discipline

A 61-Mile Ride in Photos and Words

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 7 Comments

There’s not much of a positive note going on in A Dude Abikes land, biking or otherwise, but at least I did manage my annual long bike ride earlier in October. It was pretty tough, mostly due to the month of July off of all bikes, then only on a stationary bike for small rides while alternating days swimming, and then eventually getting back on the road. (My 6 Years, 8 Months, and 19 Days Streak of Consecutive Daily Bicycling Is Over talks about that.) And then, I was only able to do one 30-mile training ride. Herewith are some images from and some words about the big (for me as an aging fathlete) ride.

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I got a very late start, around 2:30 pm because I was tired and not feeling it. It was also 94 F, which is abnormally hot for October in Central Texas. Plus, I had taken on a lot of water with some beet powder and also some protein, and those made me feel bloated and took a long time to, erm, pass. Eventually I got my stuff and act out there and rode over to my Happy Place, aka the Southern Walnut Creek Trail in east Austin, Texas. There are no cars, just other cyclists, pedestrians, and the occasional skater, which is really nice. And now the trail has been extended all the way to Manor, Texas. First up is my screenshot from Strava, the fitness tracker app. (Copyright 2026 Strava)

Below you see all the gear and goodies I took, the start of the trail, and A Dude Abikes in his T.ime I.n T.he S.addle custom jersey. I took my turn-of-the-century, steel-framed, skinny-tired Sommar, Fuji Finest bike that was gifted to me at a time when Sonnie, GT Arette, was temporarily stolen.

Images from the trail. They all show how dry conditions are; even the creek shown is low.

I stopped multiple times at the Austin Tennis Center, where nice guy and proprietor Lincoln gifted me with a Gatorade Zero as he did a few years ago.

As the golden hour approached, I was joined for about 15 miles by frequent guest rider Rhodney. We made it to Manor and turned around and came back. These shots of him turned out great.

More Manor. Not much to it, really. I thought I might make it there two times, but I detoured coming back and it got dark. I wrote a short poem to a strong rider I know who still goes on the group rides I used to do. He sort of jokingly hates Manor and makes no bones about it in his Strava ride titles. The poem starts like this: “Any dunce can go to Manor once. But to go there twice is twice as nice.” Which is not true, unless you live there, I suppose.

A few more random shots.

Here’s a telling final image from Strava. Not unexpected, but pretty sad. My new normal is not 100 miles a week, and often not even 50. Such is life after a setback.

One does what they can. The Dude Abides. But A Dude Abikes. Less, and slower, but still getting out there. Hope you’re doing what you can, too. Thanks for reading. ADAB, OUT!

Copyright 2026 A Dude Abikes. All rights reserved.

9/9/2026:  5 Weeks of Daily Bike & Swim in the Gym + Strava Stats

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 2 Comments

Another annual awful August arrived and then announced adieu in Austin, Texas. We now have hit 100°F or more for 41 days. Meanwhile, my slow and unsteady comeback has also been heating up. A break put the brakes on my outdoor biking for just over a month, while I managed to maintain my yoga and missed only one walk. Strava the sports app kindly provided graphics for last month’s activities. Let’s look at the stats.

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31 Days Without a Bicycle Ride:  Strange Days Indeed

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 3 Comments

When I stopped riding my regular non-electric bike after 6 year,s 8 months, and 19 days in a row, I didn’t know when I would be able to start again. Well, that day is today. Although I will be easing back into it with the home trainer, I started counting indoor bike rides long ago. (If you don’t like it, you can go to that new Japanese fusion restaurant that lawyers love, Sosuemi.) The point is, I’ll be back in the saddle again by this time tomorrow.

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1/11/2026:  5,011 Miles Bicycled in 2025, 6 Years & 4 Months of Daily Cycling… And I Get Pepper Balled at a Protest for Woman Killed by I.C.E.

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 2 Comments

Renee Nicole Good was killed–apparently unnecessarily–by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) officer at a protest of immigration policy in Minneapolis the other day, reigniting a protest movement with over 1,000 events across the country. Your dude attended one tonight that involved some angry young folks marching around downtown Austin and chanting anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) slogans. At one point, two people set a Department of Justice flag on fire. I thought it was dumb and counterproductive; and should have been my cue to leave. But the Texas Department of Safety–who was kicked out of a joint operation with the City of Austin for aggressive law enforcement actions–again overreacted by firing pepper balls that spew out a gas that causes eyes to water and breathing to become inflamed. This caused the crowd of several hundred to disperse coughing, wheezing, eyes burning. Some were prepared with gas masks and stayed in the smoke, and soon after many marched down Congress Avenue without a permit. Your dude was not too badly affected, and biked home. As I wrote on Strava, my sinuses needed to be cleared out from cedar fever, anyway.

