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By Johnny, October 15, 2009 11:39 pm

When I’m on my bicycle I get a lot of time to myself to think about “things”. Many of these “things” is my own self-reflection on my feelings and my state of mind. More than once, I found myself blissfully happy. Even when I’m tired and exhausted, I am able to enjoy the silence while I pedal down a quiet dark road home. I am at peace with myself when I’m on my bike. I am happy that I consciously made this decision to not burn fossil fuel to propel myself home from whatever short-sighted event that I may have been attending. I don’t need gasoline to take me home. I can do it on my own free will and burn calories not oil in the process. It is up to my body and myself to navigate up the last hill towards home.

Bicycling has taught me to be more patient. Riding a bicycle to places gave me a reason to plan and structure my day but ironically at the same time, riding the bicycle doesn’t require me to structure my day. I know that if I leave 1 hour before the start time of work I would have plenty of time to coast into work and not break a sweat. I take my time and enjoy the environment around me. I can hear, smell, and feel every cough, breeze, and sprinkle. The concept of being in traffic has been removed from my life. I am no longer bounded by the inconsistencies of getting to a place either 20 minutes or 1 hour just because of a car accident or road construction. I am free from the vast waste of land called parking lots or parking structures which is erected to help house our cars. I don’t have to pay the parking tax either at these wasteland or leaving my car with a complete stranger eager to take my car for a quick spin around the block while he’s digging for loose change. I am no longer mad when a person cuts me off or speeds off in front of me. Why are they in such a rush? Why can’t they just slow down to listen, hear, and smell the things I’m experiencing? That’s right. They’re in a car with their noise insulated windows and cabins bumping the latest tunes on their thousand dollar stereo system. They are busy letting the rest of the world know how better they are because they’re driving a fast and powerful beast of a car. They scoff and laugh at me as they pass, but they don’t know how sorry I feel for them for they are the ones missing out in life. They don’t realize that by driving these monolithic SUVs they are just making things worse. People in their hybrids often think that they are doing something to help our problems when all they’ve done is reduced their consumption on gasoline. They still need gasoline to power their smug bug. They’re still occupying the same space as before on the roads and highways. We still have traffic. We still have accidents.

I remember day-dreaming in college about how cool it would be to commute by bicycle to work. Honestly, I never thought I would be the bicycle commuter let alone get back on a bike after I got into the working world. I’m living the dream! A true dream that I didn’t think was possible. My bicycle(s) changed my life again. It’s taught me that it’s never to late to try something different. I was able to learn how to work on my bikes in a matter of months. I am self-reliant and don’t need to pay a mechanic to service my bikes now. Even after 30+ years, I am able to pick this up with no problem. I am also paying this forward when I go help people with their bicycle problems over at the Bike Oven co-op. What’s a better way to make an impact on someone’s life than to help them get their bike up and running? Maybe they’ll have that chance to feel the way I feel. They have this opportunity to feel some of things I’m feeling. Maybe something they never felt before.

Whatever it is, whenever I am with other bicyclists, I see the same burn. The same drive I see in myself. However different we are I am able to connect with bicyclists just because I am one of them. I’m not talking about your weekend warriors in spandex and fluorescent jersey. I do train with those types but they are not as cool as the people who genuinely love bicycles not because it’s got the latest and hottest component but because the bicycle had a story behind it. Every bike has a story that is associated with it. I remember some of those stories. About someone picking it up from a yard sale and spray painting it. About someone who saw it lying on the street and decided to adapt it and rebuild it from the ground up. Some great stories behind how each other’s rig was pieced together and how long they’ve been riding their trusty steed is what I enjoy listening to.

I’ll have people telling me that I’m the one who’s crazy to go without a car. They tell me I’ll be missing out and that I can’t live without a car. They tell me that riding a bike fully loaded is silly. They make fun of my helmet. Bicycling has also taught me to be courageous and trust in something whole-heartedly to a point whenever I have naysayers telling me it won’t work, I don’t have self-doubt. I can confidently brush it off or better yet show them that it is possible to live a car-free life and still be happy with overwhelming amount of experience to share. The proof is in the pudding. I’ve never blogged as much I have for the past 2 months. I just have so much to share and the words are coming out much easier than ever before. I’m not the one missing out. I’m living it up and enjoying every minute of it.

