Another 25 with Gina Today

Another 25 at 16.0 average. Just a hair faster than last week but with more ease. She says she was struggling but she kept up the entire way unlike last week when we had to slow and wait for her a couple of times. So there is some improvement! :-P

Kind of a cool dark but sunny day, I dunno! Nice though, can't argue! Ran across Herb and Alyce, and Joaquin. But for the most part, not many riders today. Must have been out on turkey day. The parking area where I parked was totally empty as far as cyclist vehicles. That was nice too! I think I did see Pete fly by too! Looked like a couple of triathletes flying by in the opposite direction. One shouted "Beanz!". I think it was Pete.

So anyway, got in a ride, that's what counts. Oh yeah on a new saddle on my 1998 Cannondale. WTB saddle about $50. Got it dialed in and it feels really good. Much better today than last week. Takes trial and error at times. Glad because I was thinking about buying a new Terry Fly TITANIUM rails. I've really had good luck with them in the past. BUT, first one was $59 back in 2005, $69 back in 2011, but the frickers want $160 for a frickin' saddle now? 

I like the saddle, $100 maybe, maybe even another $10 but $160? :-O

Forget about it, I'll find another saddle. This is my 4th WTB saddle and all have been comfortable. One $100 back in 2005, the one that broke couple weeks back. The others are $50 models that actually feel pretty good. Not that I can't afford the $160, it's more principle to me. Frickers wanting to soak me for money, for something that hasn't changed or improved.  Sorry, can't do it!

Anyway, a nice ride today! :-)

My old 1998 but new saddle, rode nicely today!

Here comes Joaquin!

there goes Joaquin! Needless to say, I din't recognize him coming and missed the frontal face shot.

      

First Serious Video? Disabled Artist Friend

I mentioned I made my Baddest Bike Beanz video trying to figure out a format for a buddy who asked me to make a serious video of him and his art. He is an artist, disabled artist. Put himself through college, bachelor's and AA degrees.

Amazingly his hands are like little bear paws but manages to us both hands to hold a brush and paints pretty darn well. Been the featured artist at local art galleries, won first place in an art show and has a pretty good looking wife too.

He was a normal looking child at age 8 then arthritis really affected him while deforming his body.

He gave me a couple of prints of his paintings and frames as a thank you for doing the video. Nice stuff, nicer than what is shown in the video.

But anyway, this is an attempt at a more serious video than usual, for me anyway! :-P

I like the intro, so I'm good! 

This is a silly video I made after some Walmart employee approached me at a restaurant and asked if he could tell me a joke. Ended up turning into two jokes. The story and the jokes. Never heard the jokes before so I made a stupid video ha ha!

Gina's First Trail Ride In About a Year

Good news, bad news! Good news is Gina did pretty well, better than I expected. bad news, I let her wear one of my new jerseys, the Elmo Loves You jersey. She insists on wearing them home and stopping for a bite to eat, she got teriyaki sauce on it, two different spots. Not sure what's going on but every time we eat nowadays, Gina drops food on her blouse.

So now that the bad news is out of the way, a 25 miler at a 15.9 average speed. I kept the pace low and steady but the freaking headwind on the way to the coast kicked up! But that was cool cause I could keep the pace at a steady decent effort and not go too fast. Those short 10 mile rides I did with Gina over the last couple of weeks really paid off I think because she did really well. She faded on the last 1/2 mile or so but she got much further than I expected. I was actually expecting her to seriously fade on the way to the coast but she didn't!

It has been almost a year since she has been on the bike before the last 2 or 3 rides around home the last couple of weeks so I was happy with her performance today. Aimee also says she has not been on the bike for over a year, and since the last time she rode with us. Wow, that went by fast, I thought it was only 6 months or so but nope, been a year. She did really well today and looked good but she's been doing her elliptical machine for a couple of weeks or so (don't remember the specifics) but now darn Gina wants an elliptical. Uhh NO! She's has stair masters, butt blasters, bicycle trainers, step aerobics, and the best of the best when it comes to Jane Fonda aerobic tapes and they collected dust for years so no, no machines!

