protest

A Fellow Blogger Interviewed Me! And Where Shall I Do After 10 Years and 52,000 Miles Bicycled?

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 2 Comments

I’m super stoked to be the latest blogger to be featured on another blog! Ortensia is the voice behind Truly Madly Ordinary, Diary of a “Not So Desperate Housewife.” I’m featured in her series Chats With Bloggers Episode 7. Lucky number seven. Check out the interview, and her other charming, relatable, funny, and interesting posts at https://trulymadlyordinary.com. Did I mention she’s an Italian who has lived for quite a while in Ireland? Or that she’s a published author, prodigious blogger, mother, among many other things. I want to thank her for her interest and graciousness. I’m not one for the limelight, but if I get a few more butts on bikes, or folks get a chuckle, then it was worth it. Meanwhile below, I’ll delve into what the road ahead holds for A Dude Abikes after my epic velocimania and reaching that milestone.

Read more: A Fellow Blogger Interviewed Me! And Where Shall I Do After 10 Years and 52,000 Miles Bicycled?

This month I have managed to do what I set out to: reduce my bicycling. Gasp! I mean, if I didn’t take a break my body was going to make me take one sooner than later. Whereas in 2025 I had a weekly goal of 100 (5,200 for the year) which I just missed by 200, for 2026, I set my Strava goal on 7.5 hours per week. I managed one 100 mile week, but otherwise will just barely make it past 333. That will put me at 4,000 for the year.

Numerous factors have gone into this decision beyond reaching that decade-long goal. First, I’m just tired and I deserve a break today. Second, I never intended to have this 10-year goal anyway, and got to the point where there was no more point to continuing at the same pace. Third, it’s winter, even the milder ones we get here in Central Texas, is still cold and not fun to bike in. Case in point, we had a weekend ice storm that shut the streets down for several days. And fourth, I started a new full-time job, which truly sucks the life energy and time out of the day.

A sign of the times.

Overall, I’m okay with it. It’s a paradox, but less mileage = more health. I’m still keeping my streak alive, but that will end at some point. (As I’ve said before a forced break is coming.) My commute is very short, but it counts. The week I did 100 miles was by biking 10 a night on my home trainer, and then two 25-milers on the weekend. Part of me wants to keep it up, but it’s better if I don’t. I am slowly other taking steps to improve my overall health, partially because I have no choice. That means diversifying my exercise, improving my sleep, and what I eat. Biking will always be by jam, until I’m unable to do it, but there are other things in life. I mean, “Biking is life,” to paraphrase Dani Rojas said in Ted Lasso. And yet it isn’t. Scandalous and blasphemous, I know. So sue me! (Please don’t.)

Being freed from the 14.5-miles per day regimen, I have noticed my legs are less tight, my body and mind are less exhausted, and I’m sleeping more, at least some nights. Those are all positives. Getting to the gym to swim, or doing more challenging yoga and resistance bands at home, will take some effort at the end of a long work day. But one must pay the bills, so while I was rich in time, I can afford to be poor no more in terms of bills. I owe, I owe, so off to work I go for the next few months, because it’s temporary. But isn’t everything?

While my daily half hours walks and yoga practice continue, I don’t always read for 30′, and writing is less often than not. Certainly with this blog, and since losing my writing buddy, I’ve slacked off the novella. Perhaps Ortensia’s interview and example will lead me back to more frequent writing. I do journal sometimes. I volunteer on a bike-related project, so that takes time and involves some writing too, be it emails or messages to fellow volunteers, a flier or event outreach, etc. I also have the chores and errands of daily life to contend with like everyone else, and now that incudes sometimes going to protests. Somewhere in there should be time for a little enjoyment of the filmed entertainments, right? Right!

In the end, I’m getting older, slowing down, and have to do better at managing my health, which is no small task. Riding solo as I do with no wife or kids to support or to support me. (That I know about! There were a few crazy lost weekends in Las Vegas…. Just kidding!) Life goes on, and so does A Dude, at least until he doesn’t.

Hopefully you enjoyed my interview with Truly Madly Ordinary and this post, too. Adios January, here comes February! Time to reset those New Year’s Resolutions (or not).

Copyright 2026 A Dude Abikes. All rights reserved.

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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Bike Ride for Black Lives Matter, Racial Equality, and Justice For All

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 13 Comments

Word arrived that this bike ride was happening Friday night. My social calendar being empty as always, and not sitting shiva either, it seemed like a good way to reduce some of my white privilege. I’ve been an ally in a variety of causes ever since I was a baby; my mom took me to civil rights protest in Little Rock, Arkansas and Dallas, Texas. I’ve wanted to be solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, but a small number of people hijacked protests with violence, and there has been a disproportionate police response that has put numerous protesters in the hospital. (See my recent post, Nonviolent Justice for George Floyd and Bronna Taylor.) I have not been on a group ride since mandatory stay home orders and social distancing were set up by the health department in mid-March. So while it was risky, I felt that with a mask, staying away six feet or more from others as possible (often not, but most people had masks), and being outdoors, it was worth it. I always am looking for my daily dose of miles and exercise, too. It turned out to be a peaceful and educational night.

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Nonviolent Justice for George Floyd & Breonna Taylor et al. (P.S. I Bicycled 2,500 Miles in 5 Months)

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 3 Comments

For the record, I join the majority of sentient humans with brains, hearts and consciences — people who know the difference between right and wrong — and oppose the unnecessary and allegedly illegal police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Closer to home, police killed Botham Jean in Dallas and Mike Ramos right here in Austin, That’s just four among the many, Many, MANY more people of color abused and murdered by police brutality and institutional racism. I’m also opposed to violent protesters distracting from the message of nonviolent social justice.

There’s not much more to add that millions of others aren’t already saying. But I will try to speak my truth as a white ally. By the way, there’s a pandemic still going on. Meanwhile, far, Far, FAR lower on the spectrum of things that matter is this. I still rode my bicycle every day in May for a total of 488 miles, averaging 15.74 per day, totaling 2,501 for 2020 thus far. And my knees hurt. Probably from biking every day in May for … you get it. If I do not report this, the government-backed terrorists win. So report I shall. Bear with me as I write a post that may make no sense but has to be said.

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12 Years (NOT) a Slave to Cars

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 4 Comments

One year ago I wrote about my anniversary of not owning a car when my car was hit on January 25, 2005.  So now it’s another year, and I suppose A Dude Abikes is a little bit proud about that accomplishment.  In last year’s post, I referenced Trump’s hair, Star Wars, real war, the environment, love and of course, bicycling.  Well, what a year it’s been!  Yes, the nightmare of a proto-fascist becoming president has come true.  But so has resistance come alive; A Dude Abikes attended the March on Austin with 50,000 friends, where he experienced a great deal of hope.  We’ve had another Star Wars movie, Rogue One, which if you think about it was about suicide bombers.  War in Syria and other places, probably some love somewhere, the hottest year on record, threats to re-open pipelines, etc. ad nauseam.  But most interesting to me, the biking.  So much biking.  ALL THE BIKING!  Did I mention I biked 5,306 miles in 2016?  I’m STILL sore!

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A Dude Abikes attended the March on Austin with up to 50,000 people, including that guy with his bike in the photo

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