Between gravel rides, cross races, and tri-weekly commutes, it was time to get back to the original plan: leave the ti-brid set up in gravel/commute mode and have the Rigor set up for off-road shenanigans. So Saturday I loaded up the little wheels to give it a once over after work to make sure it was ready to come back up off the bench. After an urban ride with street shoes and spd pedals, it was just like old times on the bike. Plenty of wheelie races, curb gleaming, and plastic and wood palate escapades clearly reminded me of why I loved my old 26'er.
Sunday we headed up to the mountain in lieu of the rain forecast. A last minute audible almost had us staying dry and riding an over-used at the moment local trail, but the promise of "epic" riding allowed me to swing the vote back to the mountain. I mean "epic" rides can only truly be "epic" in "epic" weather right? (think that'll get me a cease and desist letter from big 'S'?)
A slight drizzle met us at the lot but is quickly subsided. The mountain has magic soil. Soil that is sandy, rocky, and quick to shed water. We weren't going to get muddy, but we were going to get a nice coating of sand. Sorry bearings.
A rarity of sorts nowadays, Team 26 about to hit the trail. No 9'ers.
H. had ordered me up a Contour ROAM HD video camera for my birthday and it happened to arrive in time for me to charge it up and take it out to the trail for a shake down. I wanted the ROAM over the others for 3 reasons:
- Instant on/off recording. Just slide the large sliding button forward then back.
- Tough waterproof design with a tripod mount
- A continuous photo setting.
I'm not much for wanting to shoot and edit video (although I do plan on attaching it to JD sometime so we can see what a day in the life of a dog is like and some trail running perspectives), but I do like to capture moments on 'film'. There are many moments during the action of a ride that I've wished I could pull out the camera, but can't due to the conditions. This will allow me to enjoy the ride and not worry about stopping for a photo, it'll just happen. I've done this before with my ps Nikon and had some great results, but the camera wasn't meant for that duty and thus it wasn't very reliable to say the least. In fact, 2 met their demise that way. Usually from sand. Which, although it's weather proofed, I didn't want to risk scratching up the lens of the ROAM, so these images are all that were taken today, basically for testing.
Despite a brief moment of "how the hell do you open the back of the camera" frustration (there is nothing in the manuals about how to open it, just that you have to open it)(by the way, thanks Google) it has been super easy to setup, use, and download images. I can't wait to get some better action shots and memories of time.
1 comment:
The Contour cameras are very nice. We've used them for a lot of stuff in the past.
Helmet camera video footage almost always breaks my self-imposed rule of focusing either on the shot or the trail (not both at the same time), which is why most helmet camera footage puts me to sleep.
Picking specific images out of a ride will probably work really well though. Looking forward to your on-trail shots.
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