At the coast we ran into Herb and Alyce. hadn't actually had a visit with them in a long time. Well I did ride with Alyce once about a year ago, maybe more, man it flies by! But we had a good visit with them at the coast. Both have lost weight and look healthy. Alyce has lost a total of 56 pounds, WOW!

They rode back with us and if I remember correctly, they said and must have been on an easy spin day. I was keeping the pace down so Gina wouldn't fade and both Herb and Alyce tagged along for the ride. I was expecting them to shoot around as soon as we left the coast seeing I was holding it down for Gina but they just enjoyed the ride. Though I do remember Herb telling me they worked out at the gym last night so that may have played a roll in their not minding our easy cruise back pace.

Did see Ron and Dixie fly by in the opposite direction right as we left the coast. Gina said another 2 minutes and they would have rode up while we were still at the coast. So we missed them today. I'm sure Gina would have liked to visit with Dixie too but, it's their fault for showing up late ha ha! :-P

Oh, I almost forgot, live entertainment today. Couple of homeless ladies fighting out in the parking lot today at Huntington Beach right next to the rest area. Heard a loud noise, looked over and junk all over the lot. One bag lady was on the other giving her a beat down. I think she was choking her too when a couple of homeless dudes ran over and started yelling at her to stop. She wouldn't so they started kicking her and trying to push her off.  Finally she gets off then starts trying to fight one of the dudes. I'd put my money on the old chick ha ha! She was going off seriously then finally after a few minutes and a few spectators recording the scuffle, some officers showed up and ruined the action. Heck, I watched Bellator cage fighting last night and the action on TV wasn't even this good! :-P



                                                    Starting out, me and the girls!

My fat head! Yes, that is my Elmo Gina just stained with teriyaki sauce!

Herb and Alyce

All 3 girls

Heading back!

Zoom, there goes Alyce!

Aimee at the front

Aimee pulling the troops, what's left of us! :-P

I don't usually get my pic taken much but Aimee caught a couple pics of us playing with the birds. Man these guys just jump up onto you, no fear! We didn't even have food or give them anything, they just liked us I guess! OK maybe not, I think they were very hungry and there were about 100 of them.

From Aimee's cell cam.

Mr. Beanz: Baddest Bicycle Man on the Planet

Yes, yes I am ha ha! Kidding, I made this video as a template or format for an interview I want to do with my art friend Ruben. Figuring a way how to put together an actual serious interview video. We did record some footage of us chit chatting but it was loooong, over 100 minutes and that was real tough to even begin editing.

So I deleted it all and started the thought process over from scratch. I've seen this style before on TV and thought it would work for what we need. It will eliminate all the chit chat, the unnecessary waste of time and will allow him to get straight to the point of each question and/or topic.

So yeah, though I am a pretty bad dude, this is in humor and only made to show the guy my idea on how I want to execute the video. ;-)

Quick Tandem Night Ride with Gina

A quick little ride with Gina to stretch the legs. A little hard to find the motivation to get out in the evening, usually about 8 PM. But once we get out there, it is so refreshing and glad we did at the end of the rides. Got in a quick 11.5 miles to stretch the legs.

Of course the one mile loop around the hood and not very challenging as far as any kind of a hill. But the legs did feel  a little better on the itty bitty climb that we do face, maybe 1 or 2 % for like 30 yards I dunno ha ha! Maybe not even that but I do feel a little rise. But the legs were feeling better and didn't need to switch the gears at all on the tandem tonight facing that itty bitty climb which means the legs are coming back.

                                       A little taste of the wind in this area lately! The reason we haven't been on the bike much this week. :-O

We wimped out last weekend but will for sure seriously hit SART on Saturday! ;-)

                       After the ride and she's still OK and even said she's glad we got out!

A Friend of Ours

We met this dude at a restaurant we frequent. He has perfect hair every time we see him. Yes, there are plenty of people with perfect hair but this dude's hands are deformed, that's what captured my attention. Perfect hair, deformed hands and a wheelchair. He was a normal active kid early on but at age 8 he was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (Ha, I spelled it correctly for once!). By the age of 13 he was confined to a wheelchair.

I jokingly mentioned his perfect hair a few times just to be friendly then later we ended up running into each other at the mall. So we've had a few good chats and he explained his situation in more detail. Then he told me he was an artist. OKAY, WHAAAAT? His hands are seriously deformed as you can see from the pics. So I seriously doubted his ability and almost took it as a joke till he told me to look up his work.

