Three months from today, I’ll hopefully make it four years of daily cycling. For April-June 2023, I didn’t travel as far as January-March. I came up a couple hundred miles behind the goal for the year. In my last post, I encouraged you to ride your own Tour de YOU. That’s how I’m thinking about my biking these days in light of that little bike race going on across the pond, something called Le Tour de France. As always in these sort of taking stock blogs, I refer to my Strava fitness app stats. So let’s take a look.
Continue reading7/7/2023: Forget France! Ride The Tour de YOU & Fight Climate Change
It’s July and sunflower season, so that means it’s Tour Time. That is, Le Tour de France, that grueling 3,000-kilometer bike race and tourist advert. Sure, there are two other grand tours: the Giro d’Italia in June and La Vuelta de Espana later in summer. But France is the big dance. I used to be an avid watcher of it, then stopped for a while due to a certain disgraced US rider who was based here in Austin, Texas. I began watching it again, and then stopped again. Mostly because of the huge time suck involved watching andn not knowng many of the new crop of riders. I kinda miss it, but I’m just trying to make sure I get on my own bike every day. The spectacle of the Tour is captivating and the stories are interesting. But what if we got curious and made our own stories more interesting? What if we could find fascination in our short rides to the store, or the commute to work, the weekend jaunts on the trail, and more?
Continue readingSommar Time, and the Bikin’ Is Sweaty; I Heat It
Summer solstice was June 21, but the heat that’s normally in August arrived early to Austin and Central Texas. With multiple days over 100 F even before the official start of the sucky season, we’re sweating to the oldies two months early. Last year was the second hottest summer on record here, so pessimism for pain is high. So much for the slow descent into hell which gives us time to adjust. Mix in the urban heat island effect (thanks to so many people moving here and all the concrete from constructing more roads and houses), the El Nino weather pattern, and of course global warming, and it’s a recipe for hotness. What’s a bikin’ dude, and his trusty Fuji Finest bicycle dubbed Sommar, to do?
Continue reading6/6/2023: Owen Egerton’s Last One Page Salon
Owen Egerton founded One Page Salon nine and three-quarters years ago. Now he’s leaving for greener, cooler, and less politically conservative pastures than Texas. From Austin to Boston, to be exact. I wrote about this monthly series where writers read a page of a work in progress two months and two days ago here at this link. (You know you want to click and go read it and then come back. Be my guest.) But since this was his last OPS, it’s worth another post. It was a fitting tribute and send-off with some special guests. Let’s just say we all got a little verklempt from all the feels, as the kids say.
Continue readingBiking and Other Goals — When Will Power Isn’t Enough
Five months of 2023 are gone with seven to go. One may wonder–quite reasonably–where has the time gone? What have they accomplished thus far, and what’s to come? The year is almost half gone, so what is there to show for it? Only you can answer for yourself (and only YOU can prevent forest fires). In my case, it’s the usual, which is more than nothing, but it’s less than I’d like. Reflection can be good up to point (not great if you’re a vampire looking into a mirror). Action is what propels us forward. Into what, though? The breach? Good trouble, or the other kind? We can hope for the former, be realistic, and remain vigilant that bad luck may find us despite our best efforts to avoid it. We humans try to keep reevaluating and chipping away at our goals. But sometimes will power isn’t enough. Spoiler alert: I don’t have all the answers, but I think it has something to do with doing your best.
Continue readingThe 2023 International Annual Ride of Silence in Austin, TX
The third Wednesday in May is designated an international commemoration of those people who lost their lives while bicycling. It began in Dallas, Texas, where A Dude was hatched, after one man’s friend was cyxling and got hit and killed by a car. It has expanded to hundreds of cities and countries (222 and 14 respectively this year). It’s called the Ride of Silence, which I wrote about in “5/5/23: 5 Things You *May* Want to Do for Bike Month.” Here’s a recap.
Continue reading5/5/2023: 5 Things You *May* Want to Do in Bike Month
It’s that time of year in the USA when the sun has come out, the snow has thawed, and the flowers have bloomed. Basically, it’s the best time to, as Queen sang, “Get on your bikes and ride!” In Austin, Texas, it felt like 97 degrees thanks to the humidity coming up from the Gulf of Mexico. Your dude just managed to ride eight miles to the post office before a storm blew in some lighting, thunder, and rain. Summer in Austin often feels like you’re wearing a hot, wet blanket while you bicycle, but sometimes it’s nice after the rain with a breeze. Regardless of weather, biking is what we do here at ADudeAbikes.com, every damn day for over 3.5 years. Like they say, a rolling stone gathers no moss. By now, you MAY have gathered that National Bike Month is here, so here are five things to do in Austin but also beyond, if biking is your jam–or you want it to be. (Mmm, jam.)
Continue readingFrankenbike: Helping to Keep Austin Weird
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.
Continue reading3.5 Years of Daily Cycling & 2023 1st Quarterly Report
Way back B.P. (Before Pandemic), I started riding my bicycle every day. Today marks three and a half years, or 42 months, or 182 weeks and five days, or 1,278 days in a row. Also, I’ve walked daily with very few misses and many extra miles in five plus years, and I’ve done yoga daily (moreso nightly) over nine years. I continue to reflect on that, and it’s time to review my Strava activity stats for January-March 2023. Let’s take a look.
Continue reading4/4/23: Chillin’ at One Page Salon on a Breezy Tuesday
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.
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A Dude Abikes 