The rain had something to say.  It said it all day.  What choice did I have?  I listened.  I wondered if it were a big bird.  I wondered if that flapping were its wings.  But then I understood, it was the wind that made all the noise, and so it seemed the wind was a bird.  Then what was the rain?  It woke me in the night.  That much I knew.  And I followed its directions.  I descended the stairs, and going floor by floor asked every shadow, What?  And sometimes the shadows answered, and sometimes they didn’t.  Later, much later, I woke in the deepest part of the house, where the water had pooled.  It smelled sweet like the earth, and as I stood there it rose.  Soon it would be past the meridian.  Soon I would drown.  But then I thought, So.  And I knew that I had achieved what I had come to achieve.  I swam to the surface, where the woman I love moved like a swan on the flood.  She knew something, too.  I followed in her wake to find out what.  Love? I said, and she said, Love.  I followed her until we reached the roof.

Up until last weekend never had the tyre of a wheel I owned touched the ground of Europe or more importantly the surrounding area of Lake Annecy, that is to say that never had I ridden my bicycle outside of these shores so my preparation for our trip was somewhat minimal. A few 40s, 50s and even a 75 miler was what I had under my belt before last week, however all of the aforementioned distances were lacking in something, something rather important for the person looking to conquer the cycling down south in France…And that something is hills.

Because of my background I believed I would really struggle on these Cols, that for whatever reason my body would not be up to the standard of what these types of roads demanded but I was surprised and this trip has taught me a very good lesson but more of that later.

Our first morning was spent cycling a Lap of Lake Annecy. It was a beautiful way to start the week and we couldn’t wait to get out. This lap of the Lake was used as part of a time trial in this years Tour and it was the constant reminders painted onto the road surface of names such as ‘Contador’ ‘Lance’ and ‘Schleck’ that woke me up into the excitement of what awaited us in the forthcoming week. So after our 16 hour car journey the day previous and a strange nights sleep in a sloping field of cows I sighed and thought gleefully to myself “Aaaaah that’s it, we are here”.

Later on that day after yet another espresso off the camp stove we decided to venture out and upwards. Upwards to the Col de La Forclaz which was approx eight miles away. At this point I would like to say I had never in my life climbed a large hill, a Col, a mountain or anything such like so the climbing of Col de la Forclaz would be interesting.

Now I go back to what I mentioned earlier about that important lesson I had learned… Our bodies are far more capable of difficult tasks than we think. I got up that Col I did, my first one actually. It was tough at times sure it was, but I was getting up regardless. After what seemed like 10 litres of shed sweat in the mid-day sun, enough air in and exhaled from my lungs to fill a hot air balloon and my thighs feeling like someone was holding a flame to them I reached the summit and Joe was there to congratulate me and Kieran’s congrats followed shortly after. Amazing.

I used to hate ascending, in my mind ascending had me beat but the more we climbed the more I got a buzz out of it. The absolute sense of achievement I felt on the summits was unparalleled. To know that I wanted to give up ( on several occasions ) and didn’t was a surprise. Not that I had no faith in myself, I did but I had never experienced hills like these and it hurt real bad. At every point where the road steepened on these climbs it would have been very easy for me to have simply stopped but this is something I now know I am capable of… overriding my brains urges to quit because of pain and to carry on, because I can and because my body is more than capable of it.

The riding throughout the rest of the week consisted of many more climbs, steeper climbs, longer climbs, legendary climbs and climbs that would reveal to you some of the sheer beauty of what this planet has to offer. Take the view of Mont Blanc from the Cret de Chatillion… It took all the food in my jersey pockets, all the electrolyte replacement in my bidon and all the willpower I had inside of me to get up there that day but for the view alone it was totally worth it.

With climbs come descents. Descents! This stuff is exhilaration bottled, twenty minute journeys downhill through forests at fifty miles per hour is what I had endured hours of ascending for, I had earned it and I was made for it. Hairpins, shallow corners, undulations, change in light conditions and road surface, the sound of my ears rushing by the still air surrounding, my stowaway jacket flapping ferociously behind me all added up to something quite magical and it has me addicted.

I learned about fuel and hydration because without those you really could not continue, about having the correct attire because not only is it important to look good but you must also feel good. I fully realise and know now what I look for and need in a bike and with mine it is currently a new set of tyres to help me around those ‘hairy’ hairpins quicker and safer because next time the road may not be so clear and there may be a car there waiting to meet me, perhaps bonnet first. I learned that a correct fitting bike is absolutely imperative as regularly after approx 2 hours in the saddle I experienced some serious fatigue in my lower back and across my shoulder blades and this is something I need to look into, so next time the agony will only be in my legs and not in my back.

The elusive 100 miles I longed to clock still defeats me, I have still not gained it but I tell you this. It now means nothing to me as some 50 mile journeys over and through some seriously beautiful natural landscapes are worth 500 miles of any A roads through bland grey cities. I just want to ride more and more and I am already thinking about next year, did somebody mention Spain?

