10 Mountain Biking Facts You Didn't Know

As far as whatever can remember, riding a bicycle has been part of everyone's childhood. Remember that first time you had a go on one; it felt like a mountain of an achievement. Now that you have the power and the limbs for a more enhanced kind of cycling, that mountain is now indeed a part of it. It is an entirely separate kind of adventure as you traverse through involving trails and breeze through paramount and involving nature preserves. But where did this favorite sport come from? Who are the individuals that have attributed to the sport's popularity? Here are 10 facts to captivate your interest.

The history of this extreme sport goes way back to 1970 in California, Usa. It was on Mount Tamalpais that made that mark of being the origin of mountain biking. Founding fathers of this sport were considered to be Joe Breeze, Gary Fisher, Keith Bontrager, Charlie Cunningham and Tom Ritchie. Using coaster brakes on converted cruisers, the first prototype of mountain bikes were all downhill purposed. Meaning they never rode their bikes uphill, they had to transport them up to the beginning point and ride them downhill. These 5 individuals had to improvise a lot, things such as installing balloon tires that could adapt to any road conditions, and repacking improvised coaster brakes with grease because they had the tendency to overheat. Later on these 5 founding fathers additional industrialized the bikes and opened a shop. Bart Jen Brentjens of the Netherlands won the first mountain biking event at the Atlanta Olympics. The separate variations of the sport are; cross country, winter downhill, free ride, durableness and extreme. These separate disciplines of mountain biking furnish a wide variety and possibilities to tailor fit an activity to a riders specific adventure and adrenalin rush requirements. In 1995 downhill was introduced to the first ever extreme Games. In 1997 during the Winter X-Games, it was also one of the featured extreme sports. Braking in this sport requires the use of your head. No it doesn't indeed "use your head" per se. It means that braking is a skill that is industrialized through the proper knowledge of techniques that are applied to the art of safe stopping, and braking to avoid crashes and other potential risky scenarios. The International Mountain Bicycling connection (Imba). A non-profit club that was formed in 1988 is an advocate in the enhancement and preservation of trails for bikers all over the world. To date, Imba is affiliated with associations worldwide with Australia having one of the most memberships. Ibma educates on trail care, trail building and planning. It has been one of the most dependable sources of trail recreation. The World's highest Trans Himalayan Mountain Bike Race is held in the Tibetan part of Mount Everest which has an altitude of 17,160ft. The longest mountain bike race in the world was a ride from Canada to Mexico. With 2700 miles over the continental divide in the Rockies. Sam Hill, an Australian pro mountain biker (downhill competition) is the youngest Australian to ever win a world championship title. He won his first championship title at the age of 16 coming third at the Vail World Championships in 2001.

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10 Mountain Biking Facts You Didn't Know

Airsoft Guns - Safe For Kids? - I Think So

So your boy wants an airsoft gun? Your first thought, "Hell no". But let's give this matter a diminutive thought. Forget the Bb gun you or your brother had when you were a kid. You remember, the one that shot out your neighbors kitchen window. Or maybe the one that shot you in the leg and left a welt that lasted for five days. Like your son has been telling you, this is Not a Bb gun. It's an airsoft gun. It shoots a light weight plastic Bb. It won't break the neighbors' windows or ruin your cars paint job.

All of these thoughts ran straight through my mind when my 14 year old son wanted one for Christmas two years ago. He overcame my objections. Although I still had my reservations, I relented and gave him my Visa card to order one online. Being that he wanted all of his gifts that year to be airsoft related, I left it up to him to spend another 0 on the site.

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When I watched him open the boxes on Christmas morning I was rather amazed. I figured the other 0 would be spent on more items of household destruction. But what I saw was that he had ordered a protective mask and goggles. He also had bought protective gloves . Even more fantastic was when I watched him and his friends play for the first time. They all owned and wore the protective items. I guess a generation of kids raised on riding helmets and seatbelts just automatically wears protective gear without mental about it.

That was over two years ago now. After hundreds of neighborhood airsoft battles engaging a dozen or so kids, there has not been a single injury. Unlike football which resulted in a broken thumb or basketball in which he broke his wrist, airsoft has been a very safe activity for my son and his friends. Not to mention, it ultimately got him off the computer and out of the house.

Airsoft Guns - Safe For Kids? - I Think So

Airsoft Review: first-rate Army M15A4 Airsoft Rifle

This first-rate Army rifle is an exact replica of the M-16 engine gun.

History of M-16:

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The M-16 was designed in the mid-50s by designer Eugene Stoner.

It became the legal issue weapon for the infantry in the United States soldiery in 1967 just in time for the Vietnam era.

The gun is man-made by ArmaLite, a firm based out of Illinois.

