Austin

543 Miles in May 2018: My Next Best Month on the Bicycle Ever!

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 5 Comments

To say that I rode my bike alot in May is an understatement. 543 miles is 125 miles per week and almost 18 miles per day. My activity app Strava, paired with my Garmin GPS watch, are fairly accurate. Believe me, I feel it in my bones. Also, this was the hottest documented month of May in Central Texas ever. So I’m feeling pretty happy about that accomplishment, seeing how my original goal for this year was 50 miles per week. It could all change in a moment, and there are some things on the horizon which may mean I’m spending less time on the bike. But that’s all fine. For now, I’m satisfied that I still have some legs. Oh, and I also walked 45 miles. Today is a well-deserved rest day, so let’s dig into the stats a bit, shall we?

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A Bicyclist Rides Into a Bar: Some Bike Jokes I Wrote Just For You

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 8 Comments

I was going to write about yoga poses good for cycling. I looked online, and found a few articles with pictures, the Sanskrit names, technical descriptions and videos. Here’s one from Men’s Journal by Shawn Radley (with whom I corresponded with about maybe joining in a tour group during my trip to Montana): The Best Yoga Moves for Bikers. Having nothing much to add, and finding the topic boring even to me, I decided on some bike jokes. But instead of copying some from the internet, I’ll use this as a writing humor exercise and think of some myself. Let’s see what I can come up with on the spot!

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Conversation with an Author: Michael Barnes

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 2 Comments

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-Statesman for 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 →

Love to Ride Austin Biking Challenge

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 9 Comments

It’s Monday’s deadline, and I still have not come up with a topic for this post. It’s rather embarrassing. Sure, I could write about the biking I did over the weekend. But it was nothing spectacular and if I have grown weary of doing that (riding and writing), I suppose readers of this blog may have, too. There’s the book I finished reading and two more movies I saw, but some say only write about your specific blog niche. I could talk about blogging itself, my book in progress, bikes in the news, my struggling job search, health updates, (another) horrific school shooting, or politics. But finally it came to me, Love to Ride! Read on to learn more.

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One Fine Day: Free Massage, Bike to Work Day, Deadpool 2

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 5 Comments

Today was one of those days that in retrospect was pretty fine. Not a totally perfect day by all means. Nor just one perfect moment like Anthony’s blog, Today’s Perfect Moment, which you could check out. It was a collection of moments, feelings, experiences, thoughts and more that together were really quite nice. Any day that includes a beautiful stranger rubbing oil on your sore muscles, a hilarious movie, and bikes, well, that’s one fine day. Do you want me to tell you about it? OK, since you insist.

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Toolin’ Around at Austin Yellow Bike Project

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 7 Comments

For some time now, my left crank has not matched my right crank.  It was making me a little cranky!  So tonight I took a spin again to see my friends at the Austin Yellow Bike Project, www.AustinYellowBike.org.  The free shop has evening hours and is staffed by helpful volunteers called Coordinators.  Pete, Zack and Conti were there to offer pointers.  But it’s very much a Do It Yourself affair.  Come peek under the hood! Continue reading →

Wowza! A 40-Mile Ride Makes My 4th 100-Mile Week in a Row

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 4 Comments

It was a very lazy Sunday.  I hadn’t done anything much save read Sue Grafton’s penultimate novel, X, and lounge around listening to classical music.  I wanted to see a movie, but it was a hot 18-mile round trip, and I could just stay home in the safety and comfort of my little rented casita.  Pages were read and turned, the phrases “page-turner” and “couldn’t put it down,” both applied.  Meals were eaten.  Time ticked by.   “What was I going to have to blog about Monday?” crossed my mind more than once.  It was 6:00 pm.  The temperature had gone down, and the light was turning softer.  I was 10 hours too late for the group rides.  But like a cat starved for food or affection or both…  Continue reading →

First Third of 2018: Round-up, Progress and Challenges

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 7 Comments

Today, May 2, 2018, I quietly observed my 18th year anniversary of moving back to Austin.  It was also the first day of the rest of my life since being laid off / liberated from my job of 11 years, the last day of which was six months and a day ago, on November 1st.  Accompanying those two milestones is the end of the first four months of the year.  With all of that, it seems like a good time to reflect upon where I’ve been, where I am, and where I’m heading.  Get out those oranges and reading glasses, because A Dude’s a-fixin’ to do some navel gazin’!  (Note to my non-US followers:  If you are not in the US, navel oranges are a common variety here, because they look like they have a belly button, aka navel.  And navel gazing — staring at one’s belly button — is a metaphor for self-rumination.  We don’t actually stare at it.)  Orange you glad I explained that? Continue reading →

The Horror! Dockless Scooters Dumped in Austin

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 4 Comments

Today’s University of Texas at Austin publication, The Daily Texan, has a front-page story about the scourge of rentable so-called “disruptive” technology being dumped on our streets and the campus. See “Dockless scooters temporarily removed: New city ordinance suspends dockless scooters until companies obtain proper permits.” Basically these companies came in like Uber and Lyft and started operating illegally (or quasi-legally at best), and then the City of Austin had to play catch up and regulate them. We the citizens of Austin chased the ride-share companies out of town after an election, even though they cynically spent over $8 million.

As for rent-a-bikes, I don’t have as many problems with them, because that’s a big part of the point of this blog: more people can and should use bikes. But when they or scooters are clogging up the place, people dump them, vandalize them, or they obstruct lawful bike commuters and pedestrians, they’re a safety hazard to the operators and to others. So I have a few words about this. I’m like an antibiotic ointment: I’m topical!

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The Need for Speed: Watching Bicycle Races at the Driveway Series in Austin, Texas

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 2 Comments

Off to the Races!

Thursday evening I moseyed on down the Southern Walnut Creek Trail to a small racecar track in southeast Austin.  It was bike night, and the races were on.  I rolled up to a small sea of cyclists milling about, and a group of maybe 60 riding on the .62-mile track. Held from April to September each year, the Driveway Series (or just the Driveway, in Austin) was selected as the best races in the United States, according to a chat I had with the congenial and sometimes funny announcer Logan.  A former racer, he’s very familar with the sport and most of the riders, and was happy to share details between laps.

Sanctioned by USA Racing, these are the real deal.  There are different levels, 4/5 (beginners), 1/2/3, Masters (over 35), and Pro for men (which some women race in) as well as the same for women.  But it’s also a festive atmosphere with beer and food trucks, repair vans, sponsor tents, and music playing on the loudspeakers.  There were serious-looking cyclists from the not so fit to the super skinny lean young guys, and the super-strong beasts and some very nice and expensive bicycles.  Come along for a short lap!

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