20 Nov 2025: The roads to nowhere

Russ arrived yesterday frazzled after an ordeal with his bike hire in Manilla where having been presented with a ropey clapped out XR150 protested at length was eventually given a slightly less clapped out CRF150.

Whilst he had day out to sort out the bike and kit the rest of the team had a ride out of town via old US airforce base and onto a 6 lane motorway ... with no one on it except the four riders of the apocalypse and no obvious reason for its existance. 

This was followed by a twisty road up to a monastry with spectacular views. 

 
BJ  dropped his helmet and the visor fastening pinged off into the undergrowth, luckily retrieved  after a 10min search by eagle eyed Mark
  
A welcome fruit picnic with Mango, grapes, oranges with a view of a volcano on the edge of Angeles city.  
 
Straw poll taken and we agreed to a 35 mile jaunt around the base of the volcano but it wasnt long before we were on  a rutty muddy lane and both Mark and Terry had a tumble but no damage done, however  Terry's bike had a knackered battery from the start and chose this time to go absolutly flat, nor would it kick start, a battery swap sorted the matter.


The ride was abandoned in favour  of the shortest route back to the hotel and straight to the bar in dirty kit for a swift beer or 6 or 7! 




 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  They are at it again, Thailand  Welsh Russ, Canadian Greg and the English set of David, Terry, BJ and Mark are off for a little tour of the Philippine island of Luzon.  1500 miles of tropical paradise, or at least that is what Russ has promised us!
Read more

19 Nov 2025 Shakedown ride

Image
An early start and on the bikes ready to roll into the urban chaos. David had planned a 130 mile circular route whilst we waited for Russ to arrive later in the day. 200 yards down the road we stopped for a leisurly breakfast and then into the taffic leaving Angeles city. 2 miles later :  Mark is the first victim with a puncture.  Whilst writing I see that its snowing in Ledury, its a touch warmer here:   All repaired for £1.40 including new tape and valve We soon got used to the Fillipino style of roadcraft as we ducked and dived through the traffic.  Driving standards by the locals is pretty good , shame BJ's wasnt as good as he skidded to a halt having only just in time seen the thin Bamboo pole positioned to stop riders taking a short cut past sped calming barriers, but at least he found his brakes worked unlike Terry who has no back brake. After a couple of hours David had found some good tarmac with plenty of bends along a jungle road. The Honda Xr150's excelle...
Read more

18th Nov 25: Day 2: Bikes, Bimbles, and Bernt

Image
  Everyone finally surfaced around midday, each of us displaying our own unique brand of jet lag. Some looked relatively human. Others… less so. But united at last, we set off to collect the bikes.     The journey over was a spectacle in itself: four large blokes squeezed into two tuk-tuks , puttering through the streets of Angeles City. The locals watched with a mix of amusement and disbelief , fair enough, really seeing BJ ride side saddle! At the rental shop, we were pleasantly surprised. The bikes, despite being five years old, were in great condition. Less surprising was the manager, Bernt. He proudly announced he was 61, though he looked closer to 80. Let’s just say he must’ve had a very tough paper round.  With bikes collected, we rode them back to the hotel to begin the essential modifications: stickers, USB chargers, straps, bungees — the full adventurer’s toolkit. After a bit of tinkering, David, BJ, and Mark headed out for a gentle bimble around Angeles...
Read more