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By Johnny, October 14, 2009 1:58 am

I reached the half-way point of my 2 month trial period of being car-free. The first month wasn’t too bad. I actually traveled more than I thought I would. I rode about 500+ miles so far. There were days I felt that I was struggling to stay on the bike. Most of the time I’ve been happy riding to and from work. I realize I can’t stay out during school nights too long. Riding home at 11PM or 12AM really sucks when you’re exhausted. I also don’t like to bring my Xtracycle on a train. This limits my mobility since the bike is much longer than normal and I feel like a jerk for blocking people’s way. Plus, I can’t throw it on the bus since their bike racks are built for normal length bikes. Those are pretty much the major challenges for the first month of being car-free.

Now that I just finished the 2nd day into my second month, I was presented some new challenges. I visit my folks weekly and when I got there this week, I did not have the keys to their place. I was locked out in the cold and couldn’t get a hold of them and friends. If I had a car, I would have the keys with my car keys. No, that did not discourage me but made me realize that I need to be more conscious about having keys with me or perhaps stashed away somewhere in case I forget again. Another challenge comes from the weather. Early in the week I saw rain in my forecast. Since I haven’t purchased rain gear for riding, I’m not going to ride the bike home. Instead I’ve planned it out so that I got a ride from a co-worker after my CERT training at work. The rain has raised more awareness as far as going to destinations like the library. Luckily I bribed a friend at work to take me in exchange for joining him for a lunch out. Otherwise, that would have been coming into work later than normal and taking 2 bus rides and a train stop to the library and then work, in the rain. The last but least significant thing I am experience is that I may be socially out casted from my friends who are planning to have monthly / bi-monthly poker games during the week. There’s no way in hell I’m riding over to Culver City on a school night for a poker game. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy so I’m glad I have these challenges. But this is definitely something I’m willing to live with. My spirits are high and I can’t wait till November 14th when the 8 week is done. Hopefully, nothing will change from now until then. I’ll be glad to announce that the car is for sale!

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By Johnny, October 6, 2009 2:27 pm

I’m floating around at various parts. Video compliments of Stephen Box.

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By Johnny, October 4, 2009 11:11 pm

I heard about the “Pedouins” a few weeks ago from a tweet by @qbike on Twitter. It explained that the Harrison family is planning on traveling from Kentucky to Alaska on a 5 person tandem bike. Most people would probably think that it’s crazy of them to be traveling with 3 young kids on a bicycle. I would like to commend them on their bravery and their sense of adventure. It appears that they are teaching the kids many different values on this trip. They are shooting to be the first quint bicyclists to ride 7,000 miles to Alaska. Their journey started on August 1st this year. What speaks to me most about them is their desire to achieve their dream of traveling. On an interview Bill was explaining that they’ve heard so many people wanting to do something they’ve always dreamed of and they didn’t want to be those people regretting never to live out their dream.

What was most interesting part that I found was their story about how the couple met at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Seems more like a script straight out from a short film. A southern gentleman who used to live in Alaska buys a red Toyota pick-up truck. Drives it down to the Grand Canyon. He hikes down to the canyon and finds one camping spot. It so happens that he meets his wife there and they hike back up and spend 2 more months on the road. They eventually got married and have several children who are born in various places ranging from Florida to the Netherlands.

This story as well as the past summer’s real life story of 2 geeks riding across America from Pennsylvania to Oregon are a true inspiration to me. I too am looking to do something similar in my life time. I’ve already taken steps to learn more about camping as well as prepare for a potential trip up the coast from south of California to San Francisco. I may even continue year to year up north until maybe even to Alaska. People like this keeps my hope and spirit alive that this feat can be accomplished. Living car free should make this more easy for me to do it physically.

By-the-way, I’m done with my 3rd week of my car-free trial. I had to start my car and get some gas since I was running on fumes. Even though I didn’t use my car, I had to make sure it wasn’t going to be in worse condition than before I started this. I still have to keep it maintained so people would buy it from me in a few weeks from now.

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By Johnny, September 30, 2009 12:42 pm

As mentioned earlier, I was planning on attending the first Crenshaw Crush ride on September 27, 2009. I got up early Sunday morning to prep for the ride. Had to pump my tires and get my stuff together for the journey down to Leimert Park. Rode out to the North Hollywood station and took the train down to Hollywood / Vine stop. Got on the 210 bus line with the bike. It was the first time I ever used the front bicycle racks on a bus. Fairly straight forward and easy to use. The bus driver was patient. I’m think it’s because of the fact that it was a Sunday and not alot of people was using mass transit.

