fathlete

More Pucking Functures! Five Fixes for Frequent Flats Free From Frustration

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 7 Comments

Lately I’ve had a string of bad luck with holes in my tires. It’s like Jack Alehurst of Life Behind Bars said, if he were Jerry Seinfeld: “Doncha hate it when you’ve been off your bike for a while and finally decide to go for a ride, only to find it has a flat tire?” Or maybe Robin would say to the caped crusader: “Holy holes, Batman!” Well that’s been a factor for me this last week. Some mysterious, one my fault, and well, it gets frustrating and expensive. So here’s a little recap and then a little advice.

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Fast & Furious Fun: Ethan’s Going Away Alley (Oops!) Night Ride

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 1 Comment

 

This post was going to be about an open house held by the City of Austin Transportation Department which I attended.  It was about the redesign of a nearby street to have bike lanes, sidewalks, trees and parking.  Not terribly exciting, yet pretty interesting at the same time.  But then this happened.  So I’ll save that for another day (or not), and tell you about this crazy, wild-ass, scary, dangerous, and fun ride.

Check out this ride on Strava.

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40-Mile Charity Ride for Breast Cancer: No Need to SAG

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 9 Comments

Oops!  I did it again.  Rode my bike for charity.  The 10th Annual Texas Mamma Jamma Ride to Beat Breast Cancer, to be precise; my third participation.  While the ride was many things, the most important thing is that I have so far raised $1,554 for the seven area non-profits benefiting from this event.  The money will go to provide services to women living with the disease.  And, I’m still hoping to raise more.  You can help at this link:

Give here:  https://Fundraisers.MammaJammaRide.org/ADude-Abikes

Before anyone gets up in arms about the title, SAG stands for Support and Gear.  (I almost said panties in a wad, but decided it was in poor taste.)  SAG is the vehicle that roams around the course in a bike ride with extra tubes, tires, food, water and first aid.  And while the day featured rain, wind, sun, loose dogs, crashes, tutus, and longhorn cattle (not the miraculously currently 3-1 winning University of Texas football team), and even a flat tire that the SAG car did help out with a little (so I wouldn’t get my hands oily), A Dude Abikes has a clean sheet so far of never having to SAG out.

So here’s the low down on the non-SAGging breast cancer charity ride.

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A Random Rest Day Potpourri Post After a 153-Mile Week on the Bicycle

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 7 Comments

It’s blog deadline time again.  Usually I have no problem coming up with a topic.  Tonight I kind of did.  I notice my posts tend to fall in several categories:  a status report on my biking / walking / yoga / dieting / blogging / book-writing; something educational, entertaining or informative about bicycling; something off-topic but tangentially related to riding a bike; and then the totally random rave, rant or other piece like a movie review.  This one is kind of a mix of the first and last.  I’m as curious to see where it goes as hopefully you are, and  I hope you like the smell of potpourri! Continue reading →

My August 2018 Biking and Walking Stats on Strava

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 3 Comments

This post is a brief review of my walking and biking in August through pictures, courtesy of the fitness tracking application, Strava.  Check ’em out, and enjoy all my sweaty efforts!  I’ve added alot of additional fun facts about my riding for those of you who geek out on numbers, or are just curious what a month of disciplined, diligent bike riding looks like.  Hopefully you had a few accomplishments too, and feel free to share them in the comments.  All images are Copyright Strava 2018.

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The Return of Sophie the Sea Foam Fairdale Bicycle!

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 1 Comment

Back on February 27, 2017, I had the good fortune to collect a fantastic prize, The Fairdale Weekender Archer: A Review of My New Bicycle I Won in a Raffle!  After a year, I decided to not ride the Fairdale until I Just Passed 10,000 Miles Riding My Fuji Bicycle in 2.5 Years. That’s Awesome! about a month ago.  On June 25, I had An Imagined Chat With My Fairdale Weekender Archer Bicycle.  And as of September 1, I’m happy to announce that I have begun riding Sophie the Sea Foam Fairdale again.  So here is a post about that.

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Mis Cinco Razones por qué La Vuelta a España Es Muy Interesante Si Ud. Es una Ciclista o No

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 7 Comments

[NOTA: Este blog NO incluye spoilers.]

la vuelta 2018 la pasion que te toca

He estado mirando La Vuelta a España, y no estoy desilusionado. Es la tercera de los tres Grandes Vueltas, y también la menos reconocido. Pero todavía nos ofrece una oportunidad mirar a los profesionales de bici haciendo un montón de millas y montanas también, con rapidez, chocos, accidentes y más – entonces, toda la dramática de Francia y Italia. En este blog, toco en unos de los asuntos en por qué a mí me da gusto y tal vez hará la misma para Vosotros. ¡Es la pasion que te toca!

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Some of the Bike Blogs I Follow and Update on A Dude Abikes – The Book

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 8 Comments

Sometimes (like now) when I find myself lacking a topic, I’ll peruse other blogs on WordPress for ideas.  There’s Biking in LA who does a very regular coverage of all things bike (including way too many accidents) in, you guessed it! — Los Angeles.  Jack Akehurst, Life Behind Bars (as in handlebars – clever!) just wrote about his riding and use of Strava over in Nottingham, England.  Half-fast Cycling Club from Washington State I think is almost done with a very impressive cross-country cycling tour.  Pam LeBlanc, Fit City is here in Austin, Texas (ATX); she just covered the arrival of the Texas 4000, a ride to Alaska for cancer awareness and fundraising. Sheree, View from the Back over in France wrote about her trip to watch a bike race in the Basque Country.  I’m sure I’ve left a few out (let me know!), but they’re all interesting when I get time to look.  You’re encouraged to go check them out!

Meanwhile, here’s what I’ve landed on to blog about… Continue reading →

I Just Passed 10,000 Miles Riding My Fuji Bicycle in 2.5 Years. That’s Awesome!

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 1 Comment

Fuji 10,100.7 miles
Strava doesn’t lie.

The other day I checked my Strava stats and found that I had biked 10,100.7 miles on my Fuji Silhouette since Janurary 1, 2016.   I knew that I was honing in on this milestone but was surprised that it snuck up on me.  It’s a pretty awesome achievement — another notch in the belt of my amateur bicycling story.  Not too shabby!  In fact, that’s awesome!  So in this blog I’ll cover some of the thoughts I’ve had after reaching this pretty incredible achievement. Continue reading →