Category: Bike

Bike Cam 2 Video

On By Michel McDonaldIn BikeLeave a comment

The video starts out on Manor St. and ends up at China Grade Loop. It takes me about 44 minutes to get to my final destination from the house then after I have rested for about 5 minutes I get back on the bike and head back home. My total round trip ride coming all the way out to here is 22 miles, it takes 2 hours but waiting for the stop lights/signs and my 5 minute break my total time is about 90-95 minutes and my average speed is 14.0-14.3 mph.

At the end it says To Be Continued… As soon as I get used to riding 22 miles per day and it’s not enough exercise then I will be adding more miles by continuing past China Grade Loop on the bicycle trail.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grd4VTPQtBs

Bike Cam Part 2 Troubles

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I took the camera with me this morning and turned it on just before I got to the tunnel to go past Manor St.  I went through the tunnel, over the bridge and through the woods to grandmother’s house er um wait no that’s not right… ok, I went through the tunnel then over the bridge … then kept riding.

As I went over the 2nd bridge the bicycle went over the usual bumps before and after but the 2nd bridge screwed up the camcorders ability to auto focus lol.  I tried fixing it but it just would not fix so I stopped recording but I just could not fix it.  I turned it off hoping that would help and it did.  So I turned it back on and kept riding.  I went all the way to the end of that part of the bike trail and turned off the camera.

I get home and plug the camcorder into the computer and the program I use ImageMixer 3 gives me errors.  It cannot download from the camera at all.  I have a feeling it’s because of those darn bumps but then I go to watch it from the camcorder onto the computer with PowerDVD and it stops after only 20 seconds which was when I first started filming so I’m a bit stumped.

This morning at 8am they closed that part of the bike trail from the first tunnel to the 2nd tunnel until tomorrow afternoon at 2:30pm so tomorrow morning I won’t be doing my 22 mile trip, instead I’m going to have to settle for 16 miles so I won’t be able to do it over tomorrow.

The video plays just fine in the camera so I thought that maybe I could just plug it into the TV and record it with my DVD recorder.  Well, when I plug it into the TV it shrinks the video from 16:9 to 4:3 so that doesn’t do me any good.  I’ll need a widescreen TV to be able to do that.  So instead I just put the mini DVD into the DVD recorder and recorded it to a VHS then recorded it back to a regular DVD.

I tried putting the DVD into my computer but it won’t recognize dvd’s that I’ve recorded on the dvd recorder so I had to put it in my laptop.  It’s uploading now so as soon as it’s finished I will transfer it over to my computer and work on it.  I will try to get it on YouTube today and when I do I will post it here.  Well, as a new post.

Bike Cam Part 2

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When I did the Bike Cam video the place where I stopped at was my half way point, the place where I would rest before I got back on and turned around to go back home.  That was 16 miles round trip.  Well, since then I’ve added to my bike ride.  I was going 19 miles then 20 miles then 21 miles and now I’m going all the way to China Grade so my bike ride is now 22 miles round trip.

So since I’m going to China Grade now, the next time I ride I will bring the camera with me and when I get to Manor St. instead of going through the tunnel I will set my camera up on the handlebars and then continue through the tunnel from there and go all the way to China Grade before stopping the camera.

This of course means that I will have to leave the house at 5am instead of the usual 4:30am because when I get to Manor St. the sun isn’t even up yet and I don’t think doing a video in the dark is very productive lol.  Especially since I don’t have a light for the camcorder.

Anyway, tomorrow is my day off from riding, I do 3 days on then 1 day off to give my body (and now especially because of the new seat) some time to heal.  So Thursday morning I will take the camera with me and video tape it and then by Thursday afternoon the video will be on YouTube.

If you want to help me before then, suggest a couple of songs for me to buy to put in the video via a comment.

Day 3 With My New Bike Seat

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Today is the 3rd day and final blog post about my new Ergo bicycle seat.  I’m getting used to it more and now instead of just being strange it’s starting to feel normal.

It’s still too hard for my butt so I still plan on buying another gel seat cover and cutting off the nose (to spite its face? lol) then of course sewing it back up so I can just put that on top of the seat.  The sheepskin is nice but it’s a winter coat for a bike seat, not a summer coat heh.  Hopefully by winter I will be able to slip the sheepskin over the gel but I’m not quite sure how that’s going to work out so we’ll see.

I still highly recommend “the Bicycle Seat” but I would go with the gel seat if you have a fat ass like mine and you don’t like hard seats lol.

Day 2 With New Bike Seat

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Yesterday I felt everything was against me.  My back tire had a bump in it, my computer wire was cut from the pimple in the front tire and my seat just wasn’t comfortable at all.

