Zooropias of life

(recommended sonic ambience: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHi_2pkNZWI&NR=1 )

Saturday, 12th of November. When a friend did not turn up to a guitar jam at my residence (first for me in a long time) as he was entrapped in the realm of 'Friday Night Sleep' (sorry thats the best I'm feeling at this moment with respect to coming up with a noteworthy common name for this 'realm' which each individual creates on a Friday night.); I decided that I must do the 'rope walk' at the Bristol Zoo which I had wanted to do since my first visit to there. I didn't however because for one, this region still had a lot of bees and wasps flying around and I didnt want these stinged threats buzzing fear into me while I was trying to keep both my feet on a tight rope which is secured at ends at 25 feet above the ground.

I parked my bicycle at the stand outside, flashed my membership card at the entrance for a scan....and then I went straight for the gold. Saying 'hi' to my new animal friends was for another day - it did however cross my mind to pay respects to my Gujarati friend who works here and reckoned I'd do it on my way out. I bought the ticket for this 'adventure' which is an extra for everyone and as I got buckled up to commence whilst receiving instructions - I drew courage from the little lady who was a third my size and perhaps a fourth my age. She had a broad confident smile across her face and I gathered from her conversation with the person who offered instructions and tips that she had done this before.
So I thought to myself, if this little girl can do it: so can I. With this thought in mind I followed her up the ascension bridge (after she had crossed it ofcourse; as I didnt want my CG inbalances to foil her enthusiasm). However, in this case monkey-see, monkey do seemed like a good starting approach.

The ascension bridge is of 'ramp up' style made of ropes running along its length and laterally across, secured at ends made up of a wooden 'tree trunk' frame. The ropes network within the frame form squares which are a foot a side. So this ascent involves stepping upon the sides of the squares without letting the legs slip through the squares. Simple as it looked, the actual climb had me breathing slow and say stuff like "chakra kontrol" to myself (Naruto is inspiring). And when I did, I thought back of a time more than half my life-years ago when I was learning to be a boy scout in school. A time when a simple rope bridge was constructed across two trees during a scout camp - comprising only of one inch-line to support both of my feet onto and another one which was over head for hand gripped support and the line for the feet was only 5 feet above ground. I was afraid of doing it back then but was forced to and thus attempted without determination which resulted in a fear of falling getting to me while I was a third of the way through. I questioned the possibility of lasting it for the remaining 2/3rd-s of the way. This resulted in my loss of momentary mental balance and it did not lag out in being translated to the physical world. I fell. Had mud all over a side of my uniform. I had hurt my bum and everybody laughed as I walked away. I didn't want to do it a second time when I was ordered to and had to compensate for lack of obedience with a load of back-breaker sit-ups.

When I had first decided that I wanted to do this adventure called "Zooropia", I had made my decision based upon how awesome "must it be to do that?". But as I was ascending, I was starting to remember that feeling from that day as a boy scout. But my gaze upon the kid who was about to complete the first level after ascent had me forget it......temporarily. And I embarked upon the first level which was a V-rope bridge. The "V" is formed by a single line to step upon and a line on either side for support at about the height of my (very afraid) waist. But the ego wouldn't have me give up. I had dropped 6 quid on this.....and the children behind me were watching, waiting for me to finish the level so they could embark. I therefore placed my fear alongside my desire to fulfill this in the hands of a super-power which resides within me and stepped forth. When I looked below, I saw people walk under me. But I brought my eyes back to the rope and finished this first level with a sigh of relief when I stepped upon a hard wooden platform with a pole in the middle which I clung to for mental support when I saw the next level. It was almost what I failed on in my boy scouting days. The difference: this one was 25 feet above ground, I had an anchor (which wasnt happy to bet on from this kind of height) and there were punching style bags reading "anchor" attached to the rope above. I never used these bags after I tried holding on to the first one, nearly lost my balance and got to where I came face to face with fear. The mental comfort of a rope-walk only five feet above the ground with mud which could only ruin my clothes, a ground which could mildly hurt the 'AAS-an', a boy scout-troop which could only have every single member laugh his 'AAS-an' off and a forfeit in the form of a few sit-ups was suddenly replaced by horrifying mental images of landing seat down on fence-stakes below being anally impaled as the Sage Mandavya (the sharp end making its way out through the mouth), the water below with ducks swimming and an imaginary adder lurking nearby, falling into the big bushes below containing an imaginary nest of wasps and lastly - falling over a little child from the height before breaking some bone(s).
The more my mind slipped, the more the rope shook. And so I just HAD TO do it. I had to. I looked into my watch. It read half two. So I looked into it and whispered, "GIANT ROBOT, COME ON."
...........I WISH. But there wasn't anything nearly as exciting as a dino-sized alien mutant monster attacking Bristol zoo happening. So I decided to save that for another day and focused on the excitement I felt about wanting to do the Zooropia before I embarked on it......and the satisfaction (and ego-boost) that I must feel after successfully completing it. and kept moving forth with an unconscious sense of balance. I was on the next platform before I knew it and I found myself hugging the pole on which it was rested like it were my mom and I were three. The next level had no 'punching-bag anchors' either. But by now, my philosophical side had activated (while the body continued to balance and tread forth carefully).
I asked myself, "Is this a fair manner to live?" A rhetorical answer returned from the inner light, "What d'you reckon you'd feel when you've finished this? Will it be in line with the positive vision you saw in your mind before you embarked upon this adventure?". Thus, realizing this vision was atleast in part in my hands (and body balance!). It is true that I did not have control over the anchor or the effect of fatigue upon the loaded ropes and device-bridges......nor did I have control over mother nature who was kind enough not to send a rogue bee, wasp or stingy/bitey fly at that time to torment me with the evil buzz-around and throw me off-balance! It is also natural to over-perceive failure modes in constructions such as these when you're a structures engineer for a living.
Despite all of the above, I knew that only as much as was in my control; was in my control. Therefore the fairest appoach was to ignore and turn a blind eye (or 'duffer brain') to all of the rest which were not.
Know what? I completed it and got the feeling which I wished to have! It worked for me, Again.
(But it was only a part, as the Grace of God is really what keeps the undesirable out of experience's reach. The "God" entity must therefore be with where positivity is nurtured. But this is another debate.)