Thanks go to Joe Hall for the instigation and the motivation throughout, to Kieran Young for his enthusiasm and sunny disposition and to the lady camp site proprietor for her good use of the English language. To Aussie Rik who looked like Jo mangle “dude that is not your tent and it will break like that”, to the bar next door for the chips when they were needed ( Yes Kieran! ) and to the expensive fish fillets that were truly earned after that epic day. To Fig rolls the superfood, the in-jokes and tales on the jetty, to the Rapha Merino base layer and to the Lake for making our mornings worth rising early for. To the Cafe and Boulangerie in Veyrier for making the best coffee and baguettes in the whole of Annecy, Veyrier and Menthon Saint Bernard and finally to Col de la Forclaz for truly opening my eyes to the mountains.

Day one.
Morning – lap of Lac D’Annecy / 20 miles
Afternoon – Climb of Col de la Forclaz ( 1157m ) Via Veyrier and back / 17 miles

Day two.
Climb of four Cols on the west side of Lac D’Annecy / 46 miles.
Col de Bluffy ( 613m )
Col de Leschaux ( 936m )
Montague Semnoz( 1704m )
Cret de Chatillion ( 1790m )

Day 3
Recovery ride up Col de la Forclaz ( for the second time ) / 17 miles roundtrip.

Day 4
Tour du Glieres and Tour du Bargy / 85 miles.
Annecy – Col de Bluffy – Thones – Le grand Bornand – Col de Columbieres – Col de Fleuris – Scionzon – La Roche sur Foron -Thoron Glieres – Annecy le Vieux – Annecy – Veyrier

Day 5
Recovery ride up Col de la Forclaz ( for the third time ) 17 miles roundtrip.

Day 6
Alpe D’Huez ( 1815m ) 15 miles roundtrip.

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Nếu chúng ta tìm hiểu sâu hơn một chút về đường xu hướng, và vẽ thêm 1 đường song song với đường xu hướng lên hoặc xu hướng xuống, chúng ta sẽ tạo ra được một kênh xu hướng.

Để tạo ra 1 kênh đi lên (ascending channel), rất đơn giản, bạn vẽ 1 đường song song với đường xu hướng xuống sau đó dịch chuyển chúng đến vị trí sao cho chúng chạm vào những điểm thấp nhất trong giai đoạn gần đây. Tốt nhất là bạn nên vẽ đường này ngay lúc vẽ đường xu hướng.

Cũng tương tự như vậy cho việc tạo ra 1 kênh xu hướng đi xuống (descending channel), bạn vẽ 1 đường song song với đường xu hướng xuống và dịch chuyển  chúng đến vị trí sao cho chúng chạm vào những điểm đỉnh trong một giao đoạn gần đây . Bạn cũng nên vẽ đường này cùng lúc với việc vẽ đường xu hướng.

Khi giá chạm vào đường kênh dưới đáy thì có thể đó là khu vực thích hợp để mua. Ngược lại, khi giá chạm vào đường kênh phía trên thì có vẻ đó là khu vực thích hợp để cân nhắc bán.

Today’s mission was Climbing & Descending turns.

Climbing & descending turns involve the same three elements as medium level turns:

• Bank
• Balance
• Backpressure

The angle of bank for these turns is less than for medium level turns – only 15 degrees. This is because if you bank the plane too far during a climb, the plane will turn but no longer climb.

It was a shorter briefing today becaus the main basics had been covered previously with medium level turns and climbing & descending. So, I was sent out to do the preflight. I am slowly getting the hang of checking everything, althought it still seems to take less time than it should. I did, however, make a breakthrough today – I discovered that it is possible to adjust the position of the rudder pedals. One of the main problems I’ve been having is reaching the rudder pedals and moving them closer made a huge difference!

Jeremy came out, we climbed in and I did the startup. It took a few times to get the engine to start, I think the throttle might have not been fully closed, because it started after Jeremy adjusted something. I put on my headset and was a bit confused to find no sound! I looked around to find Jeremy plugging it in (oops) and gave him a rather sheepish grin .

I taxiied to plane to the runway (also easier with the moved pedals), went through the last checks and Jeremy did the takeoff.

It was rather windy today which posed more challenges. There were a few big bumps at the start of the lesson but luckily it was smooth enough to continue the lesson. It certainly was more challenging to keep the aircraft on a constant heading – it kept wanting to roll and turn. I managed to fight it and keep it going where I wanted though.

First Jeremy explained the basics of climbing (which I wanted a recap on). To climb, the power is set at full and the attitude is the horizon just below the bottom of the windscreen.

He then demonstrated a climbing turn, a descent and a descending turn. To descend, power is set at 2000rpm and the attitude is the horizon about halfway up the windscreen. Before I took over, he demonstrated what would happen during a climbing turn if the plane was allowed to bank at 30 degrees or over. It was interesting to see how the rate of climb slowed and then eventually the plane stopped climbing at all.

Then it was my turn. First I had to put the plane into a climb, and then do a climbing turn. It was a bit difficult to calculate the angle of bank (15 degrees) and at times I think I was banking too far. The bouncing of the plane from the wind made it harder to maintain the angle. I think I was also letting the nose drop a little too far too.

