AsanaCycles

Monterey, Monterey Peninsula Airport
Last Update on 15 Nov 9:54 PST

Fair

71°F
(22°C)
Humidity: 44 %
Wind Speed: NW 6 MPH
Barometer: 30.10 in (1020.30 mb)
Dewpoint: 48°F (9°C)
Visibility: 10.00 Mile

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/56843885

well... I know it sounds all jacked up and all that kind of garbage...
I don't own a car.
my life is bike-centric
therefore its imperative to live in a conducive locale

there are a lot of places to choose
and the Human Being is very adaptable

I will say this much, one of my greatest fears is to choose to be in big city, and get lost in the crowds, when suddenly the range and domain of choices, the function of daily life, yields an expression that I'd not be comfortable with.

I love Mendocino and Humboldt counties. The cycling up there is awesome. The only problem is that there are little to few jobs. Its kind of a benefits/cost analysis. While I'm particular to being able to wrench on my buddy's bikes, ride nice bikes, and stay fairly up to date on the newest bling... I'm not too sure how I'd feel being in Humboldt/Mendo with the great outdoors, but a very limited cycling community and lack of finance to ride things like CrossMax 29er tubeless wheels, etc...

Santa Barbara is another really nice area.
San Luis Obispo
Monterey
The Bay area... etc.

AdamDZ

Yeah, rub it in

AsanaCycles

today just happens to be a really nice day...

AdamDZ

That seems to be the issue in general. Most well paid jobs in service sector are in big cities. That's just the way it works. I one wants to live in a nice area, far from crowds, close to nature, etc., they either need to have a location-independent job or settle for less, live simpler. But as I have learned, living simple doesn't necessarily imply living poorly and unhappily. And that's where I'm hoping to get in a few years.

AsanaCycles

I don't own a car, I cycle every day at least 20hrs/week... typically I don't get bike withdrawals. I do get tired of the same routes, etc... so I mix it up. I have 4 bikes. A road bike which I rarely ride, a Surly Big Dummy cargo bike, which I use for a multitude of things, its actually my "base platform". Meaning that it is the bike that supports everything else. Without it, I would be seriously limited.

I try to save up cash, and/or I simply just leave. Ride tour, work on the way... anything. "touring" can be very subtle. Touring can become very close to Tramping in America, it can become a very Hobo-esq experience, it can be akin to Dharma Bums, On The Road, etc... Typically I work towards a goal. Typically my goal is much bigger than I think I'd actually get to attempt, therefor I get in a bunch of little tours. i.e. Portland to Ventura, Ca, etc...

I used to be a hospital pharmacy tech for 13 years, I quit 3 years ago to help my dad in Ventura when he had bladder cancer. He died about 1.5yrs ago. I've always been into bikes, its actually the most consistent part of my life, and I've always just been on a bike, wrenching, helping put on events, etc... so now days, www.AsanaCycles.com is My Life. I like a quote from Sky Yeager. it goes something like this, "There is no distinction between my job and so called life". I've really taken that to heart. I love bikes, therefor I try my best to make it my life. simple.

I definitely have made changes to my life. I grew up homeless in the 80's living with my vietnam vet, hippy, pot smoking, bike ridding dad. I joined the army at 18. I'm a combat vet. I had a solid job for over 13 years. I had money. I had all sorts of things like leather couches, tv's, hot rods, super bikes, etc...

while adolescents and the 80's living in a van with my old man, definitely sucked, I hated it, complete with rotting teeth, athletes foot, dirty clothes, and skinny. I always had bikes that I put together. Being a combat vet, I went thru Jungle School at Ft. Sherman, Panama and loving the outdoors, I'm also a UBI certified wrench, which I just happened to take vacation and go to the shcool... in the day when I had a job, and money laid around sticking to the cracks between the floor and baseboards.

