I attended my third Frankenbike on April 30th. This roving swap meet for bicycle people was held at Clown Dog Bikes in Austin, Texas. It was fun and interesting, like the first two, and also not very profitable for this dude. (I previously wrote about it here.) That’s ok. And oh yeah, some of the people who were there or who came by were weird. “Keep It Weird” is the slogan of Austin, the cool, anti-commercial, countercultural one at least. Contrast that with the so-called “Live Music Capital of the World” and place where Calfornian tech bros come to spend their First World money to jack up the damn rent. But at Frankenbike, cool things happen, namely connection and community. Which, in a post-pandemic-ish world, is still kinda weird. Allow me to explain.

I’ve been owin’ Owen Egerton a debt of gratitude for some time. He has been a creative force in Austin for a long time, starting out with Comedy Sportz, and hosting One Page Salon “the best reading series in Austin” per the daily rag, for going on nine years. As a published author, comedian, screenwriter, and many other hyphenates, he begins each OPS with a funny opening and a reading from an author who can’t be there… because they’re dead. I started attending at the new venue last month, so it was good to be back again. And here’s an accounting of tonight’s episode on the anniversary of MLK’s death. I learned that from a U2 lyric. Which is a fancy word for music words.

Monday was the first day of spring, in the northern hemisphere, that is. How do I know this? Well, I have a goatee again. But I have the goatee because it’s the first day of spring. The seasonal facial hair regimen has been going on for a long time. Which is neither hair nor thair, but it does make me think about the changing of the seasons. Turn, turn, turn. Winter is leaving, spring is here. “Like sands through the hour glass so are the Days of our Lives,” went the tag line for an old soap opera. As mentioned in an earlier post, with better weather comes better bike riding and any number of outdoor activities. Maybe you didn’t come here to here my talk about the weather. Except I’m going to for a bit more.

After last month’s crippling ice storm, and some 90 degree days, winter has reasserted itself in Central Texas. After a cold front with some rain, it’s cooled off a fair bit, is sunny, with little wind. In other words, it’s just about perfect for biking and all manner of outdoor activities. Things are already starting to bloom, spring break is coming and with it the South by Southwest juggernaut, March madness basketball if you’re into that sort of thing, and just lots of stuff going on outside before it gets too hot and humid and then just hot. For A Dude, that means ditching the home trainer and getting out there more on Sommar the Fuji Finest bike.

As I wrote in the post 1/1/23: 5,008 Bicycled + 536 Walked = 5,544 Miles in 2022, I did some those miles on my bicycle and walking. But what about the rest of my activities? Today is 2/23/23, serendipitously. Let us review, but not vigorously. For I am weary, you see. What will A Dude’s next rhyme be? Well, now I’m out, fortuitously. To the next paragraph, shall we? Oops, he spoke (wrote) prematurely. One may make the letter e sound go with most English words. Obviously.

The worst ice storm to hit Austin since 2007 has plunged a third of the city’s utility customers into darkness. Sure, it’s an act of nature, and 2/3 of an inch of ice weighs hundreds of pounds, crews are working as fast as they can, yada yada. Thanks to an inept City government that cannot keep the trees trimmed and the lights on, we have days if not many days more to go. Yeah, life without cold showers, lights, refrigeration, heating, cooking, the internet, or streaming, is not exactly suffering–that’s what hundreds of millions if not a few billion on earth endure daily–and worse.