Month: January 2018

How It’s Going So Far in 2018 with the Biking, Blogging, Walking and Eating

~ A Dude Abikes ~ Leave a comment

So Far, So Good, But a Long Way to Go

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A Buddha statues at Aveda. But is that a chocolate glazed donut in front of him?

After a number of posts heavy with images, information and links, I think I’ll just write about how I’m doing with everything.  But first, a picture of a Buddha from Aveda Institute.  I got my second ever face treatment for only $21 for an hour.  Self-care is allowed whether you’re a cyclist like me or unable to do much if any physical exercise at all due to a chronic situation.  The massage and various products did make it feel better.  Whether it looks better is a matter of opinion. Continue reading →

Bike Austin Wants YOU to Help Save Lives by Becoming an Individual or Business Member TODAY!

~ A Dude Abikes ~ Leave a comment

Volunteering to Make Austin’s Streets Safer for All

Bike Austrin logoToday A Dude visited the downtown Austin, Texas office of Central Texas’s leading bicycling and pedestrian advocacy and education non-profit organization, Bike Austin.   My goal?  To get trained by amazing Community Development Planner Shavone Otero on how to engage Austin businesses to become members to keep the group alive.  That’s her pointing at me in the photograph.  Together with the Bike Austin Education Fund, their mission is to:

“…improve quality of life for all of Austin and Central Texas by growing bicycling as a form of transportation, exercise, and recreation.”

Pretty simple, but not so easy to implement.  Austin traffic continues to worsen, with projected population growth.  Amazon is considering us for another headquarters, which would add 50,000 employees and their families to the roadways.  According to the INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard, Austin ranked 42nd worst traffic in the world.  Drivers spent almost two full days per year in their car.  That’s up 24 slots from 66th worst in 2016.  So bicycling is going to play a vital role in that whole… let’s just call it a mess. Continue reading →

The Germination of an Idea: Coaching People on How to Ride Their Bikes

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 8 Comments

Put Me In Coach, I’m Ready to Teach

My Fairdale Weekender Archer outside a spin place

As you may know, Dude Abikes has been happily unemployed since November 1st.  He stays busy biking, walking, yoga-ing and of course blogging.  To keep the gummint offa his back, he does job search activities.  Today there were three, the most interesting of which was a “speed coaching session.”  I biked 8 miles to the Domain, a collection of pricey apartments and even pricier shops.  A Dude ain’t fancy, but doesn’t mind if others are.

A handful of people gathered in to WeWork, a co-working and meeting space. to hear a presentation, meet the coaches, and then spend some time with one discussing our goals, hopes, dreams, obstacles and the like.  It was free, there was fruit, cheese, nuts and such, and we each got a free book.  Mine was Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, an antiquated but still classic self-help guide that I’ve never read but will now.  Pretty cool stuff for a cold Thursday afternoon. Continue reading →

Did You Know You Can Get a Free Health Coaching Session at Natural Grocers?

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 10 Comments

Still Cold Out, but A Dude Must Ride

It was down to 18 F last night with still some icy patches on the ground, so today was not a great day to get out.  But there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, it warmed up a bit so I put on 20 articles of clothing and headed out.  Unless this is the first post you’ve read (and if it is, Yay! Welcome!), or if you’ve read the article about me in MLK Day’s Statesman, you know that some ongoing topics of this blog are food, diet, and weight loss.  About six weeks ago, I signed up for a free health coaching session at Natural Grocers, the Boulder-based health food store.  I figured I’d tell you about this useful tool you may not know about.  (NOTE:  This is not a sponsored post, but if anyone from Natural Grocers wants to pay me for it, please get in touch!)

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Walking in a Winter Wonderland, Rumi-nating on Where the Journey Leads

~ A Dude Abikes ~ Leave a comment

All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray
I’ve been for a walk on a winter’s day
I’d be safe and warm if I was in L.A.
California dreamin’ on such a winter’s day

— “California Dreamin'” by The Mamas & The Papas

Baby, It’s Cold Outside. So What? Go Exercise, Dude.

A Dude Abikes does not think of himself as a quitter but he has let go of many things over time, some by choice, others not (car, job, a really nice pair of Ray Bans). Some wisely, like trying to be a vegan. Others, maybe not so skillful, like eating frozen pizza (haven’t had one of nature’s most perfect foods this year so far). Today I kept my walking every day for a month practice going. If I Don’t Break The Chain and make it all year, I’ll have walked over 400 miles — on purpose! Someday maybe I’ll be at a weight where I’ll feel it’s safe to run again without damaging my feet and joints. For now, I’m just getting out there and putting one foot in front of the other for half an hour, even if it’s 28 degrees F like today. That quality of doing it no matter what that I’ve tapped into with the yoga, biking and no-car-having is not really something you can teach. But I think everyone has the capacity for being resolute, stubborn, determined or committed. I also put on 19 articles of clothing, so I was prepared like a good Boy Scout. Yes, A Dude really was an Eagle Scout.

