How to Relieve Stress at Work?

A few tips to Relieve Stress At Work:
- Take a few deep breaths, allowing your rib cage and belly to expand as you inhale. Exhale slowly
- Seek a change in venue. Getting away from your work station, even for a walk to the water cooler, can help you collect your thoughts and refocus on the task at hand (I even had ideas in the bathroom :D).
- Laugh! Read one of your favorite jokes or simply laugh aloud.
- Play with a stress-relieving toy or game like a mini-basketball hoop, dart board, foam stress ball or punching bag.
- Listen to music.
- Visualize yourself relaxing or practicing your favorite hobby.
- Rehydrate! Most of us fail to drink enough water - that's water - not tea, coffee, coke, 'sports' drinks, Red Bull or fruit juice. You will drink more water if you keep some on your desk at all times - it's human nature to drink it if it's there - so go get some now. When you drink water you need to pee. This gives you a bit of a break and a bit of exercise now and then, which also reduces stress. :D
 - Take frequent snack breaks: Eat several small meals throughout the day to manage blood glucose levels. Why? When blood glucose levels get too low it puts stress on the body, sends it into survival mode and we get “hangry”: angry, impatient, critical, and easily pushed over the edge. try to eat healthy snacks like fruits :)
- Minimize caffeine, nicotine and alcohol: Many people tend to reach for these when feeling stressed out. In reality all of these substances release the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol, which actually increase physiological stress on the body.
- Don’t overeat at lunch: Many people skip breakfast, work all morning, are famished by the time lunch rolls around and then eat an enormous meal. Putting too much glucose into the system at one time adds stress to the body in that any glucose that has greater levels of insulin must be released and any glucose that can’t be used is stored in the fat cells. Not only is eating too much at once a stress on the body, carrying around extra fat also places stress on the system.

LE: curse and hit the desk, usually this helps a lot :D

I was inspired by ehow.com, businessballs.com and whig.com.

This is where I live

Click here. I will make some pictures soon ;)

The first real spring day

Saturday was a very beautiful day. the sun was shining, there were about 20 degrees Celsius so it was a perfect day for some outdoor fun. After I got the keys for my new apartment (only renting it) I headed for the forest with my friend Bálint.

The trail was mostly dry but there was some mud but not like last week. I missed those fast downhills in the forest and I will definitely improve my top speed when the trail will be cleaned (a lot of branches are on the trail).Spring is definitely here, one part of the forest ground was covered by violets, the ground was blue :)

Here are some pics with my new fork (2009 Rock Shox Reba SL Dual Air):

There was some mud in our way but I least I got some pics with the dears (click on the pictures) :)

After a sandwich  and a short rest while admiring  the view I went fishing.

The fishing lake was at about 10 kilometers from the city so I could improve my average speed for the day :D I've caught this huge fish :D

After some great food and a beer and some quality rest I went home happy :D

Stats:
    - time: 2:41:15
    - distance: 50,15 km 
    - average speed: 18,6 km/h (after the forest ride this was only 13,6 km/h)
    - max speed 51,6 km/h (in the forest :D)

More pics  here.

How to fix a flat when you don't have a spare tube

Via freerider.

A new begining

Yesterday I moved to a new apartment. This morning was very special, I was eating breakfast with the window opened, the sun was shining, fresh air was coming in (yesterday was raining so the air had that fresh smell) and I didn't need music because the birds were singing to me :D

To be continued with pics....

It's Friday and my back hurts

I hope I will be fit enough tomorrow to go for a ride because tomorrow it will be a beautiful day, there will be about 20 degrees Celsius :)

General back saving tips:
 - take frequent breaks
 - get up and walk around every 30-60 minutes
 - lean back in your chair when you can
 - change position often
 - stretch your back frequently throughout the day
 - do warm-up stretches before lifting anything heavy
 - did I mention take frequent breaks? :D
 - the correct posture to be a nerd, and not to be a hunchback:

1. Elbow measure
First, begin by sitting comfortably as close as possible to your desk so that your upper arms are parallel to your spine. Rest your hands on your work surface (e.g. desktop, computer keyboard). If your elbows are not at a 90-degree angle, move your chair either up or down.

