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By Johnny, December 22, 2009 12:42 am

This past Sunday, I had the privilege to be part of a conclusion to an incredible journey made by Victoria Merriman. About 4 months ago, Victoria set-out on a journey which began 4,000 miles away in Boston Harbor. Victoria’s adventure brought her through 12 states and multiple blog entries which she took the time to give us a play-by-play description of her journey. I should know because I’ve been reading her blog since she was traveling through Texas. I actually went back and read all her posts since the beginning or even before the trip so when I met her I felt like I already knew her. Of course, I was teased for being the “super fan” of the night, when in reality it was a privilege just to meet someone so courageous as herself. Did I forget to mention to you that she did all this by herself? Yup, something that myself and many out there would be scared to death to do, she courageously accomplished.

I was invited to welcome her at 3:30 – 4PM on Sunday. The welcoming party consisted of friend’s of Victoria as well as folks she had met when she was in LA 6 months ago. We were informed by text that she was 3 miles away and she would arrive by the bike path. We hustled down from the pier to the bike path and waited for 15 minutes. She arrived to a roar of cheers and applauds. Here’s a quick video I took of her approach.

She quickly got off her bike and greeted everyone. Her emotions then got hold of her and she was crying with much deserved tears of joy. She celebrated her arrival in similar fashion as her departure by dipping the “Supertour” and submerging into the Pacific ocean. I remembered reading how she loved swimming and recalled from her recent posts that she hasn’t done much of that so it was nice seeing her getting in the water.

After a few minutes of soaking in all that is happening, we finally made our way to a public bathroom so she could “freshen up” for our celebratory meal and drinks. We decided to go to a restaurant in Santa Monica which was about a mile away called Library Alehouse. I had the pleasure of riding her bike over to the location for her. As predicted, I was the first one there since everyone still had to walk to their car, find parking, and walk to the restaurant. Isn’t bicycling great! I must digress.

While we waited to be seated she was interrogated by everyone about details of her journey. Something she must have done through-out her journey so I’m sure she was used to it by now. I confessed to her my favorite story was when she got to fly a plane without even planning for it. She obliged and entertained the crowd with the step-by-step account of that day. It was like I was reading her blog again.

We eventually got seated and ordered our food and drinks. More stories were told at the table and more questions was asked. It was great for me to hear a voice to the written words on her blog. It was even better to get a sneak peak of what had happened after her last blog post. At the time of this post, I didn’t know what happened to her from San Diego till now. We had mentioned to the waitress what we were celebrating and she congratulated the accomplishment by comping us 3 dessert plates for us to share. The manager also came by to chat with Victoria about her trip.

Our meal ended close to 10PM. We exited the establishment and took some group photos and got some solo shots with our heroine. Here is my shot.

Everyone said their good byes including myself. She is such an inspiration that I can’t wait to go on my camping trip next week. That’s right, I’m going on a 4 day excursion to Lake Cachuma up near Santa Barbara by bike. Even though the trip is only 200 miles, Victoria was excited for me which I know she’s taking pity on my meager mileage given the fact she just finished 4000 miles.

Read her blog to find out more about her journey at http://www.victoriasblog.com. She’s a great writer and you will be entertained as much as I was.

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By Johnny, December 14, 2009 9:41 pm

Last night I had the chance to attend my first Spurs game. It was actually a Clippers game which I’ve been to several but never for my team. My buddy secured tickets from his brother who had bought season tickets so we were sitting at the 206 section. Funny thing was that we met up with friends who happened to be there including my gf and her sis.

This was a weird night. Our seats at the 206 section wasn’t bad. But what made it interesting was that they were giving Metrolink train passes for a random section and row. Right before half-time, they called our section and row. It was nice surprise! I was joking around with my buddy telling him they were going to call our section and row. Amazingly enough my wish was granted.

