Being prepared while out on the mountain bike trail is an absolute must and a great rule of thumb is to always pack more mountain biking equipment the farther away from help you plan to be. There are a few important considerations you should also make regardless of the skill level of mountain biking that you plan to partake in.
The first consideration, for anyone planning on being active outdoors regardless of mountain biking or not, should be to have a well stocked first aid kit. You can purchase biker specific first aid kits, that are purposefully designed to fit nicely in a small pack, under the seat or even in saddlebags. A well stocked first aid kit will contain antiseptic, pain reliever, tensor bandages, band-aids, moleskin, and tweezers.
The second necessity is to have a mountain bike specific tool kit and there many options available as to the type of bike you have and the tools you want it to contain. The very basic tool kit should have the required tools needed to repair a flat tire and will fit nicely under your seat or in a saddlebag. Other tools to look for are an Allan key or small wrench, a chain breaker, a tire gauge, a Swiss army knife, and some strong tape.
Another highly recommended piece of mountain biking equipment to include is a spare mountain bike chain. Any experienced bikers know all to well how easy it is to bust a chain on the trail and the headache it can cause. Often a broken chain can be repaired but do not take the risk of being left without one.
Last but definitely not least is a portable air pump. These pumps come in numerous shapes and sizes and can be purchased specifically to fit your bike. Most can fit under the seat or in saddlebags, and often the repair kit includes one.
All these pieces of equipment are designed to be light weight and easily stored on your bike. Never risk traveling far from help without then because being prepared with the right mountain biking equipment can save you many hours of frustration.
Tuesday 24 September 2013
Monday 23 September 2013
Bike Survival Kit
Ride Safe (The Tools Every Biker Should Have Along for the Ride)
It’s actually quite easy to do routine maintenance on your own bike. And having the right tools for the job can mean the difference between enjoying an all-day ride and having to pack your bike up and head back home when something goes awry. So, what tools do you need to take along for the ride? First and foremost, you should have the tools to repair a flat fire. Next, invest in the tools needed to maintain your chain and brakes.
Bike Survival Kit
A basic bike survival kit should include:
Tire patch kit
Pump
Chain tool
Screwdriver
Spare tube
Wrenches in various sizes
A more extensive bike survival kit would include:
Chain cleaners
Solvents specifically designed for bike chains
Lubrication
Things to Check for Before You Hit the Road
Brakes: Ensuring your brakes are working well is vitally important. Make sure you check your pads often to prevent rim damage and to ensure that your bike actually stops when it is supposed to. Adjusting the tension is also important.
Chain: Degrease the chain and re-lube it. Clean rear sprockets with a brush tool.
Gears: Check derailleur gear action and cables. Degrease chain and re-lube. Clean rear sprockets with brush tool.
Pedals: Make sure the axle spins freely. Check bottom bracket axles for looseness.
Steering: Make sure handlebar and stem is tight.
Frame: Check for damage. Make sure the seat is adjusted appropriately for your height.
Wheels: Make sure spokes and nipples are tightened and wheels are trued.
Check tire pressure and condition. If your suspension fork is quick release, make sure they are tightly fastened, and don’t forget to check tire pressure.
It’s actually quite easy to do routine maintenance on your own bike. And having the right tools for the job can mean the difference between enjoying an all-day ride and having to pack your bike up and head back home when something goes awry. So, what tools do you need to take along for the ride? First and foremost, you should have the tools to repair a flat fire. Next, invest in the tools needed to maintain your chain and brakes.
Bike Survival Kit
A basic bike survival kit should include:
Tire patch kit
Pump
Chain tool
Screwdriver
Spare tube
Wrenches in various sizes
A more extensive bike survival kit would include:
Chain cleaners
Solvents specifically designed for bike chains
Lubrication
Things to Check for Before You Hit the Road
Brakes: Ensuring your brakes are working well is vitally important. Make sure you check your pads often to prevent rim damage and to ensure that your bike actually stops when it is supposed to. Adjusting the tension is also important.
Chain: Degrease the chain and re-lube it. Clean rear sprockets with a brush tool.
Gears: Check derailleur gear action and cables. Degrease chain and re-lube. Clean rear sprockets with brush tool.