After that I had to put the plane into a descent, and then do a descending turn. These were easier as you don’t need to apply backpressure, as the nose is meant to remain low (since it is descending). I also found it hard to calculate the angle here, although I was getting more used to what it should be.

We did more turns in both directions (a mix of climbing, descending and medium level) before it was time to head back. Jeremy took over control earlier than usual, probably because of the wind which made the landing more difficult. Interestingly, he landed without using flaps, I meant to ask why and totally forgot (sigh).

I haven’t booked my next mission yet becuase the booking sheets had disappeared, but hopefully it’ll be 8:30am next Wednesday. I ordered the theory books earlier this week and they arrived yesterday. They look interested but I also feel like there’s just so much to learn, it’s rather daunting. Excitingly, I now have a logbook!

Today’s 4th stage of the Tour de France highlighted the Team Time Trial (TTT). The TTT requires many skills from all 9 riders in the team “train.”

Among them are obviously speed, power, and endurance- which are needed to keep such a high rate of tempo for the entire TT distance.

But one of the most overlooked skill in any type of bicycle riding is; bike handling skills. In fact of all the acquired skills of riding, handling skills are by far the most important.

During today’s stage, team Bbox showed the importance of understanding, focusing and implementing the mechanics of cornering, or lack thereof in their instance.

Four of their nine riders rode right off the road in a sweeping right hander. The turn wasn’t that tight, nor was it a decreasing radius corner. It was basically a constant radius, flat basic turn.

Once the first rider of Bbox drifted wide, missed the apex and began to go off the road, three others follwed him! Why? Simple. Target Fixation. Besides knowing how to corner properly a rider needs to know how to avoid following a wreck or the same path of carnage.

This is where quick and forceful Countersteering comes into play. More about countersteering later.

A corner is made of three basic parts. The entry, (turn in point – “tip”) the apex, (the middle or center) and the exit (the end of the corner).

There is a proper way and an improper way to corner efficiently, safely and quickly. Bbox showed the world how NOT to corner, while team Saxo Bank and team Astana among others, showed how to perfect a corner.

To be somewhat fair, in a TTT, riders are riding time trial bikes- which are usually more rigid, have more rake in the front end to be aerodynamic and subsequently, are more unstable in corners.

But that’s not to say these riders get a pass on their lack of good handling skills. These guys are in the pro Peloton. They are supposed to the best of the best- but that’s not always the case.

While some of these riders are amazing climbers, sprinters and all around good endurance and power athletes- they are not necessarily all-around good bike riders. What makes a complete rider, is all the aforementioned, plus knowing and understanding how to Steer, Turn and Brake properly.

Steering, Turning and Braking- are the core skills of bike handling. 

The entry is where turning/steering starts and the rider begins to lean into the turn. The apex is the point where the rider reaches the furthest point on the inside of the turn and the exit is where the rider can start going upright so as to pedal and power up again.

There are 4 basic laws of physics- gravity, inertia, traction, and balance as they apply to cornering. The laws of physics dictate that when a bicycle is leaned over, the position of its center of gravity will  influence the lean angle of the bike.

In addition to kinetic energy, a rider has two other forces working on the body and the bike- Gravity pulling you down, and Centripetal force pulling you either left or right- depending on which way the rider is turning.

The lines in the above picture display the forces during cornering. The illistration is designed to better understand these basic forces involved when cornering.

The bottom line on the graph represents the road which induces frictional forces. The horizontal line is the centripetal force and the vertical line, represents the force of gravity.

Countersteering

In short, counter steering moves the wheels out from under the center of mass. It involves turning the front wheel in the opposite direction you want to turn the bike, be it a motorcycle or a bicycle. Counter-steering is achieved by pushing on the inside of the handle bar in the opposite direction you actually want to go.

Select your turn in point as you approach a turn. But before reaching your “tip” look through the turn and select a reference point (RP). When you reach the “tip”, begin to steer (countersteer).

It is important to intiate firm countersteering- to keep the right trajectory and proper line.  As the rider nears the apex (a single apex corner) and has the need to turn more sharply to keep from running wide or off in the turn, the rider turned in too early.

A gradually, early turn in has the rider following a parabolic path, a wide arc at first that tightens until maximum lean or turning is reached near the apex. This is an example of “lazy” steering. This often results in a rider(s) missing the apex which causes a dramatic slow down and/or riding off the road.

Turn in slightly later but quicker and the rider follows a more circular path that requires less lean angle but reaches the apex sooner and is able to hold the arc longer. This technique is known as “squaring off” a corner, which usually enables a rider to carry more speed/momentum through the corner.

Many riders don’t bother to work on their cornering technique and when it’s crunch time- find themselves in a time losing situation. Today, those 4 Bbox rides cost their team precious time- in a race against the clock, seconds and as it turned out, hundredths of a second enormously count.

Some quick tips:

• Use counter steering (pushing on the bars) more so than leaning your body
• Look through the turn (keep your eyes up and far down the road)
• Keep light to moderate pressure on the bars

(no death grip- this allows the bike to follow its  ‘natual’ centrifugal path – by holding too tight you  prevent the front end from following its inherent course- this causes the already rigid front end to become more unstable)

• Use the brakes sparingly and try not to brake much when the bike is mid corner or when you are leaned over

Remember, a bit slower in…but almost always faster out.

Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul

Author is a former sportbike and grand prix roadracer

Topic: Narrative Theology

Jordan means either “River” in very ancient middle eastern linguistics, or it is considered to be related to the Hebrew word “to descend” hence “the descender.”

Today I learnt about climbing & descending. When I arrived I found out that Jeremy was doing theory with someone, so today I was going to fly with Murray.

First we went through the theory behind a climb. A climb is, unsurprisingly, when the aircraft climbs up to a higher altitude. To do this, the thrust created by the propellor must exceed the drag created by the rest of the plane.

When entering a climb, first the power must be increased to full, the nose must be raised into a climb altitude, the plane moves into a climb speed (around 75kts) and then the plane must be trimmed. Like last week, we used PAST – power, attitude, speed, trim. When moving from a climb into a straight & level cruise, we use ASPT – attitude, speed, power, trim. The attitude should be around ‘3 fingers’ – 3 fingers between the nose of the plane and the horizon – speed should be around 90kts, power to 2900rpm and then trim the plane.

The most commonly used climb is the ‘best rate’ climb, which is where the plane moves at the best speed, which is around 75-80kts. The ‘cruise climb’ is used where the pilot wants to cover a long distance and only gain a small amount of height – the speed for this is about 85kts. The ‘best angle’ climb is used where the pilot wants to gain a large amount of height over a short distance – such as when there are trees at the end of the runway (for example) – the speed for this is about 70kts.

Descending is, unsurprisingly, basically the opposite of climbing – going down! When descending at 70kts (known as the minimum rate of descent), the aircraft loses less altitude per minute. When descending at 80kts, the aircraft travels further but descends more quickly. When descending and then entering a straight & level flight, we use PAST again. Before reducing power, we put the carb heat on so the engine stays warm. The power is put at 1800-2000rpm. The attitude is ‘4 fingers’ – 4 fingers between nose and horizon. The speed is 75kts. When moving into a straight & level cruise, the power is put up to 3000rpm, the speed is 90kts and the attitude is ‘3 fingers’.

We then headed out to the plane and this time I started learning how to physically check the plane before flight. Before flight, you do a walk around to check that all the parts are there and that there are no dings. Important parts to have – wings (2), wheels (3), tail (1), rudder (1), elevator (1), ailerons (2), flaps (2) and a prop. When doing the walk around, you check that all the moving parts are mvoing property and that all the important bolts are there. The fuel and brakes also need to be checked.

Getting in, I got to go through the checklist to start the plane. I managed to find pretty much all the switches and get through it, so I guess I can say I started the plane today!

Take off was the first time I noticed a large difference between Murray’s teaching style and Jeremy’s. Murray insisted that I keep my hands and feet on the controls at all times, even when he was in control. It was actually good to get an idea about how the controls feel during takeoff, which will make it a lot easier when it comes from me to learn to take off.

During the flight we went through climbing & descending at different speeds. When I fly with Jeremy, he does a full demonstration of what to do and then I take control and try. I like that approach because it gives me a full picture of what I’m trying to acheive and what effect it will have on the plane. Today, I didn’t get a demonstration, instead I was given each command separately (‘increase the power to 3000rpm’, ‘raise the nose’) and it was a lot harder to work out what I was trying to do because I didn’t have the overall picture. Also, by having a demonstration beforehand I can get an idea of attitudes, and where the horizon should be on the windscreen before I have to try. Today I didn’t have that idea, so it seemed like I spent a lot of the time guessing about what the attitude of the nose should be.

I seemed to spend a lot more time looking at the instruments today. I don’t know if that is just an element of climbing & descending or a different teaching style, but it felt like I was spending too much time looking at the instruments and not enought time looking outside the plane.

Also, during the flight, Murray talked a lot more than Jeremy which was hard to get used to. He spent a lot of time pointing out landmarks around the airfield, which is good because I need to learn about that, but also annoying because I was trying to concentrate on what I should be doing with the plane.

The main thing that irritated me today was, when I was doing something wrong, instead of telling me how to correct it, he would reach over and move the controls himself. It made it feel less like I was actually flying the plane myself. I mean, it wouldn’t have been that hard for him to say ‘move the stick left to make the wings level’ instead of reaching over and pushing it himself

I also had my hands on the controls during the landing. Like take off, it is handy that I’ve experienced what it feels like before I do it myself.

Overall, I’m a bit disappointed in this lesson. I don’t think I learnt as much as usual, mianly because I didn’t have an idea of what effect what I was doing was going to have. I mean, I knew we were going to climb but knowing that, and having seen it done and seen the effects, is different. I’m not saying Murray is a bad instructor, and if I’d had him as my instructor from the start I probably wouldn’t notice the difference, but having had Jeremy as an instructor as well I can see the differences in their teaching styles and see which one suits me better. I am considering though, depending on how the next few lessons go, asking for another lesson on climbing & descending with Jeremy.

