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Blog Post #666:  The Blog in Which I Announce My Retirement from Blogging*

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 36 Comments

Welp, after almost two-thirds of 1,000 blog posts, it seems like a good time to take the pause that refreshes. Which the astute observer would have noticed that I’ve been sorta doing for the last couple of months already, anyway. Spring has sprung in Central Texas, so it’s a good time to examine where I’ve been, and where I’m going, not just with blogging, or biking, yoga-ing, walking, reading, fluting, etc., but life. A little metaphorical housecleaning, so to speak. (Actually clean house? Pshaw! That’s for suckers.) And who could begrudge a dude the chance to step back after six years and six hundreds of blogs? So forthwith, posthaste, and inmediatamente, let’s get skippy with it. (By the way, after this mention, this post will be Will Smith and slap-free. I’m Team Chris Rock all the way. Fuck you for ruining the Oscars, Little Willie. Get your face offa my TV and movie screens and go for some goddam anger management!)

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Thoughts on Reaching 600 Blog Followers and 50,000 Views

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 16 Comments

These two statistics appeared recently in my WordPress statistics page. Thanks to everyone who’s signed up as a follower on WP or by getting emails over the last 2,050 days. It’s not a big number when looking at bigger sites, but I’m no celebrity, so that’s to be expected. Of course the vast majority of followers (90%?) don’t read much or at all. But I am also grateful for all the views. That works out to be 24.4 view per day, which seems like a pretty incredible number given that some days it’s far less than that. Included in that number are probably all the times that I’ve looked at the blog myself. Nonetheless, these are milestones along the road and worth pointing out.

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How My Blog Did in the First Quarter of 2019

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 3 Comments

Every few months I like to look at my biking and walking statistics, but also my blog. I know its not the sexiest of topics, but some folks find it interesting. Of course, I do. Blogs exist for people to express themselves, but the other side of that equation is people reading those thoughts. As always, I’m very grateful to you if this is your first, 50th, or 250th post that you’ve read here at A Dude Abikes. Now for the numbers. Admit it, you enjoy feeling out over your own stats as much as I do, ya big nerd!

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Some of the Bike Blogs I Follow – Part 2

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 3 Comments

After a couple of posts about creativity, I’m casting about for a topic more about my main theme of bicycling.  So, I thought I might talk about my free visit to a registered dietitian today.  But I can summarize that in four words:  less sugar, more vegetables.  OK, so that topic is deadly boring as cold toast.  And toast is something I gave up with all the processed grains last year, to no visible effect whatsoever in terms of weight loss, energy (actually it’s lower), or ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound.  Next! Continue reading →

A Blog About My Blog: January-September 2018 Stats

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 21 Comments

My blog is doing well, for something that I don’t promote elsewhere or spend as much time as I would like to engaging with other bloggers. I started in 2016 and through the end of 2017 I had written just 31 posts and had only about 20 followers. Now I have written 173 more posts and have 313 followers. Naturally, publishing regularly has been helpful in making it more visible. So I’m grateful for the readers and support I have received, while also realizing there are lots of things I’m probably doing wrong or not at all that would help. Still, progress is good, so here’s a short post with the statistics of what’s been going on behind the curtain in A Dude Abikes land.

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A Dude Abikes in the News, 100-Mile Week & Photo Recap

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 2 Comments

Today the Austin American-Statesman ran a story asking the question What’s the most dangerous stretch of road for bicyclists in Austin?  It talks about the recurrent theme I’ve been covering, bicycle safety.  Hint:  the road is Guadalupe, and I can assure you it’s scary.  Even the parts with a protected bike lane have University of Texas students standing in it idly, without a clue, listening to their headphones.  Other parts have no bike lane, or lots of bumps in the road, and in general it’s narrow with buses and cars passing within inches.

Source:  Stephen Spillman for the Austin American-Statesman

While it seems like it’s horrible carnage out there, the fact is, it’s safer to bike and walk than drive a car.  However, it is very dangerous.  Anyway, the article is by Pam LeBlanc, whose blog Fit City also appears on WordPress.  It has a photograph of yours truly.  It was one of several that ran in a profile the paper did on A Dude back on January 15 called “Can a regular guy pedal 10,000 miles in two Years? This dude did.”  You can go read that after you finish this.   Or finish this first.  Whatevs, thanks for reading!

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MeetUp WordPress Themes Class; SCORE Mentoring Call; and I Reach My 100th Follower!

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 10 Comments

Newer fellow bloggers may find this of interest, and more experienced ones may have something to chime in about.  I can publish a blog, but that’s about it.  Hiring a webmaster is not in the budget, so unless one jumps out of the bushes (a distinct possibility out here in the country – but probably something creepier), learning how to improve www.ADudeAbikes.com is up to me.  So I attended a class.  I also had an interesting conversation with a mentor from SCORE, a program of the Small Business Administration that I will summarize.  And oh, I received my 100th follower of my blog today! Continue reading →

An Aborted Ride in the Rain Due to a Flat Tire, but Buck’s Bikes Came to the Rescue!

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 5 Comments

Finally I made it out to ride my bike, but then it rained and I got a flat.  I had a jacket and was warm enough, and could have replaced the flat myself, but I had a bike date, if you can believe that, so I couldn’t be late.  Also, since I had just replaced the tube recently, I knew something was going on that required more expertise.  Luckily I was literally stopped right outside a bike shop when I noticed the flat. Before I go any further, please click on this link to see a cool short map video of my ride: Continue reading →

Austin WordPress Meetup Google Analytics Class – Taught in Klingon

~ A Dude Abikes ~ Leave a comment

I Don’t Know What I Don’t Know

After job search group, a Linked In consultation and a tasty nap, on a whim I looked at MeetUp.  There’s a WordPress group,  and they happened to be having a class on Google Analytics, a free software program to learn who’s looking at your website.  So I hopped on the trusty Fuji Silhouette and cruised downtown in the cool weather.  I’m sitting here feeling as if everyone else speaks Klingon, and I’m merely an Earthling.

A Dude is very right-brained, and this is left-brain stuff all the way.  Unless you have the luxury of money to hire a web person, learning this stuff is what one needs to do to get better in blogging, web mastering and so on.  For my first time out, it was too advanced.  But, I went, talked to some people, and got an ok feel for it.  So for me that’s a win.  Just like Charlie Sheen, A Dude likes WINNING! Continue reading →