This morning's bike commute was awesomely beautiful, and I got many photos. But none more awesomely beautiful than this.

"GI Joe" is an ex-Marine who held daily exercise classes on the Manhattan Beach Pier for years. Since I ride through there almost daily, I stopped one day to ask hm his name. He looked at me incredulously ...

"Uh ... Joe."

That was good for a laugh. I thought the "Joe" moniker was advertising.

Several years ago, both he and his classes disappeared. I later heard the he had had a major stroke, and was unable to hold the classes anymore. But starting a few months ago, I began seeing him out there again ... by himself, struggling along with a walker. I stopped to say hi a couple of times.

So this morning, I was out by the pier waiting for what I knew would be an awesome sunrise, and I could hear Joe, slowly scraping down Pier Avenue with his walker. It took him a while, but he made it.

I had a much longer chat with him this morning, and was pleased to see a lot of his former students stopped by to do the same.

He told me that he's working hard at coming back, and this is the year he was going to make it. You know ... I believe him. In life, there are things where the attempt itself is a win.

This is one of them. Go Joe.