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| The unknown lake in Toledo. Can you spot the carabaos (water buffalo)? |
One of the guys at Philippine MOTO Adventure Touring and Trails is a friend and a clubmate at Cebu Scoopy Club, Carlos "Kano" Russell. Since its inception, I have been following its Facebook posts about the places they have been and the obstacles they have to overcome while riding and I was intrigued by the routes they take and the scenery of the mountains of Cebu, Talisay and Toledo. I am less intrigued by trail riding because for one, I am not familiar with riding an underbone motorcycle (Honda XRM 125) and I am not that interested in trail riding, either. Basically, I am just after the view and vistas one would encounter in their trail and touring adventure ride.
Their rate is Php2,450 per head and that includes your usage of their Honda XRM 125 motorbike, OZ Racing jersey and pants, even your lunch, gas and snacks. You just have to show up at their OZ Racing shop in Archbishop Reyes Avenue, Cebu City, pay the amount and you ride. One day, I will have to try their trail, I said to myself.
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| This is Carlos "Kano" Russell. Probably, the best rider I have encountered personally |
Saturday morning came, I was a bit anxious and nervous. There were a total of 6 riders for the day. Kano's boss and I think owner of the OZ Racing shop and this Philippine MOTO Adventure Touring and Trails also joined us with another guide. I will call him The Boss from here on, hehe. Then 2 more guests plus me so 3 guests and 3 guides. The weather looked fine that day although there were moments were it looked like it was going to rain but only a slight drizzle came.
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| Our first pitstop and photo op. |
Then, we had a briefing with the group, some advice regarding the route and so on. Apparently, I was the least experienced of the group with the other 2 guests have experienced bigger bikes and they are actually big bike owners themselves. Honestly, I didn't feel like I belong because these guys are rich, hehe. Then I sat on the Honda XRM motorbike, familiarized with the controls and it felt a bit awkward. I am used to riding a scooter where the ergonomic and most probably handling is different from an underbone bike.
We started past 10AM already and from the OZ Racing shop, we road up to the hilly roads of Lahug to Busay via a small access road along Mountain View and Temple of Leah where we also took our first photo of the ride. At that point, I was thinking I was way over my head in joining this ride. I was having a bit of a hard time with my Honda XRM in terms of throttle control, changing gear and even cornering. I didn't know if I'll do the motocross style of cornering (bike in, body out) or just follow what I was used to (bike in, body in).
Following what I used to in cornering was a bit weird and uncomfortable and there were times where I have to use motocross style cornering even though I am not sure if I was doing it correctly. Hahaha! Then we hit Barangay Bonbon, an uptown barangay of Cebu City where we planned to have our lunch. So far, the ride was okay. I am not used to the bike but I felt like I was getting better at handling it. The roads were mostly paved by the way with a few rough roads along at that point.
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| Lunch time! |
After lunch, we were briefed again that at that point, it will be all fun riding because we would be riding on rough roads and crossing a river multiple times. Along the way, even though the roads were rough, the pace was still relatively fast. I think we were riding downhill on rough roads of about more or less 50kph. That was fast for rough roads and downhill, at least for me.
But I was having fun as well trailing behind Kano and the other guest rider. I was also getting better at handling the Honda XRM, began to grow confidence and then a hard corner downhill was about to come. To slow down, I would have to brake a little bit harder because it was downhill. I have been using the front brake of this Honda XRM 125 most of the time because that was the only brake I immediately recognize to use on an underbone. I was used to brake the rear wheel on my left hand (scooter) but on an XRM, it's on your right foot, a standard among other bikes except the scooter. Going downhill on rough roads with gravels, I know I would have to use the rear brake more and lesser on the front brake or I'll go down once the front wheel locked because it was a corner. I stepped on the rear brake on my right foot but it was too deep as I was getting closer to the curve. I knew I had to brake or else I would have to corner hard or worse, I'll end up on the river just next to that corner. Cornering hard was not an option because I haven't had the skill of cornering hard on slippery gravels. So with a bit of panic, I grabbed the front brake and boom! One rider down just the moment the ride was getting fun, hahahaha!
I fell flat on my stomach and my chest hit the rough roads. I stood up immediately and I tried to feel if I was okay, feeling my chest if I broke a rib or whatever, lol! I felt I was fine. I wore my pads (elbow and knee pads) so I didn't feel any road rash or bruises. I did felt my upper rib and upper knee to be a little sore but negligible pain only. The Boss asked me if I can continue and apart from the reason that I would not want the other riders to cancel this ride, I also felt okay so I approved and we continued. That was after fixing the bent foot peg of the Honda XRM. Aside from that, a small scratch on the left side mirror. The Boss also provided me some pointers on braking on a trail ride.
So we moved on and then we were greeted with the first river crossing of the trail. It was I think knee deep. The water was not clear because it was raining the previous day or hours before so you couldn't see what you are about to hit your wheels on but we were advised that all were stones and gravels of varying sizes.The guide went first. It looked like he was struggling a bit or so it appeared to me. Then the other 2 guests followed. They succeeded even though it looked like they did struggle a bit. I was anxious, no, I was nervous to try but I just can't stop right there. I reached that far (or too early actually) so I might as well try it. If I fail, I would just go back and they could proceed on their way. I was advised to use the first gear only and try not to bring the power down. Basically, power and throttle through all the way. It was not as difficult as I thought but it was still difficult. I did managed to cross and it was a mixed feeling of fun, excitement and fear.