I suppose in many ways, everything has led to these days. No doubt. I've ditched just about everything I've ever had. I've moved 5 times in 3 years. Twice with a small U-haul, the other times, with my Surly Big Dummy. I keep giving things away to thrift stores, or who ever wants something I have. screw it. what do i need all this crap for? its just an anchor.

but I'm single. no kids, no debt, also little to no cash. but I get by. the big deal for me was to come to grips that anything can happen, and that I've made these choices. and a person really has to come to grips with that kind of stuff. to really take accountability of what you choose. then be happy about it!

so this is my slant: I'm a buddhist... or maybe not. I've spent very little time in the company of a monk, or a temple, but I've read a ton, and I try... not only my best... but really to simply integrate and become. I really did things like Yoga, etc... Asana Cycles... of course there are the likes of Thoreau, Muir, Whitman, Huxley, ad nauseam... it goes on and on... Krishna Murti!


I'm 42. I've been married a couple of times, I've had money come and go. I've busted my ass working. Once my dad and I painted 384 condos, inside and out! Down in Valencia, Ca. We did that job in less than 3 months. That was 1986. I got paid over $10k. I've had buddies start welding on off shore rigs making over $100k.
I know a guy (today) who makes over $640k. And plenty of people from A-Z.

While my old man passed away from bladder cancer, my grandmother died recently with Alzheimer's, and an array of other people along the way...

money comes and goes.
a full time job is 2,080hrs/year
I used to make about $27/hr
can I borrow $10k? so I can go to Thailand and loose myself for a bit, I'll be back when vacation is up, and pay you back.
can I borrow a year?

money comes and goes.
time goes 1 way.

every day when I wake up, I do some yoga, and go ride for at least 2hrs.
then start wrenching or in today's case, sit here and jot this stuff out.

so one day I read something on "Time"
what is time? ok... ya sure... the rock spins, round and round.
but life is something like at least 5 million years old... its way too long to comprehend.

time is change.
the freaking monolith from 2001 Space Odyssey...
something like the Pyramids
those things we'd say are "Timeless"
that is, they change very little.
other things rot quickly. Time passes by very quick.

on that...
are we a Human Resource? Are we a commodity which may be utilized in the standard Industrial Husbandry methods? i.e. Thoreau spoke of "to learn of beans or beans of me"
I used to ask my co-workers... what is "Staff"? i.e. "Staff entrance only"
staff? as in a hoe? to hoe my furrows? to collect a yield? to toil. as in Job? Husbandry?

I'd read things like The Ohlone Way, then I'd ride my bike, find acorns, a valley of Black Oaks, mortars in rock...
I came across a book, "Wilderness and the American Mind"
I'd dream of what must have happened to people's minds when they learned of the American Indians living off of Nature.

I have a buddy who is Sioux. He lives on Pine Ridge reservation... I'd get on a kick and read about the Indian Wars.
I'd ride my bike, visit the California Missions, I'd loose myself in a tipi up above Big Sur, and watch trout
in Humboldt, watch salmon, and Roosevelt Elk...

a buddy in Arcata has his Masters in Environmental Policy. his thesis on The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's policy on re-licensing hydro-electric dams. Specifically the Klamath! I'd learn about The Department of Reclamation
it goes on and on...

I went to Banff, AB and gave the Tour Divide MTB race a shot. After about 1,000 miles in 7 days... I relegated to perma-bonk and an eruption of saddle sores.

what does any of this have to do with anything?

not a whole lot...I guess. just find a place where you can find peace, and go ride.
maybe you'd be lucky enough to find a place where there is enough space to tour
or to take 2 day jaunts.

