Another kind of biking
Still fighting that cold, so I do my biking on the net. Here's another kind of biking, some really cool stunts.
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11 October
7 October
Bike fitting
While I've been lying on the sofa, reading, trying to rid myself of a cold, I've also spent some time on the internet reading about bikes and biking. Over at Endurance Corner, I found an interesting series of articles about anatomic considerations in bike fitting by a man called Alan Couzens (MS in sports science). I've always (OK not always, but at least since we started taking biking as a way of exercise and to stay fit a bit more seriously four years ago)
had a problem with the view that you get yourself a nice bike, and if it doesn't really fit, you adjust your body and get used to it - it's a great bike after all!
In other words, the idea according to proponents of this view is that you adjust your body to the bicycle, rather than the other way around (because it's more important to have a bike that looks good than it is to feel good riding it?). That, however, will only result in sore shoulders, knee or back problems, excess fatigue, or all of that. On our first long ride on our new bikes over the Lunar New Year this year, I developed shoulder pains and serious numbness in the thumb, index and long finger on the right hand (classic signs of carpal tunnel syndrome I found out later) and in my left big toe that only disappeared after four or five months. The problem was that I had to overstretch in the cockpit into a position that was unnatural to my body, and that's the reason why I bought a new seat post with less offset, a shorter stem and new handle bars (twice!). 
Now I have the most comfortable ride I could imagine. In other words, adjust the bike to your body rather than the other way around.
The articles by Couzens take a more scientific approach to this issue, and he describes different ways of measuring joint flexibility and muscle length and so on and how that translates into bike fit. I haven't tried these measurements yet since I am really happy with the way my bike is set up right now, but I'll do it sooner or later, out of pure curiosity. Here are links to the articles: intro, part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4
6 October
That's biking
If you thought you were a good mountain biker, then check these guys out. I'm not into mountain biking myself, but this looks sooo fun, I just had to share this video. Some seriously cool stuff.