10 Years Ago Today, I Returned from My Epic Trip North: Reflections

~ A Dude Abikes ~ Leave a comment

On September 19, 2016, I flew back from Denver, Colorado to Austin, Texas after a six-state, epic trip north (plus a quick stop across the border in Canada for duty-free souvenirs). Five days earlier, I wrote my only blog from that trip. Mountain Time:  Biking and Hiking the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming. It would make sense for you to go read that first. I can wait. But either way, the lede is this: It was an awesome trip.

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From national parks and other cool monuments, cities and the woods, meeting some cool new people, taking planes, trains, and automobiles (hitchhiking even, plus buses), and renting bikes along the way, I covered a lot of ground in three weeks. There was a Texas acquaintance I stayed with to start the trip Fargo, ND. Glacier National Park and the continental divide in northern MT, plus a natural hot springs in Bozeman. The was incredible Devil’s Tower and Yellowstone in WY. Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse Monument in SD. Even the Minneapolis, MN airport and staying with some other friends in Denver as bookends were interesting and fun.

The down side of reflecting back on it now is that except for one other to the east coast a year later, the day after I was laid off an 11-year job in 2017, I have not been anywhere outside of Texas. I may have ridden my bike the equivalent mileage around the world–twice!–but I was recently reminded by some college friends in our annual Zoom reunion, and some other friends who have the luxury, time and money, that traveling to places is really cool. One guy went to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and pet cheetahs in its capital, Zanzibar! Another routinely flies to Germany and Argentina, and within California. Another stays every summer in a family house in Ireland. Others have a house in the Azores, or jet to Italy and Spain, and many other places. So while I have great memories about my trip, I’m pretty bummed that I’ve not been anywhere else nearly as exciting ever since.

Two quotes come to mind. The Buddha is alleged to have said, “Comparison is the death of joy.” (Easier said than done.) And Mr. William aka Billy Joel sang, “The good ol’ days weren’t always good, and tomorrow’s not as bad as it seems.” (Except sometimes they are.) Travel is a privilege, after all. I was lucky I had saved up the time and money from living in a literal utility room closet under the stairs so that I could take this trip. I do feel grateful. And yet it would be nice to

The other sad thing is I have a huge cache of photos from that trip, plus a bunch of GoPro videos I never learned to edit or adjust for the weird camera lens. When I look back at that dude, he was younger, thinner, and had a job. In other words, he was not if super happy he had a more stable life. He was also clueless about where he would be a decade later. Had I known back then what I know now, would I have done anything different? Probably not. But maybe I would have tried to make more money and go places.

But I sure did ride the hell out of my bike around here. And have begun doing so again out of the gym and on the road a bit after a forced month and more out of the saddle. But as mentioned in my last post, I’m not a prisoner of mileage goals. In fact, I don’t really care about my mileage, and might even skip today’s bike ride due to being tired. I started to swim two to three times a week and alternate that with biking. Eventually I may get back into some kind of decent shape, but it seems unlikely. Age, genes, and setbacks out of my control make it a struggle to do what I did back then. Plus, I was a decade younger. Aging sucks but they say it beats the alternative.

I’ll end by unearthing a bunch of photos. Enjoy this trip down memory lane with me. And if you have the time and money, I hope you get to travel and go on some adventures yourself. Maybe I’ll get to go on some other trips, some day. Let’s hope so. Because we all go on one last journey, to the undiscovered country called death. And speaking of that, while I’m not religious at all, but this tune just popped into my head. The haunting guitar is by the incredible Jeff Beck (who died recently, and is one of my favorite guitar heroes, possibly the best guitarist ever, even better than Texas-grown Stevie Ray Vaughn), and it is sung by the still-going Rod Stewart from 1985. It’s a cover of the Curtis Mayfield-penned original with The Impressions. People Get Ready.

People get ready
There’s a train a-coming
You don’t need no baggage
You just get on board
All you need is faith
To hear the diesels humming
Don’t need no ticket
You just thank the Lord

more photos being uploaded very soon!

9/9/2026:  5 Weeks of Daily Bike & Swim in the Gym + Strava Stats

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 2 Comments

Another annual awful August arrived and then announced adieu in Austin, Texas. We now have hit 100°F or more for 41 days. Meanwhile, my slow and unsteady comeback has also been heating up. A break put the brakes on my outdoor biking for just over a month, while I managed to maintain my yoga and missed only one walk. Strava the sports app kindly provided graphics for last month’s activities. Let’s look at the stats.

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8/8/2026:  Austin, Texas Bicycle News Roundup

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 2 Comments

I haven’t done one of these Austin roundup thingamabobs or whatchamacallits or doohickeys in quite a while. Especially since my forced sabbatical from bicycling (more on that later). But enough info has come into my email box or across my awareness lately that thought I’d give it a shot. If you’re not in Austin, I bet you will still find it interesting, relatable, or amusing, so please read on. I mean, you’re already here, may as well stick around a bit to see what ol’ A Dudey has to say.

