Trackdays can be a lot of fun, especially when the day is completely dedicated to motorcycles. We were at Eagles Canyon Raceway http://www.eaglescanyon.com/2008/home.php and let me tell you, they know how to make you feel at home! The day was dedicated to bikes only (heaven!) and they catered in a great lunch from a local barbecue place. The weather was warm and the event was well attended, but it wasn’t crowded.

On this track day, we brought in a vintage stallion, a 2001 Honda CBR 929rr. Ahhh, fuel injection, 17 inch tires on both ends, titanium exhaust and a wheelbase of 54.5 inches. The 929 is a great street bike and it did win Formula Extreme that year, but that was a factory works bike. The 929 was not a club favorite, but I think a lot of that has to do with setup and the difficulty and price of obtaining aftermarket race parts. What made this bike so special for the track day is that we had fresh set of Michelin Power One race tires on both ends (120/17-17 “A� on the front & 190/55-17 “A� on the rear). Let me be the first to tell you that tires have come a long way in technology as these Michelin Power One’s use the new 2CT compound (dual compound technology). Ok – great marketing, but how do they really perform on a true street bike on a track day? We’re about to find out!

These new Power One tires warmed up rather quickly as I did not use tire warmers; hey, it’s a street bike, not a race bike. After two laps at moderate speed at Eagles Canyon the tires were absolutely predictable. The feedback was also coming in as the tires warmed up. The 929 does not have a slipper clutch and the bike would back it in to corners quite easily; I was very surprised as the “white knuckle� factor wasn’t a factor at all. I’m grinning. Into the third lap the 929 was diving into corners with little effort and confidence was growing. I could not believe how these Power One tires were transforming the ride of this 10 year old sportbike.

Confidence, stability and predictability are the three words that come to mind. The bike is on stock suspension, which is usually a nightmare on a track when you get going, but the tires really closed the gap on the short comings of the bike. The day reminded me of why the 929 was such a great bike and enjoyed by the riding public in its prime; it can do everything well and with confidence. However, the Michelin’s really made a difference. If you ride a street bike and enjoy track days, then the new Power One from Michelin is not only a logical choice, it is a sweet tire that will reward you!
Riding is believing and we are a complete convert! The new Power One Race Tire from Michelin is an outstanding tire and will not disappoint. They are very durable, provide an enormous amount of grip and are also available through Komodo Gear for an unbelievable price! You’ve got to check them out and shipping is free.

We see lots of professional athletes on television eating anything they want in copious quantities and yet looking fitter than they should considering what they are putting into their bodies. But this is just the result of great genetics and you need to remember that these elite athletes are really the exceptions to the rule. Most of us need to consider fitness and nutrition as one and the same thing in order to achieve even a modicum of athletic performance.

This means that in addition to all of that gym time you are putting in you need to be careful about what you are putting into your mouth. When we are young we tend to think that we will live forever and nutrition is not of paramount importance. In this country unfortunately there is a marked increase in childhood obesity because we are not

educating our children on the benefits of fitness and nutrition. Kids grow up eating junk food and sugary soft drinks and way too much juice and not nearly enough fresh fruits and vegetables like they should. Teachers and parents need to take a much closer and careful look at this glaring deficiency in our children’s nutritional upbringing.

The bad habits our kids develop carry on into their teen years and later into their adult life. Obese children become obese teens who become obese adults. The risk for heart attacks and clogged arteries and diabetes becomes life threatening for these obese people. Studies have shown that they live shorter lives. The ones that do make it into their golden years are beset with a multitude of health problems. These problems could have been avoided with earlier training in fitness and nutrition in their social strata.

If you teach a child to eat raw broccoli and carrots at an early age, that is what they will crave for the rest of their lives. Their muscle density and bone strength becomes superior and they end up becoming the elite athletes among their peers. Not only do children whose parents focus on fitness and nutrition have superior physical strength, endurance and agility, but their mental agility is also enhanced. They are able to focus on their schoolwork better and generally get way better grades.

