bicycle

Texas Mamma Jamma Breast Cancer Charity Training Ride #2: Bipping and Bonking Over 45 Miles

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 4 Comments

On Wednesday, I formed a neighborhood bike gang.  On Friday, one of my intrepid new bike friends said that she might want to join me on this training ride the next morning.  Romy offered to pick me up in her bitchin’ mini-van.  This was good news: The start time was an hour earlier due to the Austin, Texas heat, so I wouldn’t have to bike the extra six miles to the start.  

A Dude is trying to become an early riser again, but it’s a struggle when people around you are so often making noise.  But it’s always good to have new people to ride with, and maybe she’ll even join my official Team T.ime I.n T.he S.addle.  She said she’d call me at 6 am to decide, so I was going to be kept in suspense. Just like you’ll be unless you click the Continue Reading thing-a-ma-jig!

Continue reading →

How I Biked 167 Miles in One Week and You Can, Too

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 1 Comment

Does 167 miles seem like a long distance to ride your bicycle in a week? If not, and you can easily rattle off that distance in a single day, then this post (and blog) will probably bore you. Good on you! Thanks for stopping by and not being all judgy. (Like Rootchopper, currently doing 300+ miles per week on his big ass No Name Tour.) Does 167 miles in a week seem impossible? Well, if so, this may also not be for you. Of course you’re welcome to come along for the virtual ride.

But what if you’re in between those extremes and have ridden 100 miles in a week before? Maybe you’re thinking, “Hmm, if this middle-aged fathlete (who isn’t the typical skinny cyclist stereotype) can put up some pretty big numbers, then I wonder if I can, too?” Well, this is for you.

Continue reading →

I Eliminated 99% of Flour Products from My Diet for 18 Months, and Guess What Happened?

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 4 Comments

Nothing. That’s right: bupkis, nada, niente, zero, zilch. I lost 0 pounds of weight. In fact, I’ve gained a little lately, more from knee pain caused by biking my ass off (metaphorically — see my post coming up Wednesday). But after foregoing all the tasty treats, delicious delights and amazing amuse bouches out there for an entire effing year and a half, I really have nothing to show for it. It’s really quite unfair. Perhaps there are other health markers that are a better gauge, but the point was to reduce simple carbs to virtually nothing and eat whole grains. Of course I wasn’t perfect with it, and still have a major problem with sugar, but it’s no where near enough to make up for all the bread and stuff I used to eat. So, I’m gonna kvetch about this.

Continue reading →

Send A Dude to the Writers League of Texas Agents & Editors Conference!

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 3 Comments

The Getting Published Blues

I attended my fifth Writers League of Texas panel event in as many months on Thursday evening.  This was held a week before their 38th Annual Agents & Editors Conference.  Although I signed up to volunteer and attend some sessions, currently I am on a wait list.  Regular readers know I’m a struggling unpaid blogger and author of a memoir about two years of biking 10,000 miles.  But it’s a book in progress with no advance from a publisher.  I’d sure like to go, so keep reading and learn how you can help!

Continue reading →

A Mellow Evening at Austin’s Cool Community Yellow Bike Project

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 1 Comment

A friend who did me a big solid (aka favor) the other day has had a bike in a shed collecting cobwebs for a while. He’s been wanting to fix it up but was a little intimidated by going to the community shop, Austin’s own Yellow Bike Project. So I figured I’d help him out by assessing the situation and then get him going on repairs while I paid some attention to the neglected brakes of Sophie, my Fairdale. He’s shy and didn’t want his photograph or name mentioned, but I can still talk about the evening.

Continue reading →

5 Unexpected Perks of Being a Bicyclist in Austin, Texas

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 4 Comments

Sophie Gets Me Compliments

“Dude! That’s a sweet bike you’ve got there,” says a random person on a bike every week or two at a stoplight or while I’m locking or unlocking my bike. They’re talking about Sophie the sea foam Fairdale Weekender Archer, my main squeeze these days. “Yeah, she is, thanks. I won her in a raffle from Bike Austin,” I counter.

“Really? Wow, that’s great!” they say. “I love that color too, it’s really pretty.” I reply, a skosh sardonically, “Yes, she’s pretty, just like me. And she was worth $850 new! Lucky me, right?” That’s usually the extent of it. Some car people talk about their cars in a similar fashion, but it doesn’t seem the same. Back when I had one, 14 years ago, I didn’t have such conversations. It wasn’t pretty, it just got me from point A to point B.

BENEFIT #1: For me, these little chats are specific to being out on a bike. It’s a small thing, but they brighten my day. (Sophie loves it too.)

Continue reading →

Froomey Falls: 4-Time Tour de France Winner Blows His Nose… & His Chances

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 4 Comments

The sad news hit the cycling world that Christopher Froome, British rider for professional bicycle racing Team Ineos (formerly Team Sky), has broken his hip, femur, elbow and ribs and is out of 2019 Tour de France. “It’s just a bike race” he said after the terrorist truck attack killed 86 people and injured over 400 in Nice, France on Bastille Day during the 2017 Tour. What can we mere mortals learn from his epic fail? I’m so glad you asked. I’ll tell you if you click on “Continue reading.”

Continue reading →

A Blog About Something… and Inspiration from Rocketman

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 1 Comment

“No news is good news,” it is said. Well, maybe not if you’re in the business of providing news or views people can use. Like, say, in a blog. What may be my favorite TV show Seinfeld was reputed to be “a show about nothing.” But that was just bullcrud made up by the press because of a line said by George in the “show within a show.” The real one was about how comedians get their material. How do bloggers get their material? Well, as this blog is (mostly) about bicycling, there’s usually no shortage of people, places or things to talk about. Except like now, when nothing comes to mind. Please indulge me as I write a blog… about something. I know, how about Rocketman?

Continue reading →