April showers may bring May flowers, and it was the wettest fourth month ever in recorded history for Austin, Texas. But that wasn’t the only number that increased in my life: it turns out that you, the wonderful viewers of this blog made it rain big time! Thank you, and keep reading for the details.

Over 400 Followers!

It’s taken a good while, but I’m at 401 now. Whoopee! That’s really very awesome, and good news for something that started at zero in 2016. Considering that I still have yet to promote https://ADudeAbikes.com on social media, I’m happy with it. People find it mostly by the WordPress Reader function or search engines. Those are people I’ve told, or from their word of mouth, and who knows who else. Something that grows organically is nice. Sure, it would also be nice for more people to read my stuff. Hopefully it will continue in an upward trend. I try to thank each new follower, but to those I’ve not been able to thank because your blog address doesn’t work for some reason, thanks!

Also exciting is that April saw the highest number of visitors (627) in my three years and four months of blogging. This was my third highest month of views (1,102, or 37 per day). I’m much more interested in people reading what I’ve written and taking something from it than numbers of clicks, however. I’ll take both. One sad note though is that one reason for a lot of the views were my two posts about the tragic death of cyclist Jessica Saathoff. It was important to tell that story though and if it helped people, which I’m told it did, it’s good that almost 200 people read it.

I have plans to improve the blog through the class I signed up for with ProBlogger.com, however, I have not made time to start it. At the same time, I may need to reduce the time I spend blogging to focus on my next topic, my book.

Book: Worming Its Way to a First Draft

I’ve hit an important milestone with my memoir of two years of cycling 10,000 miles. I’m 7/8 of the way through, since I just started writing Chapter 22 at the end of April. There’s not a lot more I can say about the cintents, but it’s hard work. It will get harder as I find work, esspecially if it’s a full time desk job. I’m hoping to avoid that but if I don’t have a choice, so be it. I’m in the habit of writing every day for over 16 months now.

Even if I miss a day (hopefully I won’t), it’s something I do now. There is something to the “Don’t break the chain” idea I wrote about previously. Is it sustainable? So far, while I’ve been mostly unemployed, er, liberated from the 8-5, save for about six weeks of part-time labor. Writing however, is a job. I’m just not getting compensated for it. When I’m tired, I do it. When I don’t have ideas, I do it. Writers write, right?

Ideally I’d crack down and just finish the first draft by writing for hours a day. The realities of house and work search as well as other interests (like the comedy festival) make that unlikely. So I keep plugging away. Some day sooner than later I’ll be at a point to have beta readers, hopefully and editor, and maybe if I’m lucky, an agent. Til then, it’s just write, write, write and get into the other stages when the time comes.

The book is a main reason I’m not engaging on the blog as much as I’d like to or as many people may expect. But I’m very fortunate and grateful to have had some great support from a few people and organizations. That’s mostly winding down, so I need to figure out how to continue. Whether it’s one job, various gigs, or whatever, I still have to see how it ends. Like a good book (about biking)!

Biking is Life, Which Has Its Ups and Downs

My bike stats show that I’ve surpassed 1,600 miles for the first trimester (400 miles per month). That’s pretty good, although it’s about 60 miles under my goal. At the same time, my biking speed has suffered a lot this year. This goes back to the loss of Sookie the Fuji Silhouette last fall due to a fatal crack. It’s morseo due to various ongoing ailments like fatigue, injuries, as well as the rainy weather and even allergies. For whatever reason, I’m just not feeling it as much as I would like to. But I’m still on track to beat last year, so that is something. It’s just taking me longer to do it.

The main issue right now is knee pain. Several bike shop people have said it’s not my seat height. I’m undergoing some PT for it, and will see a doctor to find out what to do after that. The pain is somewhat manageable, and comes and goes, which is odd. But it’s annoying to not know what exactly is going on. They say overuse but that doesn’t seem right because I’ve been doing less hard, hilly riding. So far it has not shown signs of going away completely, which really sucks. As one ages, things happen. I have had to skip out on longer weekend rides, which I miss and yet, I also don’t.

It’s true for all of us that one never knows when their last ride is. Maybe a long period of rest off the bike will be required, but let’s hope not. Part of the issue is the lower quality of health care that I’m getting from when I had a job and insurance. So this is something I’m struggling with. I’m getting some relief from magnesium oil and acupuncture. I’ve been advised that I need to rest but also to keep moving by bike, walking and yoga. Speaking of the latter two…

Walking and Yoga

I’m still doing both 30 minutes a day. Due to the Moontower Comedy Festival, I got in an extra five or so miles walking. Yoga is generally very gentle in the evenings before blogging and bed. That’s five years and four months of yoga and 16 months of walking. Both are very good streaks I plan to continue. Diet and sleep still are the big challenges, but that’s for another time.

How about you? How are your stats for your blog and other activities going?

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