Fitness and nutrition should be mandatory educational courses for our kids from pre-school through high school. Unfortunately many school cafeterias around the country continue to serve lunches and snacks that are high in saturated fats and calories and low on nutrients. It is of vital importance that we as a nation respond with urgency to this serious problem that involves our most prized resource, our children and their very future.

We cannot continue to ignore the benefits of fitness and nutrition education at an early age. The very future of our nation depends on our children. It is only right that we should do everything we possibly can to make sure that they are receiving the very best fitness and nutrition courses and motivation that we can give them.

The author has been writing articles online for 4 years now. Come visit his latest site Never Fail List Building by Bill McRea & Mike Williams that discusses Never Fail List Building review.

Studies are constantly being released concerning America’s health. Yep, the facts are in, ladies and gentlemen. We’ve got a long way to go. This can’t be a surprise to anyone. Stop what you’re doing, and glance about at those amongst you. Are they ripped and lean, or do the majority of them sport a spare tire. Some of the ones I see on a daily basis appear to have a spare SUV tire. That’s not a good thing. How can this pandemic be remedied? Well, there’s pretty much only one way. It’s all about proper diet and fitness. These two imperatives must be addressed seriously. If you have been letting your health slide, it’s time to STOP. All it takes to get started is a little bit of knowledge and some basic equipment. Fortunately you get to choose from free weights, to aerobic supplies, to yoga balls, to fitness machines. It’s all out there if you just look for it.

I spent most of my life not caring about fitness. There wasn’t anything to motivate me. Even today, I’m 31 years old and have a fast metabolism. Therefore I’m never overweight. Typically I eat a certain amount each day to maintain my weight. Now, on the other hand; I also want to be certain I’m actually healthy. This hit me a few years back. I think it was watching all those UFC matches. That stuff gets me psyched and ready for action. Suddenly I was shopping for free weights and fitness machines. I wanted to have everything I needed to stay fit from home. Personally folks, I can’t stand the gym scene. Their fitness machines are gross. Just think about the process. Someone sweats all over a machine, and then you get on it. Nice huh? Yeah, and that’s even if you’re able to get on the darn machine. Sometimes the popular fitness machines stay occupied for hours. It can truly be an irksome process.

If you are looking to get in shape, then I suggest some brief research first. What are you looking to improve? Are you craving a total body workout, or maybe just wanting those abs in shape? Any way you cut it, you can learn all you need to on the web. Find out the proper forms for each exercise regime. This is crucial. Also you may want to check out Dick’s Sporting Goods for discounted fitness machines and free weights.

Leo has been writing articles online for 4 years now. Come visit his latest site that reviews Perpetual Traffic Formula and Info Prodigy review.

You have to get the exercise your body needs to stay fit and live long. If you’re not working your body hard at your job, chances are that you probably aren’t getting the exercise you need. You can go to a gym, but today, most people don’t. Gym exercise is said to have peaked in 2006 and hasn’t come back since. Why? Most people are now setting up their own little home gym. It takes but a little space and some equipment (you’ve got your own shower and closet). If you were going to the gym, invite some friends over when you work out at home. If you want to meet people like you did in the gym, try out the net – there’s always somebody who wants to meet you on the net. (I get invitations to meet people every day, in every way, but that’s another story.) In a home gym you don’t have to wear the latest workout fashions, resulting in cash savings. You don’t have to wear anything (!) in a home gym. And if you’re a TV junkie, your can watch the tube while you work out. You can play the music you like. With a home gym and the right exercise equipment, you can have fun and get fit and healthy all by yourself.

The point of exercise is to use your muscles. When you use your muscles, you use up energy available in your blood and stored in your fat. That’s why overweight people who diet and exercise lose weight faster than those who only diet. Now, you could do calisthenics and forget about the exercise equipment, but calisthenics will take you only so far. Then, too, you don’t get the same feedback that you do with modern exercise equipment. It’s harder to set your goals with calisthenics. Running in place for ten minutes, for instance, might use up energy and work your legs, but how fast are you running? How many yards have you run in those ten minutes? You can’t tell. With a treadmill you can tell. The feedback you get from exercise equipment is its major advantage over calisthenics or isometrics or any other exercise you can do between yourself, the walls and the floor. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have calisthenics as part of your workout. Combining calisthenics with workouts on your equipment gives you the best results.