Features:

The Ca 15A4 rifle intimately resembeles the M16. It has an all-metal receiver. The only parts there are plastic on this gun, are the pieces that are also plastic on the real M-16, namely: the stock, the handgrip and the fore grip. The material is a very durable fiber reinforced plastic.

Classic Army is the only Airsoft manufacturer licensed to use Armalite's logo on their products. The markings appear on the M15A4 in the same way as they appear on the real M-16.

The fire selector switch has three positions: safety, semiautomatic and full automatic. The gun is shipped with a 300 around high-cap magazine. It is equipped with a movable metal cope (unlike M15A2 that has the cope joined to it permanently). The latch that is employed to cock the M-16 and the button that is used to fix ammunition jams are for show only. The fire selection indicator on the opposite side of the fire selection switch is also for looks.

Operation:

The execution of this airsoft gun is fairly straightforward. Put the fire selector switch on semi or auto mode then pull the trigger.

To load the high-cap magazine, take off it from the gun by pressing the magazine release button then open the small sliding door on top of the magazine. After loading the Bbs, the sliding door must be pulled shut. Next, the loading mechanism inside the magazine, must be wound up in order for it to feed the rounds into the feeding tube of the magazine. The wind up wheel is found on the bottom of the magazine. It is okay to turn the wheel as many times as you wish, since has functionality built in to preclude it from being over-wound.

The hop-up mechanism is placed under the dustcover on the right-hand side of the gun right below the carry handle. It is held shut by a small magnet, and it is also spring-loaded. In order to get to the hop-up mechanism, the cover must be flipped open. This mechanism is used to adjust the flight of the Bb exiting the barrel. It puts a spin on the round, thus expanding accuracy and range. The product is shipped with the tool to adjust the hop-up, but it can be just as no ifs ands or buts adjusted by sticking a finger into the opening. If you need the Bbs to fly higher, turn the larger wheel counter clockwise. To induce the opposite effect, turn it clockwise.

The battery is placed in the stock. To get to it, the door must be opened on the butte plate of the gun. Sometimes, it takes a microscopic convincing before the battery comes out. It is a tight fit, however, the gun will also take the much larger 9.4-volt battery. One must be truthful though, not to let the battery just slide out by it self. Doing so may result in the connections being torn off.

Reliability:

Classic Army products have had a new build since 2003. A great estimate of things have been fixed in the newer versions. The gearbox is sturdier than before, and it is also said to be quite a bit quieter. They all metal construction also eliminates the squeakiness ordinarily related with guns made are plastic.

Performance:

These stock rate of fire is in the middle of 280 and 315 fps. Velocity moves in this range in semi self-operating mode. It will alternate on every shot fired. There does not seem to be a fluctuation on full the self-operating setting. The velocity is consistently at its top in this mode.

The rate all fire is about 15 rounds per second.

The velocity can be no ifs ands or buts increased by installing a stronger spring in the gearbox. Your local airsoft store will be able to do that for you. A higher rate all fire is achieved by installing a larger, stronger battery.

Maintenance:

The battery must be fully charged, in order to preclude jamming of the gearbox. Once the battery gets weak. It is less likely to faultless a full cycle of the gearbox hence the tendency to jam. In order to help the battery to hold a full charge, it must be fully discharged periodically. It is wise to spend in a smart charger.

And ultimately a word about safety: while airsoft products are ultimately toys, they are grown-up toys. Eye protection must be worn at all times. While not in the middle of a game, it is thrifty to put the gun on safe. Once done with a gun for the time being, the magazine should be removed.

Airsoft products in the United States of America are required to be sold with a exciting orange tip. dismissal of those is not recommended.

In the event that you get pulled over by the police and you have an air soft gun in your proprietary at the time, it is advisable to wise up the policeman of the fact.

Conclusion:

Classic Army products in normal are of great quality and the M15A4 rifle is no exception. The gun looks great, and handles and feels like the real thing. If you are in the store for something with long range and great accuracy, then this gun absolutely has your name on it.

Airsoft Review: first-rate Army M15A4 Airsoft Rifle

The Best Places to Go Skimboarding

Skimboarding is becoming immensely popular especially for habitancy who love to surf. One reason being is anything young or old can skimboard, it's not little to age. Other reason being is you don't need big waves to skimboard and you don't have to paddle out into the deep ocean to enjoy yourself. Even now skimboarding competitions are becoming more and more popular each year.

Where are the best places to go you ask?

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The major skimboarding competitions are held in places like Laguna Beach, Ca; Baja, Ca; Santa Cruz, Ca; Dewey Beach, Delaware; and Barngate Light, New Jersey. These are some of the great beaches to skimboard at.

Of procedure there are many other beaches to skimboard at such as: The Dunes Club in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Hilton Head, South Carolina which is known for it's flat beach which makes it an exquisite place to convention your skimboarding skills. Then you can head out west again to Padre Island, Texas to the area of Big Shell which is settled Padre Island National Seashore.

