Dudelsack 

I'll figure out how to work my GoPro.

I would not have bought one, but I had been given $150 of Dick cards, and as I don't really need anything at Dicks, i bought a Go Pro because they're just so darn cool.

Unfortunately I can't figure out how to do much with it. The editing software is inscrutable and it is choking my poor computer's hard drive.

Anyway, the best I could do to turn a mundane trip into a cinematic epic by taking screenshots and sending them to Photobucket. If anyone knows how to do timelapse, by all means tell me how to do it.

I started at Long Run Park, east of Loovul:


This is a monolith which is used to make blood sacrifices to the cycling gods. It is on Aiken Road:


There are a couple of climbs called the Twin Sisters. There's actually a bunch of nasty climbs on Aiken, and I'm not really sure which ones are the twin sisters, but this seemed pretty steep:


In the Loovul area we've gotten enough rain to salvage the corn crop. The farmers should be in pretty good shape:


I made it to the bustling metropolis of Eminence:


All of the good rides head to the DQ. All I got was a root beer. Seemed like a waste, but I wasn't very hungry:


Then I turned around and came back.

If I may say myself:

Mobile 155

Just a question, is Eminence an older town and has it been there a long time? Or os it simply the generic town in that area? when I was a kid, well a teen anyway. I remember my Dad taking me through a town that looked very much like that on our way to visit some relitive I will never remember or see again.

Rwc5830

Dudelsack, I like how your good rides end at DQ! You're definitely my type of rider. Wish I had a gopro...I'm pretty good with computers also.

You'll figure it out.

1nterceptor

I just use the free software that came w/ my laptop
to edit my videos, Windows Live Movie Maker. Helmet
mounted GoPro 960 using the headstrap:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHn_w...hannel&list=UL

billydonn

Yo Dudel...
The files made by the GoPro are very big. The first thing I do is convert them down to more compact .mpg files. I use VideoPad editing program to convert, stitch, snip, and add titles. If you don't have a stout computer with lots of storage and memory this will all be a problem for you. Using most editing programs takes some practice because they aren't terribly intuitive to work with.

Letting the GoPro run long takes up the memory card and gives you lots of video you eventually will want to edit out, so I think it is generally best to take short videos and stitch them together. Here's an example where I didn't follow that rule and broke a very big file in half to make two pretty big videos.

Dudelsack 

Eminence is pretty old. Many of the towns here date back to ca 1850.

I need to figure out a way to dump stuff off my hard drive to an external hard drive. I know it can be done but I'm not sure how to do it.

BluesDawg

Sounds like you need a geek to help you learn a few things about computers and such to get you to a basic comfort level. Hopefully there is someone in your extended family or circle of friends who can help. Moving files to an external hard drive is a simple cut and paste (or copy, paste and delete) operation in Windows Explorer.
Hint: teenagers and college students will often work for food.

Not sure which model GoPro you have. My Hero 2 has a different menu system than the older models, but I think they all have settings to take still photos at intervals you can choose. Mine can be set anywhere from every 60 seconds down to every 0.5 seconds. Image size can also be selected to save storage space by limiting file size.

The GoPro software seemed pretty complex to me so I used Windows Live Movie Maker which came with the Windows 7 operating system on my computer. I have recently purchased Sony Vegas Movie Studio software and I'm learning how to use it. None of the software options are really simple, at least at first.

Dudelsack 

This helped me a lot to figure it out.

This is my first shot at it.

Rwc5830

Wow, way too fast for me! Music is not too bad. Noticed that the roads you rode either had no shoulder or very little shoulder. Lots of nice trees and turns though.

Cougrrcj

Around here, I pretty much ride right on the white line. Any further towards the center of the road and I'd be missing a left arm! Then again, just about every road around here is 55mph... Let's just say that it makes for a <ahem> interesting early morning commute (11 miles one-way) on a rural Ohio State highway... I have a USCG-approved Xenon strobe light zip-tied to the rear rack, three 2" dia red reflectors, pedal reflectors, and a florescent orange mesh 'safety vest' with yellow-green reflective stripes... And still the 'cagers' come within inches...

Bikey Mikey

Fortunately for me there are lots of secondary roads I can use to do my rides.

Dudelsack 

Yep. I ran it at 29 frames/sec, which is the default speed, but I think about half that would be better. The photo speed was one shot/2 sec. I used the lowest resolution, 5 MP for the photos. next time I'll try 8MP.