As soon as I get on, we pass Sunset and Vine, we see 2 guys getting into a fist fight on the sidewalk. They were still arguing and just as the bus started to leave, the fists started to fly. Obviously, I didn’t know how that was resolved. Interesting start to the morning to say the least.

The bus made it to Vernon and Crenshaw and I made my way to meet with the group. Finally had a chance to meet Jeremy and Ron who are LA Greensters who was going to lead our ride. I’ve been following Jeremy’s blog for a few months now and realized I’ve been following Ron’s blog as well. I also met Stephen who runs the SoapBoxLA blog as well as Enci who is an actress and director of the upcoming film, “At What Cost”.

For the sake of not being repetitive I am not going to do a ride report. A more comprehensive ride report can be found here on the LA Streets Blog. This covers all our stops and activities as well as historical background is detailed in the ride report. I can say I had a fantastic time riding through the neighborhood and experiencing it at a different point of view. Met very interesting people and was treated to some snacks on the way.

After the 21 mile ride, we made our way back to Leimert Park to take pictures and celebrate. I actually head back up towards Venice Blvd and San Vicente with Jeff (don’t know his last name). He was helpful in pointing me out on where to go since I was heading to a friend’s place.

Click on the picture above to see the photos of the ride.

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By Johnny, September 26, 2009 6:38 pm

So what would happen when you put a bicycle, car, and public transit commuter in a race during rush hour in New York City? See what happens in the video that I found at Utility Cycling below.

Most importantly, the bicyclist did not put out any pollution whereas the commuter had 1lb of carbon and the car produced 6lbs of carbon for that same 5 mile race.

So how about a race between bicycles and a helicopter? There shouldn’t be any way bicyclists can win, right? See this video provided by Treehugger.com.

Imagine living in a city like San Paulo where it is so congested that there are helicopter transportation services that you can take. In the end the bicycles produced no carbon whereas the helicopter produced 3.75kg of carbon, which translates to about 8.27lbs of carbon (thank you Google for the conversion).

I’m thinking these scenarios may not be feasible in Los Angeles because of how sprawled out our city is. Nevertheless, even if we’re traveling slower than cars, we’re green and we’re not stressed.

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By Johnny, September 22, 2009 1:21 am

This year’s Nautica Malibu Triathlon kicked off on a Sunday morning at 3:30AM. That was when I woke up and realized we were going to be late. I was suppose to be awake an hour earlier but put my alarm on snooze. Coincidentally, I had a nightmare that I missed the race and woke up at 7:30AM! I quickly woke Marie & Sang up and told them we’re late. They graciously obliged and quickly got ready to go in a matter of a few minutes.

We drove over to Zuma with a pack of cars who seem to be heading at the same direction. Lucky for us, we were actually on time. We got parking and quickly got out to pump more air into my bike’s tire. What I did notice this year was that the weather was warmer. This worked in my favor since I forgot my sweater.

It was a long walk from the car to lifeguard station 15 where the transition area was. When we got there, a few folks from NBC Universal was hanging around getting prepped for the race. I was much more calm and relax than last year. It definitely helps that this is my second year and I knew what was expected and how to approach the pre-race jitters. I went to my area for the co-ed relay teams and setup my bike and equipment. It only took a matter of 10 minutes to get everything organized and race ready. It helps especially when you’re not swimming.

I even had time to eat breakfast before the race. Nothing big, just a bagel w/cream cheese. I was also tagged during this time with my race number, 884. This was a lucky number in Chinese. Another good sign that I’m in for a good one. Around 5:30, we had our group picture with the team taken. My team mate, Sanya was still not here. I was a bit worried since this was her first race and she had a Toastmaster event the day before that she might have overslept. She finally shows up around 6:30. She was sleeping in her car and had arrived very early. She completely missed the picture and was bummed out. We quickly went over logistics as to the first transition and went over to listen to our mandatory meeting around 7:00.

The meeting pretty much went over rules for the race and highlights with the national anthem being sung by a race participant. Immediately after the pre-race ceremony, the first wave began. Sanya was in the third wave so it didn’t take too long since they were going out 15 minutes at a time. I got to the transition area and had my helmet, gloves, and shoes on. I quickly ate some Gu and water for the extra energy. I also noticed I didn’t have to pee as much as I did last year, which was a good thing because the lines to the port-o-potty was long.