I like to ride Monterey to Morro Bay, right down HWY 1. its about 125 miles. I can do that in a day. camp in Morro Bay and take the Amtrak back to Salinas and ride home thru my old haunts of Ft. Ord.
or I can choose a multitude of other places to find myself in.

then return to tell some stories of coyotes, condors, day long rides, and sleeping in the dirt.
while wrenching on a nice bike, with fresh coffee.

my buddies can't afford the time. but they have some cash.
and while I'd never beg for cash, being that we have a rapport stemming from our Bicycle Lifestyles, and of once being co-workers...
there is an understanding between myself and the bike community
I may be posting $40 campy record square tapper cranks on craigslist
and I might be pedaling the Big Dummy with tools to wrench at their houses...

its kind of understood that I'm living the life that I dream of. I get chances to earn cash, like helping put on The Sea Otter Classic.
I doubt I'd ever have a years income saved up... but I'm pretty sure that I'd be taking off for another tour.

AdamDZ

That's a really good read, thank you. Your live proves that it's not possessions that make a man who he is. You have freedom that most people will never have or even think possible in our society. It takes guts, persistence and ingenuity to live a life like that. I yearn for such freedom but I'm afraid I'm too spoiled, too "disabled" by living the American way for 20+ years. I'm going to try, I really am. It may take me a couple of years but I definitely want to get some of my own time back.

Machka 

There are. I've spent most of my life living on the edge of cities (smaller cities) within about 5 minutes of the empty roads in the country.

safariofthemind

Interesting read. You should see what they have done with the place. It's unrecognizable from what I hear old timers say.

To the OP: as you can see, there are many, many paths...

AsanaCycles

"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to loose" Janis Joplin

its just words, don't take too much to be so literal... but you get the gist.

AsanaCycles

another "way" is to simply delve into The Bike Industry.
you could try doing some website development
look at my website... dude... its nothing great that is for sure. I need to get in all the google ads, keywords, meta tags, blah blah blah... cybernetics techno babble...
look at mtbr.com
Francis Cebedo is a freaking genius!
look at Pez Cycling...genius
how about NY Bike Snob? dude put out a book!
Neil Grunton... crazy guy on a bike... hell-a-balls, hell-a-guts... uh... he used to have a job doing some kind of wall street IT stuff... dude now lives in Eureka, Ca... has the equipment (server) to run his website. he doesn't even run amuck with ads, simply donation... a la... dana bowl


don't even get me started on some far fetched ideas of living in Panama and running a bicycle website, internet sales...

AsanaCycles

I have a buddy who is a Pharmacy Tech, and got his BS in computer science, so now he's working at the hospital under Pharmaceutical Informatics...
he's also sick and tired of his job, but the numbers are set up in such a way, that he can't come to ditching his mortgage, and all the things that fall under that premise.

the way I'm living right now... is definitely below any american standard of living. If I made $10k last year, I'd be absolutely amazed!
If I felt entitled, I'd be going to the VA and/or filing for my "Jobless Benefits".
Instead I've doled out what savings I had. Last August was the 3 year mark of "no real job".
by all means, my current lifestyle... if a person was prudent... this is not a role model.

however... emotionally, spiritually... down in my gut... ya... its been the best 3 years of my life. no doubt.

maybe I was just at a point where I had tried a handful of variations, and combined with my father's death... I'm recreating my personal "self".

I have plenty of friends that are "A type", and while at times the romantic notions of what they'd perceive of my "free lifestyle", sitting around with a spoke wrench, riding bikes all the time
one of them was quick to firmly state: "ya... but you pay the price for that freedom"
(coming from a person who is deep into a new family, a private practice, houses, finances that boggle the mind, partners, time shares, monies over seas, existential issues with the community in regards to public schools.... etc)
how simple and how free is too much?

i'd even be quick to suggest, that its a dangerous proposition
and for me to advocate ditching corporate life...
who the hell am I to suggest anything of the sort to a stranger.
its a proposition with implications that far exceed even our most sacred domestic promises.

there's no "tune in, turn on and drop out"

instead: I'd suggest, that the current breed of yuppie cyclists out there
we whom have had it fortunate enough to bliss out on cybernetics, iPods, laptops, and PayPal accounts... and the bling that comes in retro wool, lugged frames, caradice bags, ortleib, or just plain ol Surly...
to account for the possibilities of our All Pro Techno Hobo yuppie outcomes.

