Sunday, July 28, 2019

Sunday SART with Gina,........and Bob

32 miles, 15.3 average speed. Set out to do a recovery spin for me and a steady ride for Gina.  Ran into Tammy and Allen at Edna Park.  Little chat about her son Chris.  Tammy hadn't heard so as we told them I saw tears in Gina's eyes again. Of course it helps her to cry and let it out.  After a chat we headed off. Heading South just beyond we ran into Bad Bob. He turned around and headed back to the coast with us. We rode side by side and chatted to the coast. Gina enjoyed the benefit of a two man shield from the wind. Later told me it was pretty cool getting a good draft. Bad Bob sat on his bike and chatted with us for a bit then headed off back home to take care of bidness!

Then Tammy and Allen rolled up. A little more chat about her sons. I think it was good for her to get it out again. Later at the mall we enjoyed a beverage. I sweat I looked at Gina and she was glowing. She looked really nice! I think it does her good to get some release from her worries. It paid off today I think and so as I figured, the bike ride does her good and talking to friends always helps her.

But at the coast Tony and Thai rolled up. Had a quick chat, Tony never stops too long. Trying to talk him into giving GMR  a try. He has the climber's physique and would enjoy the ride I am sure.

After a chat, we headed back. Gina did very well but once passed Edna, it got warm! But Gina did well, kept on my wheel the whole time. Which is good because usually it is here she will fall back a bit. Today she stayed on my wheel and if anything, I felt like dropping back ha ha!

So we roll up to the truck when Gina quickly kicks off her shoe, forget the ratchet system ha ha. Gina's cycling shoes are slip offs like her Crocs! Few seconds and she's in the shade leaving me to pack up in the sun as usual! Can't say I blame her but she didn't have to laugh at me sweating in the sun ha ha!

Then Tammy and Allen roll up as we are both sitting in the shade. Gina wanted to sit back to back so that we could hold each other up, one of her elementary school tricks I guess! It sure was cool there though. Tammy and Allen said a quick hi and bye then walked over to their vehicle. Tammy says she likes to walk after the ride for a cool down. But hey, I took their pics cause you never know when somebody is watching you! :-P

                                                                  Almost done!


Back to back in the cool shade, and Allen :-P


Got to be honest, sometimes I let Gina break away just so I can look at her big round butt!


After a couple miles of warm up, Gina finds a sliver of shade at Lincoln


Side by side with Bad Bob


I didn't realize my head was that much bigger than Bad Bob's ha ha!


Who loves riding their bike more than Bad Bob, with a smile!


Look at the biceps on the guy!


Gina sitting in the shade watching me pack and burn in the sun.


Allen, ya never know when somebody is watching you!


Tammy


Looking a little warm there Gina. Days like this I miss the fun nights we had in the community jacuzzi at the old place.






Saturday, July 27, 2019

Fat Bastard Up Peacock Saddle Again!

Started really early today, 6:30'ish. 13 mile climb 3,018 ft of gain. Cool but to avoid the sun, I'm guessing I need to start at 6:00. Though it was not bad, high of 91 on my Garmin. Average 82. 26 miles total but the return doesn't even feel like riding ha ha!

I did get to the snake in the road section and had second thoughts about going on. It was hot looking there. As if the sky was on fire. Hmmm! But I went on carefully looking for signs of TOO MUCH HEAT. But it was good. My Garmin was reading 86 there.

Good ride but I think it is going to be a hotter day than last week from the look of the sky. But I'm done, home by 10:30 so 'm good.

Sadly there are so many a holes on the mountain driving up now. On the way, I rolled by one car, 3 people smoking dope on the side of the road. Scary but the more scary part was the a holes racing up in little hot rods. About 6 cars tearing up the corners. On the return I rolled by at the fork and all one could smell was weed, lots of it.

They end up passing me then heading down. Later I see them on the side of the road looking at one guy's bumper. They tied it up. Somewhere along the line he ate it. Scary!

