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By Johnny, August 27, 2010 9:30 am

My first vlog!

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By Johnny, May 5, 2010 12:11 am

I unofficially kicked off my fundraising campaign for the California Coast Classic ride. I decided to look through my Gmail contacts and come up with the names of friends who maybe able to help. After 125 emails later, not even one donated to the cause. I did get an email from Tammy who said she will be donating pretty soon.

Hopefully my second group of people, co-workers, will fill this void. The good part about these folks is that our company has 100% match after $25 donation. I’m hoping to see if I can at least raise a few hundreds with these folks. My next approach is to do a letter writing campaign to the businesses that I frequent and see if they can contribute. Other ideas that is in the works is a fundraising party in which Ron has graciously offered to brew some beer for. I was also offered a fundraising ride with the help of The Flying Pigeon LA guys. I’m also thinking about jumping in the Facebook world and get contributions from people I haven’t talked to on a regular basis. Yes I’m that desperate to be thinking about breaking my silence and joining the Facebook masses.

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By Johnny, April 16, 2010 4:41 pm

One of the items on my bucket list is to ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles on a bicycle. I was planning on participating on the ever-popular AIDS/Lifecycle ride but that normally takes place earlier in the year. This pretty much gives me 2 month’s time to raise $3,000. Yup. Not gonna happen. So instead I found another ride for the Arthritis Foundation called the California Coast Classic. This will start and end at the same location and I also have to raise $3,000 to participate. Fortunately, the ride will take place from September 25th to October 2nd. This will give me plenty time to fundraise. I’ve included a donation progress meter to the right of this post to track my progress. >>>>>>>>>

Please help me reach my goal by donating or if you like, join me on this great adventure! If I know you personally, I’ll be asking you soon. The next task is to learn more about the organization so I can sound half-way knowledgable about who I’m helping here. Big plans are yet to come for this so I’ll keep ya’ll posted here.

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By Johnny, January 25, 2010 10:05 am

If you met me about 3 years ago I would have told you my goal at that point in time was to save up enough money to buy my own house. I accomplished that late 2008. The next step would have been to upgrade my car to a fancy European sports car and replace my motorcycle with an updated version. Flash-forward to present day and my priorities in life has changed. Instead of keeping up with “the Jones”, I do not own a motorcycle and as of January 19th, do not own a car in Los Angeles! After having my car posted on several online sites for about 2 months, it finally got a response when I dropped the price down to $4500. Although I won’t say how much I got for the car, I was thoroughly happy to see it off with the new owners. I told people I felt like getting a 3,000 lb gorilla off my back. It even felt better to make the call to my insurance agent to cancel my auto insurance the next day.

Ironically enough the week I sell my car would have been the week that I would have needed it the most. We endured 7 straight days of rain in Southern California and I got to ride out in it for 3 of the 7 days. I lucked out 2 of those 3 days and successfully avoided rain. But on the last day, I was finally doused. Even though it would have been comfortable just to hop in the car and drive back and forth to work without getting wet, I still enjoyed riding in the rain. It’s just a matter of being prepared and ready for that situation.

Now that I moved forward with my life without a car, I feel a bit anxious. After months of rarely using it, this is completely different from before because I just lost the option to use my car now. I really should think of it as I’ve gained the freedom to not be tied to auto repairs, payments to the insurance company, and visits to gas stations. I’ve also gained free time to enjoy my books and podcast if I decide to take public transportation. I am no longer burdened with the stress of driving or having to pay what I call the “car tax”. All these things outweighs the fact that I don’t have a car.

Let’s see where this journey will take me. Wish me luck!

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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 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, November 13, 2009 1:45 am

After a “long week”, I attended a Happy Hour over at Henry’s Hat last night. The attendees at this particular Happy Hour are my co-workers who are part of the company’s racing team. Racing as in triathlon, running, etc. Upon arrival I was told by 2 separate individuals that they saw footage of me on TV. Specifically, it was a video about the 2009 Nautica Malibu Triathlon race recap on Fox Sports West. When I got home, I immediately scoured the net and found the video on the actual Nautica Malibu Triathlon website. It is the first video segment of the 2009 video series. I am seen running at the 1 minute mark for 2 seconds. Woohoo I’m famous!

Here’s a screen shot of the page and video just in case they remove it in the future:

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By Johnny, November 11, 2009 12:06 am

I remember about 2 years ago I was oblivious to the Metro network in and around Los Angeles. I was chained to the day to day grind of driving back and forth to work from my parent’s home. Ever since I started riding my bike, I slowly found that not only is bicycling great but the Metro network of buses and trains are an enjoyable way to travel around town. I am still picking up new routes even to this day. Combine both the Metro and bicycling, you can practically get anywhere in Los Angeles. That is why I am excited that the Metro Gold Line will be opening up the expanded route from Union Station into East LA on November 15th.

