Wales. Besides the large sea mammals, what comes to mind when I hear the word Wales are three things:  Welsh rarebit, Welsh cyclist and one-time Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas, and Welsh Corgi dogs. I’ve never had the first one, I’ve never met the second, but I’m looking at one of the third. I’m pet and housesitting while the owner is away. And what comes to mind from that is the Talking Heads song, “Once in a Lifetime”:  “This is not my beautiful house.” Maybe you know the song, which was a big hit on the radio, and it was on first day MTV appeared on the airwaves back in 1981. It makes me think of that time, Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, Wall Street excess (“greed is good”), the American Dream of owning a home, among other things. So, behold a brief blog ’bout… all that jazz.

A year and a day ago, on January 8, 2021, Sophie the Fairdale Weekender Archer was shockingly stolen. Sad times for sure. Read that sob story here… (and weep.) After a few months of test cycling, some adjustments with seats and stems and such, hemming and hawing, and typical Libran weighing of the pros and cons, I have a new (to me) bicycle, a Fuji Finest. I’m calling her Sommar (some MAHL), which is Swedish for “summer’. That’s because she’s a lightweight cro-moly steel vintage racing bike with skinny tires that just feels like you must go riding on a warm day, wind in your face, sun on your skin… Toes in the sand, drink in your hand. All you need… is the woman,” as Van Halen sang. But it’s a bike.

Well, another year is in the books; 2022 is history (or herstory), and here it is 2023. The changing of the calendar is always a shock to the system, but also has the hope of doing better. Before we can move forward with resolutions, goals, and the like, it’s helpful to look back. While in many ways it was not a good year for A Dude Abikes due to illness, work, and life conspiring against me, I still managed to get out there* every single day, still streaking, and string together some solid Strava stats. Let’s go to the numbers.