10 Reasons I Ride A Bike - Mike Jacobsen


Top 10 Reasons Why I Ride a Bike

Gets you over the fear of looking goofy in public
It took a while but I can now wear cycling shorts in public without feeling completely silly. Quite an accomplishment
Great opportunity to take pictures
I love taking pictures so I always stuff a camera in one of my jersey pockets and try to snap a photo or two while I’m out. It’s amazing what you can see while you’re on a ride.
It freaks people out when they ask how far I rode over the weekend
People will occasionally ask me if I’ve been on a ride lately and I usually reply yeah I went on one just the other day. When they ask how far I went and I tell them “Oh 70 miles” I love to see the look of disbelief on their faces when they follow up with “In one day?”
Cycling keeps me in shape
I’ve cycled since I was in college but a couple of years ago I had a blood test and failed it miserably. I used that as an incentive to really hit the training hard and get serious about getting in shape. I haven’t failed a blood test since. I also justify cycling as my own little health care plan. My thinking is for every ride or trainer session that I put in now that will be one more ride I’ll be able to take when I’m a lot older and retired. I’m really hoping that it works out this way.

Cycling allows me to set goals and achieve them
I’ve always tried to set small goals and work toward them but cycling has given me the chance to set major cycling goals and work for months toward them. It’s so rewarding to train for months for a specific ride and then accomplish it. This keeps me active and working toward something all the time.

Cycling makes me feel like a kid again
Every time I hop in my bike and make those first few pedal strokes I remember all over again the sensation of what it was like being a kid and riding a bike. There’s nothing quite like riding a bike other than maybe flying. When I’m out riding I also have the urge to yell “Wooooo-Whoooo” because I’m having such a good time. Some times I do but most of the time that just scares others so I keep it to myself.

Drinking Chocolate milk is encouraged after a ride
I just can’t think of many healthy lifestyle activities where you are encouraged to drink chocolate milk and it’s considered a recovery drink. This is the sport for me.

Cycling is my version of an adventure
Going for a long bike ride to me is an adventure. Even if it’s on a route that I’ve been on hundreds of times before there is always something new to see at the speed of a bike. I don’t have to go to far away destinations to have these adventures either. A lot of times I just sit down at the computer, map out a route that looks rural and download it to my Garmin. Then the fun begins. Some routes are better than others but it’s always fun to go out on a cycling adventure.

Cycling is a good excuse to spend time with my buddy
This is by far the biggest reason I like to ride. Going for a bike ride with my best cycling buddy Jenny (my wife) makes all the difference. It’s a great time to catch up and spend time together. We’ve gone on really long rides and super short ones but they’ve always been fun. Except for that time Jenny broke her shoulder. That one, not so fun.
It’s just plain fun

Mike Jacobsen

www.mikeonhisbike.blogspot.com

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Ten reasons to ride a bike - Mike Warren

Here are my 10 reasons to ride a bike:

1 - Insane adrenalin rush while hitting the big drops or that one crazy jump

2 - To impress the girls that watch and do the oo's and ahh's

3 - To get some wicked pictures for facebook haha

4 - To try and show up the ones that are slightly better then me

5 - Because in the end it all becomes a story telling party

6 - To make it on a "1000 ways to die"

7 - To watch the sick DVD's to get you pumped for biking the next day

8 - To watch some crazy people try crazy things

9 - To try and improve faster than your friends

10 - To take sweet videos and enter awesome contests like this one


GOOD LUCK TO EVERY ONE ELSE!! Mike Warren
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Ten Reasons To Ride A Bike - Janelle Kelcey

Hi! I'm Janelle from Canada, and these are the top ten reasons why I ride a bike:

1. When you crash (always with a helmet on, of course), you have scars you can brag about for weeks!

2. Just the adrenaline! Pumping up a steep hill in 3rd gear just gets it flowing and when you break the top you feel on top of the world (or on the brink of collapse, depending on incline of the hill).

3. It's more eco-friendly than driving. Unless you're a big fat cheater and add a motor... which would be pretty cool nonetheless, but still defeating the purpose.