If you had told me 2 years ago that this was happening, I would have easily dismissed this as anything significant. Why would I care about an expansion of a Metro train? I would not have realized that this opens up a way of getting to a part of LA in which I would not have gone in any other circumstances. This was true about a year ago when I took the Gold Line from South Pasadena to Highland Park. I definitely wouldn’t have been comfortable going there in previous scenarios. I now hang out at that area more frequently than my own town. This new expansion means more business to each of the local communities that is fortunate to have a train stop at their neighborhood. It allows people to be able to mobilize easily between East LA to Pasadena which connects multiple cultures, a multitude of different wealth class, and open up opportunities for the people in the communities that line up against the path of this train track.

If you find the time on Sunday, try to get to a station on the Gold Line and see for yourself. I heard you will be able to ride free that day and may even get to attend a block party to see a Mariachi Festival in Boyle Heights. Heck! They promised a special appearance of Santa at one of the stops. What better way to kick off the holiday season than with Santa?

Photos provided by waltarrrrr on Flickr.

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By Johnny, October 31, 2009 4:36 pm

Today marks the one year anniversary of when my escrow closed for my home purchase. I remembered how nervous I was. “How am I going to pay this mortgage?”, was what I had thought that day. It was tough at first but here I am 12 payments later. I am able to pay my mortgage without a hitch.

I also knew that I wouldn’t be going out too much but I think I still enjoyed myself this year. Tax benefits certainly made it easier. I know I haven’t been hanging out with friends too much. Not sure why. Perhaps I like staying at home whenever I can. There’s nothing like having no where to go and enjoying whatever is on tv or Hulu.

The place still looks pretty much the same as I had it sine I’ve moved in. I’ve only added a bed, washer, dryer, tv and a tv stand. Everything else was given to me by friends and family. Still using those furniture. Perhaps I’ll get to buy some bedroom furniture and then some living room furniture. Definitely no rush since I don’t need anything at this point. Besides, I’m trying not to add more clutter in my life. I’m trying not to over consume.

To kick off this momentous occasion I decided to do my planned ride to Santa Monica this morning. I rode out around 8:30 am after I made a PBJ sandwich and loaded up with some energy drink and water. It was a chilly morning so I brought a light riding jacket. I rode east on Burbank Blvd to Sepulveda Blvd. A Harley rider pulls up to me on one of the stop and asks if I wanted to race for pinks. I laughed and said my bike don’t have pinks. He smiled and we went our separate ways.

I road the unfamiliar road down Sepulveda until I reached Wilshire. On Wilshire I went Northwest onto San Vicente into Brentwood. Brentwood was a scarier place to ride than any other neighborhood I’ve been today. People don’t know how to react with a bicycle on the road. I was able to signal a car to slow down on a right turn because a man was making his way slowly across the sidewalk. That was my good deed.

I followed San Vicente until it turned into Ocean. That was my destination and I pulled off into the park lined street to catch my breathe and eat my sandwich and rest up. After a few minutes of relaxing, I proceeded home. Going up Arizona. They closed the street on Second for a farmers market. I walked through the market and got back on my bike and road all the way to Barry Ave and turned right. I made my way to end of the street on Ohio and road up until that street ended. It brought me to Thayer and I made a right and ended up on Santa Monica Blvd. From SM Blvd I was on the bike lane until Avenue of the Stars. I then took the ramp down to Olympic Blvd. Took Olympic all the way to Rimpau. Turned left and the right onto 4th St. I took 4th all the way until it ended on Hoover. That was where I got lost. I somehow ended up on Sunset. I overshot where I wanted to be. I then rode back down Sunset towards Hollywood. Looked for Griffith Park Blvd. I was again held up a bit by another farmers market. Walked through that and proceeded to ride up to Los Feliz on GP Blvd. From there I took Los Feliz Blvd till the LA River Bike Path. I was finally at a place I had rode before. Went north on the path until I reached the end at Victory. I decided to take a more scenic path on Riverside Drive. I also decided to take a series of Bike Routes of Burbank. Until I couldn’t go further North. That lead me out to Buena Vista Blvd one block before the railroad track south of Empire Blvd.

All that took about 3 and a half hours and stretched out to about 55 miles. LA streets are pretty bad. Cracks and holes line almost all the streets that jarred the heck out of my poor bike as well as doing a number on my body. I’m a exhausted now but I’m glad I finally did this ride. Planned it for quite some time. Now I know what the journey looks like visually.

Happy Halloween!