YouTube Rewind 2011

See what the world watched on YouTube in 2011:

First real winter ride

Before Christmas I went out for the first real snow ride this winter. The forest was very beautiful and the ride was very cool. The snow was just perfect, not too frozen but not to wet eater. The bike was slipping a bit but I didn't fall. I was feeling the lack of outdoor training and although I had two sock and an overshoe my big toes got frozen.

We had a little photo shoot also and here are the best pictures:

And my favorite picture:

More pictures here.

On this ride I tested my Christmas present that I got from myself, a pair of hand warmers which were great so only my toes were cold.

Stats:

 - distance: 15,33 km

 - average speed: 12,7 km/h

 - maximum speed: 38,2 km/h

 - time: 1:11:59

Song of the week #51

Merry Christmas everybody!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everybody!

Vote my story from the Mamaia Triathlon

The race continues...

After I have won a free signup to the Mamaia Triathlon, and my team won the race of the bloggers and one of our supporters won the supporter's prize I have won again and I am still in a competition. Please vote me in the question asked by Nutricult on their Facebook page.

I've signup with my post written after the race in a competition on Bogdan Antohe's blog and I have won a Race Pack from nutricult.ro. Now I am in the final of the competition organized by Nutricult and I need you to vote :)

Please vote here my story ("Povestea lui Laci, aleasa de Bogdan Antohe") and I hope the big prize will be my Christmas present.

Song of the week #50

I was listening to this song a lot a year ago before I was actually driving home for Christmas.

Christmas is just a few days away so we are driving to this great celebration :) 

In the Christmas spirit...

The original Achmed video was very popular:

74 year old athlete

The Movement Project: LEAP from Kyle LaBrache on Vimeo.

Song of the week #50

Winter training

Two weeks ago I started my bodybuilding training again. Last year I wrote about my training program, this year  I have a light program. For the first few weeks I am on a come back program. I'm training 4 times a week and I'm doing exercises for all the major upper body muscle groups. For my legs I started training on my trainer at home a few weeks ago. I don't have a training program yet, I try to get on the bike at least once a week and I try to ride for more than an hour.

I am training every weekday except Wednesday when I have a rest day. I usually train from 8:30 am, I am training in the morning because in the morning the testosterone level is higher and the training is more effective. I'm doing one or two exercises for each muscle group but I repeat one exercise only 3 times. I'm doing exercises in this order first chest, then shoulders, back, triceps and biceps. After only two weeks of workout I am starting to get back in shape and I started to increase the weights which I use.

Next year after the holidays I will have another week of warm up exercises and after that I will focus on only two major muscle groups every day. I will write another post when I will have the final program :)

Duatlon Challenge Targu Mures

Saturday I went to take some pictures at the la Duatlon Challenge Targu Mures. I couldn't race because I cought a cold and I couldn't breathe normally.

The weather was great, it was very warm so a lot of people showed up to race. I watched the kid race and then I took a few pictures from the start of the older kids :)

I was very happy when I saw how many toys were gathered, the sign up fee was a toy :)

The health benefits of donating blood

I've been planning for a long time to donate blood but I kept delaying it. But tomorrow morning I will be at the hospital :)

There are a lot of benefits of donating blood. I've been searching on the web and  I found a good post on livestrong.com which enumerates some of the benefits of the donation:

• you get a physical, you get a basic physical from a health care worker at the blood collection clinic
• lower iron levels every time you give blood, which can help reduce the risk of heart disease
• reduce cancer risk
• reduce heart attack risk
• help your body function more efficiently by allowing it to replenish your blood supply regularly
• if you have high blood pressure it is recommended to donate blood regularly

Image from http://eriks101in1001.blogspot.com

Song of the week #49

Cyclepassion - December

This month Veronica Andréasson is back on my wall, she was there in May.

Thanks again To Cyclepassion and light-bikes for this great calendar.

