Medical myths

Here's some interesting non bike related facts I discovered on the intertwat.  I must admit I have fell for some of these myths, thanks Yahoo for setting it straight.

We only use 10 per cent of our brains

Although you might think your batty uncle might be the perfect example, in fact scans show that all of the brain is active and playing a part in our thinking. Even small amounts of damage to the brain will cause mental impairment.

Sweets and other sugary treats make children hyperactive

Repeated studies have shown that children's behaviour is not affected by the amount of sugar they've eaten - although parents rate their children as being more hyperactive if they think they have given them a sugary drink, even if it is, in fact, just water!

Breast feeding causes saggy breasts

Good news mothers - this is false. A study by American plastic surgeons found that breastfeeding had no effect on the shape of women's breasts. However being overweight or a smoker were linked to saggier breast appearance, as were the number of pregnancies, size of breast before pregnancy and the age of the woman.

We should drink 8 glasses of water a day to avoid dehydration

There is no scientific evidence to support this widely believed and often followed myth. Tea, coffee, fruit juice - even the food we eat - all provide us with fluid. In fact excessive intake of fluid can damage the body and can even be fatal.

Spinach is high in iron

There must have been something else in Popeye's diet, because spinach is not all that rich in iron. Apparently, when it was first measured the decimal point was written in the wrong place, overstating the iron content of spinach by a factor of 10. Spinach contains about 1mg of iron per 100g, whereas dried figs have 4.25mg, roast beef 2.5mg and courgettes 2.4mg.

Warm milk helps you get to sleep at night

Milk contains the enzyme tryptophan which has been linked to the initial stages of sleep - but the amount in a glass of milk probably isn't enough to make us drowsy. But the psychological effect of warm milk at bedtime may be strong enough to put us in the mood for sleep!

Sick people should rest in bed

An analysis of 39 studies on the use of bed rest in treatment found that for many ailments staying in bed had no beneficial effect. In some cases it was actually harmful. Sorry, but going back to work is sometimes the best treatment!

You should wear a hat because we lose most of our body heat through our heads

Our heads don't give off any more heat than any other part of our body. If you are fully clothed then of course most of the heat will leave through your head because it is uncovered, but the same would be true for any other similarly sized body part.

Too much stress can give you ulcers

Actually, over 90 per cent of ulcers are caused by a bacterium, Helicobacter pylori.

If you are stung by a jellyfish you should pee on the sting

Before you start approaching people on the beach asking them to do the deed, you should know this is not true. There is nothing in urine that can counteract the effects of a jellyfish sting - in fact some stings will be further activated by it. But washing out the sting with warm water may alleviate the pain and prevent further skin damage, so this may be the source of the myth.

On any Sunday

Top day in Norwich at the weekend, a classic British summer with good friends and good vibes check out some photo's here.

Fizzy pop!

Now, I'm not a big fan of energy drinks.  It's not so much the drinks them selves but the ridiculous lifestyle hype and advertising targeted towards children to ensure there loyalty for when they are older and can actually drink the caffeine ridden, sugar filled fizzy pop.
It does kinda remind me of the candy sticks you could get as a kid, these tasty sweets came in a box resembling a cigarette carton, each white sticks had a little red colouring on one end. I had great fun pretending to smoke them, especially on a cold day when you could see your warm breath.
Little did we all know these yummy candy sticks were an idea the cigarette companies came up with, so as to put subconscious messages in our heads associating tasty candy with (not so) tasty cigarettes.

So are the energy drink companies telling the kids drink this its awesome and will better you life, here's some stickers and a T shirt, you can look like a pro, you can be a pro if you drink it up!  Are they putting the messages out there to get the kids hooked and believe me some kids are hooked on this stuff! 

Sure these companies have put money back into our sport and helped a lot of struggling riders and the like, but considering how much money is injected into regular sports like footy from the energy drinks parent companies like Coca Cola it really is a token gesture, it seem to be a win win for them.

So, putting that all to one side, I do want to say one thing about Mountain Dew....it's bloody lush!
Yep, I know I have fallen fowl, but I am an adult and this was a special treat for me.

Mountain Dew is not readily available in the UK, I last tasted it's lovelyness when I was in the states 8 years ago.  So when I saw it in a small Petrol station just down the road from my house it was quite a moment.
Yep it's full of Caffeine,Sugar and other additives, the bottle itself seems to glow with a radioactive green, it's not trying to hide anything, it's been around for decades, on the bottle is a warning, not to be drunk by children, it supports 'extreme' events without plugging it to kids, it is what it is and it tastes delicious.

If your an active person then one of these once in a while..well I reckon thats fine...enjoy.

Oh and before you ask, no I'm not sponsored by them!

