A Pinoy Biker’s Philippine Rural Adventures

What was supposed to be a car free day almost turned out to be a bike free day.

Saturday, September 22 started with a cloudy sky and by midday, it was already raining hard. I was apprehensive that the planned car free day ride in the afternoon would be called off. But since no message came telling me that it would be canceled, I proceeded to go to Rosar’s place in Kamias Road, where I would be picking up the Firefly Brigade flag that I would be carrying in my bike.

I left at around 2:30 pm, hoping to be there at 3. There was slight drizzle falling but I didn’t mind it at all. But as soon as I arrived at Rosar’s, the heavy rains fell. Pogs and Inoy, the ride leader, were already there and soon afterwards, when the rain had almost stopped, Voltaire came too. We were all waiting for the rains to stop completely. But it was getting late and if we were to stick to the scheduled 4:30 pm take off, we have to leave soon. We decided that we should start our way to Cubao even if it was still raining a bit.

At 3:30 pm, we decided to go. Cubao was only about a kilometer or so from where we were so in no time at all we were there. Mike, the Firefly Brigade’s vice president was already there, together with his wife Megan, who is from Australia. They both have Merida bikes.

Bikers began arriving soon after. Slight rain continued to fall but we were not losing hope that more bikers will come to join. The Firefly Brigade members who have pledged to come were already there too. There was Audie too, who represented the Department of Natural Resources (DeNR). A photographer and a reporter from the Inquirer, a leading daily newspaper, were also present.

Some bikers arrived with raingears on. One of them, in keeping with his recycling lifestyle came with a makeshift raingear: a garbage bag fashioned to fit his figure.

At 4:30 pm, Mike announced that the ride would start following his speech. He talked about the Firefly Brigade’s commitment to spearhead the staging of the annual World Car Free Day celebration in the Philippines. He also explained, for the benefit of the others in the crowd, what the celebration is all about.

Fortunately at this time, the rain has almost completely stopped. And those who were planning to wear their raingears took them off, hoping that it would not rain later.

Before we left, I estimated the number of bikers to be around 35. Rosar mentioned though, that some have sent messages that they would be joining the ride along the way. That was good news for us.

More tomorrow.