Five photos from my day. Please scroll to the bottom in case the bunch of extra space I can’t delete that WordPress has inserted is still here.
Baby Friday: Let Me Show You a Few Things
anemia
10th Film in 10 Days + 81-Mile Week by Bici
Check out my ride on Strava and some photos from my Sunday. Continue reading
Stormy: Weather, News and Mood + Movie Review: Phantom Thread
It was a dark and rainy morning. After a late night re-creating my blog that the crappy wifi connection ate (I’ve since installed a wifi extender), I awoke to thunder and lightning. So I padded over to the toilet, the one that is inside the shower stall, Asian-style. Job done, I stumbled back to the cubby hole that my bed is in, drew the curtains, and slept as long as I could. I dreamt vividly, but of what is now shrouded in the folds of my hippocampus. Which always sounds like a university for hippopotamuses. Or hippopotami, to use the correct Latin. I awoke in a foul mood.
- Also Stormy. CBS News / 60 Minutes
An Aborted Ride in the Rain Due to a Flat Tire, but Buck’s Bikes Came to the Rescue!
Finally I made it out to ride my bike, but then it rained and I got a flat. I had a jacket and was warm enough, and could have replaced the flat myself, but I had a bike date, if you can believe that, so I couldn’t be late. Also, since I had just replaced the tube recently, I knew something was going on that required more expertise. Luckily I was literally stopped right outside a bike shop when I noticed the flat. Before I go any further, please click on this link to see a cool short map video of my ride: Continue reading
Thoughts and Images from my Second Day in the Hill Country
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
My 40th Post in a Row, 50 Followers and Lots More Views, but I Miss All the Bicycling
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
A Mundane Monday in the Life of A Dude Abikes: Nothing Ado About Much
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
Sunday Summary: South By Southwest, Supplements & Sleep
South by Southwest, Sign Me Up!
Today I cycled on down to the Austin Convention Center to sign up for the first time as a South by Southwest (SXSW) volunteer. It was a pretty diverse and interesting group of folks, with lots of crews vying for our attention. I settled on a crew that would allow me to work just during the education portion so I could enjoy the whole rest of the conference. My perk for those 52 hours will allow me to get into the music festival for free (it’s $1,200 to register) and some venues like film, comedy and so on.
Did You Know You Can Get a Free Health Coaching Session at Natural Grocers?
Still Cold Out, but A Dude Must Ride
It was down to 18 F last night with still some icy patches on the ground, so today was not a great day to get out. But there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, it warmed up a bit so I put on 20 articles of clothing and headed out. Unless this is the first post you’ve read (and if it is, Yay! Welcome!), or if you’ve read the article about me in MLK Day’s Statesman, you know that some ongoing topics of this blog are food, diet, and weight loss. About six weeks ago, I signed up for a free health coaching session at Natural Grocers, the Boulder-based health food store. I figured I’d tell you about this useful tool you may not know about. (NOTE: This is not a sponsored post, but if anyone from Natural Grocers wants to pay me for it, please get in touch!)
When It’s Too Cold and Windy to Bike, Have a Massage, Walk and Bath
Alternate Your Training to Recover and Avoid Burnout
After 2016’s average 100 miles per week of cycling (see 5,306 Miles in 2016: A Dude Abikes’ Year of Bicycling Vigorously), I received some very good advice from bad-ass bicyclist buddy Bryce who rode over 6,000 miles last year, helped A Dude out on part of an 80-mile ride New Year’s Eve of 2016 — while he was sick! — as well has contributed to a number of my charity rides, is activity with Please Be Kind to Cyclists, and organizes their annual Ride of Silence honoring cyclists killed by cars. I don’t remember the exact words, but they were something like:
“Take some time off the bike. If you don’t really miss it, maybe do some other things. If you do, then get back on.”
Sage words indeed. I did that last year, but not this one. Thanks to my depleted iron stores, I’ve been forced to slow down now. Exercise-induced anemia is a real thing, as this scientific extract from the British Journal of General Practice shows. Apparently my “Epic Velocimania” (4,714 miles in 2017) wore me out more than I knew. The week of severe restriction to fruit, nuts and seeds did not help A Dude’s energy. Continue reading