 (that is the easiest bit which is at the end of the trail. Too bad it is all that was within reach of staff with my phillistine mobile phone camera)

 (Thats right. It ends with an Indiana Jones style rope slide - the most fun part of the whole experience!)

 (Thats just me looking imbecile after touching ground)

(That is my new Gujarati friend - well, I wannabe his friend atleast!)

Friday the 21st (Bicycle series part 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUGuEy2cMGQ (recommended sonic ambience)

So it was a Friday afternoon and one which came with excitement as most of my (un-planned) weekends. Excitement as in an infantile rush to go home with the prospect of being able to watch cartoons, lie around under the covers, drink juice and play.......ok it was a bit different for me on this particular weekend: I wanted to pick myself a brand new bicycle taking advantage of the company's 'cycle scheme'  - for which this selection window is due to expire on the 31st of October 2011. Thus a bit of a pressurized feeling to a lazy me.
So as decided, (against the generally falling average temperatures at this time of the year) I decided to cycle it up to the City Centre: where at I remember having seen a few cycle shops during the bus journeys into there. And so I found myself pedalling away into the A38 motorway (after a brief failed stop to buy milk) unsure of whether I was taking the best route into city. Yes, I still use a neanderthal phone with no GPS or Googlemaps. But its got music. So I played Summer Song to receive some comforting warmth out of Satch's decades old, recorded guitar work - and warmth came : with comforting familiarity when I came upon the junction with the turn into Muller road - near The Wellington (pub). Then I thought I probably should have video-ed this from the start.
                     While holding up my poor resolution phone camera with my right hand (video mode on), I did small scale 'ups', 'downs', 'overs' and 'arounds' as demanded by the local topography of each inch of passing land and the random patterns of pedestrians paths which however continued to stick to the pavement (and cycle path); resembling worker ants carrying foodgrains back to the storage chambers in their ant-hills in a formation. The air was cold yet refreshing. The further I pedalled, the lesser I felt the adversity of wind-chill.
I came to observe that the fall in temperature as a result of the initial effect of the wind-chill prompted my legs to pedal faster as an involuntary corrective action. The exertion as a result brought about internal heat generation......and thus the homoeostatic adaptation (is that what it is called?). Such a marvel of Engineering the human body is.
 - Athiests!!! - I hope that my logic encourages you to atleast believe in Aliens ! (if you already don't) -

Since its been days now since I'd written the portion above, I shall skip straight to the point that I was in the city centre now - at Stokes Croft in 30 minutes  from the when i took off from the roundabout at Filton - Yes, slow I was if you know the road that I'm talking about. But hey, dreamy moments with deep breaths of appreciation (of everything in sight) are only an explorer's privilege.
I was a few buildings further down the road to 'The Croft' - the legendary pub which has also served as music venue to many-a-well-known underground metal band and local rock bands. The shop which was visible to me from my side of the road provoked a reflex attempt to tuen and crosss over to the other side but my mind was changed by the sight of a fast Toyota Celica which whizzed past to my right hand side with a sudden horn. It would have been a near miss if I were a couple of feet to my right. So I just decided to stick to the rules and went on to the pavement and pressed the button (signal) and waited for the man to go green - pulling hard at my excitement which wanted to madly leap over the zebra crossing.
And I pulled into the shop with my bicycle, to hopefully test ride the bicycle which had been set up for me since my visit to here on the weekend before. As I was talking to the store manager/owner of the shop about leaving my bicycle at the shop while taking theie 'could-be-mine' hopeful out for a spin - I thought to myself, "What again are we looking for in a bicycle for us?".

Zoning out:
My current bicycle has a heavy frame and fat mountain-bike tyres. The tyres are mountain bike sized (600ish mm half-way across). It has 7 speeds that are driven by 3 speeds (driving gears) i.e. 21 speed options by derailleur gears and old school pad (V) brakes. Gripping on the handlebar is parallel to the prime line of the handlebar with not too far an offset and such that the gripping action is perpendicular to the frame of the bicycle.

