bicycling

A Dude Abikes Likes: 5 Legal, Natural and Safe Products to Help You on Long-Distance Bicycle Rides

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 1 Comment

There are few topics in cycling, at least professional, that are more perennial than doping, the use of performance-enhancing drugs.  Especially in Austin.  Need I say more?  I think not.  (If you’re confused, read this.)  The good news is that there are plenty of legal and safe substances that non-professional riders have tried to make the rigors of long-distance bicycling more tolerable and less damaging to our bodies.  Forthwith and posthaste, here are five of A Dude Abikes’ favorite over the counter sports aids.  DISCLAIMER:  While someone who used to know me called me Dr. Feelgood, I am not a physician, so please check with an actual medical doctor or nutritionist before taking anything new. Continue reading →

My 40th Post in a Row, 50 Followers and Lots More Views, but I Miss All the Bicycling

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 1 Comment

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 →

Austin WordPress Meetup Google Analytics Class – Taught in Klingon

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I Don’t Know What I Don’t Know

After job search group, a Linked In consultation and a tasty nap, on a whim I looked at MeetUp.  There’s a WordPress group,  and they happened to be having a class on Google Analytics, a free software program to learn who’s looking at your website.  So I hopped on the trusty Fuji Silhouette and cruised downtown in the cool weather.  I’m sitting here feeling as if everyone else speaks Klingon, and I’m merely an Earthling.

A Dude is very right-brained, and this is left-brain stuff all the way.  Unless you have the luxury of money to hire a web person, learning this stuff is what one needs to do to get better in blogging, web mastering and so on.  For my first time out, it was too advanced.  But, I went, talked to some people, and got an ok feel for it.  So for me that’s a win.  Just like Charlie Sheen, A Dude likes WINNING! Continue reading →

Rubbing Shoulders with Bloggers Around the World and Writers at One Page Salon in Austin, Texas

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 10 Comments

Over the last few weeks I’ve been interacting a bit more with other bloggers.  It’s been really interesting to see what other people are doing around the world.  It’s also very nice that people are liking and commenting on A Dude’s work, so I’m trying to step up my game and return the favor as I’m able, which takes more time than one would expect.

Also, last night, I again attended the monthly event where writers read one page from a work in progress that’s held in my town.  Not only did I find more inspiration there, some fairly well-known folks were in attendance.  So here’s a blog about blogging and writing and all that jazz. Continue reading →

My Morning Chocolate: The Dark Master

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 14 Comments

My Cherie Amour

Whole oat groats, 77% dark chocolate, pumpkin seeds, raisins, apple slices, Breathe Easy tea, H20

I awoke to a gray, rainy day. The kind of day where if you’re jobless like A Dude, to not skip to the loo then roll back into bed seems wrong. Eventually slumber, if not lethargy, left my brain, and I heard her silently, even psychically, calling to me as she does most mornings. Smooth, silky, sexy. I cannot resist her, so I make my way to her. I greet her, but she is passive. But I know she is always there for me. I believe she is from Africa, but we don’t discuss it. My lips touch, a dark brown sweet caress. She melts at the heat. I let out a deep sigh. She’s delicious, so satisfying. She is my morning chocolate. Continue reading →

A Mundane Monday in the Life of A Dude Abikes: Nothing Ado About Much

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 3 Comments

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 →

What the Super Bowl Teaches Us About Sports Cycle-ology

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 5 Comments

10 Commonalities Between Football and Bicycling

Holly O and A Dude, reunited (and it feels so good – it’s a song)

A Dude Abikes is not a huge football fan since the days when he parked cars for the Dallas Cowboys as a Boy Scout.  He’d get in after the first quarter to watch “America’s Team,” but then they started doing drugs and he lost interest.  But it’s a sport, so I appreciate everyone’s efforts.  So when Holly O, a bad ass cyclist friend who is not on Strava whom I met on the “Don’t Fear The Finger” Prostate Cancer One-Day Ride in August of 2016 invited me south of downtown to watch the Super Bowl, I said sure, why not?

More than a few comparisons can be made between football and bicycling: Continue reading →

It’s Groundhog Day!  Desmond Tutu, Ballerina Tutus and Deep Thoughts About Unemployment on 2/2

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 1 Comment

“Okay, campers, rise and shine!  And don’t forget your booties, ‘cause it’s cold out there today…. It’s Groundhog Day!”  — radio announcers in the movie Groundhog Day, 1993

Just Another Fruitless Friday

If you know the Bill Murray – Andie McDowell classic romantic comedy as well as A Dude does, every February second when you wake up, you hear the radio announcers (in your head) loudly proclaim their glee about what day it is.  It being Austin, Texas, it’s not snowing or even  freezing, but it is a little cool.  Whether Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow or not, there are still six weeks left until the spring equinox. Continue reading →

January 2018: 31 Days of Blogging, Dieting, Walking and Yoga-ing

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 4 Comments

I just finished a whole month of daily activities, three of which I wasn’t doing before.  I feel slightly stronger in some ways, but in others, I’m exhausted.  Still sick from something, probably cedar allergies combined with anemia.  But I’m eating better.  I spent a lot of time at this laptop.  So let me break it down.  No, I’m not going to rap, don’t worry. Continue reading →

ADAB Interview #1: David Walker: Engineering a Comeback from a Life-Altering Event (Part 1)

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 21 Comments
David Walker 5.jpg
David Crittenden Walker.  © 2018 photo courtesy of Alan Pogue, Texas Center for Documentary Photography.  All rights reserved.

EDITORIAL NOTE:  These are the facts *as I heard them*, but any opinions or errors are mine.  A better way of putting it is that this is a story, not word-for-word reporting.  As with all writing of stories, there is no such thing as absolute fact and objectivity, as much as we may strive for it or fool ourselves into thinking there is.  Not only was there no way to check many of the facts, and I took the subject at his word, there is the passage of time, choice of words, fading of memory and downright embellishment.  The story as told by the interviewee is filtered through the lens, bias and experience of the interviewer.  So is it true?  Who knows?  Everyone knows David’s a big fat liar.  But we hope you’re entertained and inspired anyway. Continue reading →