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Getting Back on the Horse (aka Bicycle) After a Medical Break + Janeane Garafolo

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 3 Comments

Ten days off the bike is the longest break I’ve had since I can remember.  It’s possibly the longest stretch sans bici since I began doing long distances back in January of 2015, pre-Strava.  It has been hard, sad, relaxing, and other things — just a weird time.  And I’m not out of the woods in terms of the medical situation that put me there.  Of course, I’m not the only person who’s had to stop activity for a health challenge, of course, and it could be far worse.  Some people have crashes (Tour de France, on parle de toi!), surgery, or life-altering issues.  I hope I’m not one of them.  Physically, there are changes, and there are also psychological ones.  That’s what this post is about, so click on through and check it out, already! Continue reading →

Eight Days a Week… Off the Bicycle: Viewing Setbacks Through a Buddhist Lens

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 1 Comment

It’s been eight days since I’ve ridden a bicycle.  Why?  Heat.  Illness.  Lastimas. Life.  (Lastimas is wounds or injuries in Spanish. So that spells H.I.L.L, doesn’t it?  I meant to.)  When thought of in this way, it’s another set of obstacles, another rise in the road to climb, something that tests you but also makes you stronger.  Part of me is relieved, and lucky to have use of a car.  Another part of me is pissed off that I’m losing whatever fitness and form I had.  Another is panicking that I may not get it back, or get back to it, or even be able bike at all without more injury or at least pain.  Breathing in deeply, I notice I am not riding my bicycle.  Breathing out, I notice that I am writing a blog post about not riding my bicycle. Continue reading →

An Imagined Chat with Sophie, My Fairdale Weekender Archer Bicycle

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 11 Comments

img_20180625_2348274661529426677.jpg

Hello?

What? Hi, who’s talking?

It is I, your Fairdale Weekender Archer bicycle sitting next to you, leaning on this pile of boxes.

Oh, really? I had no idea you – or any bicycle – could speak!

Well, I can’t. It’s really all just in your head.

Am I going crazy?

No, not at all.

Then what’s happening? What’s this about?

Well, I’ve been sitting here for a while, very patiently I might add, and I just evolved into having consciousness and telepathic ability. And I guess I’m just wondering something.

Yeah, what’s that?

Continue reading →

4 Appointments and 1 Funeral = 0 Miles Bicycled Today

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 3 Comments

The other day I was gifted the use of a car by a super nice friend during their extended summer vacation.  It’s promising to be a hotter-than-usual summer here in Central Texas, USA (oh wait, it’s still only spring), so this is a real nice luxury for A Dude. Compared to me on my bike, cars are efficient, fast and comfortable.  I can arrive places without being sweaty, tired and gross.  Or transport stuff.  Take Sunday drives.  Drive getaway in exciting capers.  (Just kidding!)

The down sides are, as most people know, that cars pollute, lots of other people have them and get in the way, and they cost a lot of money. A problem specific to less gifted bicyclists who gut out the miles anyway (like moi) is that getting out of an air-conditioned vehicle that takes little energy to operate and then onto a bike which takes alot of energy is quite difficult, psychologically speaking. Especially when you’re tired, which I seem to be most of the time these days. A First World dilemma for sure, but it’s real to me who put in seven 100+ mile weeks in a row. So what’s A Dude to do?

Continue reading →

Rainy Friday Blahg Post: The Value of Sleep and Rest Days for Cyclists

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 14 Comments

workintexas rain ride.pngI think the title sums it up pretty well.  It rained.  Alot.  I had to go to a job search class and didn’t have the time or patience for the bus.  It was only a mile and a half so I rode, but the rains picked up.  The skies were thundering and lightning, and I almost had to stop.  It is Star Wars Day — May the Fourth Be With You — but gale force winds gusting over 25 mph were against me.  It was a blah day, and I was tired as usual, but I pressed on, as I tend to do, for worse or for better. Continue reading →

When It’s Too Cold and Windy to Bike, Have a Massage, Walk and Bath

~ A Dude Abikes ~ Leave a comment

Alternate Your Training to Recover and Avoid Burnout

After 2016’s average 100 miles per week of cycling (see 5,306 Miles in 2016: A Dude Abikes’ Year of Bicycling Vigorously), I received some very good advice from bad-ass bicyclist buddy Bryce who rode over 6,000 miles last year, helped A Dude out on part of an 80-mile ride New Year’s Eve of 2016 — while he was sick! — as well has contributed to a number of my charity rides, is activity with Please Be Kind to Cyclists, and organizes their annual Ride of Silence honoring cyclists killed by cars. I don’t remember the exact words, but they were something like:

“Take some time off the bike. If you don’t really miss it, maybe do some other things. If you do, then get back on.”

Sage words indeed. I did that last year, but not this one. Thanks to my depleted iron stores, I’ve been forced to slow down now. Exercise-induced anemia is a real thing, as this scientific extract from the British Journal of General Practice shows. Apparently my “Epic Velocimania” (4,714 miles in 2017) wore me out more than I knew. The week of severe restriction to fruit, nuts and seeds did not help A Dude’s energy. Continue reading →