Cycling in Circles - Learn Effective Pedaling

by Jeff Abbott

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Most beginners to the sport of cycling assume that you just have to push hard down on the pedals in order to be effective, but they are misinformed. What results from this is what I like to call the "waddling duck," pushing down side to side to move yourself forward. In fact, they only have about a quarter of the stroke perfected.

Without being too technical, to get maximum efficiency you should apply force perpendicular to the crank arm (the piece of metal connecting the pedal to the gears) throughout the circle made by the pedal. Trying to do this perfectly requires alot of practice and could drive your crazy, but breaking the circle up into fourths makes things more manageable. All you have to do is develop the motion and then practice it.

We'll start at the 3 o'clock position. This is where you want to push straight down, which is a simple motion that most people have lots of practice with.

Next comes the 6 o'clock position, where your leg is extended the farthest. While approaching this position you should use the image of "scraping mud off the bottom of your shoe." This will get you to pull the pedal towards your back wheel.

Now we're at the 9 o'clock where you should "pull" the pedal up. I use quotes for this because pulling isn't exactly necessary to accomplish a good circular stroke. Simply lifting the weight of your leg on the upstroke will allow your other leg which is pushing down to be more effective. Not taking the weight off your pedal makes your downward leg have to push your other leg up.

Finishing your circular movement off is 12 o'clock, where you want to push your knee towards the handle bars.

So while your cycling, you want to think briefly, "push down," "scrape mud off of shoe," "pull leg up," "push knee towards handle bar."

To practice good form, you want to lower your cadence (the speed of your pedaling) to about 60 rpm, so that your movements are slower and easier to manage. You first want to concentrate on one leg at a time, and then eventually both legs together.

Doing this for the first five minutes of your ride will improve your technique and efficiency.

Jeffrey Abbott is a proud editor of the Science of Cycling website. They have many articles relating to the science behind the sport of cycling.



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NFL Situation Spotlight - #76: Teams with a Big Pass Yardage % For (BPY%F) > 50%

by Dennis Arthur

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When an NFL team takes the field on offense, their goal is simple: gain enough yards on each play as to set up an eventual 1st down, thereby moving the chains and starting the whole process over again, until either a field-goal, or preferably a touch-down, is put up on the scoreboard.


First-downs can be achieved in many different ways, of course; either through the air, or on the ground; via the big-play, or by using a more conservative approach that involves more 3rd-down short yardage conversions.


Regardless of whether a team is built around speedy Pro-Bowl receivers that shred an opponents defense for long gains or they take a more traditional route, involving up-the-middle 'smash-mouth' runs with a mix of short-yardage pass attempts thrown in for good measure—all coaching staffs will use the players they have on the field and their accompanying skill sets in the best possible manner to get that next first down, or score.


The important question for those of us looking to beat the Vegas Point spread is: are there certain styles of offense that in the right situations, cover the spread at a higher rate than others?


The answer is yes and this article will briefly explore one style of offense that has produced some very good results against the spread over the past 7 years when a certain statistical bench-mark is achieved.


The particular style of offense I am talking about involves teams that produce a high percentage of big pass play yardage as part of their overall yardage gained by throwing the football.


My official label for this stat is BPY%F (Big Pass Yardage Percentage For) and it is a measurement of the percentage of total team passing yards that were gained from passing plays of 20 or more yards.


Dallas led the league in this category in 2007. 42.5% of the Cowboys passing yardage for the season came on plays of >= 20 yards. Green Bay and San Diego rounded out the top 3. The league average for BPY%F has typically been around 40% in most years over the past decade, but this fell to 37.5% in 2007.


It was actually a good year versus the spread for teams that rely on the deep ball: The top 8 teams in the league for BPY%F were a combined 75-45 ATS and none of the 8 had an ATS record under .500. Conversely, the bottom 8, led by Baltimore's brutal pass attack (they had a BPY%F of only 25.5%) were a dismal 50-74 ATS.


These interesting results have not played out in a consistent manner over the past 7 years; however, and in some years, teams with a high BPY%F have only been mediocre against the number overall while those at the bottom end of the scale have been closer to .500 ATS.


When we look at teams entering a game with an extremely high BPY%F (greater than 50%); though, a consistent pattern does begin to emerge.


