writing

6/6/2026: Why Are My Blog Stats Blowing Up When I’m Barely Writing?

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 12 Comments

As alluded to in my last (barely seen) post, which was 98% photos, the writing life’s not been kind to this aspiring dude. At least not in terms of finding the discipline, time, topics, and oh yeah, inspiration. I’ve not seen that beeotch aka The Muse in a while. But when I noticed I’ve received more views in the first five months of 2026 than any other full year, and actually more than thrice my best year, I had to come here to say, WTF, WordPress? Exactly what is going on? Is it robots or genuine views? Either way, can I monetize it?

Read more: 6/6/2026: Why Are My Blog Stats Blowing Up When I’m Barely Writing?

Take a look at these two screen shots. First, is December 2024 – June of 2025. Just over 5,000 views, with almost 4,000 visitors. That alone is a HUGE jump from the years before, which never totaled over 15,000 views.

Now look at December 2025 – June 2026. That’s a MASSIVE jump to 40,000 views and over 36,500 visitors. From someone who’s posting went way, Way, WAY down the last couple of years, that is the exact opposite of what one would expect.

Here’s what the customer support person said:

“Hi there,

I checked the site, and although there is an increase in traffic, it does not appear to be a sudden spike in on-site traffic. The increase has been gradual and started around November 2025. (That’s when I concluded my epic 52,000+ miles in 10 years.)

Also, from the referrer section in Jetpack Stats, I noticed that most of the traffic is coming from search engines, Facebook, and WordPress.com Reader, which are all legitimate sources. In addition, most of the traffic is coming from the United States. All of these indicators suggest that the traffic is legitimate and not bot traffic.”

I don’t quite know what to make of it. Baby I’m showing up in search results, but I’m not getting much in terms of engagement. That means likes and comments and forwards etc. But can I finally start to make money off of this, robots or humans? After a decade of biking and writing, that would be nice. But I’ve never been attuned to the statistics or good at the capitalism game anyway. My brother got those genes, and I got the do goider ones. But hey, it led me to write this blog post, so that’s progress, right?

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Speaking of writing and doing good, I recently volunteered at the ATX TV Festival for the first time. I enjoy the televised motion picture arts as much as the next dude, and I finally signed up in time to work the 15th season (for free, match, or rather a trade). I got to sit in on some cool panels and hear about the business of being a creative, including with some producers,  writers, and actors. See the snaps below for some stars you may recognize.

One of the latter included a guy who shared with me what seemed like a long period of deep eye contact with a sly smile as he passed by my station outside the historic Paramount Theatre in Austin. (Soon it will close for 11 months for a restoration.)

He seemingly stared deep into my eyes or possibly soul, it I have one. It lasted probably only five seconds. But it felt like time slowed down into slow motion. Your dude is straight (not that there’s anything wrong with being otherwise), but he’s a handsome fellow, and those seconds were mesmerizing. It was like, well, a scene from a TV show. And then tonight he was on my TV screen. Pretty cool. Who was this guy? Murray Bartlett of White Lotus Season 1 on HBO; his new show is called Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed on Apple TV.

Anyway, the point of that was to say one of the other volunteers I met is a super nice dude who works in the video production business. From animation to commercials to several short films, he’s made a bunch of stuff. We got to talking and he challenged me to write just five pages for a short film.  It’s usually one page per minute, as we say in the biz. If it’s any good, maybe he’d consider actually making it. I said I would try and write three of them.

Persistent readers (all seven or 12 of you) will recall I wrote a memoir on how to bicycle as a fit but fat older person. It got way too long and sits on the digital shelf collecting digital dust, waiting for mythical money to appear to hire an editor. But a while back I started on a fictional novella. I said I’d keep it to 100 pages and I got pretty close, but haven’t figured out an ending. That stalled when my young writing critique partner decided to take a job as a professor and stop meeting. But I keep imagining it as a movie.