But yesterday I fixed the back tire by putting in a different tube, not the presta but the other valve, I fixed the wires for the computer and I adjusted my seat ok.

Today I woke up late.  I normally set the alarm to wake me up at 4am but I guess I forgot last night because I woke up at 5:30am.  So I was able to leave at 6am.  I thought the world was going to be against me again but it was ok.

I thought that yesterdays last adjustment of the seat was good where I made it so it’s forward and not backward but that wasn’t good at all.  I just felt like I was going to fall off.  When I got to the bike trail I decided I need to adjust it yet again so I just moved it back 1 notch and it was good the rest of the trip.

I did my 20 miles and all was good.  Although, I need to sit in the Shiatsu massager for awhile because my back is killing me from that lol.  It’s like my arms are pushing too hard on the handlebars or something.  I’m sure that I will be comfortable with this new seat and then there won’t be any problem.

Oh one last thing, when I was looking at the website where I bought the new seat from I was debating on if I should buy the cheapest seat by itself or maybe with the sheepskin.  Or maybe I should buy the gel seat I just don’t know.  So I emailed the website asking them for their opinion and the guy who runs it said that he uses the classic with sheepskin so I took his word for it and bought that.  Big mistake.

I should’ve taken into consideration that sheepskin is going to be hot during the summer lol.  DUH!  And I really do need that gel seat.  It’s just too bad that I gave my old seat along with the gel cover to a neighbor.  I could’ve cut the gel part and sewn it to the bottom of the sheepskin.  Or I could just cut it at the crotch area and just make my own cover with the fabric that it has on it.  Just a little nip and tuck here and I could’ve used it.  Oh well, maybe next check I can buy another gel seat cover from Wal-Mart or Target and just cut it up and put it on there.

My Interesting Ride Today

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Cycling, ExerciseLeave a comment

I went on my ride this morning but I found that I had a few problems.

  • As I was riding the bike I got to where Kaiser Permanente hospital is and their lights were shining on me and I went to look at the computer to see what time it was and to see how fast I was going with my new tires and seat but the screen was blank.  So I pulled over to find out what the issue was.  When I put the wheel back on the front fork I put it on backwards so my magnet was on the wrong side of the wheel lol.  So I put it on the correct side and spun the wheel but it still didn’t work.  It’s because of what my pimpled front tire did to the computer wire, it stripped it so there are wires that are exposed so it doesn’t work now.  So today I have no reference of how fast I was going or how many calories I burned.
  • When I left the house I didn’t notice that my back wheel had a bump to it.  As I was riding on the bike trail I could feel the bump and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do about it because it’s a brand spanking new tire.  When Darrin bought me the new tires he also bought me new tubes that had the presta valves.  My front wheel is brand new (26×2.00) but my back wheel (26×1.95) is the original wheel on the bike so since they are both different sizes they both won’t accept presta valve because the presta valve tubes have this big ring under the valve.  The regular tubes that you buy don’t so I just had to change the tube on the bike trail then all was good.
  • And now my new seat lol.  Yesterday when I first put the new seat on I rode it down the street then had to come back to adjust it.  Then I rode around a bit and had to make an adjustment here and there and I thought I had it all worked out but I guess I didn’t.  So on my bike ride this morning I think I pulled over 3 times to make adjustments.  I finally got it to a comfortable position.  I had to raise my handlebars though because even though the instructions are to lower the seat by 1 inch I did that yesterday and my legs were bending too much so I put it back so today all I had to do was raise the handlebars and that fixed that issue.

Since my computer didn’t work today I’m going to have to write down an old time when I used to go 16 miles so I can at least have something to write down.  I’ll have to fix that wire today so that I can use it tomorrow.

“The Bicycle Seat” website that I got the new seat from say to give it at least 3 weeks and considering I’ve already given my old seat and the gel cover to a neighbor I have no choice but to give it 3 weeks lol.  I can’t ride any other way.  But I do want to give it some time to get used to because I’m not numb today in the naughty parts but my butt is killing me lol.  My arms are killing me too ugh.

The Bicycle Seat

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Well I got my bike seat today.  I almost didn’t get it because the mail carrier left it on my doorstep where anybody walking by could take it.  They didn’t even bother ringing the doorbell.  I’m about to go out on it now.  BRB.

…

The website where I bought this seat from, The Bicycle Seat suggest that you ride it for 40 minutes so that you can make adjustments here and there so it’s comfortable.  They suggest that you lower the seat 1 inch which I’m not quite sure that works for me, I’m probably going to have to raise it back up.  But I had to adjust my gear shifting thingamabob because when I was riding it I felt like I was riding faster than the bike was capable of so I adjusted that and it works for me.  I adjusted the seat so it’s down a bit in the back as per their suggestion and that kinda helps.

