BluesDawg

Friday morning, I joined most of the crew who I worked with to help build the trails for the MTB race at Rock Hawk for a casual ride of the 9 mile race course. As we expected, the high volume of riding on race day two weeks ago made the trail conditions the best they have been. It was a fun ride and it made us appreciate how well we had done at creating a fun and challenging course. The older doubletrack sections were great for fast and flowing riding, while the new singletrack was just the opposite, requiring precise control of the bike to manuever the tight and twisty trail with its quick rises and drops and scattering of loose rocks which seem to reproduce overnight.

I mounted my camera on the handlebars of my bike to show an idea of what it is like to ride the trails.
I spared no expense finding the ultimate handlebar mount for the camera . I followed this instruction to build it.

I've been editing the videos from Friday morning's ride down to
uploadable sizes and I'm adding them to my Flickr page. I'm still working on getting them all uploaded and in order. Find them here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bluesda...7605978018270/

The Weak Link

Great job!

Might I ask: do you plug your trach when you ride? If not, do you think it affects your cycling? It looked from the videos like you weren't having any problems.

BluesDawg

I drape a shield over the open hole in the trach to keep dust and debris out. I use the collar and a bib-like front piece cut from an old t-shirt. I have a cover/one way valve to make normal breathing and talking more natural, but it doesn't work well with hard breathing like I do when riding.
I have not tried any high output type riding since the trach was installed, but I seem to be able to climb and ride OK at a moderate pace. The biggest drawback is that I can't draw air in as fast as normal, so I have to stop frequently to catch my breath when riding hard.

big john

Were you with the Doctor? Is he fast?

Beverly

From the looks of the video it seems the camera mount worked great.

Thanks for the pictures.

cyclinfool

Been 10 years since I did this - but I seem to remember logs down across the trail, boulders, roots, stumps, creek beds and a few broken bones. I'll stick to the road. Great videos though!

BluesDawg

Yes, he was there. He is very fast when he wants to be, but that day he was enjoying the scenery.

I finally got all the videos uploaded, ordered and described. My wife says I've become obsessed with getting this online. I think she may be right.

BluesDawg

Yeah, all that fun stuff.

cranky old dude

Wow. Great job. I'm glad you put these videos on-line for us to enjoy.
Thanks for sharing.

maddmaxx 

Wow, nice job. It's amazing how much the bars move around during the ride. It always looks so much more stable from the eyes.

BluesDawg

I want to improve the vibration damping on the mount. Because the handlebars on my MTB are the new, larger standard (31.8mm I think?), there was no room for a rubber shim under the clamp. Also, in my haste to get the thing mounted, I did not use rubber washers at the point where the camera mounts to the bolt. I think that both would have improved the results.

I have mounted the camera on Kemo Sabe for today's club ride. With its smaller diameter bar (25.4mm) I was able to use a thick rubber shim on the clamp and I fashioned a washer from a doubled pice of old inner tube to cushion the camera to wingnut connection. Those additions combined with the smoother ride on the road will hopefully make for a less jerky image.

maddmaxx 

I didn't exactly mean vibration. It just seems strange to view the ride from the bikes perspective rather from the head. I didn't realize how much the bike might be leaning the other way from the rider for example.

It's like "whoa dude, watch out for that tree" and then you realize that the rider is already leaning the other way and the bike hasn't caught up yet.

BluesDawg

I have seen videos shot from helmet cams that move around so much you can't keep up with where the bike is going. I know I am constantly looking from one place to another while riding, looking for the best line to ride.
On a trail like these with so many off-camber turns, I try to keep the bike vertical most of the time while moving my body all over to compensate for the terrain. If you just sit on the bike like dead weight and point it, you won't get very far.

Hermes

You have raised the bar on ride reports with the video. I like it. It captures speed and terrain much better than stills. A lot of it turned out very good. And I know there is significant work in setup, filming, editing, posting and etc. Thanks for sharing.

I have wanted a video cam to put on the bike but the light weight head/mobile cams seemed expensive and I have had other priorities for spending money on bike stuff. However, I am going to revisit it again and maybe get set up for our trip to Mallorca Spain this year in October.