We proceeded to go out to get a beer and some food about 3 minutes left of the first half. We were enjoying the game at the foyer when 2 guys walk up to us and ask if we wanted their tickets which was seated right behind the Spurs bench. Heck yeah we did! Another pleasant surprise. We moved to our new seats and was in awe with how close we were. We were 6 rows behind court side. Which was really close to the players. In fact, I watched the game on TV and can locate me and my buddy during the second half of the game.

In both of those incidents, if we weren’t there at that moment in time, we would not have been so fortunate. On top of that, the Spurs won! In the words of Ice Cube, “Today was a good day.”

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By Johnny, December 13, 2009 2:28 pm

So this is it. The Craigslist ad for my car. I finally got around to taking some photos today and posting them up with the ad.

• Color is blue (Spectra Blue Mica to be exact)
• 156K miles
• Manual transmission
• A/C, Power windows, Power steering, Cruise control, Power moon roof w/tilt, air bags
• Stock radio (cassette deck does not work) / CD player
• 18″ custom alloy wheels

Transmission and clutch has been replaced February 2009
All 4 Brakes replaced October 2009
Replaced intake gasket and o2 sensor October 2009
The car has been tuned up (changed spark plugs, oil change, air filter) October 2009
Smog checked February 28, 2009

There are door dings as well as a noticeable key mark at the rear of the car and rear passenger bumper is scratched. Obviously nothing that impacts the way the car runs. The car gets about 29 – 32mpg and uses 87 unleaded fuel which makes it economical to drive. Only one owner and I have all service records since the first day I bought the car.

$4800 OBO

Edit: Car is sold on 01/20/2010.

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By Johnny, December 11, 2009 12:54 am

On December 6th, I set out to help the LA Greensters on a toy ride for the St. Anne’s Women & Children Social Services Organization. The organization has been around for 100 years and are helping young mothers become self sufficient single parent. Our ride started out at the Vermont and Santa Monica Redline Metro station. Jeremy, our ride coordinator, graciously provided participants (and some passersby) homemade tomato and cheese pizza on the back of his Xtracycle. I got there early to talk to Jeremy about our bike camping trip after Christmas. This event attracted a few fixed gear riders who just happened to be in the neighborhood and wanted to join in on the action.

Jeremy already brought along 2 huge B.O.B. bags worth of toys and dental hygiene packages. His load was definitely something to be amazed about. I believe he said that the load was about 80lbs. He rode with the load like a pro and at times cutting it really close to parked cars as we casually meandered down Santa Monica Blvd. There were about 15 riders, 3 of which were Xtracycles. I was hauling my Timbuk2 bag, my 2 wooden dinosaur toy, and some beverages in my Xtracycle. We rode out to the 99 cent store to pick up some more toys for the kids.

At the store all of us cyclists easily found spots to park our bikes. Some of us went in to shop while others opted to stand guard our bikes while we were away. I picked up a few more gifts, notably hula hoops and a huge pen. While we were waiting outside of the parking lot, we were witnessing mayhem in the 99 cent store parking lot. People were honking. They were angry and frustrated while we watched on. It just didn’t make sense why they were in such a bad mood for a quick trip to the store. Come on, get on your bikes and you can leave all this BS behind. The still don’t get it.

Eventually, we regrouped and rode East toward St. Anne’s. It was a mellow ride as we navigated through side streets and hills through-out Los Angeles. We finally made it our at St. Anne’s parking lot at 4:30. We were greeted by the gracious staff there who were happy to see the amount of riders come through hauling toys. We all eventually unloaded our loot on a cart / dolly. A few folks toured the facility as we talked it up about what they did at St. Anne’s. We snapped a few photos before everyone decided to head back to where we started. I followed the group until a minor incident with a harassing motorist separated us from the main group. As temper settled, we bravely joined traffic back on Vermont. We once again separated by a traffic light and I was riding with Aubrey Provost, the 8th Council District representative who had hosted the previous Crenshaw Crush ride. We soon met up with the rest of the group at the train station, said our good byes and left for home. On my way home, I was assured by 2 fellow riders, Mark & Dale that my newly purchased warning triangle is doing it’s job!