Most people make a workout on their exercise equipment the major event of the exercise period. Those who are seeking strength will concentrate on weightlifting. You can get a weightlifting set, or you can get an exercise machine that emulates weightlifting. Most like the latter because they don’t have to keep adding or removing weights from their barbells and dumbbells: a turn of a knob sets the resistance in pounds for you. And, with a weightlifting machine, you don’t need as much room as you do for a weight set. There’s also the benefit of not marring your floors when you drop a weight and set it down. The machine absorbs it all.

For those seeking the benefits of running, you can get a treadmill, an elliptical exerciser, or a stationary bike. Any one of these will give your cardio-respiratory system all it needs. Most people prefer the treadmill for purely cardio-respiratory workouts. If you want to strengthen your legs and gluts, the elliptical exerciser or stationary bike is a better choice. If you have joint problems, an elliptical exerciser is best for you. If you want to harden your gluts, go with an upright stationary bike. For people with back pains, a recumbent stationary bike is best.

If you’ve got the space, you can use all of them. A folding treadmill can save you room. Whatever your choice, shop around (prices range from hundreds to thousands), choose what’s comfortable for you and be sure you have enough space. Whatever your choice, be sure you use it. Use your home gym, your exercise equipment – after all, that’s why you’re buying it! Get in shape, rain or shine!

The author has been writing articles online for 4 years now. Come visit his latest site Info Prodigy by Tim Godfrey & Steven Clayton that discusses Info Prodigy review.

You can’t get away from the fact that the 2010 world cup is a marvelous opportunity to enjoy the beautiful game. Isn’t it a shame it does not happen every year or even on alternate years? For ardent footy maniacs this just doesn’t give them the stimulation they need. They want games at international level — not only once every few years. This year, with an internet connection, you have the opportunity be part of the excitement. If you play a multiplayer football management game, you can get your football fix when it suits you, what is more it’s simple to fit it in around your family’s needs. You have the ability to create a legendary team, be responsible for their development, and watch them take over the world, all with an online football game. Watch your squad climb up in the rankings, win awards and decimate the competition without ever leaving home. Conventional console games genuinely aren’t even in the same ballpark as what’s on offer on the internet. Choosing a quality multiplayer football Web site, you can also view true-to-life games while taking part in the game as a player and managing your own squad. What a terrific way to meet sports lovers from just about any nation on the planet! You can savor all of these features free simply by finding the right football gaming website. Exactly how do you stay advised about what’s being planned and still make the best of your hours on the pitch? That has been covered. Top websites have a live calendar to inform you of what’s happening. With an easy to use interface you can flag what appeals to you in no time at all. With a little time and effort you’ll be climbing up the rankings!

Instead of lounging around at home, channel hoping, and wasting time until the FIFA World Cup, join a multiplayer football game and see what it really feels like. All of this, and you can access an online soccer management game whenever you want to without missing any of the action-packed matches in South Africa. Try one of these fantastic football management games! You’ll wonder how you ever survived the wait for the World Cups before.

A few years ago several of the American league teams began giving away bobble head dolls of star players to the fans. They would give out a certain number of the dolls on a first come first serve basis. The bobble head dolls have a vague resemblance to the player and they are wearing the uniform and number of the player. Now that the promotion has run for several years collectors are trying to get full sets. Some of the original bobble head dolls from the first year are being sold for big money.

Learn Martial arts:
Are you looking for the right information about various karate methods that help to defense yourselves? The most difficult problem I ever confronted was getting the right information with the help of a right master. It is not as simple as you read a book or watching the video clips but a great effort required to learn even the basic self defense through Karate. To say frankly from my experience, karate information is very easy if we have some expert’s tips which we do not actually take a note of. I found this site very useful and it was accidental I found quite many tips of self defense in a small and affordable ways.

