discipline

First Third of 2018: Round-up, Progress and Challenges

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 7 Comments

Today, May 2, 2018, I quietly observed my 18th year anniversary of moving back to Austin.  It was also the first day of the rest of my life since being laid off / liberated from my job of 11 years, the last day of which was six months and a day ago, on November 1st.  Accompanying those two milestones is the end of the first four months of the year.  With all of that, it seems like a good time to reflect upon where I’ve been, where I am, and where I’m heading.  Get out those oranges and reading glasses, because A Dude’s a-fixin’ to do some navel gazin’!  (Note to my non-US followers:  If you are not in the US, navel oranges are a common variety here, because they look like they have a belly button, aka navel.  And navel gazing — staring at one’s belly button — is a metaphor for self-rumination.  We don’t actually stare at it.)  Orange you glad I explained that? Continue reading →

I’ve Biked 1,000 Miles This Year. So What?

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 11 Comments

And I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred more
Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles
To fall down at your door

–The Proclaimers, “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”

Occasionally I tend to geek out on what I’m doing number-wise with my bicycle.  Today, it was passing 1,000 miles for 2018 thus far.  Not too shabby, but not as much as in 2016 (where I rode 5,306 miles) or in 2017 (where I rode 4,714 miles).  At this rate, by the end of 2018, I’ll end up just shy of riding 3,200 miles.  With the weather warming up, I expect I will increase my weekly goal from 50 miles to 75 or even 100.  But as my unemployment money dwindles, I will find myself scrambling for income, and that could diminish my activity level significantly.  A Dude’s gotta eat and have a roof.  But the numbers and what’s behind them are interesting, so click on to read the rest of this post. Continue reading →

Cool Things I Saw Biking: Trash Cat, Tree Spider and Two Movies

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 2 Comments

After last Friday’s post, Part 2 of my interview with David Walker, I decided to not publish a blog Saturday or Sunday. I think it’s a really interesting story and fairly well written, so I wanted more people to look at that instead of pictures of cats. Nothing against cat pictures or other things that I’ve been putting up on my book-writing days, of course! I also just wanted a break, so I took one. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, they say. Here without further ado are a recap and photos from my weekend.

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There Will Be Blog: 77.7 Miles Last Week + SXSW Day 4 with Oscar-Nominee Vera Farmiga + SLEEP Concert

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 7 Comments

“Don’t ever let somebody tell you you can’t do something. Not even me. You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People can’t do somethin’ themselves, they wanna tell you you can’t do it. If you want somethin’, go get it. Period.”  Will Smith in the movie as Chris Gardner from his book The Pursuit of Happyness

The Book: Something Written This Way Will Come

I drafted some notes and put down a plan to write my book that’s been in my head for a while. I still have questions and will need to find both some information and some inspiration about it, but the main thing is to write. Walter Mosley the celebrated author told me to take a year and do it. Leonard Maltin the well-known film critic told me to just write and expand my presence on social media. Mario the marketing guy at the Fox Sports party said I have a story and I should tell it. 151 blog followers are telling me to do it, indirectly at least. Continue reading →

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 →

27-Mile Brushy Creek Trail Ride + Peddler Bike Shop Stop

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 3 Comments

Sunday Started Without Any Sun

On a balmy, grey, at first foggy, then later somewhat sunny Sunday, A Dude rousted himself from his slumber and busted out a decent distance of a bicycle ride.  It was the first longer ride in a while, and it was done because that’s what he does, for fitness, fun and so on.  But also it was in order to make his 50-mile goal for the week and to have something to blog about.  So in a way, if you’re reading this, you’re partially responsible for making it happen! How is that for participation? And you didn’t even have to get up off your couch and bike 27 miles.  Here’s the quick map / video from Relive. 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 →

My 1,500 Consecutive Days of Yoga: Everyone Knows It’s Bendy

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 1 Comment

Still Stretchy After All These Years (4+)

Early readers of this blog or those new ones perusing the archives (welcome!) know that I have a daily yoga practice of 30′ (or more) going back to December 4, 2013.  (I count the anniversary as December 6th, because I lost two days to having been on anesthesia for an exam.)  When I counted up the days, the 1,500 benchmark seemed impressive enough to revisit.  I actually reach that day Monday but becoming a D-list celebrity steals that fire.  (I’m writing this Tuesday about this blog I forgot to finish on Saturday.) That’s OK, I’ll just do more yoga and it will calm the jangled nerves from all the paparazzi camped outside, clamoring for a few bon mots or a candid picture of A Dude Abikes. Continue reading →

It’s Late on a Sunday, and You Haven’t Met Your Goal. What Do You Do? (Day 7)

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010718 Strava photo bar.png
Check out this cool short map video of my Sunday night ride:  https://www.relive.cc/view/1346454488

It’s Good to Know Your Limits, So You Can Exceed Them

Dragon fruit at Wheatsville Coop. Not as smoky as expected.  For dragons.

It’s late on a Sunday night, cool and windy outside.  You’re tired after a long week.  But you haven’t met your bicycling (or running, blogging, yoga, walking,  crotcheting, or whatever) goal.  What do you do?

Well, you could stay in and rest, get ready for the week, and try again next week.  Or you could drag yourself out the door and go for it.  Only you know what’s best for you, but I can tell you what I did:  I went for it.  Why?  Because I like to push myself to see what I can do.  And I wanted to start the first week of the year meeting as many goals as possible.  Looking deeper, I can see that my motivation came from a desire for consistency in my bicycling practice, especially since I have cut my goal in half from two years ago to 50/week (although I may raise it again). Continue reading →

Soup-er Tired, but Good Things Are Happening Bike, Blog and Body-Wise! (Day 6)

~ A Dude Abikes ~ Leave a comment

Today I walked, talked, (but listened more), biked, job searched and now am blogging. I have yet to yoga-cize, but I will, even if I must take a sivasana siesta first. But I’m tired. Partially that’s because of having extra energy from the cleaner eating, which leads to doing more than I should (like spending too long on this blog), staying up too late, and then fatigue. Although I’m eating super healthy, it’s insufficient in quantity and diversity.

Also, I’ve started to notice a craving for fats, which I’ve somewhat managed to address with almonds or walnuts, seeds or avocado in my smoothie or soup, and peanut butter with an apple. I’m not having any grains, which is a big shock to the system. So my plan is to survive the seventh day then reassess what all I can and want to eat but also NEED to eat. I’ve had an image of a delicious pink/orange piece of baked wild salmon. Yum! (I guess you’d call that salmon-colored.)

Continue reading →