2. Thigh measure
Check that you can easily slide your fingers under your thigh at the leading edge of the chair. If it is too tight, you need to prop your feet up with an adjustable footrest. If you are unusually tall and there is more than a finger width between your thigh and the chair, you need to raise the desk/work surface so that you can raise your chair.

3. Calf measure
With your bottom against the chair back, try to pass your clenched fist between the back of your calf and the front of your chair. If you can’t do that easily, the chair is too deep. You will need to adjust the backrest forward, insert a low back support (such as a lumbar support cushion, a pillow or rolled up towel), or get a new office chair.

4. Low back support
Your bottom should be pressed against the back of your chair, and there should be a cushion that causes your lower back to arch slightly so that you don’t slump forward or slouch down in the chair as you tire. This low back support in the office chair is essential to minimize the load (strain) on your back. Never slump or slouch in the chair, as that places extra stress on the structures in the low back, and in particular on the lumbar discs.

5. Resting eye level
Close your eyes while sitting comfortably with your head facing forward. Slowly open your eyes. Your gaze should be aimed at the center of your computer screen. If your computer screen is higher or lower than your gaze, you need to either raise or lower it to reduce neck strain.

6. Armrest
Adjust the armrest of the office chair so that it just slightly lifts your arms at the shoulders. Use of an armrest on your office chair is important to take some of the strain off your neck and shoulders, and it should make you less likely to slouch forward in your chair.

Via rebuildyourback.com and seansoo.blogspot.com.

Another simple salad

I had some veggies left the day before and I love fish. So I made one of my favorite salads. I chopped up the cabbage, the carrot,  the tomato, the  radish and the onion. I bought a canned fish (fish in oil) and I've put it on top. I sprinklered some salt on the salad an pored lemon juice. Here is how the delicious salad looked like:

Long ride on Sunday

This Sunday after I went for a ride in the forest and my bike got very dirty I decided that I'll go home to my parents and wash it. It was a very nice day  and the first 10 kilometers went by easy. But then the wind got very strong and I've slowed down to about 20km/h. I was hoping that after I climb the hill and descend into the valley the wind will disappear. But I was wrong and the wing got even stronger, so i slowed down even more. This way I got home in almost one hour and 50 minute, which is about 10 minutes slower than my usual time for this distance. One important thing happened on the way home, the overall distance that I've made on this bike is now more than 4000 km :)

Stats:
    - time: 1:47:42
    - distance: 38,35 km
    - average speed: 21,3 km/h
    - max speed 47,2 km/h

After a short rest and a great lunch I've headed back to Targu Mures. The wind were good winds, helping me from behind so I was way faster. I got home in a record time, 20 minutes faster.

Stats:
    - time: 1:27:19
    - distance: 37,83 km
    - average speed: 26 km/h !!!

    - max speed 50,5 km/h 

Lance Armstrong's first tv spot @ The Shack

Via Lance Armstrong.

8 Foods that Fight Stress

Some healthy foods can lover overall anxiety, here are eight of these foods:
- Dark Chocolate
- Skim Milk
- Oatmeal
- Salmon
- Walnuts
- Sunflower Seeds
- Spinach
- Blueberries


Read more here, via culturejunkie.

First ride in the forest

Saturday I went for a ride in the forest, this was the first ride in the forest this year after the snow has melted. I should have waited one more week for the trail to dry but... On the first climb it felt like the bike was glued to the ground :(

I was hopping that when I get at a higher altitude the trail will be dryer but I was wrong. The bike was all over  the place so instead of a fast fun ride that I expected it turned out to be a vary hard and technical ride. If I was riding on trail it was so hard that my muscles were on fire, if I was riding beside the trail there were a lot of holes and branches on the ground. The mud was sticking to my bike, so I stopped to clean it a bit and to take some pics.