4. It's safer! I think it'd be harder to take down a fence with a bike than it would with a Jeep 4x4 Sport (In my defense, the fence was coming down in a few weeks anyways).

5. You can laugh at cars stuck in slow traffic as you cruise along on the edge of the road. SUCKERS!

6. No fuss air conditioning! Just start moving and feel that cool breeze wash away all your worries (unless you're stuck in smoggy super-heat, then you have no fuss heating)

7. Exercise, of course! Being asthmatic, it's difficult for me to get my exercise, but with biking on paved roads, I can have breaks when I cruise downhill (which are quite often, route planning for the win!).

8. Free excuse to annoy someone! Right when you get in from a long, tough ride, all sweaty and disgusting, go up to that person you have a love/hate relationship with, and give them a GREAT BIG HUG! :)

9. Living in the country, I like to stop and take pictures of the beautiful scenery here in isolated Keene. Except when I crash the bike and smush the camera in my backpack. Then it kind of sucks.

10. Finally, biking is a way to get away from it all! I just think of it as a free roller coaster ride, except you've gotta work to get the enjoyment out of it! I'm just thinking now of the biggest hill I've been down, my eyes watering pathetically as the wind tore at my eye sockets. Trying to dodge the potholes when you're going super fast down the huge, steep hill with crappy brakes. Then when I'm at the bottom, I just start laughing spontaneously! And better still, noones around to see me laughing to myself!

Janelle Kelcey - http://www.sweetyield.blogspot.com/
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Ten reasons to ride a bike - Gareth Kavanagh

Hi there, I'm Gareth and i love to ride on my bike. I ride a racing bike and love to get out onto the open road, and here are my ten reasons for doing it.

My ten reasons to ride a bike are:-
1, I enjoy the thrill of an exciting ride. When your mind starts to play tricks on you and you think your trying to win the last sprint of the tour de France.

2, I enjoy the sense of achievement after a hard ride. Then my body usually crumples in front of the TV with a Beer!

3, I love to push myself to my limits to go faster and for longer. The excitement of hitting 50 down a long hill and you know that any second you could hit a rock and crash but it gets the adrenaline going. =P

4, Truthfully, i like to show off to my mates at how fast i can go and for how long I can hold wheelies. There is nothing better than watching the jaws of your friends drop because you've done something amazing.

5, I like the sense of adventure. To be able to ride and not know where the road might take you. Getting lost is the problem though. XD

6, Riding relaxes me after a hard day (even though the rides are usually harder!). Sounds silly, but that's just the way it works for me.

7, it's the one thing that i can actually beat my brother at so i do it all the time just to get 'one up' on him! :))

8, Riding keeps me fit and healthy and gets me into the fresh air. It helps me to sober up after a long, hard party the night before. :P

9, It's great fun. From when i was a little kid just learning to ride, i have always ridden hard and to the best of my abilities. I have always ridden, even in the cold months of winter right through to the hottest days of summer.

10, Last but not least. Thinking. Riding lets me think. Think of the day I'm having, think about home life, well really it helps me to just think about life. Even the day to day things like 'I wonder how my brother did in his exams' (well done to him for the good grades!). It has helped me to cleanse my soul of the problems I have had but most importantly it has brought me closer to the world I live in.

These are my ten reasons for riding my bike.

Story.
My story is of a ride not to long ago. It was a cool summer morning and my brother and I decided to go on a ride out into the countryside where I live. so we set off into the morning breeze. After a good 20 miles we reached a landmark called 'the old battlefield line' (it was an old railway line). Anyway we decided to turn back and we got to the hills leading down into the valley that my home town sits in. We started to head down a long hill. 20 Mph, 25 Mph, 30 Mph. we hit a bend in the road and we started the speed around it when suddenly a hare jumped out into the road in front of us. My brother swung wide missing the poor creature by inches, then it froze. Directly in front of my wheel. Just as i swerved to miss it the hare dived the same way landing just as my front wheel went straight into the poor animals side. It died instantly, thank God, so it didn't suffer, but for me it was completely the opposite. I caught air off of the hare and land with too much speed and swinging too wide to make the bend. I slammed on the brakes and skidded across the road and into the bank on one side. The bank was about 5 feet tall and somehow I managed to come off my bike and fly straight over the top of the bank. Luckily it didn't drop 5 feet the other side and I landed in some long grass which softened my fall. I was fine, but a little shaken. So me and my brother biked back home with a story to tell our mates.