Then the a hole stops in the middle of the road at the parking area. Plenty of cyclists heading down, cars, whatever! Pretty scary with these a holes up there. 2 rides ago, 2 weeks ago, another group of about 6 cars ran one into a big boulder on the side of the road on some switchbacks. Thrashed the front end of his car, I'm actually glad about that. One less a hole on the mountain for a while. All I can say is I am glad the idiot hit a rock instead of a cyclists. Can't control your car? You shouldn't be racing up there anyway but if your skills suck, you really shouldn't be up there!









Ass holes!


Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Poor Dirty Gina

Poor dirty little Gina always gets the dirty end of the stick. Always sweaty crusty pics on the bike. Sometimes I look through my collection and think she deserves some fresh looking pics as well. Sun, rain, wind, grit. Let me share a couple nice fresh pics at home in the cool air to show how pretty she is and she isn't always full of sweat, snot and crust ha ha!

                                                                  Bike ride Saturday! It was hot and I wanted a sweat pic but she covered her boobs thinking I just wanted her pic cause her nips were rock hard,...in the heat? Ok, she busted me! :-P


Nice home environment. No sweat, no crust!


The pretty off the bike smiling Gina!


Yes, she unleashed them at the park that night for a few shots!


Unleashed







Sunday, July 21, 2019

Nice Little Cruise with Gina

Same ride as last week. 32 miles at 15.5 average speed. A bit better, by .2 of a mile actually. She did well, finished a bit stronger and .2 faster. Can't complain!

Rode with Jose. Not much happening on the bike but ran across Don again. Haven's seen him much since he relocated closer to the coast and doesn't ride SART any longer. Nice to see him again. Then Roman rolled up. I recognized him but wasn't sure as last time we talked, maybe 3 years ago he had a leather helmet. Pretty cool thing but this time in a more modern helmet, through me off. After a few minutes I asked if he was the same dude. Yup! Ton and Thai rolled up for a brief stop, as usual. Like 3 minutes and 42 seconds, their usual ha ha!

After doing GMR the previous day, it took a bit to stretch out the legs but I felt good actually. My butt hurt more than anything ha ha! I guess I need more saddle time!

Nice and warm on the return. Jose just sat at the back, again! :-P



Roman and his steel bike.


Pretty proud of his bike shoes. I forgot to ask if they were actually SPD.


Don, from Lake Forest


Gina making a break for it!


After the ride I asked to take her pic. She covered up her boobs. She knows me, the nips were hard and I was on the sly. Amazes me how it can be like 110 degrees and the nips get hard ha ha!


Tony's bike. He was in the restroom so I had to take a bike only shot.


Wow, I didn't realize mfg'ers still used rapid fire shifters. I'm so behind the times!




Saturday, July 20, 2019

GMR to Peacock Saddle, Felt Great!

What a nice day! I did get up at 5:15 to go ride my bike today, that is amazing ha ha! Ended up riding to Peacock Saddle today. 13 miles up and 3,018 ft of gain. Last couple of weeks have been hell on me going up GMR. But wanting to get back into shape, what better way to do it then just go out and jump on GMR?

Well since I am on local bike forums any longer, I can say that wussies will make excuses as to why they can't do GMR. Blabber mouths on the forum but shit their pants when you invite them. So I have a chance to ride without Gina so I will take advantage of it. Since she goes to spend time with her remaining only son at the dialysis center on Saturdays, I'm doing GMR! I used to do it fairly often before Gina started consistently riding with me.

Believe me, after all the stuff we have been through lately, several deaths in the family, kids with strokes, heart attacks, you name it, I haven't had much of a chance to ride the way I want to ride. heck, even Gina riding with me has slowed me down years ago. I used to ride to the village like nothing. Sure Gina went to the village a couple times but like many other roads, it scares me to have her out there. She descends pretty well but one little mistake at 30 MPH, she's going to get hurt and she only has one remaining kidney. I think about that plenty now after watching 4 people in our family suffer on dialysis, 3 have passed away.