The forest had a rotten wood smell and I thought that spring is far far away, but I was wrong once more. Going deeper in the forest I saw a lot of flower everywhere. 

This is the Dog tooth lily (Erythronium dens-canis - I had to look it up on Wikipedia :P). On the margins of the forest there was some snow left.

On the way home I passed a bone field, somebody or something had a feast here :)

This is how the bike looked when I got home:

I tried to draw the map of this ride on bikemap, the forest part of this map is not so accurate :)

Stats:
    - time: 1:39:25
    - distance: 22,74 km
    - average speed: 13,7 km/h
    - max speed 41,8 km/h

More pics  here.

I have a new fork

This winter I killed my Dart 2 so I had to get a new fork. I decided to buy a white Rock Shox Reba. I had the chance to try it out in the city and I can feel the difference. The ride is a lot smoother and it feels like the front of the bike is lighter (the new fork is about 700 grams lighter then the old one). The Dart is en entry level fork, the Reba is almost as good as the famous SID (it's a bit heavier). I'm looking forward to try it out in the forest, were it belong. I'll post more pics and technical details later. Here is a picture I took last night:

I love spring

One more reason to love spring is that you can buy fresh vegetables. Last night I went to the market and I bought a cabbage, some carrots,  tomatoes and radish. I chopped them, I've put some salt, vinegar and olive oil on top and the delicious salad was ready.

Another simple recipe - steamed cabbage

I bought some pickled cabbage on Friday, but it didn't taste so good so I decided to cook it. It's pretty easy to make steamed cabbage but it take s a long time (about an hour). First you need to put a chopped onions in some oil. After a few minutes you can add the thinly sliced cabbage. If the cabbage is pickled you only need to add water, if the cabbage is fresh you need to add some vinegar and sugar. You can add some caraway to. After this you cook the cabbage until it gets soft. To cook it faster you have to put the lid on the pot. You can stir it every 10 minutes and if the water evaporates you put some more.

I had some leftover chicken so I chopped it up and heated it up in some olive oil. It was very delicious, this is how it looked like:

I saw a great movie last night

Alice Eve is the "ten girl", you will also see her in the Sex and the city 2 this year:

It's Monday again

I'd rather be on the mountain and just watch the cows....

Interesting bike

Inner city bike

A-bike

Swiss military XO

Chinese cart bike

The song of the day

Alcohol calories

Have you ever wondered how many calories are in your drink?

I have, so I looked it up. An average drink (a beer, a cocktail, a glass of vine) has about 150-180 calories. But there is a catch, alcohol calories make you fat in a different way. I foud tis very interesting article on this site:

Rather than getting stored as fat, the main fate of alcohol is conversion into a substance called acetate. In fact, blood levels of acetate after drinking the vodka were 2.5 times higher than normal. And it appears this sharp rise in acetate puts the brakes on fat loss.


A car engine typically uses only one source of fuel. Your body, on the other hand, draws from a number of different energy sources, such as carbohydrate, fat, and protein. To a certain extent, the source of fuel your body uses is dictated by its availability.


In other words, your body tends to use whatever you feed it. Consequently, when acetate levels rise, your body simply burns more acetate, and less fat. In essence, acetate pushes fat to the back of the queue.


So, to summarize and review, here's what happens to fat metabolism after the odd drink or two.


 - A small portion of the alcohol is converted into fat.
 - Your liver then converts most of the alcohol into acetate.
 - The acetate is then released into your bloodstream, and replaces fat as a source of fuel.
 - The way your body responds to alcohol is very similar to the way it deals with excess carbohydrate.


Although carbohydrate can be converted directly into fat, one of the main effects of overfeeding with carbohydrate is that it simply replaces fat as a source of energy. That's why any type of diet, whether it's high-fat, high-protein, or high-carbohydrate, can lead to a gain in weight.

There are some solutions:
 - drink less, one or two drinks
 - there are some low calorie drinks, drink blond beer instead of the darker beers, drink low calorie cocktails like Mojito (160 calories) or Bloody Marry (150 calories)

The wonders of nature - ant colonies

Ford hybrid :))

Via zoso.