I’ve got two lessons next week, with Jeremy again. Next lesson is going to be turning which should be fun. I also need to remember to ask whether I need to get some sort of student licence, as the temporary RA-Aus membership I have should have run out by now. Overall, I’d say that today was a good learning experience, if only to give me a better understanding of my own learning style.

Business cards may be commonplace, but they are vital too. Wherever you are, you will do better with a formal style of card, without advertising, and with clear information in English on one side and the local language on the other.

Business card etiquette is no mere ritual. In places such as Japan a business card is both mini-resume and a ticket to the game of business; a certain amount of gamesmanship is necessary to make the best use of the ticket. The first rule is never to be without cards, any more than a samurai would be without his sword. Never being without cards in Japan means taking fifty or more cards to every meeting. The second rule is to respect the cards, keeping them in a distinctive holder. Keeping your cards in your pocket or in a cheap plastic envelop is like making a business call with a shopping bag instead of a briefcase.

The third rule is to handle the card with formality. The card is presented, not merely handed. Japanese books of etiquette even point out a variety of ways to hold the card. Fourth, try to hand cards out in descending order of rank. The fifth rule is to receive another’s card gracefully, using both hands and never stuffing the card recklessly into your pocket.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Line of Sight

Perhaps we have a clue to the characteristic of rains connected to the ascendance/descendance of the moon.  This long drought ended the day after we entered the Southern Descending moon, so perhaps will relate to other records from temperate latitudes.  This will be more interesting to watch as we pass the solstice.

The rains started in Fruit/Fire, but very lightly, while we had some heavy extended rains only after we entered the Root/Earth Constellation of Capricorn.  

More remarkable was the termination of the rain and a peaceful quiet clearing as we entered the Flower/Air Constellation.  Perhaps the Spring and Autumn seasons are unpredictable, but it would be a great accomplishment if we were able to relate rain to the Constellations in only the Summer and Winter seasons.  This not only will definitively prove the veracity of Maria Thun’s Bio-Dynamic experiments, but could tell us when plants expect water, so could economize irrigation everywhere!

The second day of Aquarius has been blustery, with fast-changing clouds.  This leads me to wonder if we can correlate wind speed to Flower/Air Constellations?  This is another task to ask my world-wide audience to take on regarding Flower/Air Constellations, similar to noting the activity of the insects.  Now I am in winter so insects are generally quiet – so those of you in the Northern Hemisphere must supply observations!

We will have entered the Leaf/Water Constellation of Pisces (1500 UTC, 15 June) when I post this, so watch for heavy rains BEFORE 1300 UTC, 18 June, when we roll over into the Moon in Aries.  If you read this a bit later, keep an eye for heavy rains starting AFTER 0500 UTC, 20 June, when we enter the Root/Earth Constellation of Taurus.  

The Sun moves into Gemini near the Solstice@ 0600 UTC, 21 June;  Southern Ascending Moon@ 0200 UTC, 22 June and the New Moon is fourteen hours later.  Gemini@ 1600 UTC, 22 June;  Cancer@ 1200 UTC, 24 June;  Leo@ 2200 UTC, 25 June;  Virgo@ 0900 UTC, 28 June.  There is a node at 1700 UTC, 24 June.

Getting stung by a wasp is not fun. For me, it ranks way up there, stratospherically high in fact, in my list of ‘unfun’ things to experience. It is perhaps higher even than shopping in IKEA or changing the cat litter.

Getting stung by a wasp whilst descending a technical mountain road at over eighty kilometres per hour raises the bar higher still. Getting stung a second time just minutes later is, quite frankly, taking the piss.

Wasp sting number one was simple. It smacked into my neck, stung me and was gone. I yelped like a child and continued my eighty kilometre an hour descent, teeth gritted. I was just thinking about how long it had been since I was last stung by anything, other than the taxman when – enter stage left, wasp number two.

Wasp sting number two was a little more scary. I was on a long straightaway, still descending. I had calculated that I had enough time to remove my pita bread sandwich from my jersey pocket, munch it and get my hand back onto the bars for the fast left hander, some three hundred metres away. It would have worked out if Mr. Wasp had not messed up my lunch plans.

I was sitting up with no hands on the bars, unwrapping my sanwich when the wasp flew right behind my sunglasses. Total and utter panic ensued. With one hand clutching my sandwich, I made a grab with the other for my glasses and began to shake my head from side to side. I was now just about to enter the left hand bend. Not ideal then.

Just as I began to enter the fast left hander the wasp found a way out and, as a parting gesture it stung me on the side of the face. It hurt more than first wasp sting.

The first rule of descending on a bike is that you should look at where you want to exit a bend. If you look at your exit route you tend to go that way. If you look at the outside of the bend there is a good chance you will end up there. This is of course not the place to end up. It generally hurts.

My wasp evicting, headshaking antics meant that I had messed up my line entering the corner. Thanks to Mr. Wasp, I was now riding in the gravel on the outside of the bend, doing my best to make it around the bend without wiping out. It is as times like these that sheer bloody will power comes into play. “I will not crash. I will not crash.” I thought, and using something akin to ‘the force’ I made it around the bend. It was very, very close.