Scrap omlet

I just love making leftover omelet Saturday morning, I just look into the fridge and get everything out, everything I can mix with the scrambled eggs.

In this omelet I had some leftover sausages, grated parmesan, sliced olives and some cheese on top. And don't' forget the colorful pickles.

Eggs are a very good glue, you can mix everything you have in the fridge and make a beautiful and delicious meal :)

How to avoid a flat tire

Last year I had a lot of flat tires so this year I decided to do something about it. This spring when I was preparing for the first race I've put some Slime in my tires. This year I had only one flat tire but it was a snake bite and it was my fault because I wasn't using the right tire.

One time I was saved by the Slime but I didn't even notice, because this sealant is so good. When I was changing my tires before a race I was inspecting the tire (I always inspect the tires when I change them) I noticed a spike in the tire.

I always check the tires with my hands and I didn't even notice the slime in the tire and on the tube (I was a bit bored and wasn't paying attention)

I removed the spike and I changed the tire. After inflation I heard the flat tire sound so I rotated the tire a few times and it stopped. The next time when I changed the tire I fixed the tube.

I highly recommend Slime if you hate flat tires :)

Song of the week #48

A short ride in the forest

Today I went on a short ride in the forest. I was looking at the forest from my window for a few days and it is just beautiful.

The weather was nice, the sun was shining but it was a bit cold especially where the forest was thicker. From the edge of the forest it looked like a normal autumn day but as I got deeper there was more and more snow.

I fell down two times, first I was looking for the trail and the front tire slipped and I felt down on my right side. The second fall was nasty, I had too much speed in a tight corner between the trees and the bike went sideways and I felt down hard and I hit my left hand which is a bit swollen now.

I didn't know exactly where I wanted to go, my first tough was to ride on a longer trail but it was a little cold for that so I headed for Terebici, one of my favorite destinations, probably because my first ride had the same destination.

It seems like the lens of my camera got steamy again and I had to delete some of the pictures :(

After a short brake and a failed photo shooting I turned back. For the descent I chose another route to the other side of the city where I found a lot of snow, because the sun wasn't shining there.

Stats:

 - distance: 20,68 km

 - average speed: 13,1 kph

 - maximum speed: 33,4 kph

 - time: 1:34:31

Although it was short and I have a few bruises it was a cool ride and I hope I can repeat it soon :)

Song of the week #47

And a bonus club song:

A ride to Saca Mare

Last Saturday I was on one of the coolest and coldest rides ever. The idea was to do ride on this route but we soon realized it was to much for an autumn day. It was a bit cold but it wasn't so bad. The big problem is that it gets dark at about 5 pm.

I woke up early and packed everything.

After a short car ride we arrived to the starting point.

We got our gear and started the ride. After a few kilometers we already had to take off some of the clothes although it was pretty cold.

It was cold but nature is very beautiful in the cold to.

Soon we hit some ice on the road.

Then even more ice, where I had to jump off the bike for the first time.

Soon the water in my bottle started to freeze like the creek.

At the first food break we fixed a tire.

At the second break my chocolate was frozen :))

After that we stopped and took a look at some interesting rock called the Table Rocks.

The trees were beautiful, they remind me of Christmas.

We found some snow.

The view was...

The stats for the end of the climb:

 - distance: 26,11km

 - average speed: 9,3 kph

 - maximum speed: 33,1 kph

 - time: 2:47:42

The climb was very long and hard and the last few kilometers are very steep. Because of my lack of training and the cold I had some cramps :(

The view at above 1700 meters is breathtaking.

Because of the cold the battery from my camera died on the descent. The descent was long and cold and very hard because of the rocks. We decided to descend off road parallel with the paved road. After a few flat tires and some getting lost we got down to Sovata in the dark. After a short and painful ride I got to the car. The stats for the ride:

 - distance: 54,57km

 - average speed: 11,6 kph

 - maximum speed: 48,7 kph

 - time: 4:40:51