Pedals: Make sure the axle spins freely. Check bottom bracket axles for looseness.
Steering: Make sure handlebar and stem is tight.
Frame: Check for damage. Make sure the seat is adjusted appropriately for your height.
Wheels: Make sure spokes and nipples are tightened and wheels are trued.
Check tire pressure and condition. If your suspension fork is quick release, make sure they are tightly fastened, and don’t forget to check tire pressure.
Sunday 22 September 2013
How useful a Bike Rack can be
What do you do if you want to take your bikes on holiday? You can’t exactly cycle there in most cases, but you’d like to cycle around once you get there. The answer is to simply attach your bikes to your car using a bike rack, and then drive them there. It’s a lot easier than taking them on public transport, and cheaper than renting bikes once you get there.
Bike racks sit on top of your car, and can hold a surprising number of bikes – sometimes as many as five on one rack. They are very useful, yet generally inexpensive, and you can buy them at any good garage or DIY store. Don’t worry too much about which model you get: as long as it can hold the number of bikes you need it to, it’ll generally be just fine.
If you’re going to fit a bike rack to your car, however, it is important to realise that it could potentially be a hazard not only to you and your car, but also to the other drivers on the road. For this reason, you need to make sure that the rack is secured to your car exactly as the instructions say and follow all the relevant safety regulations. If your rack seems unstable, you should take it to be fitted by a professional – don’t take any risks.
By the same token, you should also realise that bikes that are badly secured to bike racks are very often stolen in car parks, as they are easy to take without people noticing. You should lock the bikes to the rack using a secure bike lock, such as a solid metal D-lock, and never leave them unattended without the lock on. This applies especially if you are taking valuable mountain bikes, as losing five of those at a time could be a real disaster.
Bike racks sit on top of your car, and can hold a surprising number of bikes – sometimes as many as five on one rack. They are very useful, yet generally inexpensive, and you can buy them at any good garage or DIY store. Don’t worry too much about which model you get: as long as it can hold the number of bikes you need it to, it’ll generally be just fine.
If you’re going to fit a bike rack to your car, however, it is important to realise that it could potentially be a hazard not only to you and your car, but also to the other drivers on the road. For this reason, you need to make sure that the rack is secured to your car exactly as the instructions say and follow all the relevant safety regulations. If your rack seems unstable, you should take it to be fitted by a professional – don’t take any risks.
By the same token, you should also realise that bikes that are badly secured to bike racks are very often stolen in car parks, as they are easy to take without people noticing. You should lock the bikes to the rack using a secure bike lock, such as a solid metal D-lock, and never leave them unattended without the lock on. This applies especially if you are taking valuable mountain bikes, as losing five of those at a time could be a real disaster.
Saturday 21 September 2013
BMX - Biking
BMX bikes are a special kind of low bike, with smaller wheels than normal, that can be used for racing. They are designed to be very light weight but also very robust, as well as streamlined for speed. They are also known for being easier to perform tricks with than normal bikes.
BMX stands for bicycle motocross, which refers to the origin of the sport: children saw motocross races on the TV in the ‘70s and wanted to emulate them. Since they had no motorbikes of their own, they used their bicycles to race around similar dirt tracks to the ones they had seen. Today the sport is notable for being one of the few sports that is taken part in almost exclusively by the under-10s. Although there are a few older professional BMXers, most good ones move on to other cycling or motorcycling sports.
Among children today, BMXes remain one of the most popular kinds of bikes around, even if they do not compete in competitions, and BMX magazines are some of the biggest-selling hobbyist magazines. This was a surprise to many, as the sport was considered pretty much dead in the ’80s and early ‘90s, only to undergo a dramatic revival in the mid-‘90s that is still going on now.
BMX is now one of the range of extreme sports like skateboarding and snowboarding, and similar tricks can be performed with the bikes to the ones the boarders do. The sport of Freestyle BMX was invented to allow BMXers to concentrate on doing tricks in skate-parks instead of racing, and has since arguably outgrown the popularity of BMX racing altogether – this is the style that the most famous BMX bikers, Mat Hoffman and Dave Mirra, compete in.
