Received this note this morning from my son Dino. It was neatly tucked underneath a tray of a breakfast of Hotdogs and Eggs he had made for me and Des. How this to make you forget about bronchitis (yup I’ve been battling with it since early this week). Thanks Dino and Marco, Daddy loves you very much!!

Happy Father’s Day to all!! Happy Father’s Day Dad!!!! I know you’re eating lechon right now!

Riding in Manila traffic and heat is hard enough, but riding with a bum shoulder just makes it all the more, well….harder.

I honestly don’t know where this pain in my shoulder came from, might be from sleeping too much on it or from Mountain Biking. But wherever it came from it’s giving me a hard time riding the GT. As everyone knows the Vespa GT is way heavier than the PX so having to maneuver it in traffic becomes a test of patience and my pain threshold since you have to literally wrestle in between a trucks radiator grill and a taxi cabs’ bumper almost every 500 meters.

Putting it on the center stand when I got to the office was THE worst. I actually yelped out a little as I pulled it up, totally forgetting about my bum shoulder, well the shoulder reminded me right away.

I hope this ends soon. This sucks!

Going to work this morning started out normal. Ordinary preparations before getting on my Vespa GT. Start the engine, make sure that it warms up nicely, since the weather’s been cloudy lately. Put on the gear, store the stuff in the compartment. Nothing out of the ordinary.

But as I started my ride to work, something was off. I couldn’t put a finger on what it was. Something just didn’t feel right. Recognizing these signs, I decided to take a more leisurely approach to my daily commute. Easing off just a tad earlier on the throttle than usual, and braking just a split second earlier. There were several instances of “near-misses” which were avoided today, I think they’d be better off called a “near-miss-miss”. A truck suddenly turning into it’s garage, an oil spill in the middle of the street, an open manhole, another motorcycle rider coming down from the sidewalk (yup, he was ON the sidewalk) and other “incidents” were suddenly easily avoidable and became mere annoyances on the road.

Anyone who has spent decent time on the road knows what I’m talking about. There are days when you feel that it’s just not there, and these are the days where we have to practice extra care and extra caution and proceed with a bit more patience. Having an off day doesn’t necessarily mean getting off the saddle, it might just mean take that extra second think and think again.

I did it. After roughly 9 hours and countless bouts with muscle cramps, I finished the minimum number of laps (25) at the Suunto 12 Hour Endurance Race at the Filcity Mountain Bike Park organized by Sabak.

It was my first race on a bicycle and my first athletic competition of any kind for a long time. So, it was with mixed emotions that I started the day for the race. The pre-race jitters were there. I miss that feeling. That feeling of anticipation. Although I was never in contention at any point in the race, since my main objective was to finish the minimum number of laps alive, I relished the feeling of competition again, something I had not felt in a long time.

After finishing the minimum required laps at roughly 7:30 PM (I was at 16 laps at 3pm but my muscle cramps in both legs rendered me useless for a good 2-3 hours after that), Mitch Estella, my partner in crime in this race had scheduled ourselves to go out on the track again at 8pm and finish the race. But the clouds opened up and rain fell on the track and that was that. We decided that someone else has decided for us not to continue the race.

All in all it was a really satisfying experience that I cannot wait to do again. I know I will never be able to even think about being in contention but who cares, obviously not me!!

More photos here!!

With summer just about to end, I find it a little bit odd that things have started to really heat up lately. Rain has been steadily falling in the afternoons and you hope that will cool down the rest of the day or at least cool down the city to make the heat of the next afternoon arrives. But no, it’s been really hot lately and I have been forced to bring a couple of extra shirts to work to change my sweaty (literally dripping wet) shirt lest I catch pneumonia.

This is the first time in a long while that I’ve found the need to bring extra clothing. I have been able to handle heat pretty well for quite a while but I guess the added humidity has made the conditions just right for profuse sweating. Hay carramba.

So, a word of advise to the urban warrior, bring a shirt, you’re gonna need it.

image by Jake Verzosa

“In honor of rice”

This festival couldn’t have come at a more opportune time, now that the country is in the throes of a crisis involving our staple food.