So anyway, I don't think I'd take her on GMR any more. Just worries me but since "I" have a chance to do it, I'm going to do GMR!

Why do I bring up the wussies?  Some dip shit on a cycling forum, a local would always say something stupid about our rides. Of course Gina would kick the shit out of him on the Santa Ana Trail if he had the balls to ride with us, but he won't. But the same guy would always be Mr. Tough Guy on the forums. Always something sarcastic to say about our riding the trail. It was not TOUGH enough for him. But of course Gina was averaging 17.5 on the 44 miler and this wuss was averaging like 13 MPH. I invited him several times to ride with Gina but he always had an excuse.

How much of PUSS is this guy? Well, he and his wife parked a car at the coast on a super windy day. They headed to Green River in their car and tried to ride to the coast to set a decent average. Of course it didn't work, the dude is a wuss, his mouth a  bigger muscle than his quads ha ha!

But he goes on and on and always seems to say something sarcastic. When I call him out on it, he says, I'm sorry, that's not what I meant. Always finds a way to weasel out of it. So anyway, he had been running his mouth so I invited him to do GMR "WITH GINA"! Gina is always the last one up so I told him he would have no problem. But the wuss made 100 excuses. He had a concussion, the doc told him not to do rides like GMR for a while. Of course a year later, he's still blaming the doc. But yet, he boasts about playing co ed softball and taking out the female catcher at home plate to win the game. A little exaggeration of course because I can not remember the exact stories of his awesomeness playing softball with girls in the D league!

Me? I'm out of shape, I haven't been up there much in years. My legs don't push me up the mountain like they used to. Everybody is going to pass me right now. OK really, I suck right now  ha ha! But I will say, Mr. Beanz is not a Pussy like that forum member!

Ron (Pinoybenter) saw me on SART one day. He asked if I had been up GMR, NO. He said if I was looking to get back into shape, do GMR. It will get me there vs riding the trail. Yeah he is right! Now I have a chance to do GMR, I'm doing it! I don't freaking make excuses. I went out there 3 weeks ago. In the heat, last week 105 high. You start to remember the little secrets of GMR rides. START early to avoid the heat. I only made it up 5 miles that day. I sucked but I was out there the next week. I made it to the shack with 2 stops. I still sucked ha ha but I made it! But hey Ron, I'm up there again!

Today I went up there with a plan to make the shack non stop. I don't know how many times I have done the village non stop but that was then, this is now! But today I made it non stop as planned! I go there, didn't set any speed records but that was not the plan. I made it non stop, felt great and even decided to go to Peacock Saddle. I was shocked that it seemed easier than I remember. But I still had to ride back and those who know the road, know there is some climbing on the way back. That short little steep climb back up to the shack always gets me. Today, I don't know what happened. I climbed that sucker no problem. The entire return was much easier than I remember. I just used a little patients and did it!

Made me think of that forum wuss! You can sit there, make excuses, think of reasons why you should NEVER TRY or you can just get out there and do it!

The legs felt much better today. Once home I have to climb stairs up to our room. First week I thought I was going to throw up climbing the stairs when I got home ha ha!

Today, my third week, I got home, walked up the stairs and felt some good muscle in my legs. They didn't burn, I had to reach down to touch them to find out why. All I felt were some solid quads  ha ha! How often do you do a climbing ride and feel fatigue after the ride? Pretty often I have to say but today was a trip. All I felt was some solid muscle. They might deflate like balloons by midnight for now, I'm feeling pretty dang good!

The other thing is the heat. Another forum big mouth, Pam! Years ago we were talking about doing Ride Around the Bear on the forums. We mentioned Onyx Summit and the increase of temps felt by many participants. I didn't feel it much myself any of the 4 times I did it, but I was in better shape.