Busy

Well, been kinda busy, to busy to blog and even a little to busy to ride.
Studying sure takes up a lot of time and when you get to my age, that's precious minutes lost forever!

Been pretty ill to, my son was generous enough to share Gastroenteritis with me, so didn't eat for a week which left me with little energy for 'phat rads' for the following few weeks.

Anywho, managed to get along to a couple of regional races with Evan, in a more supporting role as chief team photographer.

Check out the photo's from both Royston and Norwich track.

Sabbath bloody Sabbath

It was probably 1995 or there abouts.  I walked into Woolworths one day and browsed through the albums on compact cassette, yep Cassette.
 Now normally what with Woolies being a High street shop to please the masses there would just be the top 40 popular tracks of the day, but on this day things were very different.
There it was, 'Black Sabbaths Greatest hits' for about eight quid!  I got the feeling someone had ordered it and never collected as it was so out of character amongst 'Boyz 11 Men' and frickin 'Celine Dion!'
Since that very day this cassette has been places in the glove box of every car I've owned and played with anger for every road trip and riding journey undertaken by me, me and buddies and now me and my son who is a Sabbath fan
The tape's been borrowed and copied by bike buddies, skate buddies and Sabbath lovers from all corners of the UK.  It's been on Surfing trips, played on the beach pre and post surf sessions late into the night, it's been in stereo's and played on many a half pipe deck, getting people pumped to pull 'that' trick.
The car I drive at the moment still has a cassette player in it.  I play my ipod through a cassette adapter but still punch in the Sabbath tape now and then, it's a little stretched but it's all good and long may it continue, I'm taking that damn tape to the grave.

Mission to Norwich!

A couple of weekends ago I was determined to make things 'happen' on the BMX. I wasn't attending the National BMX race at my local track in Braintree so I really felt the need to make the weekends riding count.
The loose plan was to get on top of Norwich's 3rd straight, I had this in my head all week and was feeling confident.  Me and Evan set out mid afternoon on Saturday with a quick stop in Bury Town to pick up Jonny on the way.  The essential Black Sabbath 'Greatest Hits' on cassette was the chosen in flight entertainment, this tape has been with me for around fifteen years, it has been the chosen tune for many riding trips, it has all the ingredients to get you pumped for some MX action, it never fails!
On the whole it was a pretty successful trip with me managing to pop the first double after a step up step down jump thanks to Jonny towing me round, although I didn't make a real smooth landing it all feels within reach.
We returned last weekend but the weather was against us, crazy northerly winds and rain showers, curse the British weather!

cheeky trail

Well, I've been putting the miles in on the XC bike and actually commuting to work too.
Think I'm coming round to the idea of SPD's, as I slowly get used to them, still not sure about tackling more tech trail riding and stuff, but I guess all that will come in time.  Why I didn't get them years ago I really don't know.

I found a nice little trail that runs from a village near my town right through to near Cambridge City which is about 13 miles away.  Most of the terrain involves following footpaths and bridleways through and around fields which isn't the most exciting riding but still it's always great to be out.  One of the things that made it so good was not having to pack the car, drive, unpack the bikes, pack the bikes, drive, unpack.....

For some reason only known to me, I chose to live in a part of the country that doesn't have much to offer on my doorstep, in the way of XC or any other off road cycling pursuits and having to drive to get to the fun places can be annoying.

Plan B!

Everything was in place for my first trip to Wales, this was some 'proper' clipped in XC riding, something I was well over due for.  Everything that is, except the British weather!
So me and my XC expert guide Rebecca hatched a consolation, plan B, Thetters.
OK, I realise that this is a small consolation prize, a bit like when contestants on game shows think they've won the car, but go home with a fondue set!  None the less we were going to be riding and that always brings a smile to my face.

Now there's no denying that the east of England is flat, so this meant for a lot of pedaling with no huge rewards of flying down some twisty fast descents, but the red route offered some very well built trails, weaving in and out the tree's, with tight lines through the forest, small fun little berms and rollers, on the whole just damn good fun, all 11 miles of it.

My first time using SPD's and only one calamity, the classic moment when your bike rolls to a halt and you think you can just put your foot down, but no, you fall over sideways to the amusement of onlookers!

Think I also had a little wake up call as to how unfit I am.  Rebecca was leaving me for dust through most of the sections, I think I am to used to riding though the Forest with my son at a more leisurely pace.  I needed to attack those trails to get the most out of them, so now I'm upping the game, maybe I wasn't quite ready for Wales in that respect.

Next time Wales....next time!