More here in Martial Arts.

My family recently made a trip to Six Flags for a weekend outing, and it is definitely one of my children’s favorite places to go. They love the roller coasters more than anything, and the only problem is that my wife has to take them on most of the rides because I am a total wimp when it comes to theme park rides.

The first thing my son does when he gets to the park is run to the line for the highest and fastest roller coaster, and he always wants me to join him. I am trying to get onto one of the children’s rides, because the thought of being on some of the theme park rides absolutely terrifies me.

I know that they have one ride that soars around in loops and twists and hills at what appears to be an astronomical speed and then stops. Then, it starts back up again in reverse, so the riders get to take in the entire experience, but this time, they are going backwards!

My wife was the one that pointed out to me that I was really a wimp when it came to theme park rides, and she asked me why I didn’t like them. She thought roller coasters were great and really enjoyed riding them with our kids. The only problem for her is that she does not enjoy waiting in line.

I tried one day to sit down and analyze why I had such a problem with certain rides, and I think it is probably because I don’t like the feeling of being at a machine’s mercy. I never went to theme parks as a child very much, either, and the thrill of it was just never there for me the way it is for some people.

My daughter is always giving me a hard time about it, too. She said that she can’t believe that an eight-year old girl is not afraid to ride on the theme park rides, but I am. I guess she thinks that I have a complex about it, but I really don’t. I could care less if anyone thinks that I am a chicken when it comes to such matters; I am a self-professed wimp with theme park rides.

We had a great time at Six Flags that day, and my children want to go back in the very near future. Every time we talk about it, they are constantly trying to get me to go on one of the roller coasters, and I always tell them that it will never happen. They insist that I will have fun, but there is no way that I will ever do it, and nobody will ever make me!

The author has been writing articles online for 4 years now. Come visit his latest site Rapid Automated Income review that discusses Rapid Automated Income by Matt Benwell.

Choosing running shoes can be difficult if you don’t know what to look for. Most companies have dozens of options, from the most basic to very high-tech.

Since you only wear them while running you may think it is okay to shop for discount running shoes. In fact, you may find it difficult to convince your spouse that good running shoes are worth the money. First, you need to convince yourself.

Whether you choose Saucony, Asics, New Balance or Nike running shoes, you need the best running shoes, not the cheapest. Each of these brands makes high quality running shoes. If you have brand loyalty that’s fine, as long as the brand you prefer makes the exact shoe that you need. A good fit is more important than a well-known brand.

Do you know your foot type? Do you have fallen arches or high arches? What about your gait? Are you pronate or supinate? Does your foot roll inwards, how much? When you put your foot down does it stay neutral? Or does it stay on the outside? This will make a huge difference when finding the best running shoes.

While running shoes ratings and running shoes reviews can help, when it comes down to it, you need to choose the shoe that is best for you. These reviews can come in quite handy when it’s time to choose the place you are going to buy from.

Now that you know the most important things about finding the best running shoes you can apply your knowledge to walking shoes as well. Many people believe that it is safe to walk in any old pair of shoes. While it is true that running can cause more stress on your body, it is still a good idea to have a good pair of walking shoes.

Looking for running shoes? Holabird Sports offers a wide selection of running shoes for all types, whether its walking, aerobics, basketball or cross training. For free shipping, low prices and great customer service, visit http://www.holabirdsports.com today.

An hamstring pull is one of the most troublesome and stubborn injuries that runners come across. Running injuries, hamstring problems, ligament problems and Achilles’ heel injuries, are typically notoriously difficult to treat. These occur in places in the body that receive little blood supply, and healing is often slow and irregular. The latest developments in ligament healing medicine though, introduce specific approaches that could revolutionize the treatment of stubborn running injuries.

