Tune up your bike!

Greetings!  So today let's learn about how to do a basic "tune-up" on a bike. Most importantly is to be safe.  Check your brakes before riding and always be cautious.  A main thing to do is clean as much you can. A towel is good, maybe a flat-head screwdriver to clean tight spots.

   Brakes; add a bit of oil. Check for any fray or heavy rust on cables. If it seems unsafe don't ride and get it checked out first. Check that the wheel can turn without the brake pad stopping it. Adjust as necessary.  Make sure, usually with an Allen wrench, that all the screws are tightened.  Keep the part of the wheel the brake makes contact with clean of dirt and oil.

 Tires; make sure there are no visible holes or tears in your tire. If there are you are likely to keep getting flat inner tubes or won't hold air if tubeless.  New tires are reasonably priced, patching is difficult and makes your tire off balance a bit. Also check the bolts and make sure the wheels are firmly secured to the frame.  Check the wheels for roundness and that the bearing are intact. Clean and oil.

  Tires/wheel size and pressure; both tires and rims should have sizes on them, ex: 26in. x 1.5 other common sizes are 700cc x 2.  First number is the diameter width of the rim.  Second is the diameter of the tube.  Check the compatibility.  Some are tubeless. On the tire for tubes it will have a min and max p.s.i. Higher psi will be less rolling resistance, so brake sooner, more likely to get flats.  Lower psi will be a smoother ride.  Be careful not to be too low where hitting bumps could damage the rim, tube and tire.. The min and max are good for proper wear on the tire.

  Gears; now clean the gears and derailleur. Wipe the chain with a towel then add bike grease or motor oil.  Get a bit of oil in the axles and clean off more.  The chain should be on snug, enough to move easily and not fall off.  The rear derailleur usually takes care of this. Some bikes don't have them.  Adding or removing links to a chain is easy with a tool designed for it.  Then turning the bike upside-down can be helpful to check the gears. Make sure all gears can be shifted through without shifting the gear off track.

 Enjoy 

Urban Gardens of San Francisco

   It's nice to find peaceful gardens in the midst of a busy metropolis. While traveling to San Francisco I found a few urban gardens.  

     The first one was tucked in the back of an average park.  There is a large range of plants that are kept by kids in an after-school program.

      I ran into a neat "Mini-park," while on the way to another community garden.   It was surprising to see how much variety was between two large condos!  

       After traveling further, I found a neat strip of community organized gardens.  The lady there said it was originally part of a homeless employment program, however that program was shut down and it is now a garden the local residents keep up.  It seems like a good way to get people outside and working together.

   
      I ran into this garden on the walk back.  It was at a school with a large lemon tree, that fruit on it in January!  It is neat to see that even in a big city, youth are learning in nature.

 
      Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed.

Winter Update

    The cold season is in and the leaves have nearly all fallen.  This is a good time for planting leafy greens, onions, garlic, broccoli and other frost tolerant plants.  Last month I cleared out the beds and turned them with compost, leaves, and chicken droppings/hay.  The ground is softer now and has fewer deep-rooted weeds.

   A few weeks ago I planted arugula, beets, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, Swiss chard, and peas.   Between the hens eating them and the nights where it got really cold they are stunted to say the least.
Instead I began to focus on weed removal and making a few more beds.

   Recently I just planted some red lettuce and blue broccoli from the local nursery; as seen in the photo.

   The lettuce is an heirloom variety called Red Romaine. Red lettuce seems to do well in frost and is very flavorful.  I'm hoping the broccoli will help keep the frost away from the lettuce once it grows larger.

   No-till gardening is becoming easier the more I dig in.  There are some things I've learned that make a huge difference.  First, let the ground work for you; instead of exhausting yourself with digging up a clay bed, pile organic material over it and water it for a few months.  Once the ground is softer then dig the leaves or mulch into the clay.

   Second, make sure to water any compost or organic matter you wish to activate;  by activate I mean bring to life.  The process of composting is done by a mix of factors, we mainly think of worms.  There are a lot of other insects, bacteria, etc. that play a part in the decomposition of soil.  They need plenty of water to remain present and flourish.

  As I go through the dirt, I set aside any fair sized rocks in one of the paths; to help roots grow more freely and to get fewer misshaped carrots or onions.  I'm looking forward to the warmer season with longer days.  That's all for now.  Thanks for reading and best of luck with the garden!

Gymnasium

      I found it interesting while reading about ancient Greek gyms that they also study school subjects there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnasium_(ancient_Greece)
This shows they can go hand in hand.  I'm gonna talk about some tips for starting up a work out or adding different exercises to your current work out.  While exercising be conscious of your form and the amount of effort these exercises take.  If you notice discomfort try to understand why.  Try changing up your routine to gain flexibility, balance and allow injuries to heal completely.  

      Now that's what I'd call intelligent working out.  I've been throwing around some terms so let's start with some basics as I understand them.  Strength: This would be how much you can lift max in 1 rep.  Endurance: Can be measured as how many reps of how much you can lift over an extended period of time.  Recovery Time: How long it takes to recover between sets.

      There are many ways to increase the weight and reps while decreasing the amount of time it takes to do them.  I suggest starting with a focus on cardiovascular workouts  to get your body up to par and contemplate why you are working out and what your short term and long term goals are.  This will build a solid foundation for you to pump iron from!  Now you must get excited about your goals.  Go and make them happen.

Starting with push-ups can be a great way to increase your metabolism and gain strength   Incline (arms raised), decline (feet raised), wide spread and triangle (hands together). Best of luck and good health too you.

24 hour meat and sugar fast

       Fasting is something there is much debate about.  Everyone has an opinion, here's mine.  To start here's a article on an interesting study done in Utah.  http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=3988629   While I like the idea of giving my body some time to recover and cleanse itself.  During a 24 hour fast I feel like I have less energy.  So I've been thinking and reading.  I think that to fast from meats and sugars for 24 hours is really beneficial and can be done more often than a complete fast.  You wouldn't have the drop in energy either.   This is a picture of bacon peanut brittle to get an idea of what to eat with care.

       So why meat and sugar you may be asking.  Well I learned in a marine biology class that because animals are higher on the food pyramid they contain 10 times the toxins of the food they eat.  And sugar in a processed refined form also interact with our body very similarly to a toxin.  It does so by providing energy without any nutritional value, so in order for that energy to be used, it must take nutrition from the rest of the body.  Besides this the digestive system can use the time to revitalize and function at prime.

I've found this to help with stress and getting over a cold or flu faster.  As well as getting more energy on a daily basis. I hope you found something you enjoyed reading here today.  Till next time folks.