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31 Days Without a Bicycle Ride:  Strange Days Indeed

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 3 Comments

When I stopped riding my regular non-electric bike after 6 year,s 8 months, and 19 days in a row, I didn’t know when I would be able to start again. Well, that day is today. Although I will be easing back into it with the home trainer, I started counting indoor bike rides long ago. (If you don’t like it, you can go to that new Japanese fusion restaurant that lawyers love, Sosuemi.) The point is, I’ll be back in the saddle again by this time tomorrow.

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7/11/2026:  What Can World Cup Soccer / Fútbol Teach Us About Bicycling

~ A Dude Abikes ~ Leave a comment

1. The bicycle kick. 2. Let me get back to you on that one. 3. SEE #2. Okay, I admit I wrote that title for the clicks. One does wonder about the history after seeing a number of them in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, all of them failing to score goals so far, I think, It would be a quick Wikipedia search to find out why it’s called a bicycle kick and who invented it and so on. Seems like it’s mostly done out of desperation or for show. It’s not good for your back if you land wrong, and you definitely risk a yellow card if you kick somebody in the face doing it. Of course it’s very cool when it does work. Maybe it’s a good metaphor for this blog post:  All style and no substance. But maybe I can salvage some inspiration from it.

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6/6/2026: Why Are My Blog Stats Blowing Up When I’m Barely Writing?

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 12 Comments

As alluded to in my last (barely seen) post, which was 98% photos, the writing life’s not been kind to this aspiring dude. At least not in terms of finding the discipline, time, topics, and oh yeah, inspiration. I’ve not seen that beeotch aka The Muse in a while. But when I noticed I’ve received more views in the first five months of 2026 than any other full year, and actually more than thrice my best year, I had to come here to say, WTF, WordPress? Exactly what is going on? Is it robots or genuine views? Either way, can I monetize it?

Read more: 6/6/2026: Why Are My Blog Stats Blowing Up When I’m Barely Writing?

Take a look at these two screen shots. First, is December 2024 – June of 2025. Just over 5,000 views, with almost 4,000 visitors. That alone is a HUGE jump from the years before, which never totaled over 15,000 views.

Now look at December 2025 – June 2026. That’s a MASSIVE jump to 40,000 views and over 36,500 visitors. From someone who’s posting went way, Way, WAY down the last couple of years, that is the exact opposite of what one would expect.

Here’s what the customer support person said:

“Hi there,

I checked the site, and although there is an increase in traffic, it does not appear to be a sudden spike in on-site traffic. The increase has been gradual and started around November 2025. (That’s when I concluded my epic 52,000+ miles in 10 years.)

Also, from the referrer section in Jetpack Stats, I noticed that most of the traffic is coming from search engines, Facebook, and WordPress.com Reader, which are all legitimate sources. In addition, most of the traffic is coming from the United States. All of these indicators suggest that the traffic is legitimate and not bot traffic.”

I don’t quite know what to make of it. Baby I’m showing up in search results, but I’m not getting much in terms of engagement. That means likes and comments and forwards etc. But can I finally start to make money off of this, robots or humans? After a decade of biking and writing, that would be nice. But I’ve never been attuned to the statistics or good at the capitalism game anyway. My brother got those genes, and I got the do goider ones. But hey, it led me to write this blog post, so that’s progress, right?

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Speaking of writing and doing good, I recently volunteered at the ATX TV Festival for the first time. I enjoy the televised motion picture arts as much as the next dude, and I finally signed up in time to work the 15th season (for free, match, or rather a trade). I got to sit in on some cool panels and hear about the business of being a creative, including with some producers,  writers, and actors. See the snaps below for some stars you may recognize.

One of the latter included a guy who shared with me what seemed like a long period of deep eye contact with a sly smile as he passed by my station outside the historic Paramount Theatre in Austin. (Soon it will close for 11 months for a restoration.)

He seemingly stared deep into my eyes or possibly soul, it I have one. It lasted probably only five seconds. But it felt like time slowed down into slow motion. Your dude is straight (not that there’s anything wrong with being otherwise), but he’s a handsome fellow, and those seconds were mesmerizing. It was like, well, a scene from a TV show. And then tonight he was on my TV screen. Pretty cool. Who was this guy? Murray Bartlett of White Lotus Season 1 on HBO; his new show is called Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed on Apple TV.

Anyway, the point of that was to say one of the other volunteers I met is a super nice dude who works in the video production business. From animation to commercials to several short films, he’s made a bunch of stuff. We got to talking and he challenged me to write just five pages for a short film.  It’s usually one page per minute, as we say in the biz. If it’s any good, maybe he’d consider actually making it. I said I would try and write three of them.