On any Sunday; Dagenham in the sun

The sun was out and we were racing!
Thoroughly enjoyed this track, very similar to Braintree's new build but with loose and dusty berms for extra entertainment.
Huge turnout of riders for this inter-regional between the south and east, 244 or there abouts, thank god for pre-registration!
My racing this year is just for fun, I'm no where near as fit as I was last year and with my downsizing to a 20" from the 24" I'm not expecting any big wins.  Riders only got a short amount of pre-race practise which was a little disappointing but I guess it was the same for everyone, well that's what the officials kept saying.
I felt I had a surprising good pull on the first straight then it felt like I was going backwards as riders jostled for that all important  line into the first turn and I just couldn't quite hang in there.
I ended up getting 3rd in the B final so not to bad all things considered.
Evan loved the track but struggled in his class, he was the first back on the track after all the racing had finished and with determination he got air born over the speed jump on the first straight.  It was great to see this piece of pure bicycle enjoyment after such a long day and hard racing for a 10yr old.
You can read about the rest of the team and there antics here it was a real doozy!

 Going through the tripples into the first turn during my B final, I'm on the far right, the leader is just out of shot ( he had quite a lead on us!)

Photo by Rebecca

Photography

Back when cameras used a thing called film, I had in my possession a Practika BMS 35mm SLR.  This was a very well built German piece of kit, but with no auto setting, no preview button in fact nothing much to indicate how the photo would turn out, you could easily use a whole roll of film and only end up with one decent shot.  You had to do the sums and set everything manually, well for some strange reason I miss that part of photography!

I recently purchased a Canon Powershot G11, a high end digital zoom compact which boasts all the manual setting and features of a DSLR including the option to shoot in RAW image, but in a more compact size.  The fact it's compact means it's going everywhere with me, a must if you actually want to just take photo's.

I do have a feeling that the auto setting may get used a little though, well it would be rude not to!

Whilst still finding my way round the camera I took it to a local BMX race and here are some of the first shots taken.

Projects in the pipeline

On any Sunday

So this post pretty much covers my racing, riding antics which usually take place at the weekend but there is always room for the odd mid week cheeky ride.

I missed out on last weeks regional race due to my on going knee problems and now long suffering sciatica which flairs up every so often. So I made up for it over this weekend with a Friday evening session at Mildenhall play track.  This was just the ticket after a long week at work, a perfect start to the weekend and I am loving that place right now, totally getting into the peaky harsh lips on the second straight doubles and riding the whole place super fast.  Just hope the track stands up to the weather, there's signs of it crumbling already!

Managed another ride on Saturday, so headed out to Royston for a solo session.  This track is still a bit stuck in the 80's with it's bumpy dirt burms and unpredictable surface, but a good time was had and the feeling of dirt under your tyres when carving around a corner instead of tarmac which can feel very stale is a real treat.

I had every intention to ride on Sunday which would have made for a pretty BMX-full weekend but my legs were feeling the last couple of days, so I chose to rest and catch up on some chores in the house safe in the knowledge that I made the most of the good weather.

Just need to stay fit for next Fridays sessions and then racing at Dagenham on Sunday.

The re-education of a thirty something

I asked my mum once why she never really pushed me when it came to my school work "well" she said "you were so happy playing out and riding your bike".

For a while I found this answer frustrating, I thought, surely she would want what's best for me? But that's the bit I didn't get, she was giving me what she thought was best for me, a happy care free childhood.

'You don't know what it's like until you've had kids' people say it all the time and boy is it true. I figured she should have tried harder but it just goes against all your natural feeling of well being towards your children, you just don't want to spoil the fun, it's hard to stop your kids from smiling and enjoying themselves.

Well of course there is a better balance which I've found with my son, simply put 'get your studies done and you can go play as much as you like'.

So putting all that behind me, I've found a new hunger to learn, to catch up and educate myself, well they say it's never to late, although I do feel I'm pushing that a little!

It needs to be a subject that I find interesting, I thought, something that I enjoy reading about or following on the internet or TV.  As I was thinking this I had just sat down to watch 'The Blue Planet' having just read some environmental issues featured in the
New Scientist magazine whilst at work.

Bingo! Environmental Science! That's the one!

So I enrolled in a Open Uni course called Introducing the environment, the first small steps to a more 'informed' me and hopefully my studies will continue all the way to a degree....hopefully.

Just over halfway through now and all is going well.  My tutor is more than happy with my work to date, she even likes my writing style!  I have a style!  I though I was just stringing my notes into sentences!  I actually look forward to study time and find it quite relaxing, listening to a little dinner jazz on Jazz FM helps too.

Why?

Good question, why?  Well that was then and this is now.  My interests have broadened, my life is changing, evolving, new things on the horizon.  The bicycle will always be a true love, a pure pleasure, a whole and wonderful thing, but there is more, oh so much more.
I have rekindled old passions and found new ones, now I will enjoy and combine them into my otherwise chaotic life.
Watch this space!