Apart from suffering multiple wasp stings and almost crashing, my endurance ride was going well. I had, during a brief moment of cavalier optimism declared that I would ride for five hours and tackle the arduous climb to the top of Santa Fe de Montseny, a 21km ascent that would last about one hour. In retrospect I should have spent more time studying the map as there was a lot more road before the climb than I had envisaged, turning my five hour ride into a six and a half hour ride.

It is, however a beautiful route and the climb, whilst rather long, is not overly steep. It saps your energy, tiring you and slowly enflicting its pain, unlike wasp stings which hurt like hell and are instant.

I leave you with a track by, Gordan Matthew Thomas Sumner. Otherwise known as Sting

Up until now, I have documented the shifts of the Autumn rains in Fruit/Fire and Flower/Air Constellations, from Summer rains in Leaf/Water and Root/Earth Constellations.  I was unrealistic in hoping for a confirmation of theories in a few months.   Today’s significant storm throws my simple theory into doubt.  The wind and the rain does reinforce the need to define “Characteristics” more clearly.

My emerging theory is this shift is due to change of the day length, which is most noticeable in the months around the equinoxes, when the day lengths at Latitude 41 are changing by almost three minutes per day. (Two minutes twenty-four seconds even now, five weeks after the equinox.)

To be fair, I will try to compare climates in the temperate latitudes, since the daylight extremes are greater.  Northern Europe has the highest concentration of biodynamic farms, and ideally also the most correspondents.

The forecast was for heavy rain yesterday, but, in apparent confirmation of my theory, low threatening clouds gathered several times, with great gusts, but no drops fell.  Since two sources (www.weather.com and www.wunderground.com) agreed that we would have had at least five centimeters of rain yesterday, I feel confident the overall theory is sound, because the rain is coming, but only grudgingly. But, I am in danger of losing my simple theory, since the forecast still calls for heavy rains until the end of this Root/Earth Constellation (Bull/Taurus.)  

Meanwhile, at the time we leave this Root/Earth Constellation, the rain is supposed to have passed.  Please keep an eye on the weather as we move into a Flower/Air Constellation at nine pm, 28 April UTC.  From my previous experience, I would expect a steady rain after the cusp.  Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion of the Mystery of Weather.

After my recent foray into long ( ish ) distance riding two Sundays ago I fancied beating myself up a bit more.

The post read “The Heathens CC is an informal cycling club that meets up at 9am on the first Sunday of the month outside the Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath. They generally keep to a 15mph average and are out for about 4 hours with a cafe stop. Anyone is welcome as long as they can keep up”.

So yesterday morning I joined them for an easy cycle to Warwick and back.

To be honest I was a little nervous as I pretty much knew for sure I would be the only person riding a track bike and I was spot on. Doug had his Ribble, Rob on his carbon Trek, Ade’s full carbon Cervelo, Tom on his unbadged Aluminium piece and Kris on his latest acquisition, the Lovely steel Rourke. All of these cats had multiple gearing systems, all of these cats had mechanical braking devices and all of these cats had the ability to stop pedaling whilst in motion. All of the previously mentioned information did not however deter me as on this particular Sunday morning I was up for pounding!

At approximately 9.10am we headed out along the Alcester road towards the Maypole and the Hollywood bypass and we got on our way.

After going through Wythall and passing Earlswood it dawned on me “This really isn’t so bad” I was keeping up with these guys quite easily but… people say about fixed wheel riding “isn’t it hard going up hills?” the answer is this ( as Lee quite rightly had as his tagline on Birmingham Fixed ) descending is far, far worse than ascending. On the uphills I found myself sometimes over taking my gear changing friends as ( with enough grunt and determination ) I could just maintain my cadence and mash on up them hills while they were busy changing down their gears to aid in spinning. So no it isn’t hard going up hills.

Descending. Oh my god descending. As these guys were sitting on their saddles, effortlessly freewheeling down the hills like they were passengers on their own bikes I was gripping my bars so hard it turned my arms into vibrating sticks of meat and spinning the sh*t out of my Shimano bottom bracket like I have never spun it before. It felt like I was pedaling to stay alive, like I was a small child being chased by a hungry Rhinocerous! Did I also mention the slight danger of cars pulling out of side roads at the bottom of said hills? In fact Let’s not even go there.

Apart from the downhills the flat and uphills were absolutely fine although a freewheel and maybe a few gears would have been great, perhaps they would have given me the opportunity to take in the scenery a little better and enjoy the ride more. Not that I didn’t enjoy it it was in fact fantastic fun and I will certainly do it again and probably next Sunday.

So we all safely made it to Warwick and back ( taking into account the long deserved food stop ) in a little under four hours with an average speed of 16.5mph and a total distance of 42 miles.

Upon returning home my thighs ached and my knees felt like they were 10 years older than the rest of my body but they are now repaired and my thighs have recovered.

So people the next thing on my shopping list is not an NJS certified frame, nor is it a set of ‘New old stock’ Dura Ace track hubs. It is a geared road bike, because track bikes are brilliant and endless fun on the streets of Birmingham but there really is no place for them ( in my opinion ) on country lanes miles away from where you reside. Maybe that is a little strong considering what MASH SF just did? OK I will rephrase it: When riding with folks who have freewheels you will have more fun if your bike has a freewheel too.