Heineken is the BEST!!!

Another music video with a bike

Her name is Colbie Caillat and she rides a cool cruiser. I tried to find out what cruiser is she riding but I didn't have any luck. I've found a few pics with her an her (the bike):

Danny MacAskill

This guy has some skills...


Via FreeRider.

The Bounty Hunter

You could see Gerard Butler in The Ugly Truth last year :)

I've missed the road

It's been a long time since I had the chance to go for a ride. It was raining and snowing for a way to long time. I've missed the road a lot but today the weather was pretty ok, there were about 5 degrees Celsius so I went for a ride to Acatari. At the beginning it was warm enough but when I got out of the city it was a little colder and the wind got stronger, my hands were frozen on the way back home :(

There is still some snow left on the hills and in the woods but the road was dry. Here are some pics from today:

Stats:
    - time: 56:43
    - distance: 23,06 km
    - avg speed: 24,4 km/h
    - max speed: 51,4 km/h (at this speed the wind was very strong and the air got very cold so it was a little hard to breathe)

After the ride I enjoyed some delicious home made spaghetti. More pics from the ride and with the spaghetti here.

A simple spaghetti recipe

Spaghetti is a very tasty food and it is very good for you if you practice some kind of sports like bike riding because it has a lot of carbs.

Here is a simple recipe that you can make in about 30 minutes. You need some ground meat (pork or beef I like  the  mixed), an onion, some garlic and tomato sauce. First you need to chop the onion and put it the pot with some olive oil for a few minutes. Then put the meat in the pot and stir until the meat turns brow. At this point you can season the food with the garlic, some chili, salt & pepper, paprika and my favorite spice bay leaves. after the meat got brown you can add the  tomato sauce and you can season it with oregano and basil. When the meat is cooked you put it on the cooked spaghetti. Enjoy :)

For some extra taste you can use some carrots and red or green peppers.

A very good movie

Quentin Tarantino is a genius, the Inglourious Basterds is a great movie, enjoy :)

Biker love B&W

Funny pictures

Mr Bean is a good racer, if you want to see the video click here.

Wooden bikes :)

I would like to paint my living room like this (I don't like the couch :D)

The big PLAN

Two years ago I had a few longer rides (more days) in the country. I will write about these rides in the future. This year I want to continue this and take it to another level. It's one of my dreams to leave the country on the bike. Cyclotourism is a very interesting hobby, I like to do it but slightly differently. I like to travel with a small backpack and I sleep in hotels or at friends. I like to go with my road bike, but if the road is bad I use my mtb.

This year I would like to visit Pecs. Pecs is the European cultural capital in 2010. I would like to spend a day in Hajduszoboszlo (were there is a big aqua park) to, but I'm not sure i can fit this stop into my schedule. I've made two preliminary plans of this trip, the first 1014km and with a train ride at the end and another which is 1247km and with no rest day in Hajduszoboszlo. If I can do more kilometers each day maybe I can squeeze in a second rest day in the second version or I will ask for an extra day off from work because I would like to ride 1250 kilometers and enjoy some time off at the aqua park :D

Version 1
Day	From	To	Km	Km / Day	Day of the week
1	Tg Mures	Tarnaveni	42,78	42,78	Fri
2	Tarnaveni	Deva	190,97	148,19	Sat
3	Deva	Arad	341,68	150,71	Sun
4	Arad	Szeged	440,87	99,19	Mon
5	Szeged	Pecs	616,24	175,37	Tue
6	Pecs	Pecs	616,24	0	Wed
7	Pecs	Kecskemet	785,8	169,56	Thu
8	Kecskemet	Hajduszoboszlo	945,74	159,94	Fri
9	Hajduszoboszlo	Hajduszoboszlo	945,74	0	Sat
10	Hajduszoboszlo	Oradea	1014,12	68,38	Sun
Version 2
Day	From	To	Km	Km / Day	Day of the week
1	Tg Mures	Tarnaveni	42,78	42,78	Fri
2	Tarnaveni	Deva	190,97	148,19	Sat
3	Deva	Arad	341,68	150,71	Sun
4	Arad	Szeged	440,87	99,19	Mon
5	Szeged	Pecs	616,24	175,37	Tue
6	Pecs	Pecs	616,24	0	Wed
7	Pecs	Kecskemet	785,8	169,56	Thu
8	Kecskemet	Oradea	988,73	202,93	Fri
9	Oradea	Cluj	1142,89	154,16	Sat
10	Cluj	Tg Mures	1247,28	104,39	Sun