BMX stands for bicycle motocross, which refers to the origin of the sport: children saw motocross races on the TV in the ‘70s and wanted to emulate them. Since they had no motorbikes of their own, they used their bicycles to race around similar dirt tracks to the ones they had seen. Today the sport is notable for being one of the few sports that is taken part in almost exclusively by the under-10s. Although there are a few older professional BMXers, most good ones move on to other cycling or motorcycling sports.
Among children today, BMXes remain one of the most popular kinds of bikes around, even if they do not compete in competitions, and BMX magazines are some of the biggest-selling hobbyist magazines. This was a surprise to many, as the sport was considered pretty much dead in the ’80s and early ‘90s, only to undergo a dramatic revival in the mid-‘90s that is still going on now.
BMX is now one of the range of extreme sports like skateboarding and snowboarding, and similar tricks can be performed with the bikes to the ones the boarders do. The sport of Freestyle BMX was invented to allow BMXers to concentrate on doing tricks in skate-parks instead of racing, and has since arguably outgrown the popularity of BMX racing altogether – this is the style that the most famous BMX bikers, Mat Hoffman and Dave Mirra, compete in.
Sunday 11 August 2013
Choosing A Wrought Iron Sword
Courage and skill being often of little use without a good weapon, I think it necessary, before I lay down rules for using it, to show how to choose a good blade, and how it ought to be mounted.
The length of the blade ought to be proportional to the stature of the person who is to use it: the longest sword, from point to pommel, should reach perpendicularly from the ground to the navel, and the shortest, to the waste; being large in proportion to its length, and not extremely large, nor very small, as some people wear them; the over large blades being unwieldy, unless very hollow, which makes them weak, and the narrow ones being not sufficient to cover the body enough.
How To Choose Your Perfect Blade
in order to choose a good blade, three things are to be observed: first, that the blade have no flaw in it, especially across, it being more dangerous so than length-way. secondly, that it be well tempered, which you'll know by bending it against a wall or other place; if it bend only towards the point, 'tis faulty, but if it bend in a semicircular manner, and the blade spring back to its straightness, 'tis a good sign; if it remains bent it is a fault, though not so great as if it did not bend at all; for a blade that bends being of a soft temper, seldom breaks; but a stiff one being hard tempered is easily broke. the third observation is to be made by breaking the point, and if the part broken be of a grey color, the steel is good; if it be white it’s not: or you may strike the blade with a key or other piece of iron, and if he gives a clear sound, there is no hidden fault in it. in bending a blade you must not force it, what i have said being sufficient to know it by, and besides by forcing it, it may be so weakened in some part as to break when it
comes to be used.
It would not be amiss for a man to see his sword mounted, because the cutlers, to save themselves the trouble of filing the inside of the hilts and pommel, to make the holes wider, often file the tongue of the blade too much, and fill up the vacancies with bits of wood, by which means the sword is not firm in the hand, and the tongue being thin and weak, is apt to break in parrying or on a dry beat, as has been unhappily experienced. care should also be taken that the end of the tongue be well riveted to the extremity of the pommel, lest the grip should fly off, which would be of very dangerous consequence.
The length of the blade ought to be proportional to the stature of the person who is to use it: the longest sword, from point to pommel, should reach perpendicularly from the ground to the navel, and the shortest, to the waste; being large in proportion to its length, and not extremely large, nor very small, as some people wear them; the over large blades being unwieldy, unless very hollow, which makes them weak, and the narrow ones being not sufficient to cover the body enough.
How To Choose Your Perfect Blade
in order to choose a good blade, three things are to be observed: first, that the blade have no flaw in it, especially across, it being more dangerous so than length-way. secondly, that it be well tempered, which you'll know by bending it against a wall or other place; if it bend only towards the point, 'tis faulty, but if it bend in a semicircular manner, and the blade spring back to its straightness, 'tis a good sign; if it remains bent it is a fault, though not so great as if it did not bend at all; for a blade that bends being of a soft temper, seldom breaks; but a stiff one being hard tempered is easily broke. the third observation is to be made by breaking the point, and if the part broken be of a grey color, the steel is good; if it be white it’s not: or you may strike the blade with a key or other piece of iron, and if he gives a clear sound, there is no hidden fault in it. in bending a blade you must not force it, what i have said being sufficient to know it by, and besides by forcing it, it may be so weakened in some part as to break when it
comes to be used.
