BobbyG

I can't believe I live just two miles from this ride at Palmer Park in Colorado Springs. For 25 years I've been riding up to one of the two overlooks, and sometimes both. When I had a dedicated mountain bike I did some of the trails, but now I just stick to the roads. The descent to the north is just as thrilling as the first time I rode it 25 years ago in 1992, just a couple of months after moving from the flat lands of Iowa and especially Chicago.

Sometimes I take my old road bike, sometimes my old MTB-based commuter, but today it was my everyday commuter complete with fenders, lights and back-rack. I think the bike deserves it after waiting patiently at all those stoplights day after day.

Wanderer

Very nice! I enjoyed that.

Where is your camera mounted?

Joe Bikerider

Judging from the shadows in the video the camera was mounted on top of his helmet. Nicely done too.

BobbyG

On my helmet.

There was nothing going on above my shoulders...it was just wasted space.

I originally began using the camera to capture bad drivers and collect evidence in case of a collision. But all I learned is that I was over reacting to minor rudeness and that what I thought were close passes weren't so close.

But I then found I really enjoy editing some of the ride highlights to music.

Slightspeed

Nice video. Looks like a great place to ride. What video editing program do you use? I've almost given up on my GoPro. My old HP computer died with a built in video editor that was easy to use and I haven't found a suitable editor since. Thanks for posting. I like the music, it masks the rattle from inside the camera that I hear. My Hero2 feels too top heavy on my helmet, so I usually have it on my bar mount. It's quiet on the helmet, but the frame vibration makes a rattling sound. The ladies I sometimes ride with call the bar mount the "butt cam". At least it's theirs, not my butt in frame. Nice editing job. I always have a tough time cutting a 3 hour ride down to 3 minutes.

1989Pre

What elevation is the Park? Is it ordinary for there to be so-few motorists?

BobbyG

I have Final Cut Pro at the Office, and I use Lightworks at home. Lightworks is free. The interface is very non-traditional for video editing, but it makes sense once you get used to it. This video was done on Lightworks, which is fine for simple edits and simple text overlays. It will do more, but I don't want to learn a whole new video editing universe. I use Final Cut to make TV commercials and it interfaces with the Adobe universe including Photoshop, Apple Motion and more.
I had never looked up the elevation for the park before. Google maps says its a rise of 246 ft with a descent of 23ft, over the most direct 1.6 mile internal path, although I kinda modified my path. So I guess that makes it about 223ft overall, but it feels like much more. Heck my commute to work is a 450 net elevation change over 9 miles. It's more impressive to say the park tops out at 6407ft, but when the north entrance to the park is about 6150ft, then it's not so challenging. At the overlook and through the trees at the end you can see Pike's Peak. That's 14,100ft. I've hiked that a few times, which is about 7000ft gain over the course of the 8 mile trail. I've encountered single-track bikes on the path (usually just downhills) and people also bike down the paved road, but I have no desire to do either.

Thanksgiving Day 1997 I rode my (then brand-new) Nishiki Blazer MTB up to the top in 3 inches of snow. Now that it's my winter commuter with studded snow tires, I have been waiting to try it again.

As far as light traffic, most cars enter through the south entrance, which is why I didn't take it.

BTW, Palmer Park is about 5 miles from the Olympic Training Center and the Velodrome.