walking

Recent Days Biking and Walking in Austin, Texas as Told Through Photos and Words

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 4 Comments

Lacking some inspiration I looked back at the last week in photos.  They tell a tale of my ongoing journey cycling through Austin.

Yellow Bike Project chalkboard.

Tonight I went to Yellow Bike Project again to work on Sophie.  For the first time, I left with something that wasn’t better than went I arrived.  Disc brakes can be tricky and for some reason my rear one on the Fairdale isn’t working right.  I’ll need to return Monday when a coordinator more familiar with the brakes is there, but more likely I’ll head by a bike shop.  It’s it’s important to be able to stop!

I don’t mention my diet much these days, but below is one brunch I prepared.  Also, I worked nine days of early voting and the final election day.  Compared to the recent mid-terms with many questions on the ballot, only five races had runoffs, so turnout was very low.  It gave me time to do some reading.  A David Baldacci thriller The Fix, and parts of Napoleon Hill’s classic Think and Grow Rich.  I also got more into Tim Ferris’s The Four-Hour Work Week and the Austin Chronicle.  I do not fare well at crosswords.

It’s nice the word for “go vote” is spelled the same in Spanish and  English.

A brunch of eggs, turkey sausage, avocado, red and sweet potato, cheese, onion, salsa, and blue Powerade Zero. Blue’s a flavor, but unnatural.

On a walk before biking, I found this cool blue bike rack made to look like a bike.

I’m still doing my daily walking.  One way I make sure to get in my 30 minutes is to walk on my way somewhere and then bike the rest.  Or if I’m in a hurry and it’s close by, I bike there and then walk home.  It’s a handy trick and I often see something cool, like the above bike rack.  I don’t always put all the pictures here, though.  For that, you will need to follow me on Strava, the fitness app. That link will take you to my profile.

 

Chanukah at the house of two friends involved a number of brightly lit menorahs, a variety of foods, and hanging out and talking.  I missed the candle lighting and if there were any prayers, but it was not an orthodox religious event.  It’s nice to connect with that part of my heritage (which I wrote about in the post Bicyclists & Jews: Both Are Targets (But They Should Not Be) and hang out with others who may not be traditionally observant but who identify ethnically.  As one comedian put it, “(he’s) not a Jew, he’s Jew-ish.”  Joking aside, I think one can be both.  But speaking of that uniquely Jewish sensibility of humor, one person punned, “Some people light a ninth candle on Chanukah, but they’re in the menorah-ty.”  (For the goyem out there, there are only eight days of Chanukah.)

 

I snapped these two covers of books at Book People, the largest independent bookstore in Texas that’s in downtown Austin.  One speaks to the hope of what bicycles could do, the other reflects my ambivalence about why I am riding my bicycle an average of over 80 miles per week so far this year.  (See 4,000 Miles Biked This Year! + 3,000 Miles Total on Sophie the Fairdale.)

 

Nearby the book store is the international headquarters of a natural grocery chain.  They don’t need any press from me but friends and I have long called it the “food hole” or “whole paycheck.”  But they do have some cool stuff like an ice skating rink on the roof in the winter and this sign abbreviating Austin, Texas, which changes colors.  I had never snapped any pictures, so for your edification, here is a nice series.

The awesome, fun and inspirational monthly gathering of authors of all kinds who read called One Page Salon, hosted by Owen Egerton, had a huge turnout this month.  This was thanks to the Texas Writers League.  Shown with Owen is director Michael Nowlin, a nice guy, author and nice guy who encouraged me not to give up on the possibility of getting published.  It was cool to see a packed house although I only really talked to a few people I already knew.  The TWL is an organization I need to get involved with as I get closer to finishing the first draft of my memoir of two years of cycling quite a few miles.  (4,714 Miles Bicycled in 2017 = 10,000 in 2 Years! A Recap of My “Epic Velocimania” (Day 1)

 

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A jalopy bike I saw in East Austin after One Page Salon.  Notice the seat has no post and the wheel sizes are different. reminds me of the book title It’s Not About the Bike.

