Tales from ‘Vespa Atat!’

I heard Bimbo call it “Vespa Atat!” It’s a funny way of putting it, but it’s largely accurate. ‘Cause really, when you think about it, Last Saturday’s City Ride was actually just a convenient excuse to ride on the date the actual Vespa Attack II was suppose to happen if it hasn’t been postponed. The anticipation and momentum didn’t wane despite the postponement so the Pinoy Vespa riders just had to do something about it.

The call time was 3PM and we were suppose to take-off a little after that. But Dennis (DMF 8888) arrived at the meet with a broken clutch cable and the guys were more than willing to share a helping hand. I’m seeing first-hand the bayanihan spirit of the Vespinoy community in action. I was there with nothing much to offer, but THERE nonetheless… hahaha! Dennis got a steady flack (all in jest, of course!) for being the cause of delay, but the man is a great sport and even treated the guys with a few rounds of beer later that evening. Below is a posterity shot while waiting for the new cable to arrive. (Btw, the images in this post are courtesy of Yeyey Yatco (direkyey) — a Vespanatic and a noted TV commercial director)

Dennis (with the Italian patch) & his scoot with the rest of the guys

We finally took-off at around 4:45PM. The ride practically pre-traced the route of the actual Attack. A total of 27 scoots were there. There was no formal formation to speak of and there were times that the group got cut or divided caused by either the weekend traffic, a stoplight or a checkpoint. Below is a group pic taken during our first stop at the Mall of Asia as we waited for the guys who got separated from the group.

a panoramic group shot while we face the famous Manila Bay sunset

Due to volume of traffic in Roxas blvd., we didn’t proceed to Intramuros anymore but instead, turned towards the Malate district. A high for me was when we reached the Remedios Circle and the convoy had to go around the park twice to wait for the other guys. It’s silly, but it was a spur of the moment idea! For the people in the park, it could’ve looked strange seeing grown men playing what seemed like ‘following-the-leader.’ At one point, I thought the lead scoot and the tailend would meet. That would have been a hoot!

After the ride, we headed to Hot Rocks Grill for some steak and beer. I don’t drink so I was just there to pig-out and bond with the guys. We stayed there until past midnight. At the end of the day, I realized that spent a lot of money. It’s not because of the gas (I only spend approx P200 for every full tank that last me more than a week!) or the food (we got 20% off for the steak since the owner — grillman — is also a Vespanatiko); but because of the cool Vespa Attck II merchandise (shirts, patches & banners!) offered by the Vespalenkeros!

like humble steeds after the ‘warriors’ conquered the concrete jungle

All in all, it was a great prequel for next Saturday’s Attack.

Amoy-usok paguwi,

-o-
{▫}
J0HNRANA

john[dot]rana[at]gmail[dot]com