I Am a Courier Now

  It has been a long time since I have posted here, well now I'm back. Being an art teacher, artist, and self styled master pencil sharpener have taken a bit of time for me to get used to. Now that things seem to run themselves now, I am able to devote some more time back to this blog, super cool. But I must still paint, that I must do.

All day, erray day

Finally I am finding a bit of time on the side to try something that has been on my mind since I started cycling, becoming a courier. 

pretty much

While there is not much, if any demand, for postal rush or same day messaging, there is a lot of lazy rich people that want food, and do not want to mix with the rabble on the streets. Uber has allowed me to service these people, and service them I shall. 

So I signed up to be a Delivery boy for UberEats, and I was one of the few cyclist that picked up the bag. Now I am not saying there aren't any food cyclist out there, I see them all the time in places like Wynwood, Brikell and Downtown Miami, but the surprise I got when I walked into the Doral Uber Headquarters (two guys at a table in a sprint store) was a bit telling. 

My first couple of deliveries where pretty easy, made a bit of money to pay off the deposit for this giant box they want me to strap to my back, and even got a tip (didn't think that was an uncommon practice, rich people don't tip apparently). The interesting part of being a cyclist with a deadline is you push, you push hard, and running around with a place to be and a task at hand is a good motivator for a destination cyclist like myself. Also it is as if I am exercising, and Uber is paying me to do it. 

My Body is Ready

Doral is notorious for having horrid traffic, and surprisingly no cyclist capitalizing on this to make swift filtering to delivery heaven! I'll be posting some of my delivery expereinces and videos when I gather some more highlights, for now, here is a happy/sad thing that happened on a commute the other day.

Cute Ducks here

Getting Dragged Along

Getting back into group rides has been a bit of an interesting push between mental fortitude and physical pain. It has been a hell of a time relearning to push pass both those things. Tough decisions have to be made during this time of training, especially when I am getting ready for my first event. Such important decisions as...

Which color for today, hmmmm?

Aside from the fashion rides, I find the most important thing is a good group of riders, sometimes they may be above your level, pushing your fitness higher. I also find that sometimes you can just take shelter in their drafts, getting a free ride as they drag you along.

Tom here about to make me look like a bitch...

When you get in a breakaway you better put in some work. The problem with that is, I don't have a very high average speed, all that commuting just made me good at sprinting until the next light, not much else. Doing a pull takes way more energy than it should, and that leaves me drained for the ride back, or if I was competing, the sprint.

Yep, I need some more training...

 Anyways my first event will hopefully be the 6 Gap in North Georgia, if all goes according to plan I'll be heading up and riding with Cycleworld Miami. Now there is a bit of a hitch, there are no mountains to train on here in sunny, flat, South Florida.

Hmmmmm.......

I might have to get creative with my training methods, build a better cadence, and forge new muscle groups before I press on to Georgia. Shit is going to get serious, but it needs to be if i want to get out there and do some competition.

Anatomy of a Group Ride

When I ventured forth into my very first group ride, the first thing I learned was: this is fast. Not just "wow we are pushing," more like "holy shit we are hauling ass." And when the hammer dropped, it got hairy. 

too.... close....

The second thing I learned was: don't be afraid of grabbing the wheel and sitting in close. Real close. So close that you can scarcely believe you should be doing this and everything in your head is screaming for you to just get the hell away. For some reason, you don't and it feels good. "ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT COCAINE OR SOMETHING?"

No, its cycling...

The last thing I learned was: hand signals are the best and easiest means of communication. There are some moments when you can scream simple commands like left, right, or clear. But, with a deafening wind and the rush of drafting another cyclist, sometimes you will not get the message. 

No ears on this guy.

I will be the first to admit, I was as squirrely as it gets on my first group ride. I am thankful for my adopted riding mates from The Pembroke Cycle Ride for their patience. Their route usually starts a bit on the south side for Broward County, but I caught them on their turn around point close to Sawgrass and we went from there. The speed gradually crept up and, when we made the turn onto Florida State Road 84, the hammer dropped. Holding at around 21 mph, we quickly gained pace to 25 mph. This being my first group ride, I was struggling to keep in the draft and to overcome my fear of the rider's wheel ahead of me.

terrifying

Aside from the art, not to many OC images this time. So I'll just leave the video here. Let me know what you guys think, and make sure to subscribe and like! 

Feels weird, Man

Props to the cameraperson Hey-knee

For the past month I have been cycling the mean streets of Miami without my GoPro 3+ Camera. It isn't like I haven't cycled camera less before, it is just that as a cyclist you feel a lot safer with one on, and when something goes down, you have that camera rolling and documenting, instead of having to scramble and grab your phone to take a quick pic of their license plate.

This isn't even half of them..