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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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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 →

Dog Day Afternoons: Warm Walks With a Wise Woman Whilst Wheeless

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 9 Comments

A Dude Abikes is off his bike for almost a week now, due to an ailment, malady, infirmity, affliction, disorder, sickness, condition or attack.  It doesn’t seem to be life-threatening, but it can be a real pain in the tuchis.  (That’s Yiddish for backside, butt, nalgas, derrier, etc.)  It’s getting treated, but taking alot longer to heal than expected.  So I ain’t gettin’ on that bike, as much as I want to, because that would make it worse.  Then there’s another matter also more troublesome, and I’m looking into that as well.  Let’s hope I’ll be able to remount the trusty old steed soon.  Meanwhile, I’m walking a dog for a friend of a friend.  Since I’ve adopted a new habit of walking daily, and missed walking Buddy Willis twice daily back in the winter out in the holler, it’s fun to have a new buddy.  Her name is…

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Keep Walking Even if It’s (Apparently) Not Doing Anything for You

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 6 Comments

Do the Walk of Life

walk of life
Source

Today I went on yet another 30 minute daily walk.  I try to go early because it’s so friggin’ hot and humid here in Austin, Texas in late June. Summer came early this year (thanks, global warming!).  While there are strategies for dealing with the heat that I outlined in a previous blog, acclimation – getting used to it – is inevitable if you want to keep up a fitness routine.  (Thanks to Julie78787 for reminding us of this important step.)

But I’m finding my walking is getting a little stagnant.  I’m not a morning person but that’s the best time to go to get some Vitamin D without too much harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun.  It’s not led to any weight loss, noticeable gains in strength, or huge uplift in my mood.  But I keep doing it because I believe that it will pay long-term benefits.  Here are some: Continue reading →

I Exercise and Write 24+ Hours Every Week: An A Dude Abikes Round-Up

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 6 Comments

Today in Austin, Texas, there was some rain, so it was a good day to relax and reflect.  This blog post is one of my occasional round-ups of thoughts and things about your sometimes somewhat humble blogger.  Although in 10 days we’ll be at the mid-point of 2018, and I’ll be taking a closer look at my data from the walking, writing (blog and book), yoga and of course, bicycling, I wanted to update faithful readers, family and friends of just what is up with A Dude Abikes. Continue reading →

First Third of 2018: Round-up, Progress and Challenges

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 7 Comments

Today, May 2, 2018, I quietly observed my 18th year anniversary of moving back to Austin.  It was also the first day of the rest of my life since being laid off / liberated from my job of 11 years, the last day of which was six months and a day ago, on November 1st.  Accompanying those two milestones is the end of the first four months of the year.  With all of that, it seems like a good time to reflect upon where I’ve been, where I am, and where I’m heading.  Get out those oranges and reading glasses, because A Dude’s a-fixin’ to do some navel gazin’!  (Note to my non-US followers:  If you are not in the US, navel oranges are a common variety here, because they look like they have a belly button, aka navel.  And navel gazing — staring at one’s belly button — is a metaphor for self-rumination.  We don’t actually stare at it.)  Orange you glad I explained that? Continue reading →

Dreaming in Daylight, Riding on a Rainy Night

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 9 Comments

“I awoke last night to the sound of thunder

How far off I sat and wondered

Started humming a song from 1962

Ain’t it funny how the night moves

When you just don’t seem to have as much to lose

Strange how the night moves….”

— Night Moves by Bob Seger

He awoke this morning from a deep slumber, face down, lines engraved on his face from the pillow. The unemployed, aging cyclist trudged to the bathroom then back to bed for a much-needed snooze after another late night staring at screens. Before the alarm went off, something outside the drafty casita woke him for good this time, and gingerly, he rolled out of bed. Not ready to face the wind and likely rain on his bicycle, he texted a fellow attender of the weekly job club, pleading for a ride. The gangly and kindly grad student (who may or may not have been spying on him for his thesis) agreed.

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The Austin Bomber Got Caught and Self-Exploded; Book Writing Day Photos

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 3 Comments

I’m sure you can find plenty of media about the Austin serial bomber. I’m against the death penalty but sociopaths deserve life in prison or a mental hospital. Maybe we’ll find out his motives. But he was a millennial, white, male, conservative, Christian, bigoted domestic terrorist who killed two African-Americans and injured four, one of whom was Latina, so that tells us alot.  It’s a sad situation.  Maybe there is such a thing as karma.

Today and tomorrow are book writing days, so enjoy a few photos.

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