Thanks for the opportunity.

Gareth Kavanagh
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Win a Bike Jersey

Contest reminder


Submit your Ten reasons for riding a bike and win a bike jersey of your choosing.
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Ten reasons to ride a bike - Mihai Siman

Hello, I'm Mihai and i'm a bike addict (sounds like a therapy class introduction) and i'll try to make my ten reasons why i love to ride my bike.
It's also going to be a personal opinion, not a guide for beginners, and probably those particular reasons work only for me.

So, I do it because:

1. It gives my metabolism a little boost in the morning and in the afternoon. I try to go to work on my bike as much as I can, it’s about 25 km per day and it's a nice way to mentally prepare for work. I'm not a coffee drinker so it's probably my way of waking up at 6 in the morning.

2. I feel very pleased when I'm riding down the streets on my bike, particularly when I overtaking cars that are stuck in traffic. I don't have a car actually but I assume I could consider myself a happy person for not having to pay taxes every year, pay for gas and get stuck in traffic like that. Riding is free!

3. I’m a smoker and I know that cycling is healthy, increased cardiovascular system, gives me endurance, strength and also makes my buttocks look nice. I hope I’ll quit smoking some day.

4. Riding teaches me some geography and nature. Sounds silly but one of my rider friends told me the not far from today: if it would not be for all those rides we make I would probably have no idea what mountains we have around our town. And its true, we have been traveling around very nice places that are probably intangible for a bored town inhabitant.

5. It teaches me about my body and my limits. With baby steps you can grow stronger, faster and competitive. Getting to know your limits give you a nice feeling about your self and competing with your friends is a nice way of appreciating the place you deserve at the finish line.

6. I need something to do between swimming and running. :)) I’m just kidding but from all the sports I practice this seems to be the one I like the most.

7. It makes me proud. Proud of my everyday growing performances, proud of having ridden the two tallest roads in Romania - Transfagarasan and Transalpina. It's not a big thing but it makes me proud of myself, been able to take me up there only using my body's strenght.

8. Its extremely fun. I can't even remember all the tales I have left from the rides, that’s why I made a blog about this... I think. But we seem to have a lot of fun when one of us crashes of the bike.

9. Its give me the adrenaline doze that every design engineer needs ;). I admit without biking I am a sedentary person, I spend most of my day in front of a computer. I got used to the adrenaline rush that biking gives me and I can't get enough of it now. Riding on a single track in the woods at 40 km per hour is definitely a must at least once a week.

10. It makes a great combination: making sport - with your friends - in the middle of nature. It’s my exodus away from the daily life, it takes me somewhere in the nature and it lets me bring my friends along. If someone will withhold me from biking I will probably miss it very much, it’s a part of me now.

There are a lot more reasons to be added but the simplest way to find out what are the best reasons is to try it your self, you don't need a contest for that! Ride hard and see what fits you best !

Best regards, Mihai Siman
http://mountain-bike-brasov.blogspot.com


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Contest: Ten Reasons To Ride a Bike