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By Johnny, December 4, 2009 4:39 pm

So I got a tweet from the LA Times of last night’s Light Festival and the third picture of the set is a picture of the Griffith Observatory with me riding by. I know it’s me because the silhouette clearly shows an Xtracycle and I was the only one riding an Xtracycle last night.

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By Johnny, December 3, 2009 11:49 pm

The much anticipated ride for this week was for LADWP’s Festival of Lights bike ride that was held on Thursday, December 3rd. I got out of work a bit late and raced over to Griffith Park. Luckily I made it there before they started lighting the displays so I was able to cruise through to the south entrance of the park where the ranger station was suppose to be. It was quite pleasant to ride through the street without any cars since they had already started diverting car traffic away from this area. In fact, I was the only bike since everyone was waiting near the Zoo entrance.

I made plans on Twitter earlier in the week to meet up with a few folks. @FunctionalCycle and @LACycleChic showed up with their daughter around 5:30PM. A few minutes later, JHarv from the Bike Oven showed up and we began our ride through the light display.

It was nice to cruise through the lit displays with Christmas music blaring from speakers that was strategically placed throughout the course. The music certainly helped bring out the feeling of Christmas! One of my favorite display was an animated sequence that resembled LAX airport with a plane taking off from a blue landing strip. Our other favorite thing was riding through the 2 huge tunnel of lights. Here are a few shots of the tunnel.

It was a very short ride to the other side where we ran into more folks from Twitter, @dudeonabike and later @danceralamode joined us when we rode through the displays the second time around. People really got into it by decorating their bikes with lights and colorful props and outfits.

Besides the evening being very chilly, we were dodging wobbly bicycle riders and people scattered all over the street. Not really the best situation when you mix pedestrian and bicycle in an area. Everyone seemed to handle it very well. I wished it was ALL bikes and no foot traffic. I have to say I don’t know how people can see this through their cars? Sitting in long lines of traffic stretching out to the 5 freeway every year. Sucking in carbon monoxide while people are rolling through display to display at snail pace. On bikes, folks can still stop and enjoy each display without ever impeding traffic and smell nothing but maybe your occasion funk from the skunk. If you haven’t been through this I encourage you to go but the remaining nights are car free w/pedestrian and shuttle until December 17th. The rest of the month after that will require you to drive.

Enjoy the 6 minute video I shot with my digital camera while riding my bike. Not the best quality but you get the idea.

LADWP Festival of Light Ride from Johnny Lam on Vimeo.

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By Johnny, December 1, 2009 11:43 am

I’m reposting this in support of Santee Debate Team. I was in my high school debate team so this has a soft place in my heart. They’ve got an article on LA Times.

For our second service project, the Global Debate Team will be donating
trees to schools around LA by bicycle. Beginning Friday the 4th, we will
transport some of the trees. This will promote two ways of reversing climate
change: planting CO2-converting trees, and using alternatives to
CO2-emitting cars. We hope the schools we visit with our trees will agree to
replant and take care of them. We also hope they will feature us in their
newspapers and blogs, as Venice High School has already agreed to do.

Venice High School is 14 and a half miles from Santee Education Complex.
We invite anyone who wants a little exercise to join us on the ride to the
school along Venice Blvd. on Friday, December 4th, leaving Santee at 11am.

For each mention in a news source or blog, we will get points in the Global
Debates competition. The grand prize is a trip to the UN’s Youth Leadership
Summit in the Netherlands.

If you are a blogger, school, or media outlet and wish to cover our story,
or if you want to ride with us, please call Santee Debate Coaches Amber
Young at (310) 256-6267 or Nick Richert at (310) 428-4222

Good luck!

*Update: Just got off the phone with Amber and they will have future rides in addition to December 4th.