Another thing on my list is a decent pair of padded shorts as the ones I own are, simply put… Crap. I would have been better off sitting my bare cheeks on a saddle covered in chilli flakes the chaffing was so bad. Jesus! Only half way there and my scrotum was numb from the p*ss poor barrier between them and the saddle. That will teach me not to buy £9.99 cycling shorts from Halfords.

There we have it. Summer missions are great but they will be greater once I get my ‘racer’ and once I hook my posterior up with a pair of proper shorts.

If you are a manager, you may want to try this exercise. On the left-habd side of a blank sheet of paper write diwn the names of the people who report to you on descending order of productivity, the most productive at the top, the best productive at the bottom. On the right hand side, write down the same names, but the time in descending order of “time you spend with them,” the most time at the top, the least time at the bottom. Now draw straight lines joining the names in the left with the appropriate names on the right.

Do your lines cross? They often do. Many managers find themselves spending the most time with their least productive people and the least time with their most productive people. On the surface this would appear to be an eminently safe way for a manager to invest his time. After all, your best employees can already do the job. They don’t need you. But those few employees who are struggling. They need all the help you can give them. Without your support they might not only fail as individuals, they might also drag down the entire team.

Investing in your strugglers appears shrewed, yet the most effective managers do the opposite. When they join the names, their lines are horizontal. They spend the most time with their most productive employees.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Line of Sight

Part of the purpose of the “Free Ride” sessions in my Sportif preparation block is not to “huck” my way off some “knarly” drop-offs but to work on areas where I feel my other sessions have identified a weakness.

Last night I chose, as I think I will be doing a lot, descending. Me and going downhill fast have never really got on. My first bad experience was hitting some ice on a fast straight section of Whinlatter and pulling the brakes… My second, watching a guy kill himself on the Glandon. My various broken bones and seeing other people crash have instilled a sense of fear in me down the years and is something, believe it or not, that I work on. The problem is that every time I commit to a line a car seems to come the other way meaning I won’t do it the rest of the ride.

Descending is, however, the only part of cycling you get for free. Whilst I’ll probably never be a dare-devil, I recognise that being able to get downhill fast and safely is important not just in sportif riding, but possibly even more so in racing.

So I selected a route that, from Cockermouth, took in Paddle and Thornthwaite, then passed Loweswater, up and over Fangs Brow and returned via the main road. This gave me a few short, twisty downhills, a longer fast downhill with a few technical corners in the middle and some sharp big ring climbs to stomp up.

On the flat and uphills, my performance surprised me. My heartrate was lower than normal, and I felt like I was breezing along, the uphills felt good too. My races and reliabilities must have brought me on a bit now I’ve recovered.

As for the descents, a mixed bag. The shorter stuff I was pleased with, staying off the brakes and committing to lines, confident I could get out of the way of anything coming the other way. Fangs, I got onto the drops, avoided the dog-walker and picked up my speed. I found myself involuntarily feathering the brakes about 100m before the fast chicane-like corners but got off them braking into it at about 40m to go, still too far away… off the brakes and into the corners, picking up speed on the exit of the second about to lean into the gravel strewn final bend and… car. Kill all my speed, creep through, balls.

Ride back kept up all my signs of good performance with my legs just starting to feel tired after my weeks efforts. 28.2 kph av for a hilly 29km, and home for a bath.

I’m trying to figure out My Tracks on the G1 at the moment and am doing about 2/3s of the Fred Whitton route over the weekend, so I will try to post maps and profiles, as ever your comments are welcomed!

At four in the morning UTC, April First, the Moon reaches its low point in the sky, from our southern point of view.   It will start descending for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere.  In either case, this may be another aspect that toys with our weather effects. 

To describe the duration, please see the sine curve,  wikipedia.org/wiki/Sine_curve, as with tides and seasons, the effects of Low or High Tide, or Winter or Summer are the extremes that last most of the cycle.  The apparent changes are quickest at the swing from one to another, for example, Spring and Autumn have short durations, as the daytime minutes are rushing to change at almost three minutes per day at these latitudes now, near the equinox.

These cycles are not identical every year, but this year, the Moon will be in Taurus, close to the low Ascendent.  Biodynamic farmers use this for planning activities, and have had great successes.  The Ascending or Descending effect on the weather will be a challenge to track.

Da,e tot Escher.

Sursa:  http://talkinblues.net/wordpress/?cat=23

Flex is a highly productive, free open source framework for building and maintaining expressive web applications that deploy consistently on all major browsers, desktops, and operating systems -Adobe

Adobe Flex is a collection of technologies released by Adobe Systems for the development and deployment of cross platform rich Internet applications based on the proprietary Adobe Flashplatform. The initial release in March 2004 by Macromedia included a software development kit, anIDE, and a J2EE integration application known as Flex Data Services. Since Adobe acquired Macromedia in 2005, subsequent releases of Flex no longer require a license for Flex Data Services, which has become a separate product rebranded as LiveCycle Data Services. -Wikipedia

There are many sites providing the tutorials and samples in net.Here is my Flex samples blog ,

http://gnanz-flexworld.blogspot.com

Shooting in my home town is strange. I would that think that it would provide unique opportunities that could be had because I grew up here, but when I go downtown, I find it hard to get any images that I am completely satisfied with. The fact is, I just don’t know why that is, or what to do about it.