More and more people are turning towards cost-effective means of transportation these days. They go for smaller vehicles, using the bus, sharing the cars when taking trips and, of course, riding the bike. The bicycle proved to be a very versatile piece of equipment serving both commuters and sportsmen and I honestly hope it will become mainstream in the future.
So what's this all about? It's about riding the bike and telling us why it's worthwhile to do so.
We would like to start a contest which will go by the following guidelines:
  • write ten reasons for riding the bike (in English)
  • try to be original, funny and interesting
  • don't make your points too long nor too short
  • don't copy and paste from other web sources
  • make sure your spelling, grammar and punctuation are correct
  • you can add a bike story to your ten reasons for being a bike addict
  • you are allowed to send max. two pictures (made by you or your friends) to accompany your writing
  • we will post each set of reasons along with your link for your blog, Twitter account, Facebook profile, etc
  • we won't post texts including offensive language
  • we will award the best ten reasons based on the number and consistency of comments (submitted by different users, anonymous excluded) - more interesting comments, more chances of being number one
  • winner will receive a bike jersey from here, which will be delivered worldwide free of charge
  • submit your ten reasons at this email address and write in the subject field "Ten reasons to ride a bike - your first and last name"
  • at the end of email please insert just one link to your personal page, not business (be it blog, Twitter account, etc)
  • starting date: Today 25 August 2009
  • deadline: 4 September 2009
  • we will take the liberty not to post emails which don't comply to the rules above
Tips:
  • show this to your friends and ask them to comment on your ten reasons
  • you may come up with ten original reasons without being a serious biker - you don't even have to own a bike - we will still give you the prize if your post will gain comments
  • if you don't have a Blogger account, you can easily create one - you will have the possibility of setting your own blog on the best blogging platform offered by Google
View all contest posts by clicking on the first entry in the tag list - "10 reasons to ride a bike". You can find the tag list on the right sidebar of this blog - scroll down and you will see it below the Networked Blogs widget.
Success!
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Multi Pitch Adventure Climbing in Malaiesti Tower (Bucegi Mountains)

"Castoru" (nickname for Dan Borcea) is a well known veteran climber and mountaineer who's always up for sporty challenges. For this weekend, 22-23 Aug, he invited me to Malaiesti Tower in order to check out the routes, which were first climbed some 30-40 years ago.

Being a rather remote climbing area, comparing it to Costila area, the routes haven't been maintained in terms of renewing the old pitons and dropping the loose rocks on the wall. For this reason, it is advisable for climbers to carry additional protection as friends/cams, nuts and extra pitons.

On our first day we climbed the central route (RO: "Traseul tavanelor din peretele central"), leading below and over the fairly visible overhangs in the middle of the wall and ending in a small window at the West side top of the tower.
On the second day, we engaged into the gully/canyon on the East side of the tower, being accompanied by Castoru's colleagues from PRO TV Brasov. The video footage is to be materialized into a short TV show called "Vremea distractiei" (EN: "Leisure time"), that will be aired on PRO TV Brasov.

We didn't take bulky (but proper) cameras on the wall so all our pictures were taken with phone camera - sorry for the questionable quality!


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Bouldering in Ticino, Switzerland

Some of my friends are in Switzerland right now, bouldering in Ticino.
Ticino is a canton, well known for its world class bouldering sites:
  • Cresciano - home of the mythical boulder problem "Dreamtime", first climbed by Fred Nicole and made famous by Dave Graham (video shown below)
  • Chironico - best bouldering spot in Ticino, in my opinion
  • Magic Wood - suitable for summer (shady and north oriented), renown for riverbed problems
We had a trip in November 2008 when most of us broke their own records in sending hard problems.


Dave Graham on Dreamtime

The team, the van, the crash pads
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Deep Water Solo 2009 Trip - Follow Up

So we did it again!

This time though, I can't say I was as full of bravery as I was last year... For some reason it didn't seem okay for me to throw myself of 15 meters cliffs and it felt quite suicidal when I eventually did so. Everything was wrong: bad take-offs, bad trajectory, bad balance while airborne, awful plunges - I had my chest hit a few times which lead to almost loosing my breath; not to mention arms splashing against the water causing red skin and considerable amounts of pain and shame.

Needles to say I was the mockery of all the gang, just for the hesitation that I showed in the first day. Tigers and sharks, this is what they are, proudly displaying their audacity against my old's man weakness... :-)

We definitely climbed more now - the sea allowed this with still waters and mild waves.

Facts and figures:
- Grades for attempted and/or sent climbing routes: from 5a to 7b+
- 30 people
- 6 cars
- Highest jump: 15 meters
- Boldest jumper: Adi Mic (Adrian Iancu)
- Most stylish jumper: Kristoff (our Austrian friend)
- Dolphins seen and photographed
- Coolest non climbing activity: snorkeling
- Lots of laughs (quite a few were triggered by my jumping fears)


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