Romantiko's First Group Ride...To Jariel's Peak and Beyond!

Its been a while since Mr. Smith and I joined a group ride, if my memory serves me right it was 7 or 8 years ago. In the last few years we have taken to riding by ourselves or with another couple or two, but never in a large group. Today we have broken our group riding sabbatical. We joined our brothers (and sisters) the Romantikos (Club SZ Batangas) in its first ever group ride and what a successful ride it was!

The group met at 7-11 Ayala Lipa, believe it or not no one was late haha. Perineal issue for most groups are the pasaways who come late during meet ups, I am proud to say everyone in our group was punctual and prepared. After a short prayer for a safe and enjoyable trip we promptly took off at 6:00am.

We headed towards Sto Tomas, Batangas to meet up with another group from Cavite and at 7:00am the entire group of 41 motorcycles burn rubber towards Jariel's Peak.

Blessed with good weather the group arrived at our first pit stop, Famy Quezon at 11:00am. Kainan na!!!

Yamaha 3S @ Famy Quezon

After we filled our tummies and our bike's tanks we headed towards the Windmills of Rizal. It was like being thrown back in time. People rode horses instead of cars or motorcycles. The roads we obviously man-made but not with cement blocks. The entire place was surrounded with coconut trees and the only proof that we are in the year 2015 are the towering windmills that dwarfed all of us. Once everyone had their fill of selfies, whacky shots, jump shots and hilarious poses, the group moves out and heads to Jariel's Peak.

The roads cut through the mountains of Rizal and we passed through steep tree lined mountain walls, the view en route to Jariel's Peak was breath taking and living proof of God's artistic flair.

Romantikos eached Jariel's Peak at around 1:30pm. Kainan na ulit!!!

We tried the mountain snail sisig..... not as good as we thought, don't ask why hahaha. The suman on the other hand was fabulous.

Gear up was called at around 2:30pm and with two short stops at a small clearing overlooking the view for picture ops and a small fish market in Real Quezon we made a beeline towards home.

Touch down Caltex Ayala, Lipa 7:15pm.

Overall it was a success. I would attribute it to the group's unity. The Romantikos' exceptional show of discipline, coupled with excellent riding skills made all the difference..

Mr. Smith and I look forward to more riding adventures with this group :)

Our Trusted Steeds...

We have been riding for more than a decade and we've been here, there and mostly everywhere. Wherever that may be we won't be able to do it without our trusted steeds, our motorcycles. We treat them like family members so we gave them names, much like how you give your kids names :)

Pogi - Our very first ride, a 50cc Honda Dio. We got him in 2004 and he got us hooked on roadtrips.

Macho - Our first real motorcycle, a Honda Wave-125cc. We got him in 2006 right after the birth of our third child. The one we had before him was a scooter named Pogi, since he was bigger and more powerful we named him Macho.

Wendy - Our Yamaha Mio 115cc. We got her on a sunny Wednesday morning in 2010 and she had a bright red orange color reminisccent of a lady's lips on a hot summer night. 

Mercury - Honda CB-400. A 400cc Big Bike which we got in 2011. His silver color earned him the name Mercury, he is as sleek as the element mercury and can wind in and out of tight spots much like quicksilver.

Hammer -  Our youngest but most impressive bike, A Yamaha SZ R153 at 5 months he has already racked up 13,000 Kms. Yep we love riding this bad boy.

Tagaytay, Picnic Grove

We live in Batangas so for a quick trip fix Tagaytay is our usual destination. Me and Mr. Smith were feeling a little cabin fever from being cooped in the house for several days due to work and a few other things. We had been juggling a couple of work related things and didn't have time to go roadtripping. So this fine Sunday we decided a trip to Tagaytay was well in order.

We love going to new places and doing new things, since we didn't have the time to go somewhere farther away Tagaytay had to do, but we decided to do something new. We grilled steaks at the picnic grove :D Mr. Smith had been hankering to do this, he had been asking, bugging in fact for us to buy fresh beef at the Mahogany Market and grill them at the picnic grove. And today he gets his wish.

First stop was the Perpetual Help church in Brgy Sungay Tagaytay City for spiritual guidance then its a bee line to the market. We didn't have plates or anything because we have a nasty habit of doing things impromtu. At the market we got two huge slices of tenderloin weighing almost a pound each, two heads of lettuce, a couple of tomatoes, pepper corns, salt, banana leaves, charcoal, two cups of cooked rice and a small bottle of Knorr (Mr. Smith swears it makes everything taste divine). Hammer our Yamaha SZ did not have his utility box strapped on so I had to carry everything in a thin transparent plastic bag, what a feat.

Despite t