Last but not least the entire coast of Florida offers countless beaches to go skimboarding. Florida has many dissimilar kinds of beaches fluctuating from flat beaches to steep beaches to medium sized beaches. Make sure you pick a beach that doesn't have a lot of shells and rocks this can make near to impossible to skimboard not to mention tearing up your board. Also pick a beach that is not so crowded so it lessens the chance of hitting and hurting someone with your board.

The Best Places to Go Skimboarding

Snowkiting, Snowkite Festival, Serre Chevalier, Col Du Lautaret, extreme Sport, Kitesurfing

The evolution of snowkiting

Adults love inventing new toys for themselves. They learnt to fly with paragliding. Then kites from their childhood were transformed into giant and more considerable ones. Surfers and windsurfers beheld these huge wings with envy before attaching them to their boards. Exit wind­surfing, enter kitesurfing.

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A kiter is connec­ted to his kite through a theory of strings and directs the kite with a bar quite similar to a windsurfing bar. A new terrain has now opened up, flying high, doing jumps and tricks were now possible. Snowboarders and skiers very soon cottoned on. With the help of a kite, they could go uphill without using ski lifts, gaining way to fields of virgin snow. Snowkiting certainly downgraded skiing and snowboarding to mainstream sports. Snowkiting goes back to the 1980s, but not one singular man can be given reputation for its creation, as those who claim the stakes are numerous. Some habitancy probably tried the same thing at similar times in separate places. Logically, the invention can only be awarded to a group of dedicated pioneers.

The skills needed for snowkiting

If you fancy trying it out, you had great stand steadily on your skis or board already. "You don't have to be an splendid skier to snowkite, " explains Fabrice Tripier, who is one of those pioneers, "but it helps, of course. There are less new things to handle if you can ski already..." And of the new things to handle, there are more than one. You start with flying the kite to learn foremost 'security measures'. Like how to stop... "You end the traction by 'ruining' the kite, either by putting it at zenith or by pulling it far to the side. Or, by unclipping it... ", he explains.

You also have to learn to use a new position as the traction alters your equilibrium and pres­sure points. On top of that, you need to be able to explain the wilful wind: understand at what angles it will lift you, know how to go against it, to turn around. In short, you need to be a good mix of an acrobat, a sailor and an aviator. Who would have thought, watching the kiters come flying past that it is so complicated.

The Col du Lautaret

If snowkiting has become particularly popu­lar in Serre Chevalier, it is thanks to a legendary site only a stone's throw away from the main resort. The Col du Lautaret has near exquisite terrain and wind conditions for snowkiting. Its slopes saw the beginnings of the sport, and today most competitors and kite surfing fanatics make a stop here. The best kiters in the world come here to play, and on any windy day (there are many) the sky is speck­led with colourful kites. When the Northeast or Southeast wind blows, get up there to watch this splendid show.

The site is even more famous since one of the best kiters in the world is a local - the unassailable Guillaume Chastagnol. Triple world cham­pion in snowkiting on a board, he is the unchallenged top man of this sport, he has pushed every limit and has encouraged others to do the same. Each year, Guillaume and his partners Regis Labaune, Wareck Arnaud and Fred Jagu, manufacture a snowkite festival at the end of December. This event is not a competition, but a kindly gathering where each rider gives his or her best. With no pressure and boosted by the ambience of the festival, it is always an splendid spectacle.

The future of snowkiting

The snowkite universe can be divided by weightlessness and multiplied by speed, lightness, agility and guts. This three-dimensional sport gives endless possibilities.

It is a young sport and is slowly getting organised. Manufacturers and sponsors are starting to take an interest. The pioneers that practise are still carried by the first exci­tement. The gear has great development possibilities. No federation, no great finan­cial stakes, world championships where the sportsmen set up the rules...

Snowkiting is still a developing sport, let's hope it stays as non market as it is now.

Snowkiting, Snowkite Festival, Serre Chevalier, Col Du Lautaret, extreme Sport, Kitesurfing

Great White Shark Diving in Usa

Do you want to meet Jaws alias the Great White Shark in Usa? Then you should be heading to San Francisco.

In the Steven Spielberg movie "Jaws" the Great White Shark is a menace to the citizen of Amity Island in New England. But in the real life the only place to meet Great White Sharks in Usa is the Farallon Islands close to San Francisco.

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The Farallon Islands

The Farallon Islands is a group of islands and rocks in the Gulf of the Farallons. They are settled almost 30 miles of the coast of San Francisco.

The islands have been a National State Wildlife Refuge since 1969 and they are a very foremost investigate spot for the Great White Sharks. Because of the diversity of wildlife the islands have also been called California Galapagos.

What makes those islands so special for shark diving is the fact that the Great White Shark comes here to eat the Northern Elephant Seal.

