Tag Archives: Castle of sport

Biking else matters

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Cycle positive!
One of the latest and finest piece of news is that parks will be open for visitors, pedestrians, nature-lovers,… bikers with a hankering for new May sunsets and sycamore trees.
I haven’t seen a blooming tree since the 11th March. Like all addicts, I can remember precisely when I had the last cycling dose in the library of trees.

Lately, I have read that the U.S. is facing a severe bicycle shortage as global supply chains, disrupted by the virus outbreak, try to meet the surge in demand. Many shops are low on inventory or sold out. – https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/nyregion/bike-shortage-coronavirus.html?smid=linkedin

Apparently, I have beaten the rush as I have two of them. I have read on LinkedIn that bicycles are presently called the freedom machines.
I can’t help remembering those times when I declared myself part of the free bikefolk, 3 years ago:

Cycling is my absolute passion. I do not care too much about anything else, with the exception of what I do, which has many layers of passion, and roller-skating. I recite incantations for the weather to stay fine until late December. Come to think, for 4 or 5 years we haven’t had snow in Bucharest for Christmas. And I bought my bike 5 years ago. Before, I was a roller-skater. I decided to switch the hat the moment a biker screamed at me pointing that the bike lane was for cyclists. And this is how I changed “denomination”.
http://blog.seocopywriting.ro/2018/01/02/biking-else-matters-5/

Art – David Hockney

Skiing trivialities

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Now that spring is here I pluck up courage to send winter away with one last snowy post before the start of lilac hunting season. There is so much joy and timid relaxation in the colors of a new spring.

My sport routine makes me a very predictable person, nevertheless the routine process of clinging to my sport habits is not exactly clear-cut. What is unpredictable is the way I mold circumstances and time into allowing me to have my predictable sport routine. I cannot adjust it to mountain skiing. I just find solutions to get through less pain to see more gain.

For me mountain skiing is excruciatingly painful as I busted my knees many times over and last time they failed me on the slope…I have found a solution: cross-country skiing. No slopes, only snow and 2 meter long skis. And the penchant to run…Flatly speaking, it is wonderful.

Outdoors sporting is about braving limits…my cold limits. It felt like being stung by thousands of bees from Narnia and by icicles blown away by a malevolent giant. My fingers and face went numb. I still retain a bit of winter glass in my eyes. Nevertheless in the cold I find clarity and adversity…

And feeling. For one, I want to touch the magic of the world in a gale that ravishes my cheeks, and in the fire of folstitia that burns for Spring below the paleness of March moons.

I illustrate with my humble person, made humbler by the monster building behind, the Bucharest Palace Of Parliament, at the crossroads of winds.

Castle of sport – roller skating

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Roller-skating and I go back a long time. I started small and brutal with a fall off my rookie skates. Then I let things develop.

Roller-skating is a complete sport. In order to practice it, you need to be in shape. As a biker you know a thing or two about poise. As a roller skater you are an athlete. Because:
If you lean too much on one side, you fall. If you stand too upright, you fall on your back. If your ankle cracks (my case) when you change direction, you fall. If you don’t have a brake and you want to stop, you fall (my case again) :). If you are tall/er you fall harder.
Skating is a combination of balance, stamina, courage, decisiveness and good humour, as you need to pull yourself together, wipe off the dust, get on your skates, smile and move on.

Roller-skating is a sport for almost all seasons. You can start in early spring and go on even in late winter, if the winter is dry. Whilst the skating rinks are packed, the park is empty and so are the bicycle lanes. It is exciting, very good for keeping in shape, not as dangerous as I have depicted it, nevertheless if you are a little rusty in your exercising routine, you feel it better on your skates.

I llustrate with two pictures of myself for the sake of my skates.

Between the two pictures there are more than 9 years of joy, there are some kilograms gained – of humour, of course :), and my DNA lost on all the alleys in the park and some hedges, too, unfortunate enough to find themselves in my path.
Consequently I have become a better person, hence the knee pads and gloves in the second picture, and of course the transition from high speed skates to aggressive rollerblades.

Well, if dry winter comes, can my bike be far behind?* Possibly. Definitely.

* Source of inspiration: “If winter comes, can spring be far behind?” by Percy B. Shelley (Ode to the West Wind).