So, now I have this challenge to write just five or 15 pages. They need to be good, solid, tight pages. But first, I have to learn how to write screenplays. That means reading books or watching YouTube videos or something. I have a month to do it, and a week’s already gone by. That’s because the nearby Half Price Books store collection of screenplay tomes is dusty and musty. While I wait for a library book to come in, I should just be finishing the novella and revising it. And now I’ve cracked the laptop open and the knuckles, I’m gearing back up to do some writing again.

And here we are back to the writer’s problems: discipline, time, topics, and oh yeah, inspiration. Yet, humans are a storytelling species, whether we’re any good at it or like it or not. Whether it’s told around a camp fire, in a song, in a book, or on a big or small screen, we love a good yarn. And all of those forms except the campfire are written down. We have songwriters, and authors, and composers, and so on. The words of a play are called the book; when an actor has memorized them, they go off book. And a TV show or movie has a play that is shown on a screen: a screenplay. A good TV show has many factors, but perhaps the most important facet is that it’s well written.

That’s all to say that while I may be becoming slightly less unknown in this tiny speck in a corner of a small room within a huge mansion in a city of millions on a large planet of billions, or rather my blog stats suck slightly less and may not be real anyway, maybe they are. Someday soon I could have a screenplay produced into a short film. Which could become a long film. Who knows? Maybe someday you’ll see the words of a dude up on the big screen. Who’s to say it can’t happen?

By the way, I’ve been told I resemble a combination of the rugged and heroic boyish good looks of Robert Redford with the zaftig every-man working class yet intellectual appeal of Philip Seymour Hoffman. (Okay, the person who told me that was myself to the mirror. That doesn’t mean it’s untrue.) And maybe the only person truly qualified return myself is moi.

Delusions of grandeur aside, I’ve got to get back to somehow miraculously finding and then working and surviving a freaking job to pay the bills… just like everyone else who is not a one percenter or successful movie star. But a dude can dream. Don’t kill my dream, or harsh my buzz, or yuck my yum, as the kids say these days.

Whether you make it to the big leagues of Hollywood or New York publishing or the Emmys or Grammys or Oscars or Tonys, or just write it in a journal for your family to read, go tell your own story. Everybody’s got one. As a dear college mate from Polynesia and the Phillipines used to say, “Let’s talk story.” Make it a good one. I’ll try to do the same.

Copyright 2026 A Dude Abikes. All rights reserved.

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

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 14 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 literal milestone of 52,000.

Read more: A Fellow Blogger Interviewed Me! And What 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, my body is going to make me take a break 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 in January, but otherwise I will just barely make it past the 333 needed to make 4,000 for the year. Which again, no one really cares about.

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. I reached the point where there was no more point to continuing at the same pace. Third, it’s winter, and even the milder ones we get here in Central Texas are still cold and not always 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 weekdays.

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 daily streak alive (6 years, 4 months, 21 days), but that will end at some point. (As I’ve said before, a forced break is coming.) My commute is pretty short, but it counts. The week I did 100 miles was by biking 10 miles per night on my home trainer, and then two 25-milers on the weekend. Part of me wants to keep it up, but another part knows it’s better if I don’t. Also, 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 making better choices about what I eat. Biking will always be by jam, until I’m unable to do it, but there are in fact other things in life. Another gasp! 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.)

Stickers I saw in Toy Joy.

Being freed from the 14.5-miles per day every 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 and 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 and hopefully beyond, because it’s a temporary gig. But isn’t everything in life?

While my daily half hours walks and yoga practice continue, I don’t always read for 30′, and writing is far less often than when I was doing it daily. 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 also volunteer on a bike-related project, so that takes time and involves some writing too, be it email messages to fellow volunteers, a flier for 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 naps and a little enjoyment of the filmed entertainments, right? Right!

Bike scenes

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 means 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).

Rosie, nice
Frankie, asshole
Scout, sweet. Three cats I pet at a week.