Then The Boss told us that that was just the beginning and that was probably one of the easiest river crossing. When he said that, my nervousness grew into fear. Hahaha! Can I go back, I said to myself. No way can I cross the river more difficult than what I just experienced.
But I was too shy to say that in front of them. I felt fear but I also felt excitement and fun. So I chose to continue and just have fun. I went down already, it won't be that bad if I go down again. Hahahaha!
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| Yup, that last guy to cross was me, well, except for The Boss who took this picture. Hehe. |
We crossed the river a couple more times, probably more than 10 times. The same river but we have to cross multiple times to find the shallow parts to ride on, mostly knee deep. One time, another guest rider went down. I was not able to witness how but he was just laughing while he and his bike laid down side to side. Kano took a photo of them both and we all had a good laugh. So record so far, 2 guests went down out of 3.
I did manage to cross them all. Then we climbed from the river to the main road within a residential area to get to the main road of Manipis, Talisay City. We stopped when we reached the main road and had a water break and also discussed what we have just trekked. By that time, I was already exhausted but The Boss told us that we haven't even reached halfway of the whole route. Hahaha! I like to go home, that was what I was thinking when he said that.
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| Yey! I crossed a river. Hahahaha! |
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| Pitstop at Biga Pit inside the Carmen Copper Corporation property. |
That time, I didn't try to keep up with the group and just stayed on low gear so I have better control on the brakes. Moments later and on a curve, the 3rd guest rider went down. So that was 3 guests went down out of 3 or basically, all guests went down. I didn't feel so bad after that. I mean, those 2 riders were very experienced but they joined my company, hehehe.
Kano didn't leave me behind and I was thankful for that. Actually it was better because every now and then, Kano would play his XRM on these slippery roads, sliding, jumping and so on. I wonder if this guy would go down even if you push him. Hahahaha! Impressive!
After Biga Pit, we went into a tricky route just to see a less visited river. That river which we still don't know the name, and they just named it Lake Two, has a very serene surrounding. We found 2 carabaos (water buffalo, see our first photo here) allegedly floating in the lake. Amazing!
After Lake Two, we made a quick stop at a small junction where there was a guard house. I have no idea what the name of the road was or which barangay we were in. If you happen to travel the road from Biga Pit to Malubog Lake or vice versa, you would come across this guard house where there is a boom barrier. Behind that is a small space where you can park your bike or car and just beside that area, you will find a mini waterfalls. We have no idea where the water came from but it was amazing how a mini waterfalls got there. I have crossed this road a couple of times already using my Mesha (Honda Scoopy) but I didn't know there was a mini waterfalls there.
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| This is the guard house with a parking space behind. |
After that, we went to the next destination where we would cross a tunnel. I have been to this tunnel before but I was not able to cross it and see what is on the other side. Unfortunately, there was a religious group doing an activity so we weren't able to proceed to respect what they were doing.
Next up is the beautiful Malubog Lake. I have also been in Malubog Lake, maybe that was my 5th time already but luckily this time, we stayed by the lake on a different shore. We saw a couple of riders there, resting and cooking relatively big-sized tilapias. That would have been fun if we did that ourselves but we did't have the luxury of time to stay longer since it was already late in the afternoon.
So we rode on. At some point, I hit a hilly bump since we were riding on grass and it was not that clear and had my front wheel jump out. I had my first wheelie, although brief, hehehe. Later on, we had snacks, native "shakoy". I am not a fan of "shakoy" but the one we ate tasted really good and I was not that hungry either so it wasn't aided by hunger.
After that, we crossed a river a couple more times. We probably crossed rivers more than 20 times. Imagine that! Luckily, I wasn't that too nervous anymore when crossing a river. It felt great although it was still a bit difficult but I was able to cross them with relative ease. My posture and ergonomic when I started crossing river was stiff and straight but at that point, I was able to relax more as per advise by Kano and I guess that made it all look and feel relatively easy.
Then we climbed the very steep and rough roads going back to Bonbon. The Honda XRM was really impressive. I was impressed by the power it gave us during the river crossings and I was more impressed when climbing very steep rough roads of about more or less 40 degrees. No wonder it was considered the top selling bike of the Philippines.
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| We rested after that steep climb. See that road behind us? That goes down around 40 degrees of rough roads. The Honda XRM was really amazing in climbing these roads. I was already impressed by this bike crossing rivers and then this! |
After the rough roads, we went back to the roads of Bonbon Cebu all the way back to the OZ Racing shop in Archbishop Reyes Avenue. It was probably the shortest route yet longest and exhausting ride I have tried. Thanks to Philippine MOTO Adventure Touring and Trails for this opportunity and special thanks to the guides Carlos Russell and to The Boss of OZ Racing for the riding tips. It was my first time doing a trail and I really learned a lot.
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| From left, Guest Rider 1, Guide 1, Carlos "Kano" Russell", Guest Rider 2, The Boss and then Guest Rider 3 or ME :) |
Would I try again? I will try to convince some of my Cebu Scoopy Club mates and I will join them if ever some of them will try.
NOTE: All photos are taken from Philippine MOTO Adventure Touring and Trails Facebook page. You should try their trail. Highly recommended!!!
RIDE SAFE! RIDE XRM! GODSPEED!!!
