motorcycle diaries

I always liked to ride motorcycles. The sound of the engine, vehicles zooming by, the faces of the people you see in the sidewalks, and the wind as it rushes on your face adds up to a wonderful experience.

I went home to Pangasinan for the weekend. Waiting for me at home was my dad's new motorcycle which he has been boasting about for quite a while. But it was apparent that its full capacity was yet to be exploited (the mileage was only at around 425.) This is where I come in.

After I woke up last Saturday morning, I immediately and eagerly went to our garage and hopped at the motorcycle. (Yes, no time to spare for breakfast nor a change of clothes, just a wash in the face was enough.) I called my cousin to join me for the joyride and off we went.

From Bayambang, we went to San Carlos City to Malasiqui and Back. I'm assuming that the distance was 70 kilometers since it took us an hour and we travelled between 60-100 km/hr.

The road was smooth and wide, and since it was in the province, in the middle of farms and agricultural land. There were only a few cars and vehicles in the road so we pretty much had only ourselves for the trip.

And the trip was really a joyride. To quote, "You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other. In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it you don't realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.

On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming. That concrete whizzing by five inches below your foot is the real thing, the same stuff you walk on, it's right there, so blurred you can't focus on it, yet you can put your foot down and touch it anytime, and the whole thing, the whole experience, is never removed from immediate consciousness." (Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintainance)

And that is what I like about Morotcycles. You become a part of the surroundings. The wind that makes the branches of trees sway is the very same one that you feel on your face.

The only trouble we had was when we came back home. That is when I felt the burns. After all, what can you expect when you ride a motorcycle, in a road which is most of the time without any shade, wearing only boxershorts and a tee, at 12:00 pm, with the nearly perpetual summer yet to end in the Philippines?

Postscript
Before I went back home to Manila, the Mileage was at 550. (We also went to Camiling Tarlac last Sunday, but at 6:00pm where it was colder.)