Since 2001—which is when I began to track BPY—teams have been an excellent 145-119 (54.9%) ATS when entering a game with a BPY%F of greater than 50% on the season.


Teams that have this large a percentage of big pass play yards are normally only seen in the first 6-7 weeks of the season, before a mounting number of pass attempts begin to reduce BPY%F to a more normal level, league wide. That's not to say that some teams have not carried a 50% level all the way to season's end (Philadelphia from 2006 is a good example, they had a BPY%F well over 50 at the end of that season) only that, this situation does predominantly play on teams that are extremely efficient with the deep-pass right out of the gate.


What we have here is good so far, but, there is one more primary condition that needs to be added to this situation before things really begin to take shape and it involves how 'game-ready' the opponent of our focus team happens to be, at this early stage of the season.


Here is the meat of this situation: I have found that teams with a Big Pass Yardage Percentage > 50%, playing a team with a Play Book Execution Penalty per-game average against (PBEPA) of 1.3 or greater are a very strong 56-20 (73.7%) ATS since 2001, for a profit of $3,400.00 when wagering $110 to win back $100.


What are Play Book Execution penalties you might be ready to ask? For those who have not read my NFL Game Sheets Guide, I categorize penalties under a total of 6 different headings and this particular category involves calls such as: Illegal Procedures, Formations, Shifts, Motion, Participation, Snaps and Substitutions; Intentional Grounding; Delay of Game; 12 Men on the Field; Ineligible Receivers, and so on—essentially those flags generated by the break-down of play-calls, mostly on offense. The league average for PBEP's is normally around 0.7 calls per game (on each team).


It's a category of penalties that act as a good yardstick for measuring the quality of a team's coaching staff and also provides an indication if players are being used in schemes where they are comfortable and have the necessary skills to succeed.


Combining a team that is having great success with the deep ball early in the season, with a team that is perhaps at the other end of the spectrum in regards to 'preparedness' and offensive efficiency and creativity, creates line value that the astute bettor can exploit.


In addition to the main conditions described above, there are a few secondary conditions that serve to tighten the record of this trend.


Firstly, any games with an Over/Under of greater than 48 are excluded and our focus team must also be coming off a game in which their Time of Possession was 23 minutes or greater (TOPF is an excellent barometer of the overall health of a team, both on offense and defense).


In addition, teams that are coming off back-to-back SU wins of >= 14 points are also excluded as they are more likely to be either overvalued, or at risk for a let-down in the current game.


Lastly, teams that met their current opponent either earlier in the season, or anytime within the previous 2 seasons, and had a turn-over differential (TOD) of <= -3 in this game, are excluded. Teams in this situation have been only 90-111 ATS overall since 1994 and 4-6 ATS with regards to this trend in particular.


Here are all the details.


(Notes: ASMR stands for Average Spread Margin Rating. A positive rating indicates a trend that is stronger than average versus the line, negative—weaker than average. TDIS% is the percentage of teams in the league that have been involved in this situation at one time or another. WT% is the percentage of teams that are .500 or better and SPR is the average spread for teams in this situation. For more details, please consult Page 13 of my 2007 NFL Game Sheets Guide.)


Situational Trend #76 Summary


Primary Conditions (Building Blocks)


1) Big Pass Yardage % For (BPY%F) > 50%.


2) Opponent's Play Book Execution Penalty Average Against (PBEPA) > 1.3.


Secondary Conditions (Tighteners)


1) Exclude Over/Under (OU) >= 48.


2) Exclude Time of Possession For (TOPF) in Last Game of <= 23.


3) Exclude Back-to-Back SU Wins by >= 14 points in Last 2 Games.


4) Exclude Turn-over Differential (TOD) <= -3 in Last Meeting (LM2).


Situation Stats


ASMR: +0.8


Home%: 55.4


Dog%: 42.9


TDIS%: 65.6


WT%: 75.0


SPR: -0.40


Top Teams: PIT(7); ATL(6); CAR(4); CLE(5)


Situation Records


Overall (Since '01): 48-6 ATS


2007 Season: 6-1 ATS


2006 Season: 9-0 ATS


2005 Season: 15-1 ATS


2004 Season: 11-1 ATS


Last 3 Results. Pick in Brackets.


