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BoMToons
So many times, it happens too fast...you trade your passion for glory. Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past, you must fight just to keep them alive.

Age 43, Male

Software Engineer

Somewhere in Nevada...

Somewhere in California..

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Bike Tour Done - New Job

Posted by BoMToons - July 29th, 2016


I finished my 325 mile bike tour down the Pacific Coast Highway! It took 5 days, and we rode about 45, 50, 65, 75, and 100 miles! It was really fun and challenging!

Here are some pics:

Starting campsite at Big Sur California (near giant redwood forest).

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Our 2 man tent, bikes and baby carrier re-purposed as supply rig.

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First day, my friend sewed a brim onto his helmet to protect from the sun, we're calling it the "Cowboy Helmet" - We also had bluetooth communicators on our helmets that let us talk to each other the whole time.

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Nobody around to take our picture so I photoshopped my friend in...

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South of Big Sur there's a cool beach where Elephant Seals sunbathe, can't really see them here, but it was pretty cool!

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Morning of day 2: Lost the key to our bike lock, so had to use my Leatherman multi-tool to saw it off!

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A fellow bike tourist. "Ramses" had been on the road for over a year. He started in New York state!

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Morro Rock looms along the coast.

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Our only trouble was some worn out bike cleats, luckilly there were plenty of bike shops along the PCH.

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Old cleat (gray) vs. new cleat (red) - The old one was paper-thin!

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Climbing a massive hill (+1000 feet)

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Our campsite on day 3 was right on the shore at Refugio Beach!

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Never turn your back on your friend when the camera is out...

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Stunning bike path along Carpinteria/Ventura beach area.

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My favorite beach: Mugu Point - misty morning ride on our final day.

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Breathtaking - Every hill rewarded us with new incredible scenery.

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Riding through the sandy bike path right on Venice/Muscle beach.

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On day 4, we ditched the trailer because it was waaay too heavy - stayed in a hotel on night 4 and were at our destination by the end of day 5.

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On our final day, we biked nearly 100 miles. Kinda crazy to finish it all with a century!

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Epic tan-lines.

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In other news, I've been going back to college to finish my degree over the last 2 years. This Fall semester will be my last one, which means I get to do an "internship" or "student-teaching." After a lot of finagling, I was able to swing a "paid internship" which means I won't have to dip into my savings to support my family over the next 4 months.

I'll be teaching at a local charter school that focuses on "S.T.E.A.M." education which takes "S.T.E.M." (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and inserts the "Arts" back into the mix. I really dig this philosophy of education because it equips students with skills that are immediately applicable in the real world once they're out of school (or even while they're still in school). And "Art" adds in the creativity that is often missing from purely technical training.

I'll be teaching 3 classes: Graphic Design 1 & 2, and DIGITAL GAME DEVELOPMENT! I'm particularly pumped about that last one. I'd love it if my students could actually publish some games in the app store and/or here on Newgrounds.

I'm still working on http://www.BossClash.com (Sign up to be a Beta TESTER), and we're making good progress. Lots of adjustments coming up in the next few months, wish me luck!


Comments

That's damn impressive! I would think you would need a day off in there but instead you went further and further each day. Congrats on wrapping up school and the teaching gig! Hoping a bunch of your students know who you are and you all have a good time together making stuff.

Once we ditched the trailer, it got a lot easier to put on the miles.

That would be pretty fun/surreal if they knew my stuff. I'm really excited about the game design class, you have any ideas for how to design the curriculum? There's a ton of "knowledge" I take for granted like screen resolutions, programming basics, art importing, etc... I want to get them from 0 --> making SOMETHING asap, but there's a lot of foundation to lay...

Hmmm good question... I guess the first question is, are you gonna have them all developing with the same tools or will people be choosing what program they want to use? Or will the class be more focused on the methodology and whatnot and they won't actually be working with software in the class?

I don't think I want the chaos of doing different programs for each student. Flash would be easiest (maybe?) to get them actually making something fast (and be flexible), but I'd also like what they learn to be useful in real-world game-dev... I definitely want them making something in actual software by the end, but there may be some conceptual stuff preceding each unit.

Very, very impressive indeed! And great photos, with I had the time to do something like that myself! :)

5 days, you can do it! :-D

thats the coolest thing ever.

like, the thought of just doing PCH all the way never occurred to me. might have to try some time.

stay cool dude.

Yeah, there are a couple books on how to ride the WHOLE thing, from Canada to Mexico... we just did an easy-ish section :-D

Awesome pictures! It really looks like it was a super fun ride! The sandy path pic looks like a screenshot from GTA V! :D

Ha ha, GTA V is a masterpiece.

You mean I could have done this WITHOUT leaving the house?!!

You must be in the best shape of your life after this trip, nice work. Also the photoshop is done so well, I hardly noticed it. The only thing that gave it away was the inconsistently, you both should have the glowing aura.

Ha ha, not in my best shape ever, but did train a lot for the tour.

Pic needed more lens flare probably.

nice update. I have it on my bucket list to teach at some point in my career, you beat me to it!
If that falls through you could be a foot model

I was comparing my ankle with Glaiel's wrist...

Nice Job!

Thanks!

Really enjoyed the post. Makes me want to try that someday. Bluetooth and all.

The headsets made ALL the difference!

If you figure out what software/tool you'll use in your class, you should post about how it went! I've been volunteering to teach game development at various places and that's always a tough decision.

All the laptops in my room already had flash installed so I took that as a sign...

But can u wiggle your toesies?:P

Still numb.