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Thoughts and Images from my Second Day in the Hill Country

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 5 Comments

Today began early with several alarms rousting me from too short a slumber.  I got myself going and drove through rush hour and a thick fog to my appointment.  Afterward, I collected some things including a rear-view helmet mirror and some extra inner tubes from Sun & Ski Sports.  I dutifully walked the dog, we napped, and then we went to a park by the lake and walked around there.  I did some other stuff but now am writing this.  What follows are some photos and words about another day in the life of A Dude Abikes. Continue reading →

A Cabin, a Canine and a Car: A Week in the Woods to Write

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 12 Comments

A Dude learned an important lesson about posting to WordPress today:  don’t go back and forth between your cell phone and your computer.  While trying to upload photos, my whole post was deleted.  It was going to win me a blogging award, no doubt.  JK.  But now I have to try to re-create it from memory late at night.  Which isn’t going to happen for the most part.  Oy, how I suffer for my art!  Such is life.  Let’s move on. Continue reading →

Replacing My Brakes at Austin Yellow Bike Project

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 5 Comments

Tonight I took my old Fuji bicycle to the free community shop, Austin Yellow Bike Project. The brakes were very worn, which I consider a point of pride, because it means I’ve ridden my bike a shit ton of miles.  That’s right, I used a curse word. So sue me! I’m just trying to spice things up a bit. Actually, please don’t sue me. Normally A Dude Abikes is a family friendly blog.  We still have free speech here in ‘Merrikuh, don’t we?  But biking 10,000 miles in two years was so much work, one swear word doesn’t even begin to do that justice.  Anyway, YBP is cool, so let me tell you about it. Continue reading →

Lessons from My First Ride on the Mag Ascent Home Trainer

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 3 Comments

Overview

I finally fixed my flat and put the old Fuji Silhouette on the heavy Mag Ascent home trainer. Below is a shot of my GPS data on Strava. I went for 15.2 miles per hour for half an hour, which isn’t great but it is a ilttle faster than usual. I had it set on the lowest of three resistance levels, and usee the gears to get a slightly harder workout. The trainer is heavy steel so is not going anywhere. All you need is to fit the rear wheel correctly into slots, which is very intuitive at least with my bike, then prop up the front wheel; I used books. Overall it was sturdy, easy to get started on, and it doesn’t take up alot of room. Continue reading →

My 40th Post in a Row, 50 Followers and Lots More Views, but I Miss All the Bicycling

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 1 Comment

Gettin’ Bloggy Wid It

I began this year with the notion of blogging daily for a month.  Checked that box.  Now it’s a week after Groundhog Day, and I’m still going strongly.  (I thought my post from 2/2 was fun and whimsical, but it was not read by many, so here’s another shot at that post).  Since 1/1, my followers have doubled to 50 – including 11 new ones just today!  Other stats of views, comments and visitors are way up.  What does it all mean?

It’s all very interesting to me, and awesome.  Thanks, everyone!  I can see how having good content is important, as is engaging with others.  I’m still learning, and yet, I am feeling like I am not doing my job, because I am not riding my bicycle very much.  My medical challenges are holding me back and have me feeling like a sports player on the bench – really wanting to go in and play, but unable to.  This is hard pour moi. Continue reading →

Austin WordPress Meetup Google Analytics Class – Taught in Klingon

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I Don’t Know What I Don’t Know

After job search group, a Linked In consultation and a tasty nap, on a whim I looked at MeetUp.  There’s a WordPress group,  and they happened to be having a class on Google Analytics, a free software program to learn who’s looking at your website.  So I hopped on the trusty Fuji Silhouette and cruised downtown in the cool weather.  I’m sitting here feeling as if everyone else speaks Klingon, and I’m merely an Earthling.

A Dude is very right-brained, and this is left-brain stuff all the way.  Unless you have the luxury of money to hire a web person, learning this stuff is what one needs to do to get better in blogging, web mastering and so on.  For my first time out, it was too advanced.  But, I went, talked to some people, and got an ok feel for it.  So for me that’s a win.  Just like Charlie Sheen, A Dude likes WINNING! Continue reading →

Rubbing Shoulders with Bloggers Around the World and Writers at One Page Salon in Austin, Texas

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 10 Comments

Over the last few weeks I’ve been interacting a bit more with other bloggers.  It’s been really interesting to see what other people are doing around the world.  It’s also very nice that people are liking and commenting on A Dude’s work, so I’m trying to step up my game and return the favor as I’m able, which takes more time than one would expect.

Also, last night, I again attended the monthly event where writers read one page from a work in progress that’s held in my town.  Not only did I find more inspiration there, some fairly well-known folks were in attendance.  So here’s a blog about blogging and writing and all that jazz. Continue reading →

My Morning Chocolate: The Dark Master

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 14 Comments

My Cherie Amour

Whole oat groats, 77% dark chocolate, pumpkin seeds, raisins, apple slices, Breathe Easy tea, H20

I awoke to a gray, rainy day. The kind of day where if you’re jobless like A Dude, to not skip to the loo then roll back into bed seems wrong. Eventually slumber, if not lethargy, left my brain, and I heard her silently, even psychically, calling to me as she does most mornings. Smooth, silky, sexy. I cannot resist her, so I make my way to her. I greet her, but she is passive. But I know she is always there for me. I believe she is from Africa, but we don’t discuss it. My lips touch, a dark brown sweet caress. She melts at the heat. I let out a deep sigh. She’s delicious, so satisfying. She is my morning chocolate. Continue reading →

A Mundane Monday in the Life of A Dude Abikes: Nothing Ado About Much

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 3 Comments

And So It Begins

I started the day late after working on last night’s post about football and bicycling way too long.  I thought it was kinda brilliant, but I still needed to tweak the wording, add a link to an article or two (after reading them), a quote, photos, and the like.  I still question why I am blogging daily, because after a day, a whole five people have viewed that post, and of those, two liked it.  And that’s great, don’t get me wrong.  But I guess the answer is I’m doing this for me first, with hopes that some day a lot more people will find it useful, interesting, humorous, insightful, inspirational or something else good.  This is probably something many new bloggers go through. I never said I was a special — I’m just A Dude.  But hey, I’m out there stinking it up with the rest of the world, and lots of people ain’t. Continue reading →

What the Super Bowl Teaches Us About Sports Cycle-ology

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 5 Comments

10 Commonalities Between Football and Bicycling

Holly O and A Dude, reunited (and it feels so good – it’s a song)

A Dude Abikes is not a huge football fan since the days when he parked cars for the Dallas Cowboys as a Boy Scout.  He’d get in after the first quarter to watch “America’s Team,” but then they started doing drugs and he lost interest.  But it’s a sport, so I appreciate everyone’s efforts.  So when Holly O, a bad ass cyclist friend who is not on Strava whom I met on the “Don’t Fear The Finger” Prostate Cancer One-Day Ride in August of 2016 invited me south of downtown to watch the Super Bowl, I said sure, why not?

More than a few comparisons can be made between football and bicycling: Continue reading →