Xplorers existed because of people who wanted to learn, and teach others, the brotherhood stood because of the comradeship that we had. Brotherhood is a team sport, each must learn how to carry a brother on his shoulder, one must know when to give, and know how much to take. Rule of thumb is, in brotherhood fundamentally, is to love your brother the same exact way you want your brother to love you. Pride and smugness isn’t the best way to depict brotherhood. There is no Me, Myself & I here, no schizoids are allowed. The word “Bro” has been loosely used by a lot of us, but do we in fact know the true essence of brotherhood?

Team Xplorers, as I have known them to be is the kind of brothers who is there to help when help is needed, and laugh when laughter is in queue, is ready to lend an ear when someone needs to be heard, and lend a throttle cable when needed and most of all, get dirty when the situation calls for. I have known members of whom, who have upgraded their bikes, for a time it was mostly z200s, now our brothers have upgraded to a Bandit, Xanthus, ZZR and maybe Gixxer soon; but none have been known to have upgraded his Brothers. Why? Simply put, Fate had already tested our brotherhood, we remained together for we know within the group we have a Spearhead who guides us, Marshalls who look after our safety, and Sweepers who looks after us when we are lost. A true Xplorer knows to care for his brother, if this may sound taboo, you might need to rethink your lifestyle.

We may not have the best booth in the Asian Bikers Exhibit Conference; but minus the setback and frustrations, we were still able to put on a good show. We may have not won 1st place in the NAMSSA Endurance Race; but we were able to finish and endure the tedious race. Bottom-line is that we have our brotherhood, our brothers of choice to support us. Xplorers don’t walk out on a fellow Xplorer. Through thick and thin, Xplorers Sticks Together. And that my brother is what our z200 brought us. z200, The Bike that Binds.

Article by geraldo3