People started flowing in from the water and in about 30 minutes of waiting, Sanya was running pass our lane. Those lanes are hard to recognize when they’re filled with people waiting for their teammates and cheering. I had to run out there and call her back. She quickly took off the chip and handed it to me. I strapped it to my ankle, grabbed the bike and dashed out to the beginning of the bike round.

My strategy was to take it easy and up my cadence at a mellow pace and not push it too much. I had to say I did just that until maybe at the end when I was coming back. Much of the way I just took a mellow pace and allowed the true triathletes speed by with their “whooshing” wheel (that’s the sound their bicycle makes as they speed on). I was much better on the hills this year. I was less ambitious and allowed people to pass me. By the time they were half way through the hill, I would catch up and pass them with ease. On the descents I was able to keep pace with the rider in front of me who was still spinning. I just dipped low and just rode it through in my aerodynamic position. On the way back, I had a few guys that I kept going back and forth with. And then finally on one last hill, one guy took off climbing pass me. I didn’t know why I reacted that way but soon I was blowing by him even though he gave it his all on the climb. It felt good. I felt like Contador on the Tour de France on the day he blew by all his opponents on one of his climbs.

On my way back into the parking lot, I felt good. Ate another packet of Gu and rode on to the transition area. From there I dismounted the bike and ran to my spot. I lost track of where it was for a moment but quickly hung the bike up, took off my shoes, helmet, and gloves and quickly slipped on my running shoes and was off to the running leg. I could hear Sanya and other folks cheering me on. As I began my ran I started to cramp up on both of my calves. It got bad enough for me to stop and stretch out a bit before I begin to gingerly jog. I thought it was going to be a bad run but miraculously I felt better and better as I kept on trucking. Every water stop I took a quick sip and dumped the rest on my head to cool down. That helped tremendously as I made my way back to the finish line where the time read 2:09 (2 hours and 9 minutes). They even announced my name as I crossed the line. We were welcomed by freezing wet towels and a cool medal.

I went back to meet up with Sanya. We talked a bit about the race and went to go grab breakfast at the buffet area. Along the way we saw so many celebrities. Terry Hatcher, William H. Macy, Felicity Huffman, shirtless Mario Lopez, and Mark Feuerstein (the doctor in “Royal Pains” series on USA) to name a few. Breakfast was delicious but I held back since I was going to have lunch at King’s Hawaiian again this year. I decided to make it a tradition to go there after the race every year.

Here are the results from the race. Our official times: Swim – 00:17:19.6 Transition 1 – 00:01:46.3 Bike – 0:56:03.3 Transition 2 – 00:01:52.8 Run – 00:36:24.1 Finish – 01:53:32.7. Sanya didn’t swim as fast as my former teammate but we made up alot of time during transitions and biking. I was 4 minutes faster on the bike this year than last year but I was 26 seconds slower on the run. Overall, we were about 2 minutes faster than last year. Not bad for a pretty relaxed training schedule. I only ran about once a week and ride my bike as much as possible to work.

Click on the image below for the rest of the photo set.

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By Johnny, September 16, 2009 2:25 pm

As some of you might know, I’ve been talking and writing about going car-free for sometime now. With the emergence of my new xtracycle, I can easily take that step forward. I will be going completely car-free for the next 2 months as a trial period. This is a trial because I will still have my car on stand-by should I need it. Only reason I may need it is for emergencies. It’ll be like renting a car in my trial period. I’m hoping to keep track of places I go and methods of transportation. I’m also not ruling out carpooling so for those who can drive me, I’m planning on treating them to a meal. In addition to that I’m going to try to keep a ride and finance log to do a comparison to driving in the same period.

This is going to be interesting and challenging. I’ve told some people and they’re saying I’m crazy for doing this. Especially in a city like Los Angeles. I’ve read and met people who have been doing this for decades so I’m very confident that this could be done. This was unofficially kicked off this Monday, September 14, 2009. That was 1 day after my triathlon so I didn’t need to think about driving to training for a few months now. Everything else, I am adjusting my schedule to accommodate. If it all goes well, my car will be on sale after November 14, 2009. Wish me luck!

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By Johnny, September 15, 2009 4:36 pm

While I’m waiting for my pictures to be doctored up, here is a video of race day.

I make a brief appearance at the beginning and end of the video.