Of all the new lines of treatment for running injuries discovered in recent years, three stand out as particularly promising. The first one involves helping an injured tendon heal by injecting a patient’s own blood into the tendon. The next, called the Platelet Rich Plasma method is even more promising; it involves processing a patient’s blood to concentrate the most platelets in the smallest volume possible, and then injecting the newly derived platelet rich plasma into the injured area. The third takes a somewhat different approach. This method tries to take advantage of precise muscle movements in helping an injury heal. The muscle movements of interest in this form of healing are called eccentric contractions. This involves attempting to stress a muscle in a direction opposed to the one it tries to naturally contract in.

Orthopedic experts do not exactly agree on which one of these three approaches makes the most sense in the treatment of sports injuries like a tennis elbow, a rotator cuff injury for a swimmer or any other. And in the environment of disagreement and uncertainty that prevails in the method of choice in the treatment of sports injuries, a lot of misinformation and mythology abounds. I learned all of this tending to the running injuries I suffered in my life as a recreational runner. The kind of sports injury my body preferred to keep having was always to the hamstrings. The more I did the rounds at the hospitals, the more I realized that I could probably serve myself better: so difficult is it to find a really grounded doctor who deals with running injuries.

The first thing I realized was that ice packs and anti-inflammatory pills like Ibuprofen and even physician-prescribed injections of cortisone, all assume that the tendon concerned, my hamstrings in my case, are inflamed. They even call it tendinitis or tendon inflammation. Often enough though, as it was with me, the problem with my hamstrings had nothing to do with inflammation at all. My hamstrings were just degenerating with age. And did you ever know that pain in a tendon doesn’t really come about because the tendon is injured? Tendons themselves don’t hurt; the pain comes when the body tries to heal the area, by laying down new blood vessels.

Considering the importance of the presence of blood in a tendon that is trying to heal, some of the new treatment methods that involve the injection of Platelet Rich Plasma makes a lot of sense. The platelets jumpstart the regeneration process in an injured or torn ligament. There are major new studies being undertaken to completely establish once and for all the effect and the benefits to be had from these blood injection methods. A certain amount of vigorous exercise is also a good thing when you’re trying to heal from running injuries that affect tendons. Exercise pumps more blood into the area, and that cannot be a bad thing.

Leo has been writing articles online for 4 years now. Come visit his latest site that reviews Mobile Monopoly by Adam Horwitz and Fast Profit Pages by Tom Bell & Shawn Casey.

For high school athlete Mark Ericson, his running season went great up until spring this year. His training for the past year was relentless and it seemed like it was paying off. Each day that he ran, he was shaving a hundredth of a second off his time. But not long after, at the beginning of spring track, everything seemed to go off-track. Each time he ran the thousand-meter course, he seemed to add about 5 seconds to his time. He seemed to be getting slower with each training round. His coach began to look deeper into the problem; the boy didn’t need any running tips – he was an expert himself. And yet, here he was getting slower by the day, irritable, his muscles numb all the time. His coach had read about something like this – it was called overtraining. It is the thing that every athlete dreads. Is there are a limit to how much you can train your body – is there a limit to how much you can push yourself?

Overtraining is something you’ll rarely read about in any list of running tips you come by. If it is rare, it is only because the kind of commitment it takes to reach a state of overtraining is something most people find to be too much. It is actually a real physical ailment. If you overstress your body for too long, it fights back. It fights back with aches and pains, tiredness and psychological detachment. As rare as the condition is, people are beginning to take notice of this, and it’s becoming somewhat a fashionable ailment to suffer from. These days, people read about overtraining in a section on running tips in the magazine, and the moment they have a problem with their performance, they begin to complain of overtraining.

This isn’t the way it’s supposed to go. To begin with, overtraining is terribly rare – even for athletes. If you are running maybe 25 miles a week and you feel that you have a problem, you probably need to look into other causes. The body is perfectly capable of handling 25 miles a week. When you try to double that or maybe triple that, and then feel dead inside doing 80 miles a week, that’s when you might need to consider the possibility that you could be overtraining.

