Customized (extreme land sports) Rims for Your Bike
No commentsBy Daron Soto
Barring a serious crash or the most frequent bike accident of all-entering the garage with a bicycle on your car roof rack-your bicycle rims will probably last as long as you can stand riding the same old bike. Usually made of aluminum, rims are lightweight and strong and are hardly ever the source of trouble on a bicycle, even in the most arduous riding conditions.
In fact, most bicycle riders probably never give a single thought to their bicycle rims. The circular band of metal that holds in the bike tire and connects it to the wheel hub via spokes is easily overlooked. Unlike spokes, a bicycle rim hardly ever breaks. Unlike the hub, it hardly ever causes problems. Unlike tires, it never goes flat or explodes. Serious bicycle racers have some pretty fancy rims, full of the same outrageously colorful advertising that covers their clothing usually, but most riders really don’t need these. Even the fanciest rims, the flattened out, wide, presumably aerodynamic rims you’ll see on the wheels of the pros, are not certainly all that much better. They are, however, flashier, and in the world of bicycling, this apparently does count for something, maybe for intimidation.
Do you need to know anything special about your bicycle rims? Not really. Most bicycles come with rims appropriate to their overall quality. You can spend as much money as you want on a rim-like everything else associated with the sport of bicycling-but what comes standard on a bike is probably sufficient. Customizing your rims will bring you fancier rims, maybe lighter rims, probably stronger rims, but the research on what constitutes the best rim weight, strength and shape is still largely inconclusive, and since this feature causes so few problems to the recreational rider, you can leave this issue to the professional mechanic who services the bicycles of world class racers. When they’ve resolved the issue, you will know about it!
Meanwhile, if your bicycle rims are aluminum, as most are today (steel rims being heavy, carbon rims being expensive), there is very little you need to do for them. As with all parts of your bicycle, rims should be kept clean of dirt and corrosive oils, wiped after long dusty rides and examined after any crash. Otherwise, do what most riders have always done: forget about your bicycle rims. You may not be able to ride a bike without them, but you really cannot ride a bike better for thinking about this vital but happily innocuous part.
Learn about badminton shoes and badminton tutorial at the Badminton Tips site.
Your Source For Extreme Sports
Women’s Guide to the Golf Swing
By Daron Soto
The woman golfer has a myriad of questions on how to develop the correct golf swing as does most any amateur. The questions from woman golfers center on a myriad of topics such as; how to hit the golf ball farther, how to develop a more repeatable golf swing, how do I hit half shots with my wedges, what are good putting drills? The list can go on and on in relation to the woman golfer and how to improve their golf swing. An area that is now presenting more and more questions from the woman golfer centers upon golf fitness. Questions such as; what are good golf flexibility exercises, and how can golf fitness exercises help me drive the golf farther? These and many more questions are arising in relation to golf fitness and the woman golfer.
It is well known on the LPGA tour the number of players utilizing golf fitness programs to improve their golf game. Annika Sorrenstam has publicly stated the benefits she has received in her golf game from golf fitness training. One area that always appears to be a concern for the woman golfer is distance. How to hit the golf ball farther and Sorrenstam does hit the ball a long way, and utilizes golf fitness training. A simple connection can be drawn between increased driving distance, women golfers, and golf fitness exercises. The bottom line is this; golf fitness exercises can benefit the distance of drives for the woman golfer.
The questions that need to be answered are how and why. First off an understanding of increased distance, the golf swing, and the woman golfer needs to be addressed. Driving distance is contingent upon clubhead speed. The faster the clubhead is traveling at impact with the golf ball. The golf ball will travel farther, an easily understood concept.
Clubhead speed in the golf swing is contingent upon two components. Component number one is golf swing mechanics. The biomechanics of the golf swing in and of themselves create clubhead speed. It centers upon physics and the coiling/uncoiling of the body during the golf swing. In relation to improving clubhead speed and golf swing mechanics. The more efficient the woman golfer performs the mechanics of the golf swing. A greater amount of energy can be developed and transferred into the golf ball as a result. First and foremost for the woman golfer; the development of efficient golf swing mechanics can improve driving distance.
The second component of increasing clubhead speed is the body. Remember, the body is the implement swinging the golf club. It is the woman’s body executing the biomechanics of the golf swing. In addition it is also the body generating power for the golf swing. Power is the ability of the body to generate the greatest amount of force in a short amount of time. Increase the ability of the body to generate more power within the biomechanics of the golf swing. An increase in clubhead speed can occur. How does the woman golfer increase power outputs of their body? This is where the implementation of golf fitness exercises can be a benefit. Golf fitness exercises can increase the power outputs of the body. Power golf fitness exercises increase the ability of your muscles to develop more force within the golf swing.
How do golf fitness exercise achieve this outcome? Golf fitness exercises develop the body around the golf swing: Very different than ordinary fitness training or aerobic classes. Golf fitness exercises develop the required flexibility, balance, strength, endurance, and power within the body for the golf swing. This allows the body to execute the biomechanics of the golf swing correctly. In addition, golf fitness exercises can improve the swing in areas such as clubhead speed.
