The voice from behind me at the Safe Street Austin holiday fundraiser bar spoke, unbidden, deeply timbred, but friendly. “I happen to know a dude. And I would like to thank him for introducing me to Yoga With Adriene’s Yoga for Cyclists.” Surprised, I turned, and there was a tall, not dark (if a little greyer), and handsome man. He was much taller than I remembered, since I was used to seeing him on a bicycle, usually only at the beginning or end of training rides. Because those long getaway stems and thin frame are far faster than this fat and slow dude. His eyes glimmered with mischief, or maybe it was not his first brewski, while I only had a sparky water. We chatted; it was nice to see him in person, not digitally only on Strava. As it turns out, although I’ve met Adriene, I’ve not seen this video, but I’ve been doing my own yoga for cyclists as of today for 11 years. And that’s not nuthin’.
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Safe Streets Austin Had Another Fundraising Party, So I Went
Safe Streets Austin, formed from the merger of Bike Austin, Walk Austin, and Central Texas Families for Safe Streets, had their annual fundraiser back in late November. Yours truly attended their first one a couple of years ago, missed last year (though am not sure they had one), and was invited again this year. I’m filing this belated report. Don’t sue me. I know lawyers.
Continue reading11/11/2024: A Month After My 59-Mile Ride and 5-Year Daily Bicycling Streak, I’m Still At It
If you missed the belated edits to my last post, 10/10/2024: What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been: 5 Years of Consecutive Daily Cycling Tomorrow, please go check it out first. I’ll wait. (Cue the Jeopardy theme music.) It was written the day before my big annual ride. The spoiler version is that I managed my 59.59-mile bike ride, and I’m still doing the deed daily. Although I’m biking slower for various reasons. Extra weight from high stress and low sleep and also after stopping a gig where I walked five to seven miles a day. Biking 100+ miles a week might have something to do with being tired. Whatever, each mile counts. And the only race I’m in is against myself. Or maybe Death. And we all lose that one, eventually. But not today, Death. Not today.
Continue reading8/8/2024: The Twelve Days of Bike Trainer
With lingering pain from getting knocked off my bike by some cracks in the road, I took to the gym and home trainer to take the pressure off. Here’s a little post about the pro’s and con’s of sitting and spinning–literally.
Continue readingHabits: Hard to Make, Easy to Break
Unless you’re a nun, the word “habit”–like making going to the gym a habit–may send a chill down your spine, send you burrowing into your bedsheets, or make you want to throw up a little in your mouth. We may want to do something that we know is good for us but is hard and not fun. This dude has made much ado of making daily habits, particularly yoga, walking, and bicycling. I’ve been keeping those and several others every day for several years, and the yoga for over 10 years. I first alluded to these streaks with a mention of “Don’t Break the Chain” in a post referencing Jerry Seinfeld. Type “habits” in the Search bar of this blog, and you’ll easily find some helpful posts on the subject. The experiment to see how long I could keep things going has been interesting, and I continue with those three daily practices. But with other habits, it was only a matter of time before life intervened. It turns out that I’m only human, after all. Assuming you are too, I hope there’s something in here about habits that will resonate for you.
Continue reading5/5/24: It’s Bike Month (Again). Does It Matter?
It’s that time of year–May aka Bike Month–when we’re supposed to celebrate bicycles extra hard. Why? Because the League of American Cyclists and other groups say so. The other 11 months you can just fuggehaboudit. There’s Bike to School Day; Bike to Work Day with breakfast tacos, free swag, a self-congratulatory after-party; a Clinic on beginning City Cycling (not for the faint at heart); a Frankenbike sale; and so on. But we here at A Dude Abikes have to ask the hard-hitting questions that our award-unwinning journalistic reportage and yooge, bigly ethics require and wonder: Does Bike Month ever really accomplish its goals? Does it matter? To quote the great pop rock band Chicago’s question in a song: “Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?”
Continue readingTop 10 Tips for the Aging Cyclist
Hi. Your dude here. I recently griped again about that which ails me. I’m somehow but barely managing to keep biking each day, even when it’s slow to low mileage. It occurred to compile a list, a la Letterman (David), though not as amusing, but more useful. (No wives were cheated on my or interns schtupped in the making of this blog post, having neither, wife, intern, nor hit TV show.) Anyway, if you’re doing things right, you are currently still alive as you read this and so you’re aging, too. Very relatable. So, if you bike, walk, hike, run, swim, etc. you might resonate with the idea that the old bod is not able to do what it used to do (be do be do). Without further ado, and no doo doo, here’s…. Dudey!
Continue reading4.5 Years of Consecutive Daily Bicycling, and This Dude Is Pretty Damn Tired
“Everybody’s “got something.” That’s the title that Good Morning America host Robin Roberts gave to her book about fighting then recovering from cancer–twice. I’ve mentioned–okay, complained–about the various things that my body’s got plenty of times. I guess this is another one of those times. Because despite the milestone of daily riding my bicycle, my mileage is miserable, my Strava stats simply suck, and this dude’s definitely dealing with downright dullness. But for some perspective, the moon and sun achieved totality in eclipse the other day here in Central Texas. It was pretty cloudy and anticlimatic especialy for all of those who plunked down thousands to come see it. This dude, and the Earth, spin on.
Continue readingPoem: Call Me Not Ismael, but Rather A Dude Atrikes!
This blog post takes the form of a poemContinue reading
Your feet, they're Longfellows
Alas, ye hardly know 'em
Yada yada, the punster bellows.
On St. Patrick’s Day, How the Bicycle Helped Bring Feminism, Freedom, and More to Ireland
Today is the holiday of St. Patrick’s Day which falls during International Women’s History Month, plus it’s been two weeks since my last post. Also, I’m a quarter Irish-American myself. All together, those are as good a reason as any to blog. But when it comes to bicycling and Ireland, I don’t know much. Sure, I’ve heard of famous Irish pro cyclists Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche, and Dan Martin (born in England but a dual national, given his mother is Irish and related to Roche). I enjoyed watching the latter back when I tuned into the Tour de France. Martin was a cheeky breakaway and mountain climbing specialist. Professional sports isn’t for 99.9% of people who bike, though. There’s also that Idlecyclist chap, the fellow blogger who’s doing more hiking these days. (No judgement, and it still rhymes). But it was fascinating to learn that the bicycle has an important role in Irish history.
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A Dude Abikes 