Copyright 2026 A Dude Abikes. All rights reserved.

BOOK REVIEW:  Bicycle Diaries, by David Byrne

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 6 Comments

Talking Heads were active as an independent pop rock band from 1975-1991. They became world famous in the 80’s, the era of Music Television (MTV), with numerous danceable and singable hits that still get heavy radio play today. A big part of that fame were the whispery to soaring vocal sounds and quirky, herky-jerky dance moves of tall, angular, and gangly frontman, lead singer, guitar player, and co-songwriter, David Byrne, Spoiler alert, he’s also a bicyclist! This post is not a literary critique, but some random thoughts about his book. But stick with me, because as Byrne sings in the “Burning Down the House” lyrics: “Watch out, you might get what you’re after.” One thing is for sure: it’s doubtful such a multi-talented dude is being honest when he sings, “I’m an ordinary guy.”

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8/8/2023: Drawing a Blank: Barbie, Bicycles, Bowling, Buddhism, and…

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 5 Comments

_________________________________. Get it? That was my attempt at drawing a blank. As blanks go, I think it’s a pretty good ‘un. Straight, not too long, black, crisp. But is it really a blank, or a blank line? Even white space is something. How does one draw an actual blank space anyway–white crayon on white paper? These important questions come to mind as I stall for time, waiting for a topic to reveal itself. So far, I’ve got nothing. In my last post, Austin Bicycling News Roundup for August 1, 2023, I wrote about five things happening around town. That’s because I often get tired of writing about myself. So what does that leave?

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6/6/2023: Owen Egerton’s Last One Page Salon

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Owen Egerton founded One Page Salon nine and three-quarters years ago. Now he’s leaving for greener, cooler, and less politically conservative pastures than Texas. From Austin to Boston, to be exact. I wrote about this monthly series where writers read a page of a work in progress two months and two days ago here at this link. (You know you want to click and go read it and then come back. Be my guest.) But since this was his last OPS, it’s worth another post. It was a fitting tribute and send-off with some special guests. Let’s just say we all got a little verklempt from all the feels, as the kids say.

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12/12/2022: Slow, but Still I Go — Biking, Walking, Etc.

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 5 Comments

Another month has gone by since my last post, and just a few weeks are left in the year. As the weather cools and holidays and a new year approach, thoughts turn inward, toward retrospection, and to the future. There’ll be time for a review of the year come January, though. For now, what has gone on since 11/11? Work, for one. It has involved a lot of walking, which has been surprisingly exhausting. Seven or eight miles when you’re used to the equivalent steps of three miles, and standing for long hours in between, is a change. Other things like rain, health stuff, and perhaps some existential ennui have slowed me down, too. In the past month, I’ve alternated between 80-110 miles per week riding my bicycle. Not great, but not horrible.

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5/5/2022: James Clear Is Killing Me With His Atomic Habits

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 2 Comments

At the end of last’s month’s post, Blog Post #666: The Blog In Which I Announce My Retirement from Blogging*, was a little-noticed * aka asterisk. Only one astute reader followed that to the denouement and figured out the meaning in these words, hidden in plain view: “Respectfully submitted on 01.04.22*, ADAB.” That’s European formatting, day first, month second. That reader was the ever-sharp Half Fast Cycling Club (say it out loud — it’s a fun pun) up in Wisconsin. Not only has he (I’m deducing that’s his pronoun) ridden his bicycle across most of the US (and he’ll correct me in the comments if I’m wrong about that), he’s fixin’ to do it again — at almost 70 years of age. Oh yeah, to do the trip, he’s resigning his hospital job as a literal lifesaver of COVID patients (mostly the ignorant “I did my own research on Facebook” variety). So kudos to Half Fast, and to the rest of you (except if you are in other countries where this peculiar American prank day is not celebrated), I say this: APRIL FOOLS, suckahs! Strap in, it’s going to be a long post.

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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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