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Read All About It! A Dude Abikes Featured in the Austin American-Statesman for Biking 10,000 Miles in Two Years!

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 36 Comments

I Am Ready for My Close-Up

Awesome news! After two years and 10,000 miles of bicycle-riding documented on Strava (and before that, many thousands more), your friendly neighborhood A Dude Abikes has been featured in a story mentioned on the front page and then appearing on D1 of the Lifestyles section. It is titled “Can a Regular Guy Pedal 10,000 Miles in Two Years? This Dude Did.” Read the full story in the Austin American-Statesman.

img_20180115_112245863872301086.jpgThe article is alot longer than I expected, with photos too. Cool!

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Ready to Ride? What to Do Before Biking

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 2 Comments

A certain friend who shall remain nameless sometimes shows up for a ride with A Dude Abikes.  This person is almost always not ready in one or many ways, from not having water in his bottles, having eaten, or done anything to his bike.  This is very vexing to A Dude’s soul.  So I always ask, “Are you ready to ride”?  I thought it might be helpful to share the things that A Dude recommends.  Over time you’ll find what works best for you, it will become second nature, and you’ll memorize the list.  In the meantime, it wouldn’t hurt and might help to write or type out your and have it visible.   Continue reading →

My 1,500 Consecutive Days of Yoga: Everyone Knows It’s Bendy

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 1 Comment

Still Stretchy After All These Years (4+)

Early readers of this blog or those new ones perusing the archives (welcome!) know that I have a daily yoga practice of 30′ (or more) going back to December 4, 2013.  (I count the anniversary as December 6th, because I lost two days to having been on anesthesia for an exam.)  When I counted up the days, the 1,500 benchmark seemed impressive enough to revisit.  I actually reach that day Monday but becoming a D-list celebrity steals that fire.  (I’m writing this Tuesday about this blog I forgot to finish on Saturday.) That’s OK, I’ll just do more yoga and it will calm the jangled nerves from all the paparazzi camped outside, clamoring for a few bon mots or a candid picture of A Dude Abikes. Continue reading →

Buddha Beginner’s Mind-Boggling Blogger Blues; Clues I Still Have Alot to Learn

~ A Dude Abikes ~ Leave a comment

“The goal of practice is always to keep our beginner’s mind.”

–Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Informal Talk on Zen Meditation and Practice

You Don’t Know What you Don’t Know, Don’t You Know?

A Dude Abikes began this blog in 2016 as an experiment in writing about his biking. For the first two years, he focused mostly on all the biking, not so much on the smithing of the words. As 2018 unfolds, he has resolved to write daily for a month and then regularly after that. It’s clear there is still quite alot to be learned about the art, craft, science and je ne sais quois about web logs.

beef pho
Lunch with Kathy included beef, broccoli, mung bean sprouts, basil and meat in broth. Plus oodles of noodles I brought home.

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When It’s Too Cold and Windy to Bike, Have a Massage, Walk and Bath

~ A Dude Abikes ~ Leave a comment

Alternate Your Training to Recover and Avoid Burnout

After 2016’s average 100 miles per week of cycling (see 5,306 Miles in 2016: A Dude Abikes’ Year of Bicycling Vigorously), I received some very good advice from bad-ass bicyclist buddy Bryce who rode over 6,000 miles last year, helped A Dude out on part of an 80-mile ride New Year’s Eve of 2016 — while he was sick! — as well has contributed to a number of my charity rides, is activity with Please Be Kind to Cyclists, and organizes their annual Ride of Silence honoring cyclists killed by cars. I don’t remember the exact words, but they were something like:

“Take some time off the bike. If you don’t really miss it, maybe do some other things. If you do, then get back on.”

Sage words indeed. I did that last year, but not this one. Thanks to my depleted iron stores, I’ve been forced to slow down now. Exercise-induced anemia is a real thing, as this scientific extract from the British Journal of General Practice shows. Apparently my “Epic Velocimania” (4,714 miles in 2017) wore me out more than I knew. The week of severe restriction to fruit, nuts and seeds did not help A Dude’s energy. Continue reading →