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4.5 Years of Daily Yoga Practice: How It Helps My Bicycling and Can Help Yours

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 11 Comments

1,634 days is a long time to do something consecutively, but today, June 6, 2018, marks that anniversary for me.  Back on December 6, 2013, I began a regular yoga practice of 30 minutes per day.  (It was actually 12/4/13, but I missed two days early on so I move the anniversary date up two days. If you want to get technical my anniversary is 12/25.)  The point is that I have continued practicing yoga ever since, every day – without interruption – at all.  I resolved to follow some advice I didn’t have words for at the time:  Don’t Break The Chain, when I blogged about forming habits back on January 2.  It’s ironic to be proud of what at heart is an humbling and internal practice.  But important milestones bear acknowledgement, and since a major thrust of this blog is to try to inspire people, my yoga is a major component of that goal, as well as my life.  Continue reading →

543 Miles in May 2018: My Next Best Month on the Bicycle Ever!

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 5 Comments

To say that I rode my bike alot in May is an understatement. 543 miles is 125 miles per week and almost 18 miles per day. My activity app Strava, paired with my Garmin GPS watch, are fairly accurate. Believe me, I feel it in my bones. Also, this was the hottest documented month of May in Central Texas ever. So I’m feeling pretty happy about that accomplishment, seeing how my original goal for this year was 50 miles per week. It could all change in a moment, and there are some things on the horizon which may mean I’m spending less time on the bike. But that’s all fine. For now, I’m satisfied that I still have some legs. Oh, and I also walked 45 miles. Today is a well-deserved rest day, so let’s dig into the stats a bit, shall we?

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A Bicyclist Rides Into a Bar: Some Bike Jokes I Wrote Just For You

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 8 Comments

I was going to write about yoga poses good for cycling. I looked online, and found a few articles with pictures, the Sanskrit names, technical descriptions and videos. Here’s one from Men’s Journal by Shawn Radley (with whom I corresponded with about maybe joining in a tour group during my trip to Montana): The Best Yoga Moves for Bikers. Having nothing much to add, and finding the topic boring even to me, I decided on some bike jokes. But instead of copying some from the internet, I’ll use this as a writing humor exercise and think of some myself. Let’s see what I can come up with on the spot!

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Un-Fat Is Not All That:  Being Overweight May Have Some Health Benefits

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 9 Comments

Survey Says:  Fat Could Help You Live Longer

According to an article in the May 25, 2018 Austin American-Statesman a new study finds obese patients are more likely to survive certain conditions and illnesses when hospitalized.  It originally appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and is by by Najja Parker.  It says that while of course being fat is bad for your heart, blood sugar and more, “the extra fat could have some benefits, according to a new report.”

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Bike Austin Group Ride + 80’s Movie Quicksilver = Cheese & (Kevin) Bacon

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After 1984’s Footloose, which your blogger certainly saw at the time but doesn’t recall his reaction to, Kevin Bacon was very popular. He chose to follow up a decent movie with one about a broker who loses his shirt in the stock market and becomes, quite logically, a bike messenger! There’s drama, action, love interests, an 80’s cheestastic soundtrack, and lots of bikes. The Alamo Drafthouse, which is known for showing all kinds of wacky movies, hosted, and Bike Austin Education Fund was the beneficiary. A Dude loves cheese a bit too much and also bacon, though I have mostly low-sodium turkey variety in my fruitless quest for health. (Well, I eat a lot of fruit, actually.) So bikes, cheese and a big helpin’ o’ Bacon (Kevin, that is)? Sign me up!

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Toolin’ Around at Austin Yellow Bike Project

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 7 Comments

For some time now, my left crank has not matched my right crank.  It was making me a little cranky!  So tonight I took a spin again to see my friends at the Austin Yellow Bike Project, www.AustinYellowBike.org.  The free shop has evening hours and is staffed by helpful volunteers called Coordinators.  Pete, Zack and Conti were there to offer pointers.  But it’s very much a Do It Yourself affair.  Come peek under the hood! Continue reading →

200th Blog Follower! Plus, New EU Privacy Rules Every WordPress Blogger Should Heed & R.I.P. Sue Grafton

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200 Followers: I’d Like to Thank the Academy

200th Followers

I recently received the awesome news that my count of blog followers has hit 200! (Actually, it’s now 209, thanks to one more and those getting it through email.) It’s not a huge number compared to many, but I’m really grateful, since I started the year at 20 followers. So thanks to everyone, especially if you are actually reading my stuff! You know who you are. My intention was to list followers 101-200 in a post, as I did with the first 100, but there’s not an easy way to do that. If anyone knows how to download one’s follower list in a spreadsheet format, please let me know!

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A Dude Walks Into a Cardiologist’s Office…

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 9 Comments

…Where I Saw a Moving Painting of a Goat. I Said to it Softly: Be Still My Bleating Art!

I passed through the clinic atrium and sat in the antiseptic, bright, white-walled room. I waited, patiently. The doctor had kept me there for almost an hour and half, and I was losing heart. The cheap clinic clock hands were so loud, they really ticked me off. News on my phone was about the horrible, overweight US president yelling about quitting the nuclear agreement with Iran. Tinyhands Orangehead was so angry and red-faced that he looked lipid.

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The Fairdale Weekender Archer: A Review of My New Bicycle I Won in a Raffle!

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 22 Comments


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Fortune Favors the Bold

This super-exciting event started with a routine administrative procedure.  Last November I renewed my membership to Austin’s biggest advocacy and educational bicycle organization, Bike Austin.  A merger of the former League of Bicycling Voters and Austin Cycling Association, BA came to my attention due to a past landlord (who shall remain nameless and faceless, at least until I can unearth a photo he okays).  I finally joined, began volunteering, entered a raffle and voila!  I won a BRAND… NEW… BIKE! Continue reading →

1,096 Days (3 Years) of Daily Yoga Practice 12/6/16:  Boy Is My Assana Tired!

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Biking and Yoga:  Two Complementary Practices

a-dude-at-eastside-yoga-120516
A Dude Abikes, before yoga class bliss.

Yes, you read that correctly.  Today I have completed my third year of daily yoga.  Technically I began on 12/4/06, but I missed two days right before Christmas for a medical thing, so I count 12/6/13 as my yogaversary.  Purists would say my uninterrupted consecutive practice began on 12/25/13.  However you count it, it’s a heckuva lotta downward-facing dogs, which is something worth celebrating and announcing to the infinitesimal corner of the internet in which A Dude Abikes inhabits.

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