biking

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!

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Victory! Protected Bike Lanes on Shoal Creek Boulevard in Austin, Texas

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 8 Comments

After a several year grassroots campaign by members of Bike Austin and Walk Austin, victory was achieved! The City of Austin (Texas) announced it will construct a two-way protected bicycle lane on the west side of the major bike thoroughfare from 38th Street to Foster Lane. From that point to 183, it will put in one-way bicycle lanes on each side of Shoal Creek Boulevard (SCB). This is an important win for bicyclists of all kinds who use the street, as well as for pedestrians. Because currently it’s a mess of weaving in and out of parked cars, which can be deadly. The details are below.

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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.

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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.)

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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?

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The Next Door App Bike Haters Are at It Again

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 8 Comments

Every so often someone — always a car driver — gets on the neighborhood app called Next Door to bitch about bicyclists or biking infrastructure the City of Austin has installed. The latest is about some plastic bollards that make a semi-protected bike lane, narrower car lanes and additional concrete that is meant to be traffic-calming. It’s in what was designed to be a high-density, pedestrian and bike-friendly neighborhood. Named Mueller, after the former airport upon which it sits, it’s generally a safe area to bike. Except when you read what the aggressively bike-hating people are posting in Next Door. I wrote a previous post on this in January 2018. Now the haters are back, so of course I have a few choice words. (Of love – tough love.)

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10 Days of Walking and Hanging with Missy, the Cattle Dog

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 6 Comments

Returning readers will recognize that from time to time, A Dude is called upon to care take some animals. There has been Buddy Willis, Juniper and now Missy. When a friend offered me the opportunity to get away from the near-nightly next-door neighbors unsanctioned cantina. They serve beer and play loud northern music from south of the border (yes, that border, I’m in Texas), I jumped. There was also a house, seven chickens (all you can eat eggs!), and plenty of tell-oh-viz-yun. As for the dog, she was a handful, a piece of work, and a real character. So let me tell you a few things and show you some pictures of Missy, the Cattle Dog.

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My Meh May 2019 Strava Statistics: Slowing, Not Stopping

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 5 Comments

May is the fifth month, the last one until October when we Texans can hope for a few cool, low humidity days. Melinda May – she goes by just May – is the name of kick-butt ABC television show MARVEL’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. played by Ming-Na Wen. I didn’t know it had come back on so I got caught up on the first four episodes. Silly, outlandish, preposterous, and not exactly the height of the performing arts, I enjoy it because of all that — it’s fun. And may also means you might. So I might have kicked butt on the bike-book-blog-walking-yoga this month, or maybe it all kicked mine. Let’s look at the numbers to see. But here at A Dude Abikes, having the dedication to keep on showing up is half the game.

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Summer Is Coming: Surviving Cycling in Sunny Central Texas

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 8 Comments

If I had seen a second of that program about dragons and stuff on the Home Box Office channel, I could continue the allusion. But I haven’t so I can’t. But I can however tell you that the hotter-than-hell-fire breathing dragon that is summer in Central Texas is starting her terrifying approach. Temps are already topping out at the low 90’s in Austin, Texas. People, get ready, a lack of rain is comin’. I share my tips on how to deal. Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor in real life or TV. I’m just telling you how I deal with the heat. If you have or may have a medical condition that makes being outside dangerous, ask a real doctor, not a dude. This goes for everything on my blog. If my experience helps, great. But always use common sense, take responsibility, and you do you.

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