Pam starts flapping her gums. Talking about how it is not hot over here blah blah blah! She rode GIANT mountains in Georgia in temps that made Onyx Summit feel like a freezer, blah blah blah!

So after all the flapping, I invited her to do GMR with Gina and Alyce. We had a nice little thing going with some women of age. Like fine wine! But Pam is a sour grape ha ha! Gina is maybe 4 years younger than Pam. Alyce maybe 1 or 2. Another woman maybe a year older than Pam. I invited her to be nice after all the talk of how hard core she is. I should have known when she mentioned crushing some 13 year kid around Back Bay. But she did buy a custom bike, top of the line , way overpriced if you ask me, but that's because I'm pretty much poor ha ha! Anyway, Dura Ace, fancy gearing, whatever!

I invited her as the gals were doing GMR every weekend for about 3 months.

Believe it or not, Big Mouth Pam says it's too hot! OK wait! You ride in the South, 547 degrees but 85-90 is too hot for you here in California??? OK so we start earlier to beat the heat. Early start, avoid the sun by the shade of the mountain. Oh no, it's too HOT! You're kidding me!

So what? I wait a few months and the temp drops to 65. Pam, would you and your flapping gums like to come and ride with Gina and the girls? No.

You'' never guess what her response was! Maybe  you will knowing she's a big mouth gum flapper, it' too cold!

Holy crap! Anyway, the moral of the story is, some people talk a lot of shit and some people actually ride when they get a chance.

Like I said, I suck right now, need to lose weight, need to ride more, need to improve. All the things that might go wrong and stop me? Screw them! I'm riding till I get better, no excuses. If I get faster, great. If I don't great, I am still doing GMR and have some balls.

You other wussies, you better stick with the coed softball leagues. The dude who wouldn't ride with Gina, you might want to ask if they'll let you compete in and all female league ha ha! No excuses bitch!

                         The Shack! Hey, I don't see any of those gum flapping forum members  ha ha!


I'm here, again!


My turnaround today!



Magic?


Looking down on east Fork


Next two are the same pic, but one zoomed in as I caught a cyclist descending one of the switchbacks. :-P


Yes, we park way down there! ;-)



Friday, July 19, 2019

I Actually Got Paid to Take Pics

Friends have been telling me that I need to go into the pic business. Lately I've had quite a few people ask me to manipulate, correct, or even take pics. I took the baseball pics and actually got about $50 of free meals from our favorite joint. The waiters there asked me to take pics a few times, each time getting more and more out of the meals, can't argue with that!

I posted on facebook that I was going to make it a business, get paid for my time. I spend 10+ hours at times editing and touching up pics. I see plenty of photographers online posting some sucky pictures.  Some good one, sweet pics of sunsets, cars, cities, but when it comes to people, I've seen and know a few that are paid photographers who just snap the pic and charge the customer.

Heck, one gal showed me some pics she took during an engagement shoot. Pretty bad! I edited a couple with permission to show her the benefits of using her program properly (Lightroom). She said it was too much work and she just wanted to take the pic and then take her money. Gee! I can't do that even if it's a pic I take just for the fun of it. I can't imagine charging somebody for a pic then handing them a pos picture. Just not me!

So I edited the pics for her. Lightened up the faces so one could see their faces. enhanced the crap colored water to blue, the sky to pretty. Some other stuff and she was impressed. Then she asked me if she could send the pics I edited to her customer. Sure! They deserve it I think.

So then she asked me if I would mind editing all her pics for her that she takes at photo shoots. Uhhhh no! Unless I get half the money. In my opinion, taking the pics is the easy part if you know how to focus, which she didn't. Really funny thing is that she took a college course in photography. But yet she couldn't set up her camera properly. I feel sorry for her customers.

Saddest part I think is that she said she wanted to do as little work as possible but collect her pay. Wow!

