Alright, alright, alright. I don’t literally mean on fire. But it is a quote from Matthew McConaghey as Woody Wooderson in the Austin-area film Dazed and Confused. Matt is apparently one hell of a dude, citizen, 自由伊安卓版中文版 at Austin professor (really!), and he happens to live up the highway from me. Oh yeah, I guess he won an Oscar or something for acting in Dallas Buyers Club. That’s all a seque, because alright is how I performed on the bicycle in July of 2023.

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Well, that depends what you mean by blog post. Are there like, you know, letters, words, sentences, paragraphs strung together in some sort of understandable fashion? Perhaps some photos? I suppose that with that definition, this is a definite maybe. It’s too soon to tell, really. If you’re still here and reading this, maybe the chances are improving that yes, in fact, this might resemble an actual blog post. It could be a drill, a test, an experiment. Maybe a computer (ro)bot has composed this? It’s hard to tell these days who and what’s real, or not. And what of this A Dude Abikes character? Is he real, does he exist In Real Life? Just who the hell does he think he is to write three blogs a week for going on 30 months? So many questions, we might have to go to another paragraph.

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新蓝网 - 浙江广播电视集团新媒体 - 浙江第一视频门户:2 天前 · 浙江广播电视集团新媒体，整合浙江卫视在内的18个广播电视频道的优势资源， 打造“浙江第一视频门户”，为网民提供互联网、通信网、电视网三网融合、无缝衔接的新媒体优质服务。

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I’m not retracting my recent rave review about my Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music smart watch. On tonight’s 26-mile ride, it told me how far away I was from home, mere seconds after I was asking myself that very question. How cool is that? Maybe a little spooky, too. However, Garmin.com and Garmin Connect, the app that syncs with your phone and uploads your activities to Strava the bike and fitness tracker, are down. The word is Garmin were the target of a ransomware attack on Thursday. It’s now early Saturday. If you’re like A Dude, whose goals are tied to tracking data points (especially miles), it’s a big deal. Assuming Garmin fixes things, those activities will be uploaded then. But if you don’t want to wait for Garmin to get its act together, Strava has come to the rescue with an easy way to get your data transferred. Courtesy of A Dude Abikes. You’re most welcome.

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Because I’m riding 125-166 miles per week lately, I was thinking about sharing more of my stats cycling about town. Or some news about the City of Austin Healthy Streets program expanding and taking public comment. The St. John’s bike lane project and outer lane closures downtown on Congress Avenue making temporary bike lanes are noteworthy. There hasn’t been a bicyclist die in a car crash yet this year (that I know of), which is great. I could do something about saddle sores, how bike shops are still short on inventory, or a piece about another bicycle website here in A-town. There’s bicycle seat adjustment, more about my Garmin watch (their site crashed today), or any number of other bike-related news that you can use. But nah, I’m gonna write about TV. Because, coronavirus / COVID-19 pandemic. There are plenty of dystopian future movies and shows, but one in particular seems exactly right for this moment in history in which we find ourselves.

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Just a little over 11 months ago, I wrote a post titled I Finished My Book, but It’s Far from Over. Now, I’ve finished editing it. Well, you’re never really finished editing, until it’s published. And even then, there may be future editions. Point is, I’ve come to a point where I need to find some eyeballs. For my collection. Just kidding! I mean having other people read it. Particularly an editor. Therein lies the rub. Because editors are like unicorns – few people claim to have seen them, but they’re extremely rare. And they possess some powerful magic:  they’re able to get your book published — or not. So I’m looking for my unicorn. Or eyeballs. Or unicorns with eyeballs. I mean magical unicorns with eyeballs. Yeah, let’s go with that last one.

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Last night I was putting in some late night miles — 16.5 to be exact — to beat the heat and keep my stats up, you know, like I do. I approached a red light and came to a stop. Here’s what I wrote in my Strava ride summary: “Wassup, Killah?” Said the man at the bus stop, a descendant of Africa, pleasantly and with no malice, to the dude on the bicycle who is of the Caucasian persuasion. 讯飞翻译机3.0lite版发布：新增粤语、藏语、维语与普通话 ...:2021-8-9 · 记者了解到，本次发布的3.0 Lite特别新增中文和西班牙语的离线互译，便于用户在没有网络的情况下也能自由交流。官方透露，科大讯飞正在内测中西离线翻译，将在讯飞翻译机3.0 Lite的第一个升级版本中发布，并且全面提升中英日韩俄离线翻译水平。 Also good. They then discussed how the weather wasn’t as hot as last night. The light changed, adieus were bid, and the dude rode on, an otherwise lackluster day made. “Huh, I guess I am kinda a killah on a bike!” He pedaled a little harder, his mph a bit faster. So yeah, that happened.

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Bastille Day, France’s independence celebrated July 14th, is a day when a French cyclist turns himself inside out to win this day’s stage in the Tour de France. But not this year. Due to you-know-what, it’s been postponed. How, and whether, it happens at all is a big question. Sites like Cycling News explain how testing, keeping team staff and riders away from fans, podium protocol to a minimum and so on will perhaps make it as safe as possible. But it’s up to the microscopic coronavirus and local health officials what happens. Let’ s hope Mother Nature and the government will, as the Cajuns in Lousiana say: Laissez les bons temps rouler.

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For the last few weeks I’ve been biking to a job. This isn’t new, as I’ve been 15 years not a slave to cars. But recently I’ve not had work to go to, so a daily ride to a workplace, and then returning home during the still surreal situation we’re all in, is a bit odd. The global coronavirus pandemic is a huge tragedy that will be with us for a while until there’s a vaccine and maybe longer. One small consolation is that it has reduced traffic and pollution. This is good for bike riders, but there are still plenty of hazards so cyclists should remain vigilant. Here a few challenges I’ve noticed and tips for things you can do to make your ride to work as good and as safe as possible.

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Every blogger, poet, journalist, novelist, copywriter, song writer, short story writer, screenplay writer, textbook writer, memoirist, novelist or author of any kind knows and fears it. Those with computers, at least. It flashes on and off the screen, steadily. Hide and seek. Come find me! He/She/It/They says, taunting, daring, challenging the would-be composer of word art. I dare you! Just do it! Write something, already, you hack! When the muse visits and the words come, the cursor dances across the screen, doing your bidding. But sometimes you’re stuck, sitting there at your desk, on your couch or bed or deck chair, at the school library or maybe your favorite coffeehouse. Waiting for inspiration. That blinking cursor, it mocks you, makes you question your abilities and perhaps, on a bad day, your entire existence. What is one to do? Well, writers write. So even if it’s crap (perhaps like this paragraph, you may be thinking), you plow through it. Like I just did.

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