There is an important reason why you can’t just go about jumping to the conclusion every so often that you could have a case of overtraining on your hands. When you are in this position, there is really no way out of it other than to quit training for months. What athlete would want to do that – it would probably take him out of running forever. So how really do you know that yours is a case of genuine overtraining? As a matter of fact, overtraining is a poorly understood condition. It isn’t just a slowness or sense of exhaustion that signals this. The first thing you notice is that your heart rate is a lot faster than it should be when you’re resting normallly, or with moderate levels of work. And athletes also find that they feel weaker, and they can’t really walk with the kind of muscle-coordinated confidence they always had. The best running tips always suggest that you need to push yourself as an athlete as far as your body will go – without going too far. It’s when an athlete goes over the line without realizing it, that this happens. You’re supposed to train just a bit past your real abilities to qualify as having pushed yourself. When you train more than just a touch above your ability though, your body throws in the towel.

Olympic coaches are exquisitely aware of overtraining and know exactly how to hit the mark. Not long ago, the best of athletic wisdom out there felt that it was the sheer hours of training you put into your sport that helped you improve. Now coaches understand that there is a point beyond which a lot of training doesn’t really help you that much, and only puts you in danger of overtraining. When it occurs, the signs are there for all to see – when an athlete seems to gain very little for crazy hours of training he puts in, that’s a sign. An athlete who isn’t pumping his fist and beaming with self-confidence after a training session is another sign. If an athlete is just exhausted all the time, it’s time to stop. It’s just that athletes completely give themselves over to the sport and never know when to stop.

Sports medicine specialists would be a great idea when you suspect a problem. Sometimes they’ll give you blood tests to test for certain kinds of chemicals known as Ferritins that appear at very low levels in people who overtrain. With the right kind of supplements, it could help cure the problem. But mostly, the advice will be simple and unpleasant – it’s three months off the sport. It will be for the athlete’s own good, and it always works.

The author has been writing articles online for 4 years now. Come visit his latest site Online Income Flood by Steven Johnson & Steven James that reviews Online Income Flood.

There are a lot of factors that go into choosing running shoes. You not only have to find a pair that are comfortable, but you need a pair that are built to do what you need, whether it’s speed, distance running, indoor, track or trail running.

Just because you have found discount running shoes in your size, doesn’t mean that’s the best idea. When it comes to exercise equipment, shopping only during running shoes sales can do more harm than good. You may feel that the right shoes are too much and not worth the money.

Some people believe that when you buy Saucony, Asics, New Balance or Nike running shoes that you are just paying for the logo. While this train of thought may be understandable it’s not correct. These shoe brands are well known because they are on the cutting edge of new technology. They annually spend large amounts of money researching the best features for your feet.

One of the most important things to do is to look at how you stand and walk: the way your foot lands, do you put your heel down first, does your foot stay neutral or roll inward? Depending on whether your foot turns inwards or outwards will decide whether the best running shoes for you is neutral, stability or motion control. The way you walk is called your gait and will tell you how your foot absorbs shock. Most people don’t know much about their own feet. They don’t understand the difference between the way the foot lands when they are walking and running. They couldn’t tell you if their arches are high or low. These things are all vital when it comes to getting the best running shoes. You need to understand whether you are pronate, neutral, or supinate, once you know this, you can narrow your shoe choices down to neutral, stability or motion control.

Next, read running shoes ratings and running shoes reviews to learn what other people are saying. Of course you can’t base a decision on this alone, but reading the thoughts of real people can really help you narrow down your search.

Now that you know the most important things about finding the best running shoes you can apply your knowledge to walking shoes as well. Many people believe that it is safe to walk in any old pair of shoes. While it is true that running can cause more stress on your body, it is still a good idea to have a good pair of walking shoes.

Visit http://www.holabirdsports.com to browse a selection of over 2,000 different types of running shoes. We have all sizes, colors, and styles of running shoes to fit your needs. Whether its basketball, aerobics, or cross training, our dedicated sales staff will find the proper shoe for you at the lowest price.