Cebu bikers: Wowed by the rice terraces

TUGUEGARAO: Last weekend, big bikers from all over the country rode into the Fort in Makati to join the 1st Bike Week in conjunction with the 9th Annual Convention of the National Federation of Motorcycle Clubs of the Philippines, which began last April 25. We did see a lot of great new motorcycles at the Fort: BMW Boxers, Desmodromic valved Ducatis, Yamaha Warriors, 1800 cc Honda STX or Kawasaki Vulcans and yes, the venerable Honda Gold Wings paraded for all to ogle or drool at at the Fort, the epicenter of the big bike activity. Cebu big bikers were part of a huge delegation from Cebu. The Easy Riders, Cruisers, Recycle & Road Knights put their bikes on board the SuperFerry to be in Luzon, not just for the bike convention but to tour the island of Luzon as part of our support to Tourism Secretary Dick Gordon.

Call it quite unlucky that 2003 year is Visit Philippines Year and we’re in the midst of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) crisis, which has wreak havoc to Asia’s tourism industry. But that hasn’t deterred the thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts from all over the country to bring their big bikes to Makati and participate in the country’s biggest annual motorcycling event and go on a Luzon Tour, which many big bikers from Mindanao and the Visayas has done.

There’s no doubt also that motorcycling is big business in this country, the big four Japanese motorcycle manufacturers, Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha and Suzuki have been around for more than 30 years… of course, they are now joined by the so-called "New Kids on the Block" the Jianshes, Kymcos or the Skygos which are actually Chinese copies of Japanese brands. That makes competition exciting and as they say, "May the best product win!" Frankly speaking, I’d take a Japanese brand anytime… they’re practically bullet-proof! But when cost considerations come into play… the Chinese motorcycles win hands down!

Not to be outdone, for the first time ever, BMW motorcycles are now available on sale from its country dealer, which used to be named Prestige Cars, Inc. which has now been renamed Autohaus BMW, the exclusive dealer of BMW Motorrad. That means, you can now buy a BMW motorcycle in their Libis dealership. Yes, I used to ogle at BMW motorcycles back in the ’60s when riders on board their R-50s and R-69/S would hang out at the Quirino Grandstand at the Luneta. But then, you couldn’t buy these big bikes in a local dealer… someone has to buy it for you in the US or in Europe. Now you can!

But big bikes didn’t fancy people so much in the old days. By the old days, I mean the ’60s when Hollywood virtually stereotyped anyone on big bikes as ugly drunken gangs out to terrorize or pillage innocent villages, raping their womenfolk. Thanks to the machinations by Hollywood, famous British bikes like Triumph, Norton vanished into oblivion, so ended the Era of British big bikes and the Japanese onslaught was underway. But that didn’t start with a big bike.

In the mid ’60s Honda became famous for their ad, "You meet the nicest people on a Honda". That ad featured a pretty girl riding a 50 cc Honda that gave the idea that anyone on two wheels can be pleasant and cheerful. The biggest Japanese big bike then was a 305cc Honda and this blossomed into the famous CB-350 twin. Kawasaki came up with a monstrous 500 cc two-stroke twin and everyone else followed. After my motocross stint, I got my first street bike, a Yamaha RD 350cc two stroke and that started me to big bike riding.

In 1976 Honda came up with the first Superbike, a CB-750 with a four-carb in-line four cylinder engine and soon, there was no stopping the Japanese motorcycle juggernaut. The first Superbike was a Yamaha XS-1100 and it was then that BMWs started to be appealing once again… even to young riders. Yes, BMW had that image of ridden by scruffy aged riders. Then came the resurrection of Harley Davidson, wherein its parent company AMF sold this division, but they were unreliable especially for Philippine roads. Yamaha’s introduction of the Virago signaled the rebirth of the V-twin. Yes, I dare say that Harley owes its resurrection to the venerable Virago.

Monday dawn, we rode the North Expressway to beat Metro Manila’s infamous traffic and rode all 300 kilometers to Bayombong. Our major refueling and food stops were in Gapan where I meet Star lensman Val Rodriguez (a fellow big biker in his own right) having breakfast in Jollibee prior to his covering the Balikatan Exercises. The next major stop was at the famous Dalton Pass as we entered Nueva Vizcaya.

Yes, many of us on big motorcycles have become the epitome of the domestic tourists. To us in the Visayas and Mindanao, this has been enhanced by the removal of that offensive Anti-Carnapping (ANCAR) permit. Yes, in the old days, it was sheer bureaucratic hassle to bring your bike or car to cross to the other islands because you had to prove the innocence of your motorcycle… that it wasn’t stolen.

Today, thanks to the Ro-Ro Program of Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA), domestic travel has eased tremendously. However, they still have to fix that bureaucratic nightmare posed by the Arrastre in the Port of Manila. What the Arroyo government has done was to link the islands together through roll-on, roll-off vessels, making them more like moving bridges rather than ships. Yes, this is not just for motorcycles, but for cars as well.

Last Tuesday, Cebu’s Easy Riders Group rode up to Ifugao Province for our first sightseeing tour of that famous 8th Wonder of the World, the Banaue Rice Terraces and yes, we were captivated by its beauty. But perhaps the biggest wonder of all is that, most Filipinos (that include many of us from Cebu) have never seen this great tourism pride of the Philippines! I’ve rodden my bike four times to the North of Luzon, but we never came near the Rice Terraces simply because it was not accessible then. Now… it is very easy to travel to Banaue. In fact, I suggest that you stay in Banaue itself!

However, the only problem that Sec. Gordon has is how to preserve this tourism wonder because what we saw differed quite a lot from the pictures of the rice terraces. Now civilization has taken its toll and too many people are living there who shouldn’t be allowed to build anything in this national treasure. If only our brother Filipinos learned to appreciate their own country, then Tourism Secretary Dick Gordon can very well say, who needs foreign tourists when there’s enough domestic tourists here at home? Well, Dick, that’s the big biker’s small contribution to your WOW Philippines campaign!

* * *

For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talk show entitled, "Straight from the Sky" shown every Monday only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 on SkyCable at 8p.m.s