2007 WK6—CLE 41 MIA 31 (CLE -4.5) W


2007 WK5—WAS 34 DET 3 (WAS -3.5) W


2007 WK4—IND 38 DEN 20 (IND -9.5) W



Dennis Arthur, a self-professed statistics junkie and American Football fanatic, has been providing innovative NFL analysis based against the Vegas point spread since 1999. For more wagering orientated articles like this one along with specialized team ratings and winning selections versus the spread, visit his site at http://www.armchairanalysis.com



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Find Deals for Golfing Anywhere

by Linden B. Walhard



Older people love to travel and not stay at home all the time. Increasingly elder people are getting out there and learning more about travel. If you are an older person, you are going to be interested in taking more summer vacations. You might wander what is going to be the best summer travel spot for you.



There are so many places to see around the world. There are so many to choose from that you can pick any type of attraction and destination that you would like. You can do many different things and enjoy your time off. The first thing to do when looking for a place to travel is to think about the activities that you would want to do when you are away.



Many seniors will like having many different activities to do. If you like to golf then going to a great resort will be a good idea. If you want to go to the beach, you will be glad to see there are so many to choose from. There is so much to do and you will want to take it all in. Thinking about what you want to spend your time doing will be hard but it is something that you need to do.



Finding just the right type of activity to do is going to be a lot of fun. However there are some things that you will want to stay away from. Some places are more for the younger group of travelers. Many older people do not like the noisy music and all the partying. Large amounts of drinking are another activity that many seniors do not like at all.



Going on some of the vacations that you may want may be expensive. If you are someone that can take on the high cost of a far off travel destination, you may want to go somewhere overseas. This is going to be the best idea for a senior to take on to see the wanders of the world. You should research this idea and make sure that you are healthy enough and can take on the challenge of a long ride before you think about committing to this type of vacation.



There are so many places overseas to travel. You can go to France, Italy and even Spain. They are very exciting and have a lot of history behind them. You will love all the great attractions and you will want to check out the different sites that are offered. Take the opportunity to have a tour guide with you so that you can learn as much as possible about these beautiful places.



The many different destinations for summer traveling will make it a difficult decision but it is something that you have to think about. No matter where you go you will want to remember it for a lifetime to come.


Concentrating on latest news in costa blanca property for sale, Linden Walhard is publishing mostly for http://www.alicante-spain.com . You might come across his writings on property on the costa blanca over at http://www.alicante-spain.com .



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Online Poker Advantages

by acanders

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Anywhere, anytime

The greatest advantage of playing Poker online is that whenever you log on there will be other players waiting to play against you, no matter what type of game you’re after. Compare this to a Casino room where there may only be a handful of players at any one time and card rooms are open 24/7 regardless of public holidays and festivities. As well as more tables and more players to play against, the speed of play is also quicker. There is no waiting for the dealer to shuffle the cards or interruptions for bad deals or spilt drinks. You can play at least 2-3 times as many hands as an offline game.



More comfortable

The other big advantage of online poker is that you don't have to travel to get to the tables. Whether in your suit at work, pyjamas at home or relaxing on the beach with your laptop, as long as you have an internet connection and a few minutes to spare you can get online and play at Poker. There is no fear factor, you can't see your opponents so you don't need to worry about the embarrassment of making a mistake, taking your winnings and leaving, losing against a member of the opposite sex or an unpleasant man boasting various facial scars and tattoos!.



Cheaper

There is always a charge when you play in a land based card room, this fee is called 'the rake'. Though a rake is charged, it is cheaper than offline card rooms because there are less overheads such as rent to pass on. Less rake means you can make more money online! You also don’t need to worry about tipping the dealer or buying drinks for your opponents after winning that big hand.



Safer

Thought playing online was risky? Think again, playing poker online is much safer than playing live. No need to travel to the wrong end of town to get a game - play from the comfort of your own home and with new software infrastructures being implemented, cheating and collusion will become a thing of the past. One less worry, so that you can enjoy playing the game! With online Poker nobody can see your face; this means you can display your full range of emotions as you compete against fellow Poker players - there is no need to stare in the mirror practising your poker face! User friendly software makes it easier to play the game so you don’t need to worry about making novice mistakes, just relax and play poker!


Alex is the Senior Web Designer for the Article Dashboard



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