Holy crap! Amazing stuff and talented artist. I went for a visit as he said he wanted to make a video of his art and his story. I took my camera and snapped a few pics at the Claremont Train Depot. One of his favorite and my favorite sites. OK, my artistic ability allows me to take pics of the place but this dude can paint it ha ha! OK he wins, better artist! :-P

I recorded the video and ended up with over an hour of footage. Amazing story but I have to go back and reorganize to a different format rather than just a chat cause we chatted way too long ha ha! I need more organized footage to get the whole story in a certain amount of time.

But the dude has been a featured artist at local art galleries including Claremont art galleries. He has won awards at art shows including first place. He has a very attractive wife, always dresses nice, and perfect hair.

He faces more obstacles than most artists being handicapped. He only has a 5 inch range of motion with his arms so he paints section by section. He has to turn the paper at times having to paint or draw upside down. I watched him paint and I am impressed.  His hands are deformed to the point where they almost look like bear paws. So he holds the art brush with his right hand and holds it from falling with his left taking both to support the brush. Amazing! I know people who if missing half a pinkie, they would find a reason no to drive ha ha! So this is amazing!

The other amazing thing is he put himself through college, Pomona Pitzer College, got his degree and became a teacher and private tutor.I'm impressed as I am still trying to learn how to spell "college" ha ha!

Anyway, I need to record the video a second time with a better plan to shorten it, make it short and sweet, maybe 10 minutes vs the 110 I have. Oh yeah, hard to edit footage as it's chatting and not actually answering questions about his story.

But here are a few pics I took. He was a good sport sitting on the tracks for a few pics. Good thing there weren't any trains coming. Plenty of people there that day taking pics. Not sure what was going on but plenty of photographers doing family pics.

One of the questions I asked was when did he realize he had artistic ability. He said as a child about 8, he could no longer go outside to play at recess. So he stayed in the classroom with the teacher. It was then he started doodling around drawing cartoon characters. He said he was surprised but he picked it up quickly and things were coming easy to him. After recess, everyday the kids returning from recess would gather around his desk to see what he had drawn that day! Became the talk of the town, pretty cool little story.

But a real cool guy and great artist! He gave us a couple of his prints that day and frames to put them in. Pretty cool stuff. One is an old Chevy bomb car in a snowstorm on Rt 66. Really cool detail and colors.

Here are the pics I shot of Ruben Caballero. One of my friends asked if I had photo shopped him onto the tracks. No, that is him posing on the tracks, he loves the tracks! ;-)

Painting, sketching, pens, you name it.

This is the print I chose, looks real nice as a final product in a white frame.

I put the letters on this one, security. :-)

Midweek Tandem Night Ride

Managed another 11.6 tandem ride last night. Another short ride designed to get Gina used to the saddle again. Hoping to hit the trail this weekend even if it's just a 25 miler to get her back out there. She's feeling good on the tandem, no signs of extra drag in the pedals which is good.

Did our loops in the cool night air around the Creekside loop. No hard efforts, just riding enjoying some exercise.

Though it was cool outside, we managed to get into the jacuzzi for a little relaxation. It's nice getting in the hot boiling water at night. But crazy Gina has this thing about wanting to get into the freezing cold water of the swimming pool. I've tried working my way in but getting to my crotch, that it's ha ha! Take me back to the hot tub! :-P

But Gina managed to work her way into the freezing water. I don't know how she does it but she does it. Once she is in she says it feels warm. No thanks, I'll stick to the hot jacuzzi water. So I just take a few pics and watch her have her fun. though the night air is pretty cool, getting out of the hot water is not bad at all. Actually feeling warm walking around while wet. Just not as crazy as Gina getting in the freezing water. She can have it ha ha!

                                                               On the tandem

Loosening up the legs

Jacuzzi time

I swear these little blue tooth speakers are amazing. Good sound and water proof

Heading to the freezing water of the pool, she's crazy!

I'm happy taking pics, she can have the cold water! :-P

Some pics I took for friends over the weekend. Got a free dinner out of it! :-P