I would like to make this trip in May or June and I will write about my progress every day.

Another race between a car and a bike

This time it is a race between a Mercedes GLK and bike messenger in New York. Guess who wins, enjoy :D

Bike trails on Google Maps

The new Dork

Are we the new dorks?



Via TechCrunch.

Hp & Flash

Hp has Flash on it's new tablet pc, why can't Apple do it??



Via TechCrunch.

The next best thing in woman's fashion

Cycling shoes with high heals :D

Via Iitalian cycling journal.

DH is cool :D

I wish I had the skills (and bikes) of these guys...

The Infamous Trek LIVESTRONG U23 Tricycle Race

How to Adjust your Disc Brakes?

I never tried to adjust my brakes and I didn't know it's so easy. YouTube knows everything :D

Bodybuilding

Bodybuilding is one of my favorite sports, I've been doing it for a few months almost every year since the 1st year of university. This year I am doing it slightly different because I developed a cycling specific workout. So about 80% of the exercises and the style of the exercises (smaller weights more repetitions) are meant to improve my stamina on the bike and only about 20% to build some extra muscles.

I only do upper body exercises once a week. I'm planning to do this twice or three times a week at the end of this month. The main exercises are meant to make my back muscles, triceps and abs stronger, these muscles are the most important for a biker.

Here is the list of the exercises I usually do after a short warm up, I do 4 series of 10 repetitions of each exercise:
1. Chest exercises:
 - bench press or incline bench press
 - butterfly
2. Shoulders
 - shoulder press
3. Back muscles:
 - wide-grip pulldown behind the neck and wide-grip lat pulldown (about 10 and 8 repetitions)
 - seated cable rows
4. Triceps:
 - triceps pushdown and cable overhead triceps extension (about 10 and 8 repetitions)
 - cable one arm triceps extension
5. Biceps:
 - dumbbell alternate bicep curl and alternate hammer curl (about 10 and 10 repetitions)
6. Abs:
 - leg raise on parallel bars - I do this between the repetitions of the bench press
 - ab crunch machine - I do this between the repetitions of the seated cable rows (this is good for the lower back to)
 - ab twist - I do this between the repetitions of the first back muscle exercises

This training is about one hour long and after this I usually drink a protein shake :)

You can find all these exercises here.

The new YouTube

I just love the new YouTube, the user experience got way better :D

Besides the fancy Ajax they have a cool feature, you can create your playlist on the go. I was listening to a song, and I searched for another son. The search results were shown in the sidebar and the music didn't stop playing. You can now add more videos to your playlist, so you can choose what do you want to listen next :d

Here is a screenshot:

And the song I was listening to:

Biker songs

The Bike Song by The Grave Architects


Queen - Bicycle Race


Pink Floyd - Bike

Budiu Mic

A few weeks ago I met a guy (on the bike) who suggested me this route. It a nice and short route. Budiu Mic is a village at a few hundred meters from Targu Mures with great potential. It is very close to the city, it is a small city with a lot of land so in a few year I'm sure it will become a suburb, who know maybe I will build a house there (day dreaming...)

Until I got out of the city the road was very bad but I liked the view.

The wind was very strong until I got to the first hill and my stomach was burning from the chilies I had at lunch but it was a nice ride.

Stats:
    - time: 1:01:22
    - distance: 24,86 km
    - avg speed: 24,3 km/h
    - max speed: 51,1 km/h (cool )


More pics here.