30,000 Lifetime Miles I Bicycled on Strava

Flavor Flav was and is the hype man for seminal rap group Public Enemy. Even if you don’t know their music or who Flav is, if you paid attention during the 80’s and 90’s or saw Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing with their hit, “Fight the Power,” there’s a good chance you heard of the guy wearing a big clock around his neck saying, “Yeah, boyeeeee!” and “Flav-or Flaaaaaav!” (By mentioning Flav, I’m pointing out an example of successful marketing; I’m definitely not condoning his run-ins with the law.) Chuck D was and still is the main voice of serious political rap, but FF keeps it fun. Professional athletes, celebrities, and politicians also have paid hype people — publicists to trumpet their successes and explain away their losses or mistakes. This dude just has this little blog, and Strava the fitness app, through which to toot my own horn. So, it’s tootin’ time. And yeah, I just reached 30,000 miles of bicycling in five years, eight months, and 10 days. Not too shabby for a dude who’s old and flabby. It brings up some questions: How did it begin? How did I get here? What does this milestone mean? And what’s for dinner?

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SXSW Day 1: Legend + Party + Film = Fun!

Today kicked off the real festival(s) and conference(s), so I put my free badge earned from the many volunteer hours I worked by attending three events.

Introducing Comedy and TV Legend Dick Cavett

Dick Cavett exiting stage right.

I’m not old enough to have watched his original show and probably missed subsequent ones, but I certainly know who Dick Cavett is.  He took over the Tonight Show from Jack Parr, and since 1959 has been on television more than off un.  Considered “the thinking person’s host” due to his pedigree from Yale and intelligent questioning, he has an identifiable voice and droll sense of humor as well as an acerbic with.  This was on display tonight at Esther’s Follies, as the first comedy event of the festival.  I was lucky to get in and sat next to a cyclist from New York who said he brought his bike and had ridden 140 miles in two days.  Wow! Continue reading