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April Fool’s Day Ride
On the day when most people are either getting pranked or are pranking others, we took a long ride.
And it was no joke.
Our destination: Overview Park
The total trip would cover around 230 kilometers give or take another 5 or so kilometers for our little detours.
The guys I’d be riding with were legit Yamaha racers. They’d all already participated in Yamaha sponsored circuit races and I was just wearing a shirt that said “Yamaha Racing Club”.
In total, there were 12 bikes. I was the odd man out with my Yamaha YTX 125. They all had Mio and Aerox scooters.
Our starting point: Calinan Town Proper
We gassed up at Shell before lining up to start the ride. Everyone started with a full tank. I spent Php200.00 since I still had half a tank of gas from last week.
As soon as the last rider was in line, we revved our engines and we were off.
I mean, they were off.
My Yamaha YTX 125 can reach 100kph when I ride solo. With a passenger, my top speed was only 80kph.
The good about having a passenger is, at that speed, engine vibration is down to a minimum. Braking is sacrificed though as the stock drum brakes on the YTX struggled to effectively stop us when needed. As a mental note, when you have a passenger, keep your distance to at least 3 car lengths if you’re hitting 80kph.
My companions saw me struggling to keep up so they backed down on the throttle and we cruised at 80kph.
This is the difference between legit racers and street racers. Legit racers know they have skills. They’re fast. They have an intimate knowledge of their bikes down to the last bolt and they know how to adjust their speed levels to accommodate other people. They also have an uncanny control over their bikes making it seem like man and machine are one. They can follow each other precisely as if tracing each other’s footsteps.
They took turns babysitting me as my Yamaha YTX 125 strained to keep up. I tried to go faster just so I wouldn’t slow everyone down but 80kph was as far as my speedo would go.
Because of the slower pace I inadvertently set, they proceeded to entertain each other by doing maneuvers on the road.
It was like ballet with machines doing pirouettes.
I eventually signaled to the others to go on ahead without me. We were going to the same place anyway so I’d eventually catch up.
The rest put on full throttle and disappeared quickly but they left two baby sitters to make sure my girlfriend and I were safe during the ride. We kept our pace at 80kph.
Hanggang dun lang talaga kaya eh….
Our first stop was along the side of the road with a bit of overlooking view and a lot trees providing shade. We snapped a couple of pictures, laughed at the slow pace and discussed the journey ahead of us.
We were still far from Overview.
They would’ve been there by now if they didn’t have to babysit me.
After a few minutes rest, we took off again. We didn’t stop until we reached Seagull Resort.
We had to stop so the guys could gas up.
Their little tanks could only hold so much fuel and their modified engines were guzzlers.
I didn’t need to top up. I checked inside my tank and saw I only took about 15 to 20% of my fuel. Heheheh fuel saver.
After the last bike was filled up, we got on our bikes again and headed for Bukidnon. We only stopped when we got to the Quarantine area and had a quick breakfast.
We probably spent a good 30 minutes there before we headed out again.
The area we were going to traverse was full of twists and bends and everyone wanted to go at it full speed. So I was left alone again with only one baby sitter this time. after a few minutes, he was replaced by another babysitter so he could also enjoy going full speed.
We finally reached Overview and everyone was safe.
Everyone was smiling. Everyone had a good time.
And no one overshot while banking.
.
.
.
.
Well….
except me.
There’s really no lesson here. Maybe I just wanted to share how the ride went. Or maybe I wanted to share what being amongst real racers is really like. They basically created their own safe environment as they sped through the highway with a few acting as cordons as one or two revved to the maximum. Once done, the cordons would be replaced so they can have a go at speeding up.
They took turns scouting ahead or coming back to check on me.
It was a great day for riding.
Some realizations:
Yamaha YTX 125 is very fuel efficient. One full tank was enough for the entire journey. I still have fuel left over today. I gassed up Sunday and it’s now a Tuesday.
Total cost of fuel: Php200.00
Traveled 230 + kilometers
Still have lotsa gas left in the tank.
100kph is only possible if I’m riding alone. With a passenger, if you manage to hit 80kph, count yourself lucky.
At high speeds, with a passenger, the Yamaha YTX 125 doesn’t vibrate that much.
I need to upgrade my brakes for more stopping power.
I need to get dual sport tires.
And I don’t really care about being slow, as long as my bike is reliable.
And if there’s one thing that Yamaha YTX 125 is, it’s the fact that it is reliable.