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12/12/2025:  52,000 MILES BICYCLED IN 519 WEEKS!!!

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 14 Comments

A Dude Abikes has done it! I AVERAGED 100 MILES PER WEEK FOR A DECADE! I started tracking my miles on the Strava sports app on 12/19/2015, so I actually completed this monstrous achievement a few weeks early, on 11/28/25. This converts to 9 years, 49 weeks, and 2 days. It was all done on regular bicycles and trainer bikes under my own power (no e-bikes aka motor-cycles here!). My “epic velocimania” has reached its zenith, finally. What a lengthy, weird journey it has been!

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50,000 Miles Bicycled! A Dude Abikes Did It!

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 13 Comments

I begin this blog like I did my journey on December 19, 2015: One step / pedal / word at a time. It took nine years, six months, and eight days, but I did it! I rode bicycles for 50,000 miles. That means I have now traveled the distance of the equator TWICE. (You may recall my October 23, 2020 blog, AROUND THE WORLD IN 1,770 DAYS (24,901 MILES): 5-YEAR GOAL ACCOMPLISHED !!!) When I reached that goal, I titled my Strava ride “Planet Earth: Lap 2, Day 1?” Similarly, I titled my first ride after the goal, “The Start of Another 50,000 Miles? Just Be Here Now, A Dude. One Pedal Crank at a Time.” That’s all to say that there’s a lot to say about this. I’ll try to be brief.

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11 Years of Consecutive Daily Yoga Practice

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 4 Comments

The voice from behind me at the Safe Street Austin holiday fundraiser bar spoke, unbidden, deeply timbred, but friendly. “I happen to know a dude. And I would like to thank him for introducing me to Yoga With Adriene’s Yoga for Cyclists.” Surprised, I turned, and there was a tall, not dark (if a little greyer), and handsome man. He was much taller than I remembered, since I was used to seeing him on a bicycle, usually only at the beginning or end of training rides. Because those long getaway stems and thin frame are far faster than this fat and slow dude. His eyes glimmered with mischief, or maybe it was not his first brewski, while I only had a sparky water. We chatted; it was nice to see him in person, not digitally only on Strava. As it turns out, although I’ve met Adriene, I’ve not seen this video, but I’ve been doing my own yoga for cyclists as of today for 11 years. And that’s not nuthin’.

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Habits: Hard to Make, Easy to Break

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 4 Comments

Unless you’re a nun, the word “habit”–like making going to the gym a habit–may send a chill down your spine, send you burrowing into your bedsheets, or make you want to throw up a little in your mouth. We may want to do something that we know is good for us but is hard and not fun. This dude has made much ado of making daily habits, particularly yoga, walking, and bicycling. I’ve been keeping those and several others every day for several years, and the yoga for over 10 years. I first alluded to these streaks with a mention of “Don’t Break the Chain” in a post referencing Jerry Seinfeld. Type “habits” in the Search bar of this blog, and you’ll easily find some helpful posts on the subject. The experiment to see how long I could keep things going has been interesting, and I continue with those three daily practices. But with other habits, it was only a matter of time before life intervened. It turns out that I’m only human, after all. Assuming you are too, I hope there’s something in here about habits that will resonate for you.

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How Writing Has Helped My Bicycling

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 8 Comments

It’s Leap Day, 2024. Let’s jump right in. I have kept a journal for most of my life since being a young teen, encouraged by my maternal grandmother. There have been plenty of long gaps and since starting this blog in 2016, many days that I skipped both to work on my bicycle memoir. Writing is a way to express your feelings, and in a journal it’s private. Blogging is sometimes an online extension of that, depending how personal you want to get. Either way, helping to clarify thoughts, process emotions, outline goals, and refine motivation are all good for your health. Which in turn is both what one needs for any sustained exercise habit or practice and a benefit of the same. The fact that I’ve written a whole book (or two, since it’s too long–even as I try to revise it a third time, what it really needs is funding for an editor) is another way I’ve expressed myself, usually about all my biking. Sure, I could still ride a bike without writing, but both are entertwined and part of my daily do’s, and so far as I’m able to continue, I plan to and hope I will.

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