bicycling

This Is My 100th Blog Post — The Year in Review So Far

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 16 Comments

Well, I’ve done it!  I’ve made it to the mythical 100th blog post.  It’s my 69th of 2018, and I’ve totalled over 102,000 words since I began blogging on January 1, 2016.  It’s been an interesting, fun, exhausting experiment telling my story as a bicyclist as well as exploring other topics like health, politics, culture and more.  In this post I’ll review my progress thus far this year and look at what I still need to work on.  I stayed in today and unpacked more, organized alot, and cooked, and so I’m itching to go on at least a metaphorical ride.  Got your helmet on?  Good, let’s go! Continue reading →

SXSW Day 1: Legend + Party + Film = Fun!

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 12 Comments

Today kicked off the real festival(s) and conference(s), so I put my free badge earned from the many volunteer hours I worked by attending three events.

Introducing Comedy and TV Legend Dick Cavett

Dick Cavett exiting stage right.

I’m not old enough to have watched his original show and probably missed subsequent ones, but I certainly know who Dick Cavett is.  He took over the Tonight Show from Jack Parr, and since 1959 has been on television more than off un.  Considered “the thinking person’s host” due to his pedigree from Yale and intelligent questioning, he has an identifiable voice and droll sense of humor as well as an acerbic with.  This was on display tonight at Esther’s Follies, as the first comedy event of the festival.  I was lucky to get in and sat next to a cyclist from New York who said he brought his bike and had ridden 140 miles in two days.  Wow! Continue reading →

Intro v. Extro: What Type of Vert Are You?

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 5 Comments

Many years ago, when I was living in our nation’s cesspool, I mean capitol, I had the occasion to retake the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. This personality test, based on ideas by famous Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, shows you what your tendencies and preferences are in 16 different areas. One of the main categories is whether you are internally focused or externally focused, or introverted or extroverted.

I told the person grading the test they did it wrong, because my results were always the same, and I was right. I’m pretty much in the middle, but on the introverted sign. Working as a volunteer at SXSW EDU the last four days, I’ve been reminded that I need alot of down time to recharge from interacting with other people, whereas for extroverted people, they are energized by being with other people. So I thought it an interesting topic worth exploring a bit.

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Last Day in the Holler

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 2 Comments

After a few weeks in the country, today it was time to head back to the city.  I’m still unpacking and will be for some time, but I really enjoyed the experience of living in a cabin in the woods with peace, quiet and a dog named Buddy.  It was generally a great time and no coyotes or bobcats ate us, so that was great.  While the reason for being there was not great at all, I’m grateful for the opportunity to be able to have the time to write this blog and interacting with other bloggers.  Thanks to everyone who has been liking, commenting and following, but more importantly, actually reading what I write. Continue reading →

Foam Rollers for Post-Workout Sore Muscles: Beneficial or Torture?

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 10 Comments

Yesterday A Dude mentioned some ways to save money, and one of them was to go to massage schools.  To save even more money, a foam roller is a great way to keep your muscles limber and it’s free once you buy it.  I have owned one of these innocent looking cylinders of pain for a while.  But it tends to sit in the corner or hide out under the bed, lonely and neglected.  After yesterday’s ride, moving earlier in the week, and another day of wrangling boxes, I was feeling pretty tight.  So after a tasty nap next to Buddy the dog and doing my 30′ of yoga (which I’ve been at for over 4 years now), I dragged out the roller to smooth out the rough spots.  First I did a little online reading and for those unfamiliar am happy to share what I learned.  Let’s get rolling!

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13 Ways to be Frugal and Save Money When You’re Unemployed (Or Just Broke) + 18-Mile Bike Ride

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 5 Comments

Saving Money Is Simple and Sometimes Easy (Like Rawlins)

There are probably countless websites listing a far more coherent and cohesive list of places to go and things to do to save money.  Here is what I came up with today that began percolating on my ride.

1. Stay In. There are lots of things to do at home. Blog, cook, read, do yoga, make crafts or art, play cards or board games, read www.ADudeAbikes.com, etc. All are basically free.  Of course if you are a shopaholic or order pizza every day that’s a problem.  I find staying in is a way to save.

2. Barber, Beauty and Massage Schools. Why pay $30 for a hair cut, or too much for body care products and treatment, or muscle relaxation? If you don’t need a perfect treatment and have time, go where experienced students will do it much more cheaply, and are supervised.  I pay $20 for 5 haircuts and get to practice my Spanish while a number of Latina women stare at the one cutting my hair.  They don’t get alot of dudes.

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A Dog, A Dude, A Day

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 22 Comments

In a week’s time I’ll be back in my room in the busy, noisy, stinking city. The car will be returned to its owners and the process of “re-dogging” will take place. Over four long days I’ll be volunteering for the very large South by Southwest convention (SXSW). That will allow me to see most of the shows except sold-out headliners for free and hopefully do some networking, learning and basically being a tourist in my own town. A luxury of which being employed full-time has deprived me for almost two decades. I’m due for a little fun, especially in the “Live Music Capital of the World.” My search for relevant, rewarding and non-boring work will continue. As will this blog, I hope, but in reduced form while I also hope to re-start working on my book of biking 10,000 miles in 2 years. With these changes on the horizon, it seemed like a good day to reflect.

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News Flash: People of Color and Women Ride Bicycles, Too, Dammit!

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 15 Comments

Bikes Are Colorblind, They Just Want to Be Ridden

It’s Black History Month in the United States of America, so it would be bad form for a progressive to not pay homage to that (which I did earlier when mentioning the impact of the Black Panther movie) Some people have the mistaken belief that only rich white men in Spandex ride bicycles. They are wrong.

Where I live, I frequently see people of color riding bicycles, usually at night, apparently commuting home from work. They usually don’t have lights or helmets or fancy bikes. But they are cyclists just the same, risking their lives to go about their lives, which includes transporting themselves with their own people power. Leonel Hernandez, who died last month, was one of them.

Today, within the space of 10 minutes, I met a black dude named Ivory and a couple from Thailand named Nukul and Rung, each on a bike. You really meet the coolest people on bikes — of whatever color, status or nationality. You never would probably barely even see them from your motorized steel pollution cage.

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Doubt, Embarrassment and Fear: How to Manage the 3 Frenemies

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 2 Comments

The Needle Keeps Skipping on My DEF Jam Records

(Doubt, Embarrassment Fear = DEF) I’ve had a lot of DOUBT about my abilities to bicycle very far or fast, and especially on this hilly road. This has been a source of EMBARRASSMENT to me as someone who was featured in the paper for riding his bike a long way, not to mention being a blogger about bicycling. And due to two recent deaths of people on bikes, I’ve had alot of FEAR. After yesterday’s post about faith, both religious and secular, I felt a parting in the metaphysical clouds, which mirrored those in the sky letting in enough sun to dry the road sufficiently as it also warmed the earth. So I got on my bicycle, and being A friendly Dude, I brought my friends along for the ride. You can come along too as I describe it.

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