while I, for one, think that I've come to grips with the notion that I could be homeless at any moment, sitting with the rest of the Vets in our country eating from a Community Kitchen, and yes... riding my bike.
that forlorn picture surely is not for everyone.
Tramps travel and dream
Hobos travel and work
Winos travel and drink

its nothing new... Jack London, call of the wild
hell, even Jon Krakauer popularized the call, with Into the Wild
the so called King of Beatnicks; Jack Karouac influenced Pop Americana

awhile ago, a bike buddy and I laughed uncontrollably over my endeavors
when I pointed out, "you don't see very many female homeless vets"
what we got here is a crusade
you have to be rich to even think like that
when I get out of here, every day is gravy...
(I think thats from Apocalypse Now)

and in many ways... we as Americans, that is where we are at.
"Uncle Sam gave me the means to survive the war (vietnam), now its up to me to survive the peace" <--- from "On the Rez"

bikes can be a cheap effective means to a certain lifestyle
however, that Lifestyle is highly dependent on circumstance.

if you're going to be a mainstream Bike Industry guy, going to InterBike, etc...
I'd suppose its a much more clear path
than to attempt the likes of a Bike Kitchen (non-profit) and be dubbed, as someone once branded me as... "A fat tyre evangelist"
to which a smug demeanor overwhelmed me... indicating my undoubtedly righteous rants, bordering pious

if John Muir could do it
if Gifford Pinchot could advocate damming Hetch Hetchy, congress giving a damn

where does this leave us?

AsanaCycles

maybe you could move to Portland.
they have a large healthcare scene
and of course bikes.
do you look at jobs?
check out www.BikePortland.org
you can get an idea of whats going on

AdamDZ

Ha. I'm not a genius. I never was. I'll never be. I've been doing the 9-5 drone routine for so long that my brain cells deteriorated and any creativity I ever had is barely present any more. Maybe as I try to break away from the 9-5 reality, declutter my life and my mind, my head will start working again.

AdamDZ

If I'm ever gonna move out of NYC, I'd like to move to some warmer, more sunny place.

AsanaCycles

all the while you are bordering on 2800 posts
there's a good chance that you've got creativity and genius

I found this at my brother's place:

AdamDZ

He he he. Yeah, I tried starting a website dedicated to bike commuting in NYC, but due to being overwhelmed with work and some life events I kind of put it on hold. I think, I need long vacations first so I can think, reflect, reconsider, what the heck is it that I want to do.

So I'll take it step by step: so first, few months of leave of absence next year and a long tour, maybe TransAm. Meet people, talk to people, purge the mind, relax, reboot, look back, look forward, look sideways. Perhaps an opportunity will present itself, perhaps my refreshed mind will see new ways, new ideas.

Meantime I will continue working on simplifying my life, getting rid of debt and extraneous possessions. Then who knows.

My dream would be to get a part time IT gig at some remote research facility. I had an opportunity once, but it was up North in NY State, long snowy Winters, I chickened out. I love working with scientists, they're very cool and amazing people to be around and work for.

AsanaCycles

I took the liberty to click on the banners in your signature.

looks like you are well into the cycling life and have made a movement to integrate it to the "IT" side of things.

my gut feeling is that you're simply tired of your career

a cool book to read is "Shop Class as Soul Craft"

AdamDZ

I've started those two websites mainly for fun, but I've run out of steam to run them. Changes at my workplace made me very frustrated.

I'm not really tired of what I do for living, I'm tired of what my workplace turned into.

