tear sheets: Ely Buendia's home for Dwell Asia

I lucked out and got to shoot one of my favorite musicians for my one of my favorite magazines.

Ely Buendia home for Dwell Asia September/October 2011 issue.

Story by Chinggay Labrador
Photography by Miguel Nacianceno

September tear sheets

I should have been uploading tear sheets years ago but I haven't. So I don't know how to do it right, and sorry for the scanning job. It occurred to me, after scanning these, that I should have just asked the art director for the digital files.

Yummy, September 2011.
Recipes and food styling by Jun Jun de Guzman.
Prop styling by Elaine Lim.

Real Living, September 2011.
Shoot direction by Issa Villar.
Words by Michaela Abrera.
Photography by Miguel Nacianceno.

I was reading my dad's back issues of Bicycling magazine and I found a funny list of the author's cycling milestones. Items included shaving his legs, choosing which car to buy by the ease of installing a bike rack on it, and his first tumble.

I found it funny because I sort of kept a mental list of milestones myself, but didn't think other people did it too. My first tumble is certainly on it. But in this past week, I've marked three milestones:

#1. I did my first solo long-ish distance ride a few days ago. My car was in the shop in Quezon City, and instead of cabbing to the shop, I decided to bike it. That's from Rockwell to Tomas Morato, through the congested streets of Mandaluyong and the hilly parts of San Juan and New Manila.

All of that came under the distance of just 15 kilometers. I thought it would be around 9 to 10 km, and ignorance was bliss. But that's not really the point. I did it alone, going around potholes the size of manholes, and mixing it up with jeeps, trikes, and delivery trucks. I don't want to be that guy who has to drive to where he bikes, and it felt good knowing I could take on the streets of Manila. But let's hear me say that again when I've biked to Rizal or Tagaytay.

#2. On that trip, I was able to pull my water bottle out from the downtube cage, take a few gulps, and return it, without falling off or having to dismount. And at the risk of embellishing, I think I was going slightly up hill too.

# 3. Last night, I changed my own tires. Granted it wasn't on some deserted trail with the light quickly fading, I changed my own tires, in my living room, with only YouTube to help me out. I had gotten new, road-friendly tires, and wanted to put them on them myself. It took me almost two hours of for two tires. That's about 1 hour and 50 minutes more than how long it took the guy on YouTube. It was like wrestling with rubber and I kept getting trapped in a half nelson.

Anyway, milestones mark progress.

and more cycling...

all images above © John Watson

I found John Watson's blog, Prolly is Not Probably, a couple of weeks ago. I found it just in time to catch his almost-daily posts from his epic trip from Portland to San Franciso. That's just under 1300 kilometers by his estimate, which he covered in around two weeks.

When I got into biking (just a few weeks ahead of finding Watson's blog - noob), this was the sort of trip I imagined. And even if I'm long ways off from having the strength, the know-how, and even the courage to pull off a trip like that, I've been really enjoying the process of getting there.

Last weekend I biked around U.P. and ran into my dad and his bike buddies hanging out at a sari-sari store in front of the AS building. I swung off the pavement to say hi and hit a bump. My bike fell from under me and I shot my arms out to catch myself from falling flat on the dirt. I gingerly picked myself and my bike up and sheepishly walked to the stands, and then said hi to my dad.

Me: Hey! Did you see me fall over there?
My dad: Nope, but I'm sure all these people did.

This was the day right after I rode along Daang Hari with Dino, and did 20 kilometers biking from Alabang to Cavite and back. That's the farthest and longest I've ever biked, and I was feeling a bit confident.

Last night, my friend Jun invited to ride around the ULTRA/St. Paul's area. It's a bit of a steep inclined loop and it's supposed to be good training for climbs. I managed three rounds before giving up. There were parts where I just walked the bike up. I still haven't gotten this granny gear thing down pat, apparently.

Anyway, Watson's blog is really encouraging and great. Check out his "A Day In 10 Photos" section where you can see photos from his trip. He's also on twitter: johnprolly.

+++

So that nobody thinks I've totally given up my day job and sold my work cameras - it has crossed my mind - here's an outtake from the shoot of Jun's band. I wanted to shoot at night and in ambient lighting.

I eventually brought another car around with headlights on around for fill. I still know how to do this. Haha.

My bike is built. Dante at Life Cycle, Greenhills put it together this morning The only thing I bought from Life Cycle was a bike stand and a tire tube but Dante's been my dad's mechanic for twenty years so I went to him.

As soon as the bike was finished, I was going to take it out to The Fort for a ride but then it started raining hard. Even when it let up the skies were grey so I just headed back home. By the time I got to Makati, the rain had completely stopped so I took the bike around my four-street village. The ride  was smooth, if not a bit frisky, and felt very plush. That the bike was moving around a lot under me is probably because I haven't been biking very long, and my tires are set to 40 psi. I also have to fine tune that fork. I'm just assuming a lot here.

Also, I did the stupidest thing. I stuck a decal to my frame, regretted it, and had to scrape it off. So I scratched my bike less than six hours after it was built, and not even by riding it. Next time, just get on it and go.

Tomorrow I'm biking along Daang Hari with friends who will be on road bikes. Let's see how that turns out.

I have to work on my bike portraiture skills too.