The the fork trail angle is forward and not one that I would particularly want to comment on. And the frame itself is all steel alloy construction (including handlebars and fork).
Then what again could possibly have been affecting the bike's performance to me (i.e. the 'Killjoy factor') ?
Oh yeah, it had worn-out parts. It was still riding very well for what it was !!!
Answer - I want something which will be more suited to aid me in getting over my complex....developed when I watch other people 'whizz' past me while I fail to keep up when I want to. Which in turn gave rise to the feeling that the the bike's frame was perhaps a bit small for my limb lengths to obtain my wished-for mechanical efficiency - i.e. energy was out getting wasted and getting redundant as muscle strain. The load transfers were less than optimal - leading to wastage of applied forces which returned to my body as reactions at the various joints. (psssssst Real Answer - I want to take advantage of the 'cycle scheme'. ;) )
"Obvious solution": Get a bike with a suitably larger frame which may allow more accurate usage of bodily and external moment-arms i.e. in pedalling, has a fair gear system which yields reasonable options of gear ratios atleast as the current bike and is notably lighter in weight. Also, bigger tires = greater distance covered per pedal. Thus, a greater force per pedal but lesser number of over-all pedals. The force transferred is manageable by appropriate gear application. Shock absorbers result in trading a part of the work done by application of pedal force with a smoother feeling ride. The arms and the arse are the only counting reaction-return load-paths to the body in this case. (I was not looking for a planetary gear-box as I believe that it would decrease the fun obtainable from the simplicity of a bicycle. Even derailleurs I first thought were"hi-tech" having grown up riding gearless bicycles designed with one 'pot-shot' optimal gear-ratio depending upon the cycle's intent. One trick ponies - which made you work hard if you wanted to do more with them.) Straight forward. But still NOT that much. I will not take you through the gores of numbers and specs as you probably are only reading this either because of your interest in reading, my life or out of your own joblessness. If you however are interested in surgical details - I am sorry, but you cannot have my brain. Google is ready to play your friend.

Coming back:
So I went into the cycleshop.
A Land Rover c 1.9 had been set up for me by the guy at the shop as a result of my visit to there on the week before.

Excited as I was to see this slick and light looking push-machine, I couldnt hold myself back from picking it up one handed - shopping bag style. And know what? My trips to Sainsburys have given me "mendokusai-Ne" experiences when it came to carrying stuff. But this bike I couldve gladly carried home in a bus if only it were the size of a shopping bag. (Yes the shop did have folding bicycles but I am not even looking at them. I have no use for them.) So it really was light. So I put my bike in a corner and pushed the Land Rover out of the store in order to do a spin on a 'circuit' suggested to me by the shopkeeper based upon my needs, as I may have highlighted in a paragraph above.

So I would like to observe that the gearing on this bicycle is much the same as the one on my current "Claud Butler" one. The design model of the unit is different, although it is also made by Shimano. (Every derailleur gear unit that I have seen around here so far is a Shimano.) The wheels were slimmer, closer to a race-bike yet with studs. The were also of a noticeably greater radius (700 mm?). Every other spec looked like it fell into place. Ha, except for the bell. Not like I was expecting a bike to come with a bell. But this design was a one spring armature with no real 'mechanism' inside. Its too simplistic and lame. Also it hurt the thumb when I tried getting it to ring reasonably loud. You'd be better off tying a plate with a 'knocker' to the bike than trust this bell. So these were first observations. I had not yet forced the pedal.
.......And so I did! While I was feeling light and 'efficient' in terms of initial pedal power; my spontaneous thing to do was to apply the brakes - HARD like I had gotten used to with the 'Claud' -till I got them tightened on this same day. So, sensitive as they were set up - the sudden stop caused a good jolt. So I tried the other one. Pretty responsive. I obviously didnt see the point of disc brakes yet. And as I progressed on with the circuit, I came upon the - quite a steep - climb which was partially uneven ground too. As predicted, the bike nailed it quite well and I could tell by the level of ease as compared with the Claud - which would perhaps have left me half knackered.  So while I hit a patch of level ground after the climb, which was the far portion of the circuit, I decided that I would let go of an arm on the handlebar. The bike started wobbling. So yes - I generally do tend to scratch a lot - sometimes let an arm go and play air guitar too - old 'bad' habit that I am Not unhappy about! But it wobbled like nobodys business. Almost like it would even if a bird flapped by - NO - it felt like it would wobble if a Butterfly farted on it! It was that light......while I was still realizing that my bike was already on its way down when I again spontaneously hit the front brake, which now nearly caused me to 'fly away' over the handlebar. Quite dangerous to manage in a traffic-fitted scenario. But the gears were really efficient. So I returned the bike to the store and mounted my own ride home. And whilst lost in thought, I realised that I had unconsciously let go of both arms from the handlebar. Thus I came to realise how stable the Claud felt whilst I was riding it.

Famished, I stopped at Vince's - the pizza take-away: with first hand feel of one more trait which I would prefer that a bicycle possess in order to be considered by me for ownership. (Yes I got bored of overly emoting this so I decided to get to the point and stop. Sadistic pleasure will be miiine, ha !!! )