Post by Forum Moderator / Kaskasero on Dec 17, 2008 12:50:05 GMT 8
About 2 weeks ago, an idea dawned on me. I think God was up that hour and happen to be listening in on my questions on how to make a ride more interesting but still hold true to what a ride should be. I think He simply plucked this one simple idea that’s not even new, out of His pool of great ideas and gently mixed a really small portion of it into my thoughts. The idea came so quickly but so subtly.
You see, having a fun ride should really be just that – FUN. But we, at FaithRiders always want to make it more fun and more interesting than the usual open rides out there. More importantly, we want to make the ride more useful. We wanted to make a ride that any biker can join and come home with something he didn’t have before but will definitely use once acquired – information. That is, information on something he knew little or nothing about. That was the idea that was put in our heads that day.
“Why don’t we have a “talk” with the bikers who join us when we get to the destination?” I asked my better half. She rides too. The question turned into a discussion of ideas, pros & cons and all in between. In the end, she and I agreed it was worth a try. The plan was set. We will invite bikers thru MCP and thru text to join us in an open ride with a promise to give them a short talk about a single interesting and useful topic that is relevant to their lives today.
Looking at our own backgrounds, it was obvious what topic we should discuss. My baby has worked in a financial company for over 7 years and I for over a year now. With the coming Christmas season filled with shopping lists, we couldn’t think of a more appropriate topic. The topic chosen was Basic Finance Management for personal use, or as more popularly known in the finance world – asset allocation.
I posted the invitation for the ride dubbed “Ride & Learn” on a Tuesday, which was 4 days away from the actual ride on a Saturday. I really wanted to give it more time in between but schedule won’t permit it. Besides, I think a short notice would give us a small group which is ideal for our first run on the idea to give us a feel for how it should really go.
The morning of the ride was a cloudy and cool one. A few riders showed up which totaled 7 by the time we would take off. It was a humble little group of underbones with one cruiser. Before riding off, a prayer was made, the route discussed, signals were reminded and the general pre-ride stuff was tossed in the air so the ride would be fun and safe. Contrary to many motorcycle groups, we like to give a lot of freedom to our visitor bikers. As with all our rides, newbies and experienced riders alike are given the freedom to overtake, speed up, separate from the line, even fall behind depending on his liking. We do this because we believe in riding free. Safety in mind, of course but still riding free. With that in mind, we took off and with a steady turn of the throttle, we were in the twisties of Marilaque. The air remained cool. The sky remained cloudy. The roads remained dry. At the destination, one more biker joined us which made us 8. It was a great day to ride.
To some, this may sound bad but as we sat down at the open air restaurant of Pranjetto Resort (it’s about 40km from Manila via Marilaque), it started to rain heavily. I was personally ecstatic because I love the rain but moreso because our stay at the resort, being open air, will be a cool one even as noontime approaches. The roads will not be hot. The air will be cool and the ride will be refreshing; even if we do get wet later on.
After filling up with delicious “silog” meals, coffee and funny conversations over breakfast, we snuck into a quiet corner near the reception area so as to avoid giving ourselves stiff necks due to the sight of about 30 exotic bikes that arrived (YUMMY). The plan was to deliver a 30-minute lecture on basic asset allocation or personal financial management. This would generally cover the fundamentals of insurance, investment, savings, budgeting, economy & other odds and ends of finance. 30 minutes was the plan but like many plans, when it turns good, it gets long. Questions were raised, inquiries were made, personal information form different perspectives were shared, out of topic topics were covered, and a whole lot of finance related things were discussed that eventually made our “short’ talk over an hour long. But it wasn’t a dreary, ‘wish I could leave already’ kind of hour. It was interesting, with everyone pitching in, joining in and getting as much info as each one could. It was a great talk.
No sooner did we end that the rain stopped. Actually, it stopped a good hour before we finished. That meant only one thing – an even better treat that what I previously thought. Not only was the air cool at noon, and the clouds covered the sun; the roads were already dry. If you’re a biker reading this, you know what that means – road carving time.
Looking back from it all, it was a success. Everyone rode their own pace. Those who wanted to scratch both sides of their rides with deep banking twisties did so and those who wanted to fall back and take their time did so as well. No one spilled. No one got bored. No bike broke down. The weather cooperated all morning. The food was delicious. The talk was interesting, useful and engaging. New friendships were made. Old friendships renewed. And most of all, far more important than any of these – God was with us the whole time.
In the end, Ride & Learn turned out exactly as we pictured it the moment God tickled our brain. We all went on a great ride and we all learned something new. And that is what a good ride should be.
Join our next Ride & Learn. It will be posted again on MCP (motorcyclephilippines.com) and on Christian Bikers Forum (christianbikers.faithweb.com). Next one will be sometime in December. We’ll be conquering the south again with another interesting topic to learn about.
Ride Safe and Godspeed!
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[Ride & Learn is a non-profit , voluntary, public service activity provided for free by the FaithRiders Motorcycle Ministry]
Join us for tambay & bible study any Thursday night along Katipunan Road in Quezon City.
Call or Text us at 09189067409 / 09189067372