The crash happened on January 25th, 2005, a sunny Tuesday in Austin, Texas.  I was driving my 1995 red Honda Civic 2-door hatchback with almost 200,000 miles on it west on Bee Caves Road.  A truck pulled in front of me and didn’t get out of the way in time, resulting in a “t-bone” accident. I survived, the car did not; it was the truck driver’s fault.  That was the last day I owned a car for a decade and a year… and counting.

Skip ahead to today, January 26th, 2016, when I celebrated, silently to myself save for you, dear reader, 11 years of biking, busing, walking, and yes, sometimes driving an employer’s for work or that of a friend, but essentially being car-free.  I was carless for many other years, too.  So yay me for my little statement, victory, accomplishment or whatever you want to call it.  Some might say it’s a failure to make enough money to buy a new car, and they might be partially right about that.  So buy me a car, already!  I’m not against cars, just the accidents, pollution, congestion and isolation they promote.

But it’s mostly been a choice.  It means little to anyone but me, and even less the tens of people who may see this blog, but it’s still another accomplishment in my story as a bicyclist.  In the grand scheme of things, it’s not a huge deal.  Millions of people around the world don’t have cars, due to poverty or better mass transit options.  But in the U.S., particularly a state like Texas, being carless is an anomaly.

So A Dude treated himself with what else?  A bike ride.  And also a movie, but not one about the Civil War as referenced in the title to this post (if you’re a human person, especially a white one, and haven’t seen 12 Years a Slave, please do).  I finally went to see Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens two days before its run ends at the huge Bob Bullock Museum IMAX 3-D screen.  There is one slight spoiler below but a month after the film came out, that’s on you.

 

 

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A Dude Abikes and keeps on riding, even when he doesn’t have time to be writing.  Between his job, life, and of course biking, there’s simply not time to set down in internet ink every ride and every story.  Perhaps someday when his lottery ticket stops saying “Not a Winner.”  A Dude knows he’s a winner inside, no matter what the haters at the lottery commission say.

Tonight I went for a ride to check out some new places to live.  One was a dump and the dog was whining the whole time.  She has a greeting disorder.  The other is possible, we’ll see.  So with that and rides to and from work, I put in a 10-mile day.  Not really remarkable.  But it was T.I.T.S. (Time In The Saddle) nonetheless (see my previous post for more on that).

The latest “ride” (defined by me as over 20 miles requiring some exertion) was this past lazy Sunday.  The riding pal and I went for a nice but chilly ride to Northwest Austin to visit a friend.  He was super late as he often is so we missed the friend.  But aside from that it was pleasant.  Nothing crazy, numerous stops, low wind, sunny, no mishaps, 25 miles.  Nice.  Here’s the scoop:  January 10 ride on Strava

But a funny thing happened, as things are wont to do while bike-riding.  We stopped at a sub shop (yeah, that’s how we roll sometimes, pun not intended but we’ll take the ugh anyway), and we had delicious Philly cheesesteaks.  The guy there was all about triathalon training, and he was also on Strava.  He was playing a video to keep himself and his co-worker from getting too bored.  It ended and he put in another DVD.

Guess what he played?  It was none other than the muppet fantasy movie Labyrinth, starring David Bowie as the Goblin King.  Hours later over in England, Bowie died.  Oooh.  Weird coincidence.  Sad.  A Dude was once in a high school garage band that played “Suffragette City.”  So he loved the guy’s music too.  Rock on, wherever you are David Robert Jones.   Here are two fun clips from HBO, one of him skewering Ricky Gervais in song on the latter’s show Extras called “The Little Fat Man With The Pug Nosed Face.” (Bowie enters at 5’40”). The other is from Flight of the Conchords’ called “Bowie’s in Space.”  Hilarious tributes.

No Whey!

Time has passed and the details of the day are fading, but I remembered I needed to get some more natural unflavored whey protein.  A Dude prefers Biochem Natural Flavor 100% Whey Protein.  This is much better tasting and a more complete product than the unnamed vegan pea protein I previously tried.  It’s like sucking on dirty socks, really.  (Er, I imagine.)   If you watch the ads, you can get it for 25% off at Sprouts during their quarterly health and beauty sale.

Passing by an Asian shopping center, the co-rider went inside for some spicy sauce.  I got this photo above of a marble dragon and koi in a brick pond, with my Fuji bike in the background.  Pretty cool work for a shopping center.  The last year of the dragon in the Chinese astrological realm was 2012 (black water dragon, to be precise).  That New Year approaching February 8th (red fire monkey, if you’re curious).

That’s apropos of nothing except that with a new year, there are new challenges.  I signed up for Distance and Climbing challenges on Strava.  Not to race others, just to see how I’m doing.  So far, I’m on track for a 4,000-mile year.  That’s worth writing about, but first I have to do the riding.  I wonder if Bowie ever bicycled.  Turns out, he’s inspired a big ride in Portland called Bowie v. Prince.

David Bowie has done so much in his life’s work, but one of the lesser-known things is getting more people in Portland to ride bikes, even if just one day of the year.

Pretty cool.  On a much, Much, MUCH smaller scale, perhaps I will inspire someone to bike too.  Like another British glam artist named Freddie Mercury of Queen once sang:

I like to ride my bicycle / I like to ride my bike / I like to ride my bicycle / I like to ride it where I like.