The first ride back ride

[ray_ray]

Not exactly my first ride back (2nd really) after my broken collar bone (Nov 19th) but close enough ... And what better place for a 1st ride back but go back and review where I crashed ...

This was intended to be just a ride with nothing eventful really but the day before this ride, we had a 24hr rain here and the rivers\creeks were bursting... 1st ride back day is the day after the flooding but some remains of the flood should remain ...

Here is some land sliding action along the way to the Carmen west area crash site...


New cement ... spill-over type bridge here .. I'm not down with much any cement pouring but the locals really need it to make traveling on the small bikes easier.


They leave'em rough here for traction ... This uphill will probably be cement before too long

Actually 2 crashes happened ... My buddy crashed at this creek crossing while riding me back out of the woods on the Husky... I think the foot deep water in the creek helped cushion the fall that day ... Believe me, the river and area looked alot different when we tried to cross before the flood...

 

[ray_ray]

This is the view just down stream from the crossing.. you can see the fall wall of dirt that has fallen off on the far side.




Nuda ...

This bamboo crossing was just upstream ... Apparently the GOV money ran out on this one and the locals finished it off.

I was too afraid to cross but it was pretty sturdy... I should add that bamboo is the wonder wood ... Sturdy, light, easy to cut and split ... grows really fast ...Price? Free or almost free as it grows everywhere here... Burns when wet also ...

 

[ray_ray]

Looping around to the other side of the river, I hit another land-slide area.


A view from the other side (North) of the river .... The cement \ bamboo bridge is visible in the middle left ....


A view looking back up the river....



Crash site ... Rookie mistake .. I was traveling in the left hand lane and moved over to the right lane ... You can see the area between the lanes is lower than the lanes causing the front tire to wash out and not climb over the lip on the right lane ... I got slammed down before I knew what had happened ... Hit on my right shoulder and head n that green stuff... It was a hard hit but no pain ... As soon as I got up, I heard the crunch, crunch, crunch sound coming from inside my body ... Broke collar bone #2 for me ...

It was doubly stupid making that move with that wall so close ...Zero bruising and limited swelling ... I actually had the bone put back in place before we crashed the second time ... But after that and the truck ride back to the national hiway and back home, I gave up on that idea and just sat up straight and slept on the couch and drank beer for 2 days as a pain reliever ...



I'll try to remember to go back and take some pics after the river goes down to a normal status for comparison ...

 

[Rob578]

Damn Ray, get better man

 

[ray_ray]

Damn Ray, get better man

Thanks and I waited out my ~6 weeks of bone growing time ... Today, I was at about ~96% of my riding speed ... About the same number with my gf also

 

[Rob578]

She's gonna trade you in on 2 25yo's

 

[ray_ray]

She's gonna trade you in on 2 25yo's

Or 1 40yr foreigner ... I warned her at the start that I'm an old guy ...

 

[ioneater]

Good on you, Ray! Got back on that horse Bamboo is an amazing organism (grass). My wife bought me a t-shirt made from bamboo fiber; it's my favorite! Feels like silk.

It always seems to be the little things that bite you in the ass. In my world, it is deadly. I've been lucky and I hope you get to share a lot more of those tropical ride reports to us!

 

[ray_ray]

Good on you, Ray! Got back on that horse Bamboo is an amazing organism (grass). My wife bought me a t-shirt made from bamboo fiber; it's my favorite! Feels like silk.

yep I just read that it is a grass ... I'll look around here for bamboo apparel ...

It always seems to be the little things that bite you in the ass. In my world, it is deadly. I've been lucky and I hope you get to share a lot more of those tropical ride reports to us!

I ride on these type 2 laned roads all over the mountains ,... It has really helped me to learn to ride and hold a straight line and balance well ... Sort of like rut riding without the rut ... Plus many places, the sides of a lane might be coved with moss, making your line is even smaller and don't even look at a brake petal in these cases ... So I was 100% aware of the danger of that move ...

Every time in the past when a break has kept me off the bike, the first couple rides back are spooky ... but the RV2 moves start to creep back in pretty quickly though ... JAN time frame I'm planning to ride back across Negros, Pinay(for the 1st time), Masbate(for the 1st time), southern Luzon again, and Leyte islands again ... We're still searching for new trails for touring ...

 

[WoodsChick]

Right on, Ray! Nice to see you back in the saddle again I'm jealous I'll be in the saddle of a KTM 950 ADV tomorrow, but unfortunately I'm still relegated to useless pillion status

And once again, I love looking at your photos! What a beautiful place...

 

[ray_ray]

Right on, Ray! Nice to see you back in the saddle again I'm jealous I'll be in the saddle of a KTM 950 ADV tomorrow, but unfortunately I'm still relegated to useless pillion status

And once again, I love looking at your photos! What a beautiful place...

Thanks and I'd like to say you gotta know what injuries to acquire so that you can get back in the saddle quickly but this slap down was so quick it was not me who chose what to break ... The man above and total luck kept me as safe as possible ...

