After a couple of posts about creativity, I’m casting about for a topic more about my main theme of bicycling. So, I thought I might talk about my free visit to a registered dietitian today. But I can summarize that in four words: less sugar, more vegetables. OK, so that topic is deadly boring as cold toast. And toast is something I gave up with all the processed grains last year, to no visible effect whatsoever in terms of weight loss, energy (actually it’s lower), or ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Next! Continue reading →
I’ve written about One Page Salon before, where local authors read from a work in progress. But after missing one or two in recent months, I biked downtown to be sure I attended tonight. Once again rewarded by being inspired by fellow writers, having interesting conversations with musicians and other creative people, and in general enjoyed being part of a community of like-minded folks. Sure, I could write about the election again, but you can read about that elsewhere. So I’m going to write about writing, and since I rode my bike there, it’s relevant. Protocol be damned!
What does any of that have to do with bicycles? Well, everything and nothing. Readers of this blog know that I can and have linked a bicycle to Mohandas Gandhi,Martin Luther King, Jr., and actor/director Tate Donovan, to chocolate, and to racism. (I’m still not sure but I’m really, REALLY hoping that it’s not racist to use the words chocolate and racism in the same sentence.)
The fact is, that work is for most people not in the 1% (like future ex-US President Tinyhands Orangehead), an inevitable part of life. A Dude is no exception. For almost a year, his work has been this blog and a book in progress, biking his ass off (though it’s still there), daily walking and yoga-ing, volunteering, among other things. But today, he rinally had to join the working class again and get the dreaded J-O-B. He rode there on his bike, of course.
My blog is doing well, for something that I don’t promote elsewhere or spend as much time as I would like to engaging with other bloggers. I started in 2016 and through the end of 2017 I had written just 31 posts and had only about 20 followers. Now I have written 173 more posts and have 313 followers. Naturally, publishing regularly has been helpful in making it more visible. So I’m grateful for the readers and support I have received, while also realizing there are lots of things I’m probably doing wrong or not at all that would help. Still, progress is good, so here’s a short post with the statistics of what’s been going on behind the curtain in A Dude Abikes land.
It’s blog deadline time again. Usually I have no problem coming up with a topic. Tonight I kind of did. I notice my posts tend to fall in several categories: a status report on my biking / walking / yoga / dieting / blogging / book-writing; something educational, entertaining or informative about bicycling; something off-topic but tangentially related to riding a bike; and then the totally random rave, rant or other piece like a movie review. This one is kind of a mix of the first and last. I’m as curious to see where it goes as hopefully you are, and I hope you like the smell of potpourri! Continue reading →
True story: Yesterday I was out for my morning walk near a downtown Austin, Texas cemetery, since I’m cat and housesitting. I had on my Elmer Fudd hat that covers my ears and neck, headphones tuned to the classical radio station. I was heading south and in the distance, I saw a flash of pink heading toward me. It got bigger, and I recognized after watching the Tour de France: it was Lawson Craddock. He became famous due to getting a broken scapula on Stage 1 and fundraising almost $200,000 for the Houston Alkek Velodrome, where he trained as a youth.
Lawdog, as he’s known, wasn’t going too fast, but I didn’t have time to get out my camera or think of anything brilliant to say. So I just said, “Hey, buddy! It’s A Dude Abikes!” Like a puppy dog quizzically cocking its head to the side when confused with something, he looked right at me. A flash of recognition may have been there, or maybe not, since I’ve been posting notes on his Strava page. The moment passed, and he kept on riding. How can I not blog about that? Continue reading →
Darren Rowse, the Australian founder of ProBlogger and co-author of the book by the same name, recently wrote “his most personal post in years.” (You can find the article at this link on Medium.) It got me to thinking, what is the appropriate amount of sharing? Allow me to share my answer. Because sharing is caring, and if nothing else, A Dude Abikes cares. About some things some times. Right now, it’s about finishing this awesome blog to watch more Tour de France (yes, still, I know, it’s almost Vuelta a Espana time!). But all seriousness aside, this is a good question to ponder. Continue reading →
Writing a blog three times a week may not seem like much work, but sometimes it is. Today is one of those days where I’m tempted to skip it, except so far this year I haven’t done that. I either write this blog or in my book for 30 minutes or 500 words, and it’s usually for an hour and over 1,000 words. Or more time and words, depending how much looking up stuff, dealing with photos, and going down rabbit holes. I just keep on doing my best to #Don’tBreakTheChain. After six months and 11 days, I ain’t about to quit. Or better put in tee shirt format:
This post is about the statistics of my blog, mostly over the last half a year. Ironically, screen shots paint a better picture without too many words. It comes as promised before my little rant about the U.S not living up to its ideals as a government or nation regarding its horrible, immoral immigration policy of separating children from their parents at the Texas border. Agree or disagree, but I believe I’m on the right side of the law, history and human decency on this one.
While some may appreciate my view and others may not, fortunately we do still mostly have freedom of speech in the U.S. And this blog is primarily an attempt to document my bicycle journey and to inspire others to do the same. It’s also an experiment in writing that I started January of 2016 but have not worked on intensively until 2018. That said, let me show you a look under the hood of http://www.ADudeAbikes.com (aka http://ADudeAbikes.WordPress.com)!
If you live in Austin and have read the local newspaper in the last 30 years, you probably know of Michael Barnes. He’s been covering arts, entertainment, culture, history, the city and its people and changes and more in some form or another in the Austin American-Statesmanfor most of that time. He’s also written two books, performed and taught theater at the University of Texas and St. Edwards University among other things for many years. He has a diverse presence on the internet with several blogs and social media sites, and probably alot of other things I’m sure I don’t know about. He also has a doctorate in theater, and oh, by the way, last year he was 2017 Best Journalist in the Austin Chronicle Readers Poll. So when I casually invited him to connect and he did, and then he invited me to meet him for coffee, what was A Dude going to say? I said yes, of course! Continue reading →
A Dude Abikes 