I do kinda feel strange though while riding it.  I can actually feel my “sit bones” sitting on this seat.  Before it was just my crotch area that was sitting on the seat.  Now I won’t have to make any more adjustments to my shorts while riding.  They usually ride up because of the “horn” or “nose” of the seat.

Well, I don’t really have the time to test it out for a full 40 minutes today because I have lots to do but tomorrow I will be on my 2 hour / 20 mile bike ride so as soon as I get home (probably 6:30 or 7am) I will definitely be back here to blog about my strange new experience.

 

New Tires For My Bike

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We went to Sports Authority today when Darrin came home from work and he bought me 2 new tires so I don’t just have a replacement for the front wheel but one for each.  He said when you buy tires for a car you don’t just buy 1, you buy 4.  Good thing I didn’t need 4 because these tires were $20 each.  Plus he bought me 2 new tubes even though I just bought 2 new tubes.  But the ones that I just bought can be backup for these lol.

Edit: I would just like to add that the new tubes that Darrin bought me to go with these new tires were difficult as HELL to pump air into lol.  They have “Presta Valve” which means I gotta start using my Nashbar pump again lol.  The pump I am referring to is the pump I bought from Nashbar.com, it’s not a nashbar brand.  Anyway, it has both regular and presta so I can use that now.  The reason I haven’t been using it is because it wasn’t working with the regular tubes, it was always letting the air out while I was pumping so I could only get 20PSI into the tires with that pump.  I had to go to my old pump to put 60PSI into my tires.

Anyway, with the “nashbar” pump it took me forever to put the air into them.  I should be in bed by now asleep and in dream land but instead I’m still awake.  It’s almost 11pm and here I am blogging about how I’m still awake.  UGH!

My Bike Must Be a Teenager

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I guess my bicycle must be a teenager because the front tire has a pimple on it lol.  I was riding along this morning and all of a sudden it felt like I was hitting bumps in the road but I knew there weren’t any bumps at all.  I couldn’t do anything about it either because the sun wasn’t up at all so I had to wait until I got to my halfway point which was when the sun starts to come up.

As I’m riding I pass this baby stroller on the side of the bike path and I looked at it while I was passing it and saw 3 heads get up and turn to look at me as I’m passing.  I could’ve sworn 2 of those heads were dog heads while the 3rd one was a bald headed man lol.  The pimple in my tire was making noise and it woke them up.

So I get to my halfway point and I really don’t see anything wrong with the tire.  Then I see this bulge sticking out of the side of the tire and the top of the tire too so the top of the tire was slanted in that one spot lol.  I figure I can’t do anything until I get home because I’m probably going to have to remove the tire and the tube and adjust it.

I finish my 10 minute break and start to head back, I look at my computer and it says I’m going 35 then 40mph lol.  WHAT?!  There’s no way I’m going 40 lol.  I pull over again and see that the pimple is rubbing the wire going to my computer and it’s stripping it exposing the wiring inside.  I definitely have to fix the tire now.  I pull the wire tight so it isn’t going to get pulled by the tire again then I turn the bike upside down and let the air out of the tire.  I sort of adjust the tire but really, there isn’t anything I can do.  I’m not gonna start taking everything apart right there on the side of the bike path road.  I started putting air back in and see the pimple blowing up again so instead of filling it all the way with 64psi I just stop at 30.  That will get me home for sure.

My tire pressure in both tires doesn’t have to be the same.  My front can really be 30 or 40 and I’ll be fine but my back tire must be either the standard 64 or 60 is good.  The reason my front tire is doing that is because the wheel is 26×2.0 but the tire is 26×1.95 so it’s not the same.  So now I need a new tire for the front wheel so when I get some money I will buy the exact tire that I need for the front wheel.

New Bicycle Seat

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I’m still waiting for this new bicycle seat to come.  Hopefully it will come soon.  They guy who runs the website I bought it from emailed me to tell me that his parents passed away and that he would ship it to me in 4-5 days.  Well, it’s been 7 days now.

This morning after I came home from my bike ride and I took my shower I decided to lay down for a bit.  Well, I just got up and saw in my email that he placed the order on July 2nd 2009.  But I didn’t get a UPS tracking email yet.  I’m sure that will come soon.  I wonder why I’m just now getting the email though if he placed the order on Tuesday and today is Thursday.  Oh well, no matter.  As long as he placed the order that’s all I care about.

I’m hoping that I get it soon though because I’m having real pain shooting down into my thigh from my crotch area.  I need that seat stat.

Edit: I got my confirmation email from USPS that my package will be shipped out today but there is no tracking since the guy from that website used the USPS website to print out the shipping label.  So technically he still has the seat until the post office picks it up from him.  When they pick it up then I will be able to track it to see what day it will come.

I’m really super excited lol.