Off Topic: Working Outdoors with My Father

My father is a freelancer in constructions; he builds wooden houses, roofs and other stuff that is made of wood. Since I was available, he asked me to join him for a piece of work he was hired for, down South in a village on the Danube river.

The work was fine, as it always is when we do greenfield projects versus repairs, and we had nice sunny weather all the way through. We built a little wood summer house on the top of a garage which needed proper covering and now, under the new roof, both owners and their car can be neatly protected.

Two people that I've met on my staying in Borcea impressed me deeply:

• Alex - a little boy, 5th grade, coming from a poor family who hasn't seen a train until this September (2009 that is!). He only went outside the village for harvesting and field work... Mainly derogatory, his Romanian nickname (RO: "Barosanu") means rich, proud and powerful but I like to believe this nickname is predestined to be backed by real wealth that this kid will gather in the years to come. He's so hardworking: the only one in his family still attending school, taking care of his household, working for neighbors so he can help his family with either money or food, riding his bike back and forth doing errands. If there is someone out there who deserves to be rich and powerful then it is this little boy!
• Mr. Nicu - an old and peaceful man (almost 80 years old) who's as sharp as ever even though he's disabled and blind. He used to be called "Nicu Putere" (EN: "Nicu Power") due to his wealth and his ability to create welfare for his family and relatives by managing his assets: willingness to work, land, houses and livestock. The love that his wife has for him is visible in her every gesture - she cuddles him, she whispers kind words to him, she asks him how he feels, whether he's hungry or not and she always smiles to him...

Modern people seem dead walking bodies in comparison with these country people. More than everywhere else I felt I was among humans, everyone willing to share something, to take you into their houses, to tell you their life's story and all this when they own so little.

My conclusion after this experience is that we need to be more grateful for what we have - food and shelter, health, modern transportation, internet, gadgets, etc. We take all this for granted but we don't appreciate our well being as we should.

Be grateful!

My father cutting timber with his sawWe used modern protection gear as in rope access and rock climbing Our workAlex, taking care of a fisherman's boatBathing in the DanubeNicu Putere has wisdom to shareMr. Nicu and his wifeFuneralBarge going upstream on the DanubeI swam across the DanubeA new friend I made here, young firefighter and skillful auto mechanic, let me have a spin with this thing - 285 horse power

We Need More Cycling Lanes

We need more lanes for cyclists! Not only here, in Brasov, but elsewhere as well.
Since I love outdoor sports I can say I'm also an environmentalist, willing to promote any activity that keeps nature unharmed.

I sincerely believe we can solve the traffic problem in the big cities by enabling bike circulation on designated lanes. There are so many signs that we are trashing this planet through air, water and soil pollution and so many voices that try to raise awareness about this and yet we don't seem to care that much... We can build up our contribution by doing small things, one of which could be riding the bike and driving less.

The most annoying aspect of riding a bike in Brasov is that drivers have little or no respect whatsoever for cyclists. I've been intimidated and honked at so many times by car drivers that I became awfully angry on the mayor and all the other thick skinned guys who are supposed to implement sustainable solutions for their cities and their inhabitants, that is make bike lanes for me and for the rest of the bikers so we can travel safely and "ozone friendly" in our city. Of course, drivers have their lack of education and this cannot be changed overnight but it would be nice for bikers to be able to report bully drivers. Financial penalties through serious fines may help drivers to see bikers in a totally new view. They will slow down...and then go round...slowly overtaking us...keeping a considerable distance...coz we reprezent bad fortune for their wallet.

Ride your bike and be safe!

Only two bike lanes in Brasov...
Morning in Brasov

How To Be a Man by Steve Pavlina

I've found an interesting article about being a man, written by Steve Pavlina. These are the paragraphs I resonate with:

"Be willing to fail

A man is willing to make mistakes. He’s willing to be wrong. He’d rather try and fail than do nothing.

A man’s self-trust is one of his greatest assets. When he second-guesses himself by worrying about failure, he diminishes himself. An intelligent man considers the prospect of failure, but he doesn’t preoccupy himself with pointless worry. He accepts that if a failure outcome occurs, he can deal with it.

A man grows more from failure than he does from success. Success cannot test his resolve in the way that failure can. Success has its challenges, but a man learns more about himself when he takes on challenges that involve risk. When a man plays it safe, his vitality is lost, and he loses his edge.

Face your fears

For a man, being afraid of something is reason enough to do it. A man’s fear is a call to be tested. When a man hides from his fears, he knows he’s fallen out of alignment with his true self. He feels weak, depressed, and helpless. No matter how hard he tries to comfort himself and achieve a state of peace, he cannot overcome his inner feeling of dread. Only when facing his fears does a man experience peace.