This is accomplished with golf fitness exercises training the body in the positions, movements, and physical requirements of the golf swing. This allows for the proper levels of flexibility, balance, endurance, strength, and power to be developed within the body. Improving the capacities of flexibility, balance, strength, endurance, and power can improve the ability of the body to perform the golf swing and increase distance.
To summarize, the questions surrounding women and developing the correct golf swing are many. How to improve the golf swing through golf fitness exercises is one of these questions, and one specific area within this topic is distance. Increasing distance is contingent upon increasing clubhead speed. Improving clubhead speed centers upon golf swing mechanics and the body. Improving the efficiency of the golf swing mechanics will allow a greater transfer of energy into the golf club, thus improving clubhead speed. The second component of distance lies within the body and its ability to generate power. Increasing the power outputs of the body will enhance clubhead speed. Power outputs of the body can be improved through golf fitness exercises. These exercises differ than normal gym based exercises in that they develop the body around the swing. This allows for the proper levels of flexibility, balance, strength, endurance, and power to be developed within the golf swing.
Visit the Badminton Tips website to learn about badminton techniques and badminton court dimensions.
Slim Fast Bars Are Junk
By Tangel
The big lie seen all over these days… nutrition bars advertised as healthy and good for weight loss or muscle building. But if you do your home work, you see a never ending list of chemicals, sugars, processed trans fats, and other dangerous overly processed ingredients in these bars.
There are so many kinds of “health bars” and “protein bars” in stores today, how can you be sure if you are actually consuming something nutritious or just junk food in disguise?
Again, just as I’ve mentioned grocery store food selections, you truly need to know how to read labels if you’re going to stand a chance at locating a really good food bar.
To be quite truthful, most of the bars out there are pure junk… candy bars disguised through labeling as a health food bar.
About 2 weeks ago, I was cruising on a bike ride with a friend and required a quick bar to make certain I had enough energy for the bike ride.
Well, I was out of food bars with nothing on me, so my buddy gave me an extra slim fast bar he had.
Keep in mind that these slim fast bars are marketed as health foods for dropping weight.
These horrible bars are just a basic joke…there’s nothing even close to being nutritional about them. In my opinion, these Slim Fast bars are more deadly than candy bars!
The first thing in this bar that my friend gave me was corn syrup! Next I found sugar (Wah Hoo more sugar!), followed by hydrogenated oils (horrible deadly trans fats). The list only continues with more bad stuff like artificial flavors, colors, disgusting artificial sweeteners, more hydrogenated refined oils, and rounded out with some very processed soy protein isolate (which contrary to popular belief, processed soy is NOT good for you… I’ll mention this in more detail in a future article) just to give your body some more trash.
So not only are these “health” bars destructive nutritionally for you, but the bar tasted absolutely disgusting! It tasted like chemicals and was way too overly sweet (no doubt with all of the sugar, corn syrup, sugar alcohols, AND artificial sweeteners). This is a perfect example of “over-engineering” of food.
So how do you know a good protein bar or energy bar?
I look for the basics in a good bar. Many of the healthiest and tastiest bars I’ve found have only a few simple ingredients such as nuts, seeds, and fruit. I also look for organic ingredients and raw ingredients if I can.
Some of my select healthy bars:
1. Organic Food Bars - This is actually the brand name.
Depending on the flavor, the bars I choose are normally a base of organic almond butter (or cashew butter) with a certain kind of fruit, organic seeds, organic biosprouts (quinoa, etc), and some organic rice protein. Some flavors have an organic dark chocolate as well. They also have a selection of bars that have just raw ingredients.
Not only are these bars very nutritious, but I think they are delicious as well and have a lot of flavors to select from such as; chocolate chip, blueberry, cranberry, high protein, and more.
If you can find these bars at your local grocery then you’re lucky. I had to locate them at several health food stores.
2. Lara bars - These are even simpler in ingredients than organic food bars. Normally Lara Bars are just 2 or 3 ingredients, and 90 percent raw… a combination of crushed nuts along with a selection of fruit is the normal combination, but they have a lot of different flavors so it can change.
These are also delicious and you will NEVER see a bunch of chemicals a mile long in their ingredient list… normally just nuts and fruit, and that’s it! Keep it simple. Quality is what you want in a bar, and this one is it. Again, you normally won’t find these at your local grocery store, but check around health food markets and you may find some new bars that fit the bill.
When you actually find genuine healthy bars like these examples above, they make great fast snacks while you are on the road or while you are at work.
I keep some on me almost always, just to make certain I have nutritious options to eat anytime I require a fast snack, so that I am not tempted by fast food places or trashy food vending machines. Good luck and be certain to read those labels to make sure you’re buying a health food bar and not a candy bar in disguise. If you have never tried the bars I mentioned that are bad for you then you should just so you know how bad they taste and realize that your body thinks just as badly of them after you have eaten them. For more info check out www.fatbellymelt.com.
If you’re interested in taking your fat-loss efforts to an entirely new level, go to the following site and grab a free fat loss report which details 27 unique methods for boosting your metabolism and losing belly fat - http://www.fatbellymelt.com
Friday, February 26th, 2010 at 3:05 pm and is filed under sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