Persistent readers (all seven or 12 of you) will recall I wrote a memoir on how to bicycle as a fit but fat older person. It got way too long and sits on the digital shelf collecting digital dust, waiting for mythical money to appear to hire an editor. But a while back I started on a fictional novella. I said I’d keep it to 100 pages and I got pretty close, but haven’t figured out an ending. That stalled when my young writing critique partner decided to take a job as a professor and stop meeting. But I keep imagining it as a movie.

So, now I have this challenge to write just five or 15 pages. They need to be good, solid, tight pages. But first, I have to learn how to write screenplays. That means reading books or watching YouTube videos or something. I have a month to do it, and a week’s already gone by. That’s because the nearby Half Price Books store collection of screenplay tomes is dusty and musty. While I wait for a library book to come in, I should just be finishing the novella and revising it. And now I’ve cracked the laptop open and the knuckles, I’m gearing back up to do some writing again.

And here we are back to the writer’s problems: discipline, time, topics, and oh yeah, inspiration. Yet, humans are a storytelling species, whether we’re any good at it or like it or not. Whether it’s told around a camp fire, in a song, in a book, or on a big or small screen, we love a good yarn. And all of those forms except the campfire are written down. We have songwriters, and authors, and composers, and so on. The words of a play are called the book; when an actor has memorized them, they go off book. And a TV show or movie has a play that is shown on a screen: a screenplay. A good TV show has many factors, but perhaps the most important facet is that it’s well written.

That’s all to say that while I may be becoming slightly less unknown in this tiny speck in a corner of a small room within a huge mansion in a city of millions on a large planet of billions, or rather my blog stats suck slightly less and may not be real anyway, maybe they are. Someday soon I could have a screenplay produced into a short film. Which could become a long film. Who knows? Maybe someday you’ll see the words of a dude up on the big screen. Who’s to say it can’t happen?

By the way, I’ve been told I resemble a combination of the rugged and heroic boyish good looks of Robert Redford with the zaftig every-man working class yet intellectual appeal of Philip Seymour Hoffman. (Okay, the person who told me that was myself to the mirror. That doesn’t mean it’s untrue.) And maybe the only person truly qualified return myself is moi.

Delusions of grandeur aside, I’ve got to get back to somehow miraculously finding and then working and surviving a freaking job to pay the bills… just like everyone else who is not a one percenter or successful movie star. But a dude can dream. Don’t kill my dream, or harsh my buzz, or yuck my yum, as the kids say these days.

Whether you make it to the big leagues of Hollywood or New York publishing or the Emmys or Grammys or Oscars or Tonys, or just write it in a journal for your family to read, go tell your own story. Everybody’s got one. As a dear college mate from Polynesia and the Phillipines used to say, “Let’s talk story.” Make it a good one. I’ll try to do the same.

Copyright 2026 A Dude Abikes. All rights reserved.

4/4/2026: Bicycle Commuting in Austin, Texas aka DEATH RACE 2026

~ A Dude Abikes ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been riding my bicycle to and from work since I got a temporary job in late January. The job is the reason for my anemic biking mileage, exhausted brain and body, and also my pathetic blog writing. I haven’t even finished last month’s sole entry: Bicycling Formulas: Or Why My Mileage Sucks Nowy My Bicycling Sucks Now. (But I promise I will.) Anyway, I ride on Guadalupe Street, which I once read is the most dangerous road for people on bicycles in Austin. So, here are few thoughts about… HOW I NEARLY DIE EVERY SINGLE DAY! But also the common issues bike commuters have to deal with. If you’re considering doing it where you live, perhaps you’ll find some useful tips here.

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Bicycling Formulas: Or, Why My Mileage Sucks Now

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 6 Comments

My previous post was titled “A Fellow Blogger Interviewed Me! And What Shall I Do After 10 Years and 52,000 Miles Bicycled?
Apparently, the answer to that question is: A Lot Less. I did far fewer miles in the first two months of 2026 than I have for quite a while. Without researching my statistics in Strava, I could guess that it’s been if not a decade, at least half of that time. In January and February I totaled just over 600 miles, which is about 10 miles a day, down from over 14. Not big daily difference, but it adds up to about 250 miles. And that translates into less muscle, aerobic capacity, endorphins, and fun. But I did gain two things: a paycheck, and weight gain.

Read more: Bicycling Formulas: Or, Why My Mileage Sucks Now

“Universal sadness al around us…the universe is just one big practical joke.”

–“Dostoyevsky Wannabe,” from the cult film Slacker, 1989, by Richard Linklater

There is a formula in cycling called the Work Equation. It goes like this:

Cycling Satisfaction = Distance x Effort / Work Responsibilities + Account Balance

And another called the Cyclist’s Trilemma, which is as follows. You can have two of the three, but no more.

Such is the nature of being a goldfish, swimming in the dirty water of its own filth, excrement, sweat, labor, and death that is late market capitalism aka neoliberalism aka oligarchy. I owe, I owe, so off to work I go. (Yes, I bike to work, but barely over 2.5 miles each way.)

WORK IN PROGRESS… PLEASE CHECK BACK… MORE THOUGHTS LATER…