A man makes a friend of risk. He doesn’t run and hide from the tests of fear. He turns toward them and engages them boldly.

A man succeeds or fails. A coward never makes the attempt. Specific outcomes are of less concern to a man than his direction.

A man feels like a man whenever he faces the right way, staring straight into his fears. He feels even more like a man when he advances in the direction of his fears, as if sailing on the winds of an inner scream.

Accept responsibility for your relationships

A man chooses his friends, lovers, and associates consciously. He actively seeks out the company of people who inspire and challenge him, and he willingly sheds those who hold him back.

A man doesn’t blame others for his relationship problems. When a relationship is no longer compatible with his heart-centered path, he initiates the break-up and departs without blame or guilt.

A man holds himself accountable for the relationships he allows into his life. He holds others accountable for their behavior, but he holds himself accountable for his decision to tolerate such behavior.

A man teaches others how to treat him by the relationships he’s willing to allow into his life. A man refuses to fill his life with negative or destructive relationships; he knows that’s a form of self-abuse."

I recommend reading the entire article here.

Climbing in Meteora, Greece

Castoru has recently returned from a climbing, canyoning and bouldering holiday in the Balkans. He's a family guy and makes a good team with his wife, Gabi, and his son, Toma.
Some pictures from Meteora below.

Other resources:

• Meteora Climbing
• Samothraki Canyoning
• Samothraki Canyoning Pictures Taken by a Lady Romanian Blogger

Bouldering

The Family - life companions and climbing partners

Main Types of Climbing Explained by Chris Sharma

Chris Sharma, presumably the best climber in the world, talks about the main types of climbing and his view upon this sport.

Video made by Big UP Productions.

Adjust V brakes for Your Mountain Bike

For efficient braking one must consider more than just replacing the brake blocks on his/her mountain bike. There are many detail aspects which will lead to better braking:

• softness of rubber in brake blocks - soft rubber (more latex) wears off faster but gives a better friction, thus a more efficient brake; it's the same thing with climbing shoes sole
  
• correct placing of washers
  
• adding a brake booster (horseshoe)
• changing the cable sheaths with ones that have the plastic reinforced with steel wire - this will keep them always open and perfectly cylindrical
  
• oiling the the inner steel cable (runs through the cable sheaths) which pulls the V brakes
  

From my experience, I've seen that not all bike mechanics (ones who work in bike service shops) fully understand the physics behind the V brake system of a mountain bike. For instance, the most common mistake is placing the thicker washer on the outer part of the brake arm. This will lower your leverage as you pull the brakes. See picture below for correct placement of washers.

Original pictures taken from here and here

Another piece that improves your V brakes is the Horseshoe Brake Booster. I adopted this for my bike and even though I cannot feel a real difference, my frame doesn't expand anymore.

Horseshoe on my bike

Other resources for brake performance and brake kits can be found here, here and here.

Be safe!

Ten reasons to ride a bike - John Ang

The contest is over. Even so, I received a new email with another set of ten reasons to ride a bike.

I will still publish them if you keep them coming.

#1: To make friends with the usual bus drivers in the morning to get a free ride during a rainy day!

#2: To Feel, taste and hear the tasty local mud (it stains like coffee!)

#3: To laugh at those while I pass the gas station.

#4: To wear those cool unique jerseys with pockets.

#5: To use the priority of bus lanes!

#6: I love to use the hot disc rotors to cook my fancy shaped pancakes, after a tiring ascend and descend! 

#7: To hear that whistle from my helmet cutting the air and know I'm doing 40km/h!

#8: To drift and spray sand into the unsuspecting bystander.

#9: Loves the click from clipping into the roadie clipless pedals.

#10: And it is great exercise without hurting the knees!!!!!!!

John Ang

Change Your Blog Template and Keep Widgets

I'm no expert in computer programming, HTML, XML, PHP or anything like that. During my high-school years I attended a few HTML classes but all I remember is that the software interpreting the HTML code does not take spaces into consideration. So as long as you write your code within the right tags (header, body, etc) you will get the desired effects. Of course there's more to that but that's only what I remember...

Since I started this blog, I've learned about different features one can add to his/her blog. Some may want to add new columns or to split one column; also the columns can be either on the lateral sidebars or they can be placed together at the left or right side of the posting area; link tabs, columned footer, borders, shades - all these can enhance the look of one's blog.

