Motorcycle Philippines

10:45pm Friday night was the set time to ride and conquer Banaue, but there was a change in MC to use because we can’t ride sir Reeman’s Raider due to some erroneous pre-ride tune up by Suzuki . To cut the story short, EagleOne’s sniper came to the rescue .
Thanks sir EagleOne, we owe you one.

Sniper’s odometer reading clocked at 7490kms. And we took off from Eagle’s nest at about 11pm. Riders were of course EagleOne (brand new XR200), Buds (R150), Wolf Eyes (R150), Ed (Wave125), Uly (XRM110) and us Reeman/Tru (Sniper135-borrowed from EagleOne).

Since DaddyG (XRM110) was incommunicado that time, we decided to check first Petron tambayan hoping that he was there but no Guillermo so we proceeded to Shell Julia Vargas and found him there. Pres. Bugoi (XLR200) was already waiting us up and surprisingly Sir Lyndon (on a cage) was also there. It was already 11pm and we still have 1 rider to wait, Alvin and wife (Sniper135), guest rider and an acquaintance of Uly. While waiting, we found time to relax and took some pictures.

Time check: 12 am. All were ready to take off. Nine riders and two backriders was the headcount. The guys from Bulacan took off at a later time (from Bulacan) at 4am headed by Sir Bong (aka sir Kwago).

Spearheaded by Sir Bugoi, we started our trip and journeyed our way to Banaue. Some action packed circumstance was witnessed along EDSA with a newly purchased car. Starred by DaddyG and EagleOne, did the owner backed off when you guys sidekicked his side mirror?? (good for him for he is reckless ).

On our way to Valenzuela, it’s like traveling along a maze because of the re-routing, we hardly found our way out of the puzzled-like road and rain started to pour. First stop, Rain gear installation along McArthur Highway.

At about 2am June 30, we have reached our first gas stop at Caltex Gapan. Rest for a while and drink our hot-brewed coffee, yosi break and did some stretching.

Resumed our ride and arrived at San Jose, Nueva Ecija at 4am. The ride was mostly on the straight roads and extremely a butt-callous ride and you also have to be an owl-eyed or wolf-eyed when doing this early morning ride. Stop for a while to check if we have to take our early breakfast or take it later at boundary of Ecija-Viscaya. Since all were still energized from our last stop and eager to tackle the early morning twisties of Daang Maharlika, we decided to take our early meal at the Nueva Viscaya Ark (Balete Pass) instead.

The Fast Group (consisting of EagleOne, Bugoi, Wolf_Eyes, DaddyG, Uly and Alvin) played their way up the Balete Pass while we were at the Tail Group (Sir Ed, Reeman and Buds).

Since it was already at the crack of dawn, and knowing Sir Ed’s vision, sir Reeman gave the sign to our sweeper sir Buds to take the lead and give Sir Ed a guide all the way up. Thanks for the quick response sir Buds.

Finally we were at the Balete Pass Café and Restaurant in Nueva Viscaya at about 5:45am. We ordered our breakfast, some took the Fearless Wild Hog (aka tapang baboy ramu) hehehehe, some ordered daing na bangus.

While waiting for our orders, some took time to snap a sleep, pose for some pictures and of course some chit chat of what was the exploits done going up.

Second odometer check was 7753kms. Already traveled 263kms (from Cavite-Nueva Viscaya) and 87 kms more to add to sum up the total distance travel of 350kms (Manila-Banaue one way).

Rode down the mountainous Viscaya and reached the Bgry. Tuao in Bagabag, Nueva Viscaya at around 8:30am for some hot buko pie early merienda and to take some rest at G&B Special Buko Pie (sarap na babalik-balikan) as per their slogan. Odometer check: 7825kms.

After a while, geared up again and time to finally conquer our destination: Banaue.

Final gas stop in Bagabag for an expected never ending twisties from Lamut to Lagawe all the way up to Banaue.

Touched down in Banaue at around 10:30 am, for a grueling 10 and a half hours of travel. We then booked at Las Vegas Hotel for a cheap P150 room rate per person. The food was also cheap, we ordered the Las Vegas rice for lunch for only P50/order and you can have a pork or chicken adobo, vegetable and rice which can fill your stomach to your satisfaction.

Sir Buds and DaddyG upon arrival at the hotel, refreshed themselves with a couple of bottles of SMB light, while others can’t wait to lay their back at their beds.

The 4bigbikers+1 UB from Bulacan led by Sir Bong arrived at about past 11am.

Since we still have time to roam around the Banaue area, we decided not to take our rest during the day but instead we’ll just make our comfortable rest later at night.

So after our lunch, we went to the Viewpoint to see the Rice terraces up close and personal. We took some memorable pictures and souvenirs. Then, we asked the locals where we can find the Flintstone-style scooters. Luckily, we found two young boys playing with their wooden bikes and lend them to us. And so one by one grab the opportunity to pose and took again pictures.

And finally we were on our way to the Spot#3 where you can find the Ifugao Hut, but learning that there was a rough road ahead, we decided to go back since it’s not our bike and rain also started to pour and we left our rain gears at the hotel. Alvin & wife followed us back at the hotel. The rest of the guys continued the ride. Can anyone please fill up this blank space of what has transpired on your way to the Spot#3 (Ifugao Hut)?______________________________________________________________________.

We were then back at the hotel at around 3pm. Sir Reeman took a shower but I was already down and out due to exhaustion so we took a nap.

At around 530pm I heard DaddyG knocking at the door and inviting us that we will be taking our dinner at the branch 2 of the Las Vegas hotel. So we hurriedly got up. We were then transported via van drive by no other than the owner of the Las Vegas hotel, Mr. Leopoldo Bustamante (Uncle Pol).

Uncle Pol was very accommodating and treated us the local rice red wine and a fruit red wine on the house (for free). He also served us with a hot and deliciously great ‘pinikpikan na native na manok’ and comes with a fried tilapia.

While eating, we also got to know that Uncle Pol is also a singer and rendered us the local version of John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Road. Can anyone sing it for me? Hehehehe.

After dinner, we called it a night and we headed back at the hotel branch 1 to take the needed rest and sleep.

On the morning of July 1, everybody was up and had a well rested night, we took our breakfast and readied ourselves for another 10hour minimum ride home. The Bulacan boys earlier went ahead at 5am and our guest rider Alvin and wife tagged along with them. Bid farewell to Uncle Pol and family and issued us a discounted rate on our next Banaue trip when booked at their hotel. Sir Pres, did I heard it right that it is also open to our fellow MCPians?

At 9:15 am we gassed up at Petron Banaue and the snipers’ odometer reading was 7883kms.

Before going down, we toured the place where the treasure of Yamas-h-i-t-a was supposedly hidden at the Kiangan Shrine.

And now, it’s finally the time of going back home. We took the same route and a minor mishap by sir EagleOne due to oil skid and a wet road and sir Ed almost got the same spill but luckily no injuries were suffered because all of us were geared up properly.

Arrived in Bulacan at Caltex Marilao, at around 7:30pm and at exactly 10pm we were already at home sound and safe. Odometer check: 8285kms. Total Distance traveled: 795kilometers (Cavite-Banaue-Cavite).

To sum it all, this trip was a very memorable and we enjoy everybody’s company. Hope we can make another long ride with you guys with our Raider150 this time.

This ride will not be possible for us without the help of the sniper of Sir EagleOne, to you sir Thank You!

View more about the ride here.