♫ Timezones - MANILA GREY ♫
[Matt] I'm taking my bike to the Philippines
But I only have 24 hours to ride
Join me to party shred and make new friends.
My friends are flying me half way across the world
These friends are a group of musicians
under the name of MANILA GREY
and they've been booked to perform
at a real fancy private birthday party.
They asked me to film it
so I said "yes!"
The only stipulation was that
I could bring my mountain bike.
Lucky for me the bike was highy encouraged
And so began a 12.5 hour flight to Taiwan
A 4 hour layover
followed by a 2.5 hour flight to Manila.
There was lots of work to be done on this trip
so I wasted no time and built my camera
while I waited for my bike.
We hit the roads of Metro Manila
making our way to our hotel
and immediately hitting the infinity pool.
The event was sick
and MANILA GREY put on an epic show as per usual
I did my thing
and ran around like an idiot with a camera.
I don't know about you but
I've never had a birthday party that looked like this
but the way we partied and
The hangover the next day you'd have thought it was one of our birthday parties after all
I had one day to squeeze in a mountain bike ride
I searched the web for a creator from the Philippines
and met a man behind a YouTube channel.
Mark brought me to San Mateo where I met members of the San Mateo bikers club
So if you're wondering how I got here...
Well...we took a car.
Driving in the Philippines is quite the experience
It's chaotic and often pretty lawless.
It's hard to believe that a couple years ago these streets were empty
and bicycles were one of the only few efficient ways to get around
and thus bicycles became a popular choice of transportation.
The roads here are hazardous and honestly
I'd personally feel more comfortable on a bike than behind a steering wheel
and so it's a good thing that Mark's a good driver
[Parking Brake Clicks]
[Percussive tribal music]
I'm getting shuttled Filipino style
If you can't tell, Filipino hospitality is pretty next-level.
I'd never been shuttled like this before
And I definitely questioned my safety
But they seem to know what they're doing
We made our way to the top of the Antenna trail in Patiis
We hit dirt and things only got more sketchy
I did my best to balance and hold on for dear life.
Mark arrived 10 minutes later because his scooter ran out of gas
to meet us for our second lap.
And just like that...
we were mountain biking in the Philippines.
♫ The Little Things - Bonus Points ♫
♫ So don't worry too much ♫
♫ Everybody's, somebody's interested in everything ♫
♫ Anything you can be interested in, you'll find other ♫
♫ It is absolutely stupid to spend your time doing things you don't like ♫
[Beat drops]
♫ And after all if you do really like what you're doing ♫
♫ It doesn't matter what it is ♫
♫ You can eventually turn it ♫
♫ You can eventually become a master of it ♫
♫ It's the only way to become a master of something, to be really with it. ♫
It was a short bike ride
but I think a little inspiration goes a long way.
My quest here in the Philippines was coming to an end
But first I had to conduct some important research.
That's Ger Victor, he's another Youtube from the Philippines and he's joining my study.
♫ Youth Water - MANILA GREY ♫