It would not be amiss for a man to see his sword mounted, because the cutlers, to save themselves the trouble of filing the inside of the hilts and pommel, to make the holes wider, often file the tongue of the blade too much, and fill up the vacancies with bits of wood, by which means the sword is not firm in the hand, and the tongue being thin and weak, is apt to break in parrying or on a dry beat, as has been unhappily experienced. care should also be taken that the end of the tongue be well riveted to the extremity of the pommel, lest the grip should fly off, which would be of very dangerous consequence.
Different Types of Basketball Violations
Violations can be committed both by the offense and the defense. Here are those:
Violations committed by the offense:
Traveling or walk violation - is committed when the ball handler takes too many steps without dribbling the ball. This usually occurs after rebounding, after receiving the ball from the pass, and when making a move to drive towards the basket.
Backcourt violation or over-and-back - is committed when the player holding the ball crosses over the mid court line then returns at the back court. This also happens when the player from the front court passes the ball to his teammate in the backcourt.
Double dribble - is a violation involving the ball handler. This violation is committed when the player dribbles with both hands or if the player dribbles, holds the ball, and starts dribbling again.
Offensive foul - is committed when the ball handler attacks to the basket and deliberately hits the defending player with an established stance.
Offensive goal tending - is called when the player attempts to interfere with the ball while it is on the rim or on the way down to the basket. If this happens, the basket won't count.
Five-second inbound violation - happens if the inbounder isn't able to pass the ball to his teammate after 5 seconds.
Three-second violation - is called when the offensive player stays inside the paint for 3 seconds.
Ten-second backcourt violation - is committed if the offensive team isn't able to cross the ball to the mid-court within 10 seconds.
Violations committed by the defense:
Foul - is called against the defensive player if he makes an illegal contact with the ball handler. A foul can also be called even if the player involved is away from the ball. A foul can be caused of blocking, holding, pushing, charging, and tripping.
Intentional foul - is an intentional foul used to stop the clock or to send the opposing player to the free throw line.
Goaltending - is a violation where the defending player interferes with the ball on its way down to the basket or while it is on the rim regardless if it is going to go in or not. The ball counts if goaltending is called.
Illegal defense - is also called 3-second defensive violation. It is used to keep the defensive team from using the zone defense.
Violations committed by the offense:
Traveling or walk violation - is committed when the ball handler takes too many steps without dribbling the ball. This usually occurs after rebounding, after receiving the ball from the pass, and when making a move to drive towards the basket.
Backcourt violation or over-and-back - is committed when the player holding the ball crosses over the mid court line then returns at the back court. This also happens when the player from the front court passes the ball to his teammate in the backcourt.
Double dribble - is a violation involving the ball handler. This violation is committed when the player dribbles with both hands or if the player dribbles, holds the ball, and starts dribbling again.
Offensive foul - is committed when the ball handler attacks to the basket and deliberately hits the defending player with an established stance.
Offensive goal tending - is called when the player attempts to interfere with the ball while it is on the rim or on the way down to the basket. If this happens, the basket won't count.
Five-second inbound violation - happens if the inbounder isn't able to pass the ball to his teammate after 5 seconds.
Three-second violation - is called when the offensive player stays inside the paint for 3 seconds.
Ten-second backcourt violation - is committed if the offensive team isn't able to cross the ball to the mid-court within 10 seconds.
Violations committed by the defense:
Foul - is called against the defensive player if he makes an illegal contact with the ball handler. A foul can also be called even if the player involved is away from the ball. A foul can be caused of blocking, holding, pushing, charging, and tripping.
Intentional foul - is an intentional foul used to stop the clock or to send the opposing player to the free throw line.
Goaltending - is a violation where the defending player interferes with the ball on its way down to the basket or while it is on the rim regardless if it is going to go in or not. The ball counts if goaltending is called.