Therefore, with so many free templates out there why would somebody even bother about HTML code? It all comes down to your gadgets and widgets. Many bloggers lost their widgets after uploading various themes and templates. Of course they can be installed again but the most concerning problem is you loose all records of previously installed widgets. For example I tried not to loose my followers coz I want to regularly check on their blogs; the same thing is with the blogroll. There are tips and tricks on how to upload a new template and still keep your gadgets but they don't always work so well. Thus, understanding a bit of HTML code will let you make the design changes exactly where you want them, being able to modify your template without dismissing you gadgets and their records.

You'll always see advice like:

• Save your current template
• Make your trials and errors on a different blog

and you should follow them!

Here's my list of resources from where I gained a little bit of knowledge about blog design:

• http://www.blogbulk.com/2008/11/borders-in-blogger-template.html
• http://www.bloggerbuster.com/2007/07/create-three-column-blogger-template.html#comment-form
• http://www.bloggerbuster.com/2007/08/create-your-oen-recent-comments-widgets.html
  
• http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/10_chat_widgets.php
  
• http://www.bloggerbuster.com/2007/10/how-to-add-three-columns-to-your-footer.html
  
• http://beautifulbeta.blogspot.com/
• http://tips-for-new-bloggers.blogspot.com/2007/02/three-columns-blogger-template.html
• http://minibox-template.blogspot.com/
• http://bloggerindraft.blogspot.com/
• http://bloggeruniversity.blogspot.com/
• http://themelib.com/2009/03/contact-forms-for-blogger/
• http://www.mayvelous.com/2009/02/19/adding-contact-form-on-blogger-or-blogspot-blogs-with-google-form/?wscr=1280x800
• http://cutewriting.blogspot.com/2008/06/special-post-how-to-add-favicons-to.html
• http://bloggingforbread.blogspot.com/2008/02/add-blogger-read-more-expandable-posts.html
  
• http://www.anshuldudeja.com/2009/01/horizontal-navigation-menu-links-for.html

The last URL directs you to a site that teaches you how to add link tabs in your blog - really cool feature! Also, don't miss this and this, which shows you how to add a contact form in your blog.


I hope you will find all this info useful. Perhaps you'll get new ideas on how you want your blog to look. Give it a try!

Happy blogging!

Who Gets the Bike Jersey?

It wasn't hard to decide who gets the bike jersey (+ surprise gifts) after seeing that Mihai has no less than 9 comments. Well yes...one comment is anonymous and another is posted by Mihai himself in his conversation with Heather but that still leaves him with a bunch of nice and consistent comments.

What's the conclusion to be drawn from this? I guess Mihai either has lots of friends and fans who support him or he simply came up with the most comprehensive list of ten reasons to ride a bike. Or both.
Not only he gave us his ten reasons but I believe he made us smile with his crash video, where one of his friends flipped off his bike - he's okay (his friend) and he also contributed to Mihai's winning this contest.

I will contact Mihai for sending his prize and hopefully he will send me a picture with him wearing his new bike jersey.

I would like to thank all the competitors for taking the challenge and submitting their ten reasons to ride a bike! You will surely have a next chance of winning Highball apparel! Why am I saying "next chance"? Coz contests for outdoor fans who like to blog about their passions will always run on Highball Blog.


Cheers!

How To Fix a Flat Bike Tire

I've learned that some bikers don't know how to fix a flat tire on their bike.
Of course, there are many "How to" resources and tutorials out there. This is just one of them.

Also, this video on how to fix a flat bike tire may help.



Tips:

• You don't need the yellow levers the guy uses in this video; any slim pointed object like a a key, a small wrench will do just fine.
• After you remove the tube, pass your fingers along the inner side of the tire as to feel any sharp object that may have created the puncture; you may find small pieces of glass, wire, nails, staples.
• Inspect thoroughly the tread of your tire as you may find objects (sharp pieces of rock, etc.) that only half penetrated the tire - these objects may not have created your current flat but they can cause a future one as they will go deeper into your tire till the tube is reached and punctured. Mountain bike tires tend to gather such sharp objects in their soft and thick rubber.

Stay pumped!

Bike Crash Funny Video

Once in a while everyone's bike riding is perturbed by minor or major crashes.That's why protection gear for head and joints is highly recommended for bikers and especially for those who like to push the limits when it comes to speed, tricks and stunts.

However, there's something funny about crashes that leave the biker unharmed and scared. 


Luckily, now we can purchase great portable action cameras in order to document our performance victories and our failures - GoPro Hero camera is the world's smallest, wireless helmet and gear-mountable video camera for outdoor sports.

 A funny bike crash was captured with such a camera by Mihai:

Wear your protection gear and be safe!