Pillion status rates about a strong 5 ... I'm sure you will make the best of it :0) ... I've got a cam now but it is still in the states ... I hoping to make some videos of the hill climbs and countryside here ... Some short vids I think will give a much better idea of the riding and lifesyle here ...

Very poor country but everyone is about having a good time ... Life is so down&dirty everyday ... Each day on the bike, you just never know what might happen, even in places you have already ridden many time ... Then throw in all this rain and the landscape and trails change over night ...

 

[JasonfromMN]

Can't wait to see some vids of over there!

 

[ray_ray]

Can't wait to see some vids of over there!

Maybe I'll get my friend to send my cam on over a little sooner....

When I first arrived, I did not understand what was happening around me here at all, only that the riding was just too cool ... And that was every ride ... Now, I understand what is happening here to some degree and the riding is still too cool every time in one way or another ... I've just come to expect a great ride each day ... Don't get me wrong, a great ride was expected in the states each time also... But that was 1-2 days a week for 8-9 months out of the year ... This is every day here ...

Here is a short description of yesterdays ride ... Just another typical ride that is available here pretty much every day ...

Like I said, we want to transverse the island from my location, Danao, as far north as possible and then catch a Ro-Ro (Roll-on, Roll-off) ferry to another island ... About the only way to find the trails is to go find them and ask the locals along the way ... So we go ~2hrs north in the woods to the last known northern place I know and start asking how to get north via the mountains...

This is Cantucong... far most northern mountain point I know ... You can see the 2 lane cement road there ... One way goes back to the national hiway that circles the island and the other way is the easy way back to where we came ... We just came the cool way there ... past my crash site and up the side of a mountain side, climbing up for about a mile over rocks, roots, gulleys, total stone faces, dirt, mud ... flat to somewhat vertical,... all doable, all linked and leading to Cantucong ... some ST wide, most the width of a single lane of road because it is a road .. Just very little traffic other than people walking


We ask directions at this corner ..


No trails here go north from this point. So we head the ~2 miles back east to the hiway so we can head north on the hiway and look for more trails ...


Back down out of the mountains and at the ocean ... Water was all rough today ....

Malone asking more questions about trails heading north in the mountains ...

 

[ray_ray]

Next entry point heading into the mountains from the hiway ...


Another intersection and it has a sign! ... we go right..


And right again into this ST stuff ... Knobby alert here!


The guy who owns this garden is guiding us through his AO ...


Creek crossing ...

 

[ray_ray]

Another intersection ... Nothing heading north here either


Rolling back east to the hiway ... Not too bad a place for some supermotoing ..


Back at Catmon on the hiway ... We decide to go back south and try again next week ... So we roll back the 15 miles or so, easily, on the national hiway, through 1 check point that waived us through, past 4-5 small BRGYs and back home ...just another day of riding here...

 

[Rob578]

Too cool!

 

[ray_ray]

Too cool!

Yep ... too cool ... always gas and food close as well and people to help if any real issues arrive ... probably no whirlybird rides though ...

Here's the plan for this week ... After trying to push north into pretty much unknown territories without any good results for a route, I'm gonna go north to a known area, and head back south ... If you look at the far sides of the google map here, you can see 2 roads heading south .... The road on the west side looks good....

The map is pretty good in this area ... I think that is farm ground between small areas of trees ... If so, all fields should have walking paths around them connecting to other fields in addition to real roads in the area for moving crops to the market ... So I'll head north on the national Hiway on Tues-Wed to BRGY Sogod, take a left on that major road across the top of the map, and head east towards Tabuelan, and then find the roads shown on the map and head back south as far as possible, hitting the hiway at some point ...

 

[ray_ray]

TUES:
View of the ocean looked much better today on my way north to Sogod area...


New sign here ... I'm heading 'To Tabuelan' but will make a right before the Toledo Hiway...Maybe I can check out that bridge-closed area ..

Here's what the roads are gonna look like in this area ... Mostly rocky and small hills ....


Looks a little interesting here ... New shiny ELEC pole and a graded road?


I found this cool little spot by accident ... BRGY Bongon

 

[JasonfromMN]

I think one of the great parts of all your travels you've posted is how you guys are always talking with the locals on getting around. Can't see myself doing that in the states. Some areas I would avoid that at all costs.

Nice report!

 

[ray_ray]

I think one of the great parts of all your travels you've posted is how you guys are always talking with the locals on getting around. Can't see myself doing that in the states. Some areas I would avoid that at all costs.

Nice report!

Filipinos are friendly and very social by nature .... They like nothing better than to help us in any way possible and watch us ride ... We're the entertainment ... free of charge .... Learning the language here will be a great boost for sure ... In the countrysides, many cannot speak very good English except for the girls in many cases ... So we do alot of hand signals ...

They drink alot as a pastime here and we have no problems communicating on that subject ... With all my body pains, a shot or 2 of beer or rum does the body good ... It's a good way to get known in an area also ... And being a foreigner and riding a 'big' bike does not hurt either ....

We all have to get along well in the mountains ... we are all each others support ... ...This is one of the reasons I ride alone here alot without too much fear as there is always someone around to help ...