The amount of Great White Shark are very uncertain, but has been estimated to something in the middle of 30 and 100.

Great White Shark Cage Diving

A normal Great White Shark dive will be a one-day dive. You will leave San Francisco in the morning and be back in the afternoon/evening.

When you are at the shark diving spot, you will be settled in a specially designed cage at the surface, where you can have a close encounter with the Great White Shark - without the risk of ending as a shark meal.

Often there will be utilized decoys to attract the Great White Sharks to the face and the cage. This recipe of shark diving has proven very victorious and is commonly appropriate for use inside a maritime Sanctuary.

Nice to know

The season is only about two month - from September to November. So if you are concerned in diving with the Great White Shark, you should book the shark dive well in advance.

You do not have to be a certified diver to dive (or indeed swim) with the Great White Shark. As long as you are in normal health you should be fine.

The price for the Great White Shark dive is colse to 0 including communication to the dive spot, the diving, equipment, breakfast, lunch, snacks and beverages. This is not cheap, but when you are only inches for the jaws of the Great White Shark, you will think it is worth all the money.

Great White Shark Diving in Usa

Coral Reefs in Belize

Coral reefs are most commonly found in tropical waters, but on a smaller scale deep water and cold water corals also exist. Globally, these are under threat from atmosphere change, ocean acidification, overuse of reef resources, and harmful land use practices. High nutrient levels from agricultural areas can also harm reefs by encouraging immoderate algae growths.

Belize is fortunate to have these barrier reefs, and yet is able to retain them. With crystal clear Caribbean waters, we could verily see straight through the sea.

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Found only in nautical waters, these calcareous formations retain the living corals and a great collection of other animal and plant life. They come in many shades and colors, and here in Belize - the see-through clear waters make them a fabulous sight.

Lighthouse Reef Atoll

Lighthouse reef atoll is settled 45 miles east of Belize City, and is one of the only four such atolls in the western hemisphere. Long Caye is in southern part of Belize, and is the largest of the five cayes within the atoll. It is remote, yet accessible.

The lagoons and mangroves of Long Caye contribute a unique habitat for the abundant array of tropical wildlife that we find here. This is surrounded by magnificent walls of corals with a nautical eco-system that is extending for miles.

The Half Moon Caye Bird Sanctuary, The Great Blue Hole, and other coral reefs and diving sites - like The Aquarium, Half Moon Wall and Cathedral are just minutes away from the Lighthouse reef. Long Caye offers fabulous opportunities for scuba diving, snorkeling, photography, sailing, recreational and sport-fishing, sea kayaking, bird watching and swimming. You could just relax here and discover this magnificent Caribbean beauty.

The society on Long Caye, has a long term responsibility to help retain and administrate this pristine environment, and generate a patrimony for generations to come. Tourists and visitors are welcome here provided they understand the need and effect the eco-guidelines in place for preserving and maintaining this valuable heritage.

The barrier Reef off Ambergris Caye

This barrier Reef lies about half a mile off the windward side of the island and is the longest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere, and the second longest in the world.

To the east of barrier Reef are three cut off atoll reefs - Turneffe and Glover's on one ridge, and Lighthouse on a cut off ridge added east. Deep nautical trenches cut off the two reefs. There is also a fourth atoll reef - The Banco Chinchorro, to the north in Mexican waters.

Flying south into Belize, we can see the barrier Reef as an unbroken chain of white surf running alongside the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and persisting south throughout the whole length of the country to the Ranguana and Sapodilla cayes.

Inside these reefs the water is shallow and with a bluish tinge. Outside, the water is deep, and from the sky shows as a dark royal blue. These two shades of blue, of the same sea are visibly separated by a narrow yellow line, as this barrier Reef stands out.

Close to the populated island, the barrier Reef is a magnificent solid wall of coral formation broken only by narrow channels called 'quebradas'. This is where divers could be kept enthralled for hours by the unending variety, shapes and colors of the tropical coral.

However this reef is more than just a decorative sideshow. Without this the island would not have existed for it serves as a natural break-water, protecting the beach from erosion, and sheltering the caye and the inhabitants.

Reef Brief

Though the reef looks like dead stone, it is in fact a living wall formed by millions of coral organisms. Actually, the corals are carnivorous animals known as polyps, which feed on small sea creatures that float by, capturing them with stinging tentacles. They only feed at night, pulling their tentacles back into the skeleton while the day.

Minute blue-green algae live within the coral skeleton, and give off oxygen, which the coral polyps breathe in; and the algae in turn suck up the carbon-dioxide which the coral polyps give away, forming a genuine symbiotic relationship.

Belize Beauty

These corals grow into various exotic shapes and colors. You will find them in gold, to red, orange, green, brown and yellow. Underwater rainbows are here to be found.

Belize is not just animated on ground, even deep down you will realize, this is nothing but paradise.

Coral Reefs in Belize