Day 6: After the day before at the Bathala Bike Park, the team woke up on day six beat up and sore. They all were snap, cracking, and popping as they got out of bed and limped down to the lobby for their “American Breakfast” for the sixth day in a row. Aries (their comedian tour guide and all around good guy) picked them up in his van and took us all to a local shopping mall. The mall was packed and crowded with a lot of people and had about five or six levels of anything you wanted from electronics, glasses, watches, cloths, shoes, just to name a few. Kris and Gonz took their shopping time straight up to Pizza Hut while the rest of the guys walked around and bargain hunted. Big Daddy had all the girls going crazy and little Larry bought some fire truck red Calvin Klein undies (we will save that photo for the calendar). After all the shopping, everyone hit the streets again with the only intention of sight seeing. Everyday up till this point that we were in the city, we were stressing spots for good photos and never got the time to see what the city was all about. We rode up and down the streets of Manila once again, this time with no pads or helmets. We finally laid to rest at the Manila bay where we got some really cool lifestyle shots with the whole SE family, then it was time for a hashbrown burger at Jollibee. Yes, a hashbrown burger and yes, it’s good.
The Wildman went of a shopping rampage for shirts, here is one of them….
Lil’ Larry Edgar relaxing on his bike after a long week.
Huge shout out to Ben Crockett from BMX Plus. He killed it the whole trip with photos and he is super fun to hangout with. Here he is hard at work shooting some lifestyle stuff. Thanks again Ben!
The entire SE Freestyle BMX Team against the Manila sunset. From left to right: Larry Edgar, Pat “Big Daddy” Laughlin, Mike Gonzalez, Todd “Wildman” Lyons, and Kris Fox.
Day 7: You guessed it, the day started rolling out of bed straight to an american breakfast. Then a small crew got together and went to shoot at a building that we couldn’t pass up one more day. The walls of the building had an absolute perfect transition that gradually flowed up to a vert wall and kept going into the awning of the second floor. The only problem with riding it came in the form of security. So our small group of guys put their tourist caps on and walked right by security whistling while looking around with cameras around their necks. They walked straight to the back of the building and got some good shots.
Fakie tuck by Larry Edgar, this building was made to ride a bike on.
Photo: Ben Crockett
After overcoming security and a couple flat tires, the small crew made their way back to the hotel while the rest made their way out for a ride into a historic city. The city was walled in by old stone and brick on all sides, almost like a fort. On certain sections on the walls were old cannons and the entire place had a thin layer of green moss adding to a crazy view, it was a really cool site to see.
Here is the team at the old city. The cannons were to the right, and the old city to the left…
Night then fell, and the entire team went back to the same street spot they were at a few nights back for another jam with the locals. We all rode our bikes there, and on the way there was some lightning in the distance that would flash and light up the city back drop for a second. We showed up to the spot and about 100 local riders, the BMX scene in the Philippines is strong. Everyone was riding and having a good time, and the session was on. Big Daddy had a crazy line that consisted of a wall ride up on to an awning then tailwhipped off to flat, pretty wild. The whole place erupted with claps and cheers and we went straight into a product toss trying to beat the rain. The saying “when it rains, it pours” is entirely accurate in the Philippines. It began to POUR and the entire team huddled under a couple canopies with all the locals and continued to take photos and give their product away. The rain began to let up a little bit, and it was a chance to start making their way back to the hotel, but the damage was already done to the streets. Aries led the way through the flooded Manila streets and the team followed. As we were riding, we looked back and realize there was about 20 local BMXers making the ride with us back to our hotel, it was awesome! The water was up to the bottom brackets of all the bikes and you would dip a foot in the water each revolution of the cranks. Our massive group of BMXers zig zagged through the water and traffic all the way back to the hotel.
Signature Big Daddy, manual to nothing…
Photo: Ben Crockett
Wildman, Gonz, and Kris tossing product
Big Daddy also tossing prodcut…
Ben grabbing a photo of a few local homeless kids that actually lived at the spot we were riding. They walked up to every single guy on the team and asked their names. As the guys were taking their runs, the kids would chant their names and cheer for them. They never got a single name wrong…
Wildman posted up under one of the canopies with some new friends while it pours rain all around them.
Aries had plans to show us his restaurant on our last night in Manila, Philippines. As we were leaving our hotel, we were greeted at the front door by all the local BMXers that rode back in the rain with us, plus much more. We exchanged gifts, photos, and they all said their good byes. We then had an amazing last night at Aries’ restaurant with great food, great people, and great entertainment. The BMX scene in the Philippines is STRONG with really good riders, and they are the most humble and welcoming people. Thanks to all the riders and new friends that we met while we were there, we will never forget you! Thanks so much for all the unforgettable good times and hospitality!
Remember to keep checking back to www.bmxplusmag.com for their take on the entire trip, and if you missed anything we did days prior, check the links out here:
Day 1 – Day 2: http://www.sebikes.com/wordpressfiles/?p=2541
Day 3 – Day 4: http://www.sebikes.com/wordpressfiles/?p=2582
Day 5: http://www.sebikes.com/wordpressfiles/?p=2590
