Video From Last Week

As promised I put together a quick video from my ride last week.  I am using IMovie on my wife’s IMac to edit and post process.  While intuitive, it is a double learning curve for a lifetime PC guy like me.

I learned a bunch just making this short clip, from the importance of really thinking out for each shot to the need to have the camera perfectly plumb and level.  I am working on adding music and refining my editing skills, for now it was time to quit editing and move on from my first pass at video.  There will be better ones to follow for sure, this was fun.

Any tips you out there can provide are welcome, Thanks for taking a look.

Pedal Thoughts and Tinkering

I will admit it, I am a pedal snob.  I have big feet, like to ride in Keens, and hate little tiny pedals that only support out to my middle toe.  It always feels like my foot is about to roll off of the ends.  When I am looking at a new pedals the distance from the crank arm to the outer edge of the pedal is a big deal for me.  I have tried clipless systems, but found that the gains were not worth the need for an extra pair of shoes in most of the ways and places that I ride.  Most modern platform pedals are not really that wide, and off I went into the depths of vintage pedals.  My bread and butter has been the Sakae Low Fat, wider than the current MKS touring it has been a good pedal for me.  It works easily with clips and straps or naked for shorter rides with lots of stops and starts.  The downsides are weight, bulk and the general in-elegance of the clunky pedals on classically styled road bikes.  Enter my latest acquisition along this quest:

I recently scored a near new set of Specialized touring pedals.  Their MKS lineage is pretty clear.  They are as wide as my Low Fat MTB pedals, 30g lighter each, and look a whole lot prettier than most of today’s pedal offerings.  While nice they had some shortcomings out of the box.  The toe strap arrangement, appears ingenious,  but does not really work in the real world.  The strap makes its upward turn at the outer edge right into the bottom of my foot.  Off to the drawing board, I came back and turned my MKS large/deep toe clips into a new set of half clips.  This is my first set of half clips, so time will tell how they work out.  I made each a little different to see if, well if it makes any difference in function.

For now these will be going on my Roadeo, to get me motivated to put some miles on it while I am waiting for the Masu production samples.  I will let you know how it is going in a week or so.

Making Time to Ride

Just for fun.  Today was too nice outside not to go for a ride, not errands, just a ride for the sake of riding.  A recent saddle acquisition motivates me to take out the Eisentraut.  What a fun riding bike.  The tire clearance is the only limitation that bike imposes, the rest is up to the motor.  I have a set of vintage NOS Specialized Touring tires on it at the moment, labeled 32mm, but measure at 23mm.  Not sure if it is the overstated tire size trend of the era, or dyslexia.  For super skinny tires they ride pretty well.

I was out for a few hours, and about 30 miles before the wind came up too bad.  I shot more video than pictures on this ride.  Something else I will be teaching myself as part of the Ocean Air Cycles project.  Some of it actually came out OK.  I learned that video takes a different level of planning than pictures.  Lots of scouting and thinking about timing and angles of view, and how to get it done solo.  Next up is post production, I will see what is usable and hopefully have a short movie by next week.

Winter is Still Here

The weather as you all are likely aware has been a bit nuts this year.  We are starting into out second winter storm this week.  I headed out between the drops, 45 deg and damp, to run some errands.

There was a rainbow for a moment in the storm clouds closing in, bu the GoPro was not able to grab it.  I almost made it home dry.  By this afternoon we should be back to 40 mph winds and snow down to 4000 ft or so in the mountains out back.  Never a dull moment this year, although it keeps me inside and busy.

 

Daddy Days

Fridays are daddy days now that the first four days of the week are child care days.  At this point it is still just a recovery day for the both of us.  Today was a quick ride to dump off the compost, take a look at the ocean and then home for the rest of the book marathon.

And yes our jackets now match, she has made it to a point where such things really make her day.

The Masu / Bike project hit a turning point today where I think we are about to make a big jump to the next step.  Monday is going to be a busy day, and the week to follow is going to fill up fast.