It was a Thursday night. The clock read 10:58 P.M.

With some prodding and negotiating I was able to secure a riding visa (from my wife) for the next day. Expiration is 10 A.M.

As it was late I sent a text message to a friend who I know would most likely be available to ride on a weekday, Keelo of Philmofo. Him confirming will also guarantee another rider to the group, Kurt. I told him our meet-up time should be at 7 A.M. Enough time to give me some sleep and do a quick ride around the Malipay trails.

In my message I informed him of my visa expiration. I needed to be home by 10 A.M.

After preparing my stuff for the ride I went to sleep.

Then I was awaken from my slumber by the bed moving. My woke up and wife got out of bed then proceeded to the computer, continuing to do some work.

I decided to check on my cellphone, Keelo should already have replied. He did.

In his message he told me he could only ride until 9:30 A.M. That would be enough time, I thought to myself. I responded saying we’d be finished long before that and he would be home with more than 30 minutes to deadline. I checked my watch. It read 2:37 A.M. Yes! More sleep!

I returned my phone and covered my head with the blanket. Then sleep came back.

5:30 A.M. my phone’s alarm went off. I reached out, turned it off, and got off the bed. I slowly started getting ready since I still had enough time before the 7 A.M. meet-up. Then I thought of double-checking Keelo’s message just to make sure about his 9:30 A.M. visa expiration.

I got my phone, opened the inbox, and didn’t see his message. WTF, I thought. I NEVER delete messages like that right away. I exited then went back to my phone’s inbox. Still no message from Keelo. I started to panic.

Did I just dream of reading his message? Did I just dream of replying to his text? What the hell…?!

I started texting him. The 7 A.M. meet-up is fast approaching. I didn’t know whether to start preparing for the ride or not.

Still no reply from him. It’s possible they’re pedaling to the police outpost in Daang Hari, our usual meeting place. I call his phone. No answer. They could be in transit now, I thought. I decided to call a few more times, hoping he’ll sense some kind of urgency in the non-stop attempts at calling him. Still no luck. Not even a reply to one of my text messages asking him if I only had the dream of him confirming of the morning ride.

This sucks. My panic is starting to subside. I felt tired. I felt hot, but I also felt cold. I started sweating… from my body cooling down from excitement, to bewilderment, to disappointment, to surrender… I still can’t believe, can’t grasp, the “reality” of dreaming this…

A little past 9 A.M. my phone beeped. I just received a text message. Were they waiting for me? I checked immediately. It was Keelo.

Pre ngayn k lng nabasa mga txt m. Aga k kse nakatulog kagabi. (Text-speak removed: Pare ngayon ko lang nabasa mga text mo. Aga ko kasi nakatulog kagabi; Translation: Dude I just read your messages now. I fell asleep early last night.)

Sweet dream turned sour. LOL!

Do you have similar experiences? Please share it with us and we’ll all laugh at ourselves!

I keep pedaling on the slight uphill road of Daang Hari with Rod. Suddenly I feel Darna, my Fuji Outland Pro bike, sway from side to side.

Am I that tired, I thought. Is this the start of bonking out? I didn’t think so. I looked straight ahead expecting my vision to blur. It didn’t.

I stop pedaling. I freewheel. I look down, I look at the rear tire. It wasn’t wiggling too much. Everything seemed normal.

I continue pedaling as Rod and I talk. Then I feel the sway once again. This confirmed it, this isn’t normal.

I had no choice, I continued pedaling as the sun was out and we were riding along Daang Hari. When Rod went straight towards the Molino-Daang Hari intersection and I turned right to enter Meadows I stopped a few feet after passing the gate. I checked if my rear wheel needs truing. It doesn’t. Not knowing what the problem was kinda scared me, not to mention it’s quite frustrating.

I mounted back on and continued pedaling home. Taking it slow, taking it easy. Pedaling light.

Once in a while I check the rear tire while I roll. I couldn’t figure out what’s causing the sway. I stop once more and check the rear wheel’s spokes. Nothing was broken. I continue on.

In another private subdivision I pass through there are less vehicles on the road. This gave me the chance of trying out different possible causes of why I felt the bike swaying. As I continued to pedal I heard what sounded like my rear tire brushing up against my chainstay protector. I looked down and confirmed the sound. Shit, that much rear tire wiggle isn’t normal.

I stop pedaling. I freewheel. I look down, I look at the rear tire. Everything was normal. What the hell…?

I pedaled with more force than normal. I felt the sway. I look down again, at the rear tire. It was rubbing against the chainstay protector.

I ease off. I freewheel as much as I can. I pedal light.

When I got home I sent a text message to Tom of Gran Trail Cycles describing what I found out and asking what the possible problem could be. He responded saying I may have lost a pivot bolt.

I went straight to Darna and checked all pivot points. A bolt was missing in the link just right beside the dropout. What the feck?! I texted Tom about it and he suggested I bring Darna to the Mad Scientist a.k.a. Bong the Mechanic.

Visiting the doctor

Monday was the only time I was able to bring Darna to be checked up on. I first passed by Gran Trail since it was nearer. Tom found out Fuji used mated bolts, which they don’t have on stock. They’d have to order it from Fuji. He again suggested Bong. So off I went, but not before asking Tom to have all bolts on Darna tightened.

So I steer Ate V, my 4×4 Suzuki Vitara, towards Bong’s shop/home. Tantan was there having his Yeti 575 laminated.