This is the frame I picked out and although it is not perfect, I like the overall result. It reflects the mood I was in after I finished shooting today.

I find days like this to be extremely frustrating. I’m planning to shoot at the local “nature center” tomorrow, perhaps that will prove more productive.

Para muchos sera blasfemia lo que voy a decir pero mi etapa favorita de los misfits fue con michale graves en la voz,le ponia a la canciones una melodia llena de melancolia que era bastante de mi agrado,sus rolas actuales de solista pues no me han agradado bastante,pero aqui les dejo una interpretacion brillante de una de mis canciones favoritas de misfits “descending angel” en version acustica y con un feeling que me llena bastante,lastima que  nunca lo veremos de nuevo en los misfits.

If you have not seen the Frank Schleck crash on Stage 5 in the Tour De Suisse, go review it to see how it unfolded. If have already watched it, then you may or may not understand how it happened. Regardless, Schleck was extremely fortunate not to be seriously injured or worse. That said, he has really no one to blame but himself for the a very “basic” mistake.

The Breakdown:

Schlecks crash actually began a minute or so up the road before he actually lost control of his bicycle. Let’s rewind the tape and go back up the mountain to analyze what went wrong and how it could have been avoided. This analysis will preclude any mechanical fault and focus on rider-induced incidents only – and by all indications, the Schleck crash seemed to be just that – rider induced.

As Schleck and Markus Fothen are descending, notice how both riders turn in too early, as most all cyclists do, and is most common in the pro peleton. The difference is that Fothen manages to keep his vision further up the road than Schleck did. Also, Fothen did not panic at the high entry speed into the corner. Apparently, Schleck (from watching the video) perceived his corner entry speed too high, and thought he would not make the corner – so he unclipped his right foot, and most likely was on the binders to slow himself down. But, braking is actually the last thing you want to do when you blow a corner.

By braking, the bicycle or any two wheeled vehicle, tends to “stand up” – meaning the object in question now has an opposing force to the riders input of lean, through body weight and counter-steering and instead of following the arc of the turn wants to go straight on. Braking also inhibits steering input – too much front brake while steering, and the front end will wash out. Too much rear braking destabilizes both the front and the rear of the bike. Consequently those opposing forces cause the chassis/frame to become “upset” or ill-handling which is harder to control – especially at high speeds.

So Schleck and Fothen are flying down the descent in the drops, and just as they pass the stone building on the left, the road starts to bend right – and it’s a decreasing radius right hand blind corner. They both begin their turn-in, (which is about a second or two too early) Schleck is positioned on the inside of Fothen, and Schlecks lean angle is more pronounced than Fothen’s. As Schleck leans more and more into the turn, his perception of where the apex was - is farther up than he anticipated. He then realizes that he is in too hot – too soon, and tries to scrub off some speed, but makes what could have been – fatal mistakes.

The video is not clear enough to tell, nor is the angle of the video conclusive to see if his eyes veered off course. Although it does appear that he “target fixated” on the guard rail and the trees, instead of the road. Once he did that – it was all over. Mind you, this was all happening within about a 5 to 6 second time frame. But high-speed cornering is a split second exercise and craft. Take superbikes or MotoGp – where high-speed cornering decisions happen in mili-seconds.

The point is, that descending at 40 to 50 mph is completely different from the skeleton pace of 25 to 30 mph on the flats, or 15 mph on the climbs. The mental adjustment needed to understand and read the landscape and process that information is enormous, and unfortunately, a lot of riders never come to terms with it. It is a learned craft, not something that comes easy. Descending skills are not a “package” deal just because you are a pro or an elite rider, something that seems lost on the masses as well as the riders themselves.

Schleck may have been able to avoid crashing if he delayed his turn-in about a second or two later than he did. He may also have been able to make the turn – albeit very wide if he counter-steered his bicycle with a very firm and decisive input on the right bar. Furthermore, keeping his head up,  eyes looking “through” the corner towards the exit of the turn. Sounds easy – right?

Well, no it’s really not. But when you are a pro rider descending mountain passes at 50 mph – it is a critical and possibly life-saving set of skills. The point at which he unclipped – Schleck had already made the decision to bail instead of trying to think his way out of the inevitable crash. Yes, he maybe had a second to think about it, but it was a crucial second that could have ended his life.

The conclusion is that Schlecks crash was his own fault, his own mistake, that probably could have been prevented. Of course it is not 100% known for sure and there is some slight conjecture in the analysis. The best part of the incident was that Schleck came away unhurt and will live to race another day. Unfortunately, this type of crash will happen again and again, and all riders whether  recreational to pro who continue to make the mental mistakes will pay a high price – possibly the  ultimate.