Illegal defense - is also called 3-second defensive violation. It is used to keep the defensive team from using the zone defense.
Saturday 10 August 2013
Different Types of Archery Competitions
Copyright 2006 Rob Daniels
The sport, of archery is considered one of the oldest traditions. The earliest people known to have used the bow and arrow were the ancient Egyptians, who adopted the weapon at least 5000 years ago. The Egyptians used bows and arrows for hunting and warfare. Ancient Egyptian arrows, have been recovered in large numbers.
The sport, of archery is considered one of the oldest traditions. The earliest people known to have used the bow and arrow were the ancient Egyptians, who adopted the weapon at least 5000 years ago. The Egyptians used bows and arrows for hunting and warfare. Ancient Egyptian arrows, have been recovered in large numbers.
In archery, the athlete use a bow to shoot arrows at a circular target. There are different kinds of competitive archery that are thriving as sports.
Field archery
Field archery includes an open-field target range, where archers shoot different arrows at different targets or different distances around a course. Archers shoot 3 arrows at each target, score and move on to the next until the trail is completed. The archers score their arrows depending on accuracy. The targets are scored based on the highest scoring area that the arrow touches, so the thickness helps.
Speed Archery
This is a variation on target archery, but the aim is to shoot arrows both quickly and accurately. The competition is won by the archer who shoots the greatest number of arrows shot into a target in one minute. The distances shot are shorter than for target archery, and are normally between 10 and 60 metres.
Flight Archery
Flight archery can be done individually or with all the group members firing at the same time. People have done it since the invention of the bow and arrow. Archers shoot a number of arrows and then search for the one which has been shot the farthest, marking it with an identifiable marker. Archers shoot a number of arrows and then search for the one which has been shot the farthest, marking it with an identifiable marker. The current world record for an arrow shot with a standard recurve target bow is 543 metres.
As technology has advanced, archers use modern day conveniences to improve their scores. Archers in modern archery competitions usually use a release aid to hold the string steady. This causes close to the same amount of tension to be used on every shot, so the arrow flight is the same. In addition, archers will often use gummy wax. The gummy wax helped to hold the arrow in place, and it lubricated the trough, giving the shot a smooth glide.
The sport, of archery is considered one of the oldest traditions. The earliest people known to have used the bow and arrow were the ancient Egyptians, who adopted the weapon at least 5000 years ago. The Egyptians used bows and arrows for hunting and warfare. Ancient Egyptian arrows, have been recovered in large numbers.
The sport, of archery is considered one of the oldest traditions. The earliest people known to have used the bow and arrow were the ancient Egyptians, who adopted the weapon at least 5000 years ago. The Egyptians used bows and arrows for hunting and warfare. Ancient Egyptian arrows, have been recovered in large numbers.
In archery, the athlete use a bow to shoot arrows at a circular target. There are different kinds of competitive archery that are thriving as sports.
Field archery
Field archery includes an open-field target range, where archers shoot different arrows at different targets or different distances around a course. Archers shoot 3 arrows at each target, score and move on to the next until the trail is completed. The archers score their arrows depending on accuracy. The targets are scored based on the highest scoring area that the arrow touches, so the thickness helps.
Speed Archery
This is a variation on target archery, but the aim is to shoot arrows both quickly and accurately. The competition is won by the archer who shoots the greatest number of arrows shot into a target in one minute. The distances shot are shorter than for target archery, and are normally between 10 and 60 metres.
Flight Archery
Flight archery can be done individually or with all the group members firing at the same time. People have done it since the invention of the bow and arrow. Archers shoot a number of arrows and then search for the one which has been shot the farthest, marking it with an identifiable marker. Archers shoot a number of arrows and then search for the one which has been shot the farthest, marking it with an identifiable marker. The current world record for an arrow shot with a standard recurve target bow is 543 metres.
As technology has advanced, archers use modern day conveniences to improve their scores. Archers in modern archery competitions usually use a release aid to hold the string steady. This causes close to the same amount of tension to be used on every shot, so the arrow flight is the same. In addition, archers will often use gummy wax. The gummy wax helped to hold the arrow in place, and it lubricated the trough, giving the shot a smooth glide.
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