The library book When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times (1996), the classic work by American Tibetan Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön, sits unread on my scuffed black card table. Next to it is another of her more recent books, How We Live Is How We Die, also untouched. They’re thin books but on heavy subjects. If you missed it, my last post was 2/2/2025: 7 Lessons from Buddhism, Biking Daily, and the Film “Groundhog Day”. I’m sensing a theme here: finding ways to cope with the sometimes spectacular, sometimes shitty, show that is human life on Earth. With all that’s going on in the US and the world, it always feels a bit trivial to write a blog post about one fat old dude’s bike riding. But it’s not a bad* thing to explore whatever ways that help us navigate difficult times. (Or as George Orwell said in 1984, *doubleplusungood.)
Continue readingmeditation
2/2/2025: 7 Lessons from Buddhism, Biking Daily, and the Film “Groundhog Day”
“When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet we know that winter is just another step in the cycle of life. But standing here among the people of Punxsutawney and basking in the warmth of their hearths and hearts, I couldn’t imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter. From Punxsutawney, it’s Phil Connors. So long.” —Bill Murray as Phil Connor in Groundhog Day
(The film Groundhog Day came out almost 32 years ago, so you’ve had three decades if you’re over 32. SPOILERS AHEAD!) When you ride your bike every single day–as this dude has for five years and almost four months–things can get to feel a bit repetitive. When you ride your bike every single day–as this dude has for over five years and almost four months–things can get to feel a bit repetitive. Biking daily is a bit like Groundhog Day. As as with the classic film, one puts on similar clothing, starts out doing the same thing from the same place, and may see many of the same places. While I can barely claim to be even a lower-case buddhist, the teachings of the Buddha aka Buddhism can also be found in the film and are instructive to not just cycling, but life. Waking up every day in a fictional Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, sitting on a bike seat or a cushion cross-legged are all optional.
Continue readingResolutions Recap 2021 – The Rest of the Regimen
I already blogged about my biking and walking in the post I Can’t Drive 5,555 Miles, but I Bicycled Them! (6,056 Total with Walking in 2021). What about my other activities, though? Let’s take a look at how I did.
Continue readingAsanas and Other Elements of My Daily Yoga
When you’ve been doing something so long as I have (eight years as of Christmas Day 2021), it becomes a part of you. So, it’s easy to minimize it. But doing anything that consistently is a huge deal that takes a ton of discipline, intention, and dare I even say sacrifice. And while my main exercise activity is bicycling, yoga is a huge reason why I’ve been able to bike every day for two years in a row, and for over 30,000 miles total in almost six years. So today I thought I’d go into a little detail about what is involved with my daily yoga. Maybe it will help you to become more regular or even start a streak of your own.
Continue readingQ3 2021: Third Quarterly Report of My Bicycling and Other Habits
Now that we’re 90 days from the end of 2021, it’s time for my third quarterly report. July, August and September are the hottest months in Texas, and that heat and stupidity tend to slow most dudes and dudettes down. (I meant humidity, which with the heat tends to make one stupid.) But, I never claimed to be smart, so I have gone on a bicycle ride every single day of the pandemic (and for a while before that). Regular readers know I’m like only 50% of that Cake lyric: “He’s going for distance, he’s (not) going for speed.” On top of that, I take a walk, do yoga, and got myself into some other daily activities, practices aka habits. Sure, it was stupid hot (though not as bad as last year), and I do not bike fast. However, although I don’t get a cent from it, you could say I’m in the bicycle riding business. And business is good.
Continue readingRaining, Riding, Ruminating
The rain, absent for weeks, began slowly. Forecasts seemed unreal; the wishful thinking of bored meteorologists. Heat can be somewhat managed on a bicycle, but the rain is much trickier. I thought I could beat it before it began, but I couldn’t, so I joined it. With shoe covers, bib shorts, white t-shirt, dayglo orange safety vest I found under a cheap yellow poncho, my cell phone in a plastic bag ensconced in my hip pouch, and the willingness to get wet, I set out on my trusty Fairdale Weekender Archer. Just a short bike ride in the rain, not my first rodeo, y’all.
Continue readingMy Strava Stats for July 2021
This post looks at my monthly stats from all my activities in July 2021 courtesy of Strava. As you can see from the images below, I was active all 31 days of the month, for 93 hours total exercise. Of that, 37% was biking, 31% walking, 30% yoga, and 2% swimming. I had hoped to do a lot more of the latter, but there is limited access to the only outdoor pool my gym has in town. Also, I don’t like sharing a lane, since I’m a lousy swimmer I need a whole one to myself. That and my ongoing energy deficit made it too difficult to get in. At least I got in the water twice. I’ve realized they have water aerobics, so I might consider that. But the struggle is real, and it continues.
Continue readingA Walking Dude: The World Outside
Walking is to exercise what the insurance is to business: pretty damn boring, but it’s actually pretty beneficial. I’ve been at it 30 minutes every day since 1/1/2018 (minus a couple days, which I more than made up for). It turns out that walking doesn’t have to be, um, lame. Because there’s usually one or more of the following: something new to see, errands to run, people to chat up, music to listen to, or thoughts to think. You don’t need a gym membership, a swimming pool, a tennis/basketball court or soccer/baseball/football field, or a bicycle. Except for some good shoes, which can cost a bundle, there’s little money involved. For those of us fortunate to still be mostly able-bodied, it’s the easiest, most accessible, and reliable health habit we can do. So why don’t more people do it?
Continue readingHow Yoga With Adriene’s 30-Day Program Can Help Start or Improve Your Yoga
Each January Austin, Texas yoga teacher Adriene (Mishler) — personal friend of mine (a quote from somewhere, though I did meet her once) — puts out a themed set of videos for the New Year. Smartly capitalizing on the resolution crowd, she also uses the opportunity to earn more adherents. With 9,000,000 followers now on her YouTube channel, Yoga With Adriene, clearly she has a recipe for success. During the coronavirus global pandemic, even more people are turning to stress-reducing practices and at-home fitness. Whether you currently have a practice like old A Dude Abikes here (seven years every day as of this past Christmas), used to but quit yoga due to lockdowns, or maybe have always wanted to try it, well, I recommend you give young Ms. Mishler’s current program — BREATH – A 30-Day Yoga Journey — a try. I’ll tell you why I am doing it, and why you’ll be glad you did if you do, too.
Continue reading7 Years of My Consecutive Daily Yoga Practice
It’s Christmas Day here in Austin, Texas, USA. And you know what that means for this Jewd (Jewish + Dude = Jewd — Trademark me!): Another year of daily 30 minutes (or more) of yoga has come to a close, and another begins. Lucky number seven. Yoga is second nature to me now, but in those first days and weeks, I didn’t know how long I would continue, or if it would stick at all. I was just taking it a day at a time, and in a way, I still do. But it has stuck (sort of like my sticky mat), for over 2,500 days, which is nothing short of a miracle for A Dude. Which needs replacing, and Harry Hanukkah and that other guy with the red suit didn’t bring me one… again. Sigh… deep breath in, deep breath out. But given my other streaks in biking, walking and writing, all that yoga is no small thing and deserves some recognition, I think you’ll agree.
Here’s what I wrote about today’s event in my Strava fitness app notes:
Continue reading
A Dude Abikes 