Forum member paul_xt16 sent us this ride report of their newbie ride to Marilaque.

Beep… beep… beep! The alarm went off! It’s already 3:39AM. I hurriedly got up and fixed my stuff. I didn’t have time to prepare the night before because my bike’s headlight broke off.

That night, I went to a convenience store and bought Epoxy Steel™. I somehow managed fixing my headlight and I slept at around 11:30PM.

Anyway, here’s the rest of the report.

Time check - 4:50
Odometer reading - xx002.7
I went to the nearest car wash station to have my bike washed. While waiting, I started wearing my Scoyco™ gears (thanks to Exceed, Caloocan) and had a couple of cigarettes.

Time check - 5:05
Odometer reading - xx005.4
My bike was dry and I secured my backpack to my trusty yellow Honda XRM with a cargo net. I went to the next Caltex Station and my bike had its full fill of Caltex Silver with Techron™.(Puro ba ™ as in trademark? Enough of that!).

Time check - 5:45
Odometer reading - xx028.0
8 out of the 12 bikes were already there. Amongst the newbies were some prominent MCP personalities. Col.Ted, arwin_ActionHob, Pasaway_elo and TerminalHopper. We waited for a few other noobs. Excitement filled the air as we shook hands and exchanged smiles with people we barely know. Most topped up and had their tires checked. Arwin_ActionHob distributed yellow ribbons that we tied to our bikes for easier identification of everyone in the group. A short briefing was done and expectations were set. We bowed down our heads as we asked for guidance from the Almighty. A couple of camera shots were taken and by 6:30, twelve bikes were revving up and took off on the way to Sierra Madre resort in MaRiLaQue.

C5, E Rodriguez Sr and Marikina Riverbanks were the first few roads that we rode on on our way to Marcos Highway. We merged with the NASBikes™ group on the highway before we were flagged down by some police officers, right after passing the Sta Lucia mall.

“Anong grupo kayo?”, “Sino’ng president n’yo?” and “Sinong team leader nyo?” were the questions that the officer asked me as I approached them. “Wala po kaming grupo”, “wala po kaming president” and “wala kaming team leader” were my answers. Pasaway_elo approached the officers and vouched for the whole group. He assured them that all of us had our driving licenses and our bikes are not “illegally owned”.

Our two groups combined sped off. We passed by the Masinag Market intersection going to Cogeo and straight to the mountains of MaRiLaQue. The NASBikes group eventually broke off since they had other plans. We had our first cigarette break at the Garden Cottages. We took a lot of pictures there, too.

Whoa! Just before we took-off for the rest of the way up to our venue, I noticed that the brace of my exhaust canister broke off. With a few tie-wires, we managed to secure the exhaust pipe to the bike. “Pansamantagal lang naman” I thought.

We had our engines roaring in no time. The whole group was excited to battle the rest of the twisties. Rhodney was one of the newbies of the group. He has a new Suzuki Raider and a new biker heart. He said that he had no experience in twisties and banking and haven’t even gone over 80kph with his bike. He tailed me. I can swear I can see thru my side mirror that he was trying his best to bank on the twisties as I did. Good job for a newbie, Rhod!

After a few kilometers, I realized I was seeing only 4 bikes behind me. I slowed down. We found out that we had 1 biker down. Regz125 overshot and crashed his new Honda Wave I 125. The fairings were cracked. The headlight was broken. Worse is the front wheel got misaligned. The good thing was he didn’t get any bodily injury except for 1 small cut. Thanks to the Scoyco Personal Sports Kit that he was wearing. With a little help from the group, the wheel got aligned a bit (pansamantagal, still) and we were back on track in less than 30 minutes. It was starting to rain hard. We slowed down running at 40-50kph and we got to the Sierra Madre resort without any other challenges and luckily before it poured heavily.

Touchdown!

Timecheck - I forgot to check it
Odometer reading - Guess what, I forgot, too!
Two noobs bade goodbye right after we parked. They said that they had appointments and would not be able to stay over. Whew! That’s gotta be tiring!

We 10 guys and 1 lady pillion rider had our share of 4 bowls of Bulalo, crispy fried chicken and some pork inihaw. Thanks to our 3 seasoned riders and NoyR for paying for the bulalo.

After an hour’s rest, the group crossed the hanging bridge and ‘abused’ the park by having our crazy pictures taken. We geared up, and went down back to the Masinag Market intersection, said our “goodbye”s and parted ways.

Home
Odometer Reading - xx149.0

God, I’m so tired and yet I’m creating this unofficial ride report.
Watch out for the official one and the pics!

Nice meeting the noobs and the not-so-noobs, too! Thanks to Arwin_ActionHob for providing the yellow ribbons. (Yun o! Sabi ni Rhod “Yellow Ribbon Riders Club daw yung name). Thanks to Rhodney for providing our two-way radios. Special thanks to Col.Ted for volunteering as our sweeper. Pasaway_elo for being the escort of the group. TerminalHopper for taking mobile shots of the group.

Estimated distance from Shell C5 to Sierra Madre Resort, Marilaque - 55 kilometers

More pictures in this thread.