Also many drivers that almost hit you, rage at you, or even almost kill you, for the most part, get off without even so much as a blurry picture. In Miami, it is common place and even officially encouraged to hate, discourage, and threaten critical mass (a protest for safer, bike friendlier roads). This disdain for Critical Mass has translated into rougher roads around the Little Havana area, and more impatient drivers elsewhere. I wholeheartedly approve and on occasion have participated in Critical Mass. I have however confronted bad drivers who have retorted "I am sick of you Critical Mass guys!" or "You cyclist think you can own the whole road and can stop intersections!". I have to ask, is the message getting across, will we get more infrastructure, will drivers respect cyclist more so? I do not know, but my year of documenting my cycling adventures has only taught me two things, Miami isn't getting better, and everyone is real camera-shy.

I miss you baby...

Cycling with out the GoPro has come around as a bit of a curse. This camera was like my insurance, my deterrent, and even if I got killed, I would at least get the guy on camera and hopefully justice. With out it, well, its kinda a bumbling mess. I feel far less confident, I still confront drivers, but I am now more concerned over the futility of the gesture, so I yell at them, they see no possibility of repercussions, and laugh it off. 

This is pretty accurate in Miami...

I miss the weight of you upon my head sweet camera prince...

  Being the stubborn one that I am I still haven't stopped cycling, I might even whip out the old canon powershot and get that one rolling to at least have some evidence, should anything go awry.

And things can get awry real easily.

Well shit.

  Hopefully I'll be able to (at least for the most part) avoid serious injury. Keep a heads up for some of that long distance touring that I have been announcing for a bit. I will try to get a handle on the Naples Tour, the Key West Tour, and the Everglades Tour. With work and family, I am doing my best to move those posts forward so stay tuned for that. Also make sure to check out Rozik if you are looking for some good pants and outerwear for commuting, also, type in DIRTBAG as your promo code and knock 20% off your total. Until next time!

Birth of a Cyclist Part 2

When I started this epic adventure with this amazing woman it started off as a gift(Check out part one, Birth of a Cyclist.). Not fully knowing understanding the patience we both needed and the elbow grease. This was a bit of a road, a long curving and wobbling road.

The wobbliest of roads at times

Sam showed me that sometimes good ole-fashioned practice and determination can get some one from insecurity to prosperity. Samantha wanted to have some adventures. She suggested after her initial success to head over to Markham Park, Fl. With bikes mounted we set off. After finding a good spot we dismounted and readied ourselves for a day of leisure riding, something I must admit I have not done for some time.

A clash of ages with these two bikes

With a path in site and a trail determined we set off and explored the wide open spaces that is Markham park. Sticking to the paved trails we explored many a dead end as well as some foreboding off-road trails. With the wind whipping about in random directions I was concerned for the learning curve, but little did I know the advancement Sam had master at the art of Cycling.

Nailed it

The paths at Markham Park are pretty nice, very comfortable and easy to manage. We ran into a lot of cyclist, to the rushing roadie, to the training triathlete, and even the ramped up mountain biker. Sam and I were more interested in getting to know the park, exploring the little visited areas and searching out new ways to bike to the park next time. Though the process has been long, she knows how to ride, now if I can just finish her bike's paint job, she will be all set.

After a long day of cycling, exploring, watching the RC planes, and trying not to run into some impatient roadies we found an old school playground with some swings. Nothing seems to bring the joy out better than a good set of swings, we swung the hell out of them. Hopefully soon Sam will be joining me on a tour, and maybe the next one I'm planning to Naples!

Till next time, Follow and Subscribe!

Birth of a Cyclist

  My girlfriend does not know how to ride a bike. She just never got the opportunity and just never gave it a thought, until we met. After the elated experience and levitating joy she experienced riding the tandem bike with me, she became determined to learn. Today we gave it a go!

Muh bike "Phil Jamis"

  Sam started working on how to sit and how to properly control Phil, as well as mounting and dismounting. A lot of things that I took for granted and "just did" I had to explain and demonstrate. 

Getting a hand of getting a hand...

  She understood balance and she has done some "spinning" at the gym. However, getting the bike moving forward and the second foot on proved to be a major obstacle and frustrating.

Frustrated Sam^

  I tried gently pushing her forward to force her balance but it only made her nervous. We kept it slow but I felt we needed to get some momentum; I always figured the hardest part was starting the forward movement and that the pedaling would make her automatically balance. But when you live your entire life only knowing one form of human locomotion, getting accustomed to a whole new form will take a bit of training as I soon found out. Good thing learning and cycling are things she finds fun.

Look at all that fun!

After a few hours, it was time to take a break and grab lunch inside. While digesting some delicious homemade soup, we ran into my younger sister's chihuahua, Hershey. And this is what this balding female water rat was wearing.

"please end me"

Trudging on

  In the end, she didn't quite master it, and, unfortunately, we had to get ready to get some studying done. Sam went from not even knowing there are brakes on a bike to coasting balanced and not falling.  She may not be ready to join me on my next tour just yet, but she is definitely determined to learn and ride with me next time.

The runway...

-Carlos