All the area roads are like that. Narrow, no shoulders, and high speed. However, if you notice, all the much criticized rednecks all gave me wide berth. I rarely feel threatened on these roads.

billydonn

A little fast for my taste but you seem to be getting the hang of it. What editing program are you using there? Glad my post was helpful.

Dudelsack 

The key, and what you helped with, is file conversion.

I loaded the footage onto GoPro CineForm, the free one. I then converted it to a .mov format and transferred it to my iMovie for simple editing. Once I figured out how to make the conversion, the rest wasn't too difficult.

My hard drive only carries 250 GB but I have a 2 TB external hard drive that I use for the Time Capsule for my iMac. Once the files have been captured on the Time Capsule I delete the file on my internal hard drive in order to save space.

BTW, I didn't realize I had uploaded the Adventures of Mrs. Tiggywinkle to YouTube. It slays, I tell you. It slays.

BeSelfPropelled

I found an easy and relatively inexpensive video editor called "Power Director" by Cyberlink. I've been experimenting with mounting the camera on different parts of the bike and found the "Chesty" mount to provide the most stable images since you're mounting the camera to yourself. The GoPro handle bar mount broke twice on me. Why the parts are made out of plastic just doesn't make alot of sense given the weight of the camera. In this video you'll see a handle bar mount looking forward and backward, the chest mount looking forward as it was meant to be and mounting the chest mount backwards to film the rider behind you. I have 2 extra batteries for it. You burn through them pretty fast. Good luck. Be Self Propelled

billydonn

Very nice video! Thanks for posting.

I like the K-Edge handlebar mounts... The plastic ones don't cut it.

Dudelsack 

Do you use Mac or a Windows based computer?

I pulled up your Montour trail video as I have family who just moved to Pittsburg. I forwarded it to them and would like to ride it myself someday. Very nice video.

Im going to play with the time lapse format until I get tired of it. It's different and for me different is good until it sucks.

Buying a GoPro is like traveling down the rabbit hole. There is no end to the add ons. Next purchase will be one or maybe two spare batteries.

BeSelfPropelled

I'm using a PC for video editing. I do alot of data analysis in my day job and the Mac just doesn't cut it although it would be awesome for video.

Thanks for the kind words on the Montour trail video. I'm originally from Pittsburgh and was visiting family when I rode it. I'm really beginning to love these rail trail conversions. No cars, smooth trail, long distances and great scenery. You're so much more relaxed when you wont have to worry about a SUV rear ending you in a blind curve. They are working to connect the Montour to the Great Allegheny passage which is a ride that I highly recommend.

Johnny P --- Be Self Propelled

Dan Burkhart 

I've been using the Windows Live Movie Maker that came with my netbook. Seems to work fine. As mentioned before, the GoPro creates huge files, so when you import a video into the editor, it takes a while before you can do anything with it.
When I bought the camera, I bought a 64gb SD card to go with it. The manual said the SDXC card would not be compatible, so I phoned the store to ask. They said it should be fine, and it has been working great.
If I ever fill the card, I'll have to purge some stuff out of my computer to make space before I try and download it though.

Dudelsack 

Been crashing and burning with this stuff. At least part of the problem is that my computer is a wuss. The proceeors just can't handle it, and I don't have lots of hard disc space. Fortunately everything I've botched resides somewhere in my Time capsule. But the whole thing is really frustrating.

Now, do I want to buy another computer just to do boring cycling videos?

For folks who can do this stuff, what hardware do you use? I have an iMac which is three or four years old. It has 1GB ram which is less than recommended. I have dual processors, but they recommend quad. I don't understand the last two sentences I just typed.

islandseas

Selfpropelled....I loved the video and it looks like a great rail trail. We have one here in Victoria called the "Galloping Goose Trail" named after the old railroad...I'll definitely watch some of your others. Karen

Rick@OCRR

Good to see one of my favorite roads (Glendora Mountain Road) get some video time! We ride that about once a month, in all kinds of weather.

Did you make it to Mt. Baldy Village? That's our usual turn around pont. I was in the U.K. on 4th of July this year, but let me know when you're riding GMR/GRR next and I'll meet you up there!

Rick / OCRR

Dudelsack 

I found out I can run the GoPro quite nicely if I were only to get a new iMac. Sigh.