After a quick checkup Bong removed the bolts to be used as a sample as he digs in his bolts bin. Not finding what he was looking for he produced a different bolt of the same diameter then went out back to his table vice, with an electric drill locked in its jaw. I stare. So did Tantan.

“What the hell are you doing?” Tantan asks.

Bong chuckles.

He inserted the bolt in the drill, tests it, adjusts, tests again. Once the bolt was spinning straight he got a saw. I continue to stare and grin.

After a while, since my wife was waiting for me at the Alabang Town Center, I asked if it’s going to take long. Bong said it would be better for me to just come back for Darna so he won’t have to rush fixing her up.

Ready to rock, ready to roll!

Having done all the errands with my wife we go back to the Mad Scientist’s lab. It was already dark. 3 cars were parked outside. As I reach the gate I saw Eugene. I enter and went straight to the work area. It looked like half a recipe for a bikers’ party as I saw Daniel, Francis, and Borj. With Darna outside the work area standing proud.

She’s ready for the next day’s trip, from Q.C. to Cavite.

Different factors are preventing me from going out 4-wheeling. It has been quite a while since I last ‘wheeled.

That’s the main reason this site has been stagnant. If I haven’t been ‘wheeling, there’s nothing to post, nothing to share, nothing to review.

For this I apologize — but it’s really unavoidable.

Lately, though, the ‘wheeling and trailing I’ve been doing is on 2 wheels, and not the motorized kind. Check out my mountain bike site/blog for now, as that’s what I’ve been updating since I try to go out riding almost every day. It’s called The MTB Junkie @ www.TheMTBJunkie.com

Thanks and happy trails! Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter!

Of course, I was curious. With that kind of topic title there’s no doubt we’re looking at a locally-assembled vehicle that would either be worthy of praise (very rare) or a cause of a good laugh (with what crazy people do to customize their rigs, design-sense going down the drain).

What greeted me was a, well, what looked like a 40 Series Willy’s Jeep with slight modifications. But judging from the grill, the hood, and the fenders it looked too real to be a locally-assembled unit. At first I thought they chopped up a real Mitsubishi Willy’s high-hood jeep and used up the front then fabricated the rear/cab part of the vehicle. I was close to tears for fear of finding out if what

The trailing part, which is more difficult, is the technical stuff backstage: backing up of the database, backing up of the site files, setting up the new site location, installing the software, restoring the database, restoring the site files, making sure everything it pointing in the correct location(s), updating everything to point to the new domain, etc. I won’t bore you with listing all… because I already have… HA HA!

Anyway, just so you guys know the new domain name is at travelsandgears.com

I hope you guys update your bookmarks! Hmm… should I have gotten a different domain name? If I should have post your suggestions as comments

Thanks!

What the message contained was:

We’re giving away five Lonely Planet guidebooks in February and thought you and your readers might be interested. To have a chance at winning them all you have to do is add the following phrase to your travel posts during February: “The Indie Travel Podcast might give me Lonely Planet books for writing this.”

So I thought, “Well, it wouldn’t hurt, and they do have a nice site,” so I edited a recent article I wrote (at the time) about the 4×4 Philippines & Land Craft Adventures Off-road Driving Clinic 2007 – Part 1 and inserted the phrase there.

One month after I received another email from them and the message read:

Thanks for your entry into our Lonely Planet book competition. You’re a winner!

With a lot of choices in Lonely Planet’s store my wife & I decided to choose the book that would help me best with this site. The book is called Travel Writing.

AND the book got delivered yesterday! At first I was wondering what it was and I didn’t check the delivery receipt right away to find out the contents of the box, when I finally checked and read that it was some kind of travel book I got excited that it finally arrived! I’ve even forgotten about this! I’ve also forgotten what we chose, hehe!

I’m stoked it finally arrived and I’m gonna start reading it in the next few days.

Thanks to Craig of Indie Travel Podcast!

Now, my loyal readers (do I have some?), what travel books do you like/love? Share the books you hate, too! Share it with us via the comment form. Travel-related books, or just books you like/love (and hated/regretted bringing) to have when traveling. Go, go, go! Write, write, write!

As stated in the Program page part of the proceeds will go to the creation of the Angels of Hope Orphanage website (hosting, domain, maintenance, etc.)

For the update I have already secured the domain name (for now free, but it’ll be harder to remember due to the unpopular TLD extension), web hosting (free also, I’d have to risk for the site to suddenly disappear but I can’t purchase a paid hosting package for this), and maintenance will be my time in creating and maintaining this.

Just thought I’d let you guys know… if anyone out there is interested.

You can view the placeholder here: www.AngelsOfHope.co.cc (you now understand what I said about the TLD extension — .co.cc)

• Backpacking Malaysia & Singapore in 4 Days? – Part 3 (What to bring on a backpacking trip)
• Backpacking Malaysia & Singapore in 4 Days? – Part 4 (The actual trip with reports)

Plus I went out on a trail survey recently. I’d need to write that up, too. Too many casualties in that trip but everyone was able to enjoy the trail and go home with not real problems. Not to mention the other very delayed articles I’m still not sure if I’ll publish due to it happening a long time ago and I’ve forgotten the details. I might just post the pictures. We’ll see…

Though, I’m not sure if anyone is actually waiting for these articles to come out. Are there any out there? Let me know… so I’ll be pressured to write A.S.A.P. Just leave a comment if you’re patient enough to wait or are dying to read these articles I owe the site (wishful thinking).

Happy trails!