Yep, I did it again. For the sixth year in a row, I’ve gone out on (and once near) my birthday and rode my age. I’ve had a few friends join in for sections. Then there’s getting free food. It’s a fine tradition with only one problem: it keeps getting a mile longer every year. But that’s what they call a good or First World problem to have. Let’s get to it.
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Today I hit 4,555.5 miles on my Strava statistics. (Yes, I planned it that way.) Since I’ve been bicycling about 15 miles a day all this year of 2021, my 14.7-mile ride was right in my wheelhouse, so to speak. I took Sonnie the GT Arette back-up bike, since Sophie the Fairdale Weekender Archer apparently has yet another leaky tire. So she got another night off, the slacker. The point is that I’m on track for my second best (by that I mean longest) year on a bicycle. I’m not bragging as much as just telling it like it is. But as usual I have thoughts about it. Hope you’ll read them! Reading is a lot easier than biking 100+ miles a week, that much I know to be true.
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When you’ve been doing something so long as I have (eight years as of Christmas Day 2021), it becomes a part of you. So, it’s easy to minimize it. But doing anything that consistently is a huge deal that takes a ton of discipline, intention, and dare I even say sacrifice. And while my main exercise activity is bicycling, yoga is a huge reason why I’ve been able to bike every day for two years in a row, and for over 30,000 miles total in almost six years. So today I thought I’d go into a little detail about what is involved with my daily yoga. Maybe it will help you to become more regular or even start a streak of your own.
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It’s been bikes, bikes, bikes at A Dude Abikes lately, and well, that tracks, because that’s the main pillar of this blog. For a change of pace, let’s talk about walk(ing). I’d love to be talken about Walken (as in Christopher), but I got nuthin’ to say about him except I like his acting. But yes, walking. I’ve been doing it regularly with only a few days missed for almost four years now. I don’t do power walking, hiking, or any crazy stuff like that. I just get out there, rain or shine, and perambulate for 30 minutes a day. That’s not too remarkable; many, many people walk daily, and for many, many more miles. Even having a streak isn’t that big a deal. But comparing myself to me, it’s an important thing to do. You might assume it’s an easy thing for me to do, but you’d be wrong. So I’m going to talk the walk.
Continue readingIt’s time to write my blog again, actually, a day later than usual, but I didn’t have a subject. Usually I think of something while cycling. Sometimes I just start writing until something comes to mind. I was going to write about my birthday ride, but one person who joined me hasn’t given permission to use their photo. Last night, I met a woman who is older and who had an interesting story, but we had only just met, so I don’t have many details. I’m out of town so could write about how crappy the cycling facilities are here (virtually non-existent), but I’m not very inspired by that topic. So what does that leave me with? I mean, I recently wrote a post on farting in the peloton. You can’t stink — I mean sink — much lower than that. Of course I’m not restricted to bicycling, but books, movies, TV, politics, etc. are not speaking to me. There’s always advice about cycling, repairs, brands, parts, etc. but there are plenty of those out there and nothing relevant is popping into my mind. But there is this one thing I could blog about: chafing.
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Something kinda big just recently happened, and I forgot to blog about it. What with that fellow blogger guy coming to town and my big birthday ride (which I’ll get to another time, I reckon), I sort of overlooked a major milestone: two years of riding every single day! That’s somewhere upwards of 12,000 miles. By now, the mileage goals I’ve set and met are almost like literal mileposts on a highway. I pass them by, and they’re in the rearview mirror. Not forgotten, but I’ve seen them and moved on. I suppose that’s what we do here at A Dude Abikes. We keep on bikin’. (And walkin’ and doin’ yoga, and, well that’s mostly it for exercise.) Writing about my journey makes it more real somehow. And 731 days of riding is very real, rest assured. Hmm, some rest would be in order by now, you’d think. And if you did, you’d’ve thunk correctly. But there’s no rest for the weary. So on we go. How I got from I to we, I/we don’t know. Let’s go to the next paragraph, shall we?
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OK, the truth is he didn’t come to Austin, Texas just to visit me, he came to see his son. But since he asked, I couldn’t get out of town in time, I couldn’t weasel out of it. Just kidding. A Midnight Rider hails from Southeastern Massachusetts, and from the moment he exclaimed “Dude!” I was taken back to my college days in Vermont. That New England accent ain’t heard too much around these parts, but it was welcome to my ears. If you’re not familiar with it, the letter “r” in certain words is a lot softer. So “Park the car in the yard” sounds like “Pahk the cah in the yahd.” Anyway, here’s a little recap of our get together.
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I rode my bike for half a century (50 miles) on a recent sunny Sunday, the details of which you can see on Strava. Especially if you’re the sort who needs some proof. Or just don’t believe that guy who’s in the same decade of years as miles, with an extra amount of weight, can do that. Although it was challenging given my condition(s), it wasn’t so brutal that I was wrecked the next three days. It’s no work of art (well, the Strava map kinda is), but this snippet of dialog from Seinfeld sums it up well:
Lois: Have you designed any buildings in New York? George Costanza: Have you seen the new addition to the Guggenheim? Lois: You did that? George Costanza: Yep. And it didn't take very long either.Continue reading
Now that we’re 90 days from the end of 2021, it’s time for my third quarterly report. July, August and September are the hottest months in Texas, and that heat and stupidity tend to slow most dudes and dudettes down. (I meant humidity, which with the heat tends to make one stupid.) But, I never claimed to be smart, so I have gone on a bicycle ride every single day of the pandemic (and for a while before that). Regular readers know I’m like only 50% of that Cake lyric: “He’s going for distance, he’s (not) going for speed.” On top of that, I take a walk, do yoga, and got myself into some other daily activities, practices aka habits. Sure, it was stupid hot (though not as bad as last year), and I do not bike fast. However, although I don’t get a cent from it, you could say I’m in the bicycle riding business. And business is good.
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