The research institute is a part of large university medical center. Our small IT was pretty autonomous for many years: we had our own servers (mail, file, web, ftp, etc), we took care of our network as well as few hundred of users and desktops. It was interesting because it involved everything from administering servers to crawling under people's desk and running around with hand tools. When the change happened and the medical center started following a corporate IT model, a lot of that was taken away and centralized. They've had us shut down our UNIX mail server and migrated everyone to M$ Exchange. They locked us out of our network closets and basically turned us into a glorified Service Desk. My work has become repetitive. Majority of the time I troubleshoot email issues. We're mostly Mac based and Exchange doesn't play nice with Macs. My last two years were a mind numbing experience. Many of our users are unhappy and frustrated with the changes as well as we are. People started using Gmail and Google Calendar to get away from Exchange and its quotas and issues. The centralized services are unreliable. They've chosen the cheapest, crappiest software tools that were available. Things that used to take us a few hours to fix now take days. The corporate IT created a huge overhead, it's become a monster that exists in large part to support itself and its useless meetings. I may be biased because I hate anything corporate, but this just doesn't work well in academic research environment.

Garthr

I've found this website very useful if you want to change. . . https://www.stevepavlina.com/

AdamDZ

Thanks. That is indeed good reading. I need to pull myself together and try to come up with something.

safariofthemind

Interesting. Having been down this road in the flesh, my warning is to watch out for the thinking part, and emphasize the experiential more. It is too easy to philosophize and live in one's head. Sometimes, the Zen Buddhist approach of living-in-the-moment fits better and then you open up the possibility of serendipity. No amount of thinking can account for the randomness of life.

vik 

+1000 - absolutely!

john426

Dear Adam:

I am in the same boat as you; I caught the touring bug and can't wait until next summer. This past August I used all of my vacation time for a touring trip of Eastern Hungary and Westerm Romania. Sadly the most vaction time I can muster is 2 1/2 weeks a year. Count your blessing of 6 weeks of paid vacation! I suggest a lot of short trips and plan one big one for the summer. Sometimes I think the planning stage is almost as fun as the actual tour.

Consider moving to New Jersey. It is much cheaper to live here than in Metro New York. There are some pretty areas in North Jersey close to the city.

John

Roughstuff

How do you folks deal with such withdrawals?

I didn't have many withdrawals, I always lived apart, read books and scholarly journals; so touring was something I was used to.


How do you find the time for extensive touring? You don't find time, you MAKE time. Just like you don't find money, you make money. You need to make your time the important time in your priorities. When I was 16 I decided i wanted to be a college professor so that I could have 4 months off a year to enjoy what I was earning. I stepped in front of my first class right out of grad school at 26.


What do you do for living that affords you the time? I WAS a college professor full time; now I am adjunct and online. I also do contract work; and stock trading to generate income using options and stuff like that. Ya heve to live low on the hog to earn as little as I do and make ends meet. But it means I can tour and ride 6 months a year. When my online position kicks in more lucratively. I plan to live in the north in the summer, south int he winter, and ride all year.


Have many of you made such changes to your lives? I think alot of people have made partial changes; but not total ones. They took a big step in making their lives simpler, less hassled, more amenable to touring. Since my world tour I have probably cut my expenses by 50%, which has helped me alot in todays economy, as well.

roughstuff

djb

Adam, have read most of this stuff, was impressed by how many thoughtful replies you have gotten, from complete strangers.
I sure as hell cant give advice to someone I dont know except to respond to your initial comment of only having 6 weeks vacation. You know, marriages ALL have ups and downs and downs, but as for you thinking of doing a reaaaaaaaaally long trip (months) I would second the recommendation said at one point way back here about doing a mulitweek trip to see how you really like it.
The "long" trips I have done in the past were 3 or 4 weeks. Not expeditions by any means, but you know, when you are away from your "world" for even 3 weeks on a trip that is logistically very doable, like France (because of abundance of campgrounds, villages close to each other with food, even lodgings like B+Bs if need be, etc etc) even 3 weeks on a bike feels like a heck of an adventure. Seeing a new place and travelling by bike for even this time can really clear out the cobwebs on stuff, AND leave you time to plan things to do together on the family front.

anyway, just an angle on things to show that one doesnt have to leave for 6 months to get a really good break from "big city" or to sort of stuff in yer noggin. Hope I wasnt too RAW in my assessment (and yes, you explained raw quite well)