Ducati Ph holds 2019 Redvolution Ride to Baguio

Blitz ride for fun and camaraderie

With a long weekend, thanks to the declaration of February 25 as a holiday in observance of the Anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution, no doubt many plans to head out of town had been set.

Ducati Philippines, through its close knit group of clubs, was no exception and organized the Redvolution Rally Ride to Baguio. Owing to the ease of travelling to Baguio thanks to the NLEX, SCTEx, and TPLEx string of highways, a day ride to the City of Pines was proposed. Being its premier year, the Redvolution Rally Ride is a new program by Ducati Philippines to introduce riders of other brands to the Ducati lifestyle. Accompanied by current Ducati owners and riders, they are encouraged to enjoy the long ride with the group. Naturally, Ducati Philippines offered the reassurance of a support truck and skilled technicians following closely to assist any rider, whether on a Ducati or not, with any troubles that might arise.

As early as 6:30 am, participants met up at Shell Balagtas along NLEx. Ducati had generously provided me with a 2018 Monster 821 to join in the ride. Besides the Scramblers, Monsters, Supersports, Multistradas, and Panigales present, our group was joined by three friends on bikes of other brands. By 7:30 am, the group took off for Baguio with short fuel stops planned along the route. Riding at a leisurely pace, by 11:30 am, the group was already at the lunch venue at Cantinetta in Camp John Hay in Baguio.

Here, participants were free to order what they wanted with much of the meal taken care of by Ducati Philippines. After a sumptuous lunch, I took the opportunity to chat with the point person for this ride.

“It’s an opportunity for us to gather motorcycle enthusiasts who are very active in the community,” said Diego Jante, brand manager for Scrambler Philippines. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a Ducati owner or whatever brand. What we want to do in Ducati is get together and ride somewhere that’s nice, in this case, Baguio.”

“The idea for it being open is to share to non-Ducati owners how we ride, for fun, company, and the brotherhood. For us, it doesn’t matter what motorcycle you ride, as long as you love riding, and wanna hang out with friends.

“The end goal is to entice them to join the Ducati fold. When they see how Ducati bikes perform while riding. They can compare with what they currently have. At the same time, there’s food, sharing experiences, and checking out bikes. We do this as much as we can to always keep the motorcycle community alive. We always make it a point, if we have available [technical] manpower and vehicle, to see to it that we have back up.

“On behalf of the Scrambler brand, what I plan to do is a once-a-month ride. The regular ride is every other Sunday morning to Tagaytay or BGC.”

Though we planned to head down immediately after lunch, the group quickly got carried away with the stories, photo sessions with the bikes, and planning other rides in the future. Nonetheless, the dayride to Baguio saw most of the participants already back home by 5 pm.

The Redvolution Rally Ride certainly shows that, in the spirit of People Power that brought Filipinos from different walks of life with the same ideals together, the same can be done for brothers on two wheels.