I do pics for fun and if they don't look good, I feel bad.  I use a point and shoot on my bike rides and I think I have gotten much better shots than many of the photographers I have seen. A relative who has a $2000 camera showed me his website, paid pro photographer. I almost laughed.

He told me I need the $2000 camera like he had. Umm, I saw your pics and no I don't need a $2000 camera. I just need to know how to focus properly and edit pics to look nice. No that junk you pull out of your camera while using auto and semi auto settings.

WTF spends $2,000 for a nice camera but doesn't learn how to use it, then opens a business taking crap pics cause you can't use the settings properly? I use FULL MANUAL settings. They say the camera is smart but you are smarter. Make the camera do what you want it to do, not what IT want's to do!

So after experimenting with the camera the first few days, I realized I needed to go full manual. Surprises me that EVERY photographer I have had a chance to chat with, uses a semi auto setting. I'm sorry but no!

That is just me though! I have met several photographers and have not chatted with them about their settings so I do not mean every photographer does this because there are some awesome photographers. I am simply saying the photographers I have chatted with about photography. There are plenty of awesome photographers on Instagram.

So anyway, I have spent hours editing pics taken at family functions. Editing pics by request for funerals, and just in general old pics.

I also have the aunt that knows I take my camera to family events just to snap pics for my own sake. You know the aunt who asks for a pic of her with her daughter. OK no problem! But then she says she wants a pic with her son, the three of them, one with her father, one with her mother, one with her brother, one with the group, one with the baby daddy!

Sorry but I am not your personal photographer. I take a few pics of things I like, edit them to please myself and learn. I'm not running a photo booth! You want pics, bring your own camera!

So I mentioned I was starting a business to make a little money for my time. Like I said, I can spend 10 or more hours on editing the pics I take. If I shoot pics, I end up taking 150 or more. Sorting through, ending up with 60 edited pics, will take me 10+ hours to finish them off. I use 3 different programs and many times, one or two of the programs more than once.

Few people have said they like my style so if I started a business, they would be happy to pay for some pics. My cousin's daughter was my first customer. After her pics were finished, I got another customer, a friend of hers who saw the pics on facebook. Another potential customer for a sport event. But did get another person asking for anniversary pics and Christmas pics. OK, we can do that!

These were some of the pics I took for my cousin's daughter, their 5th anniversary. I took 170 pics, Gave them 62 edited pics and all 170 of the original unedited in case they wanted to fiddle with the files. Plus I through in a pic video.

All for $100. I figure for a couple, engagement pics, anniversary pics etc, that is a fair price for my time considering it is a hobby for now.

One group of 20 people asked me for a price. With all the individual sittings they want as well as group pics, they said another photographer wanted $500. No editing. I saw her work and it's a bit shabby. Lots of sun spots on subjects, lot of washed out backgrounds. I can't do that, hate sun spots on faces, shoulders etc. I quoted them a price of $300, edited and a video. They thought it was too much.

OK, pay some self appointed pro photographer $500 for crap, no video or me $300, and it's too much? BYE! I'm not stupid. I think they wanted a quote of $50. That doesn't even pay for my gas to get to the photoshoot seeing as they wanted it in Yorba Linda at a paid parking park. Pfft!

----------------------------

SO anyway,. some of the pics. 62 edited pics, 170 originals, 3 pic videos (experimenting which looked better so I gave them all 3)....I think I will offer 30 edited images. I did 62 this time just experimenting with time requirements.

I like this format the best but it shrinks the pics too small and they look blurry in the video.




But this may be better as the pics show more but get cut off a bit. From scratch style I made.





This one shows the pics but I don't like the way the pics just sit there motionless. I have to look thru the options to see which shows best.








Few of the pics. I tell you, women are harder to edit because of all the makeup and fly away hair in their faces. :-P

Different stuff too, black and white with little color. I do these things after I am done with the pics just for entertainment. They like it.