A festival which is held once every three years, the Imbayah Festival held this year on April 15-17. This years’ Imbayah featured Imbayah Ritual, Cultural Performances, Agro-industrial Fair, Backstrap Weaving, Wood Carving Demonstration and the ever popular Wooden Scooter Race.

Here are a few images from the scooter races taken by our good friend Jake Verzosa.

Read more…  

For those joining the Angono Roundup, here’s the schedule of activities:

ITINERARY FOR the VESPA JAMBOREE:

APRIL 12, 2008 Saturday

• BREAKFAST RIDE to SIERRA MADRE
  7:00 am ~ Meet at SHELL Gas Station, Julia Vargas C5
  8:00 am ~ Roll out to Sierra Madre, Breakfast/ Snack upon arrival there. (kkb)
  ( The route back is thru Tanay,Rizal then going to Angono)
• 10:00 am ~ MASS BLESSING OF SCOOTERS
  at ST. CLEMENT PARISH CHURCH, Angono Rizal
• 11:00 am ~ Downtime at the Venue (ART CAMP)
  (Konting relax, palamig, pictyuran, assembly, pahinga ng konti
  habang nag hihintay ng lunch)
• 12 noon LUNCHTIME!
  Our MENU for the day:
  Kaderetang Kambing, Papaitan Laman-loob ng Kambing, Kinilaw na Kambing, Sinampalukang Kambing, Ginisang Balaw-Balaw with talong, Fried Itik, Foie Gras/Paté, Adobong Bayag ng Itik, Ulo ng Itik, Sinigang na Bangus sa Miso, Inihaw na Liempo, Inihaw na Isda, Pancit. Sandamakmak na Kanin, Isang Drum ng malamig na malamig na serbesa, sopdrinks atbp.
• 1:00 pm Onwards
  Live Band Performance, Tugtugan, Socials, Raffles, Fun & Games, Basagan, Sayawan, 80’s Music, Party hanggang gabi!

The place is a covered multi-level function area. May roofdeck at may basement. There are Bathrooms, Bedrooms available in the place for those who will be staying overnight. Malaki ang lugar, but with limited beddings. Pero pwedeng matulog kahit saan. Pwede rin kayong magdala ng Sleeping Bag kung gusto nyo. Jamboree ito kaya boyscout style tayo. hehe.

APRIL 13, 2008 Sunday

• Breakfast, ANYTHING GOES…

ADVISORY:
IN ORDER TO RAISE A FUND FOR THE RENTAL OF THE VENUE AND SOUNDSYSTEM. WE WILL HUMBLY ASK EVERYONE A SUPPORT FEE OF P100 each upon registration pagdating natin sa Venue para may pambayad tayo sa Soundsystem at sa Reservation Fee ng Lugar. All names from the list of registrants will then be raffled and will have a chance to win exciting prizes!

And as usual, The ever reliable PIGGY BEER BANK will roam around para may pang serbesa at Pizza tayo.

GAME NA!

Hey guys, sorry I haven’t updated the blog recently. I’ve been way too busy with work. Hope to be back in blogging form in a few weeks.

• The Angono ride is this Saturday and I’m raring to join it since I missed last year’s edition.
• 2211 Works in Malate had their successful relaunch last Saturday in a well attended affair in their newly renovated shop. Nice work from Migs and the guys. I’m sure it’s going to be the center of scooter activity again.
• Some guys went to Laguna last Monday for a daytrip. An excuse for new scooter owners to go and break in their new babies.
• Speaking of new scoots. Almost all the stocks of new scoots brought in by 2211 have been snapped up. Next shipment is on June so that will surely keep some people licking their chops till they come.
• The Euroscoot website has been wiped out due to the stupidity of the host Ipowerweb. They changed their platform but forgot to move the database of the site. So that’s 3 years worth of information down the drain. So to Ipowerweb….F*&K Y@%!

Will be bringing new shorties as soon I can.