After my walk I shall be back to experimenting with the downward-pointing Sony Action Cam. Yesterday's results were spoilt by not being able to fix the camera anywhere useful. The camera is now firmly supported behind the saddle. The saddlebag and supporting "rack" are gone and the entire length of the seat stays and most of the rear axle should be clearly visible. Thanks to the wide angle lens and bright sunshine the image of the trike is nicely sharp. Though the road below is moving too fast to be properly captured. I just need to check with some short, trial videos that the camera is pointed correctly. Then I can do some hill climbing and sprinting to see what the rear end is actually doing. Each video has to be downloaded onto my computer for viewing so it is not exactly an "immediate" format. Better I suppose than the "good old days" when one waited for a lab to develop the film.
Well, I've now completely wasted a couple of hours on Sony's POS Non-Action Cam. Not only is it rattling its LCD screen (a well known fault which somehow escaped the multi-billion dollar Sony Corporation's, blind, deaf and dumb, product testing department) but the Play Memories Home software is also broken. I tried downloading an update but guess what? It automatically opens the software to install the update. Then tells me it can't install because the damned software is open!!!It gets worse! I added a long tail for a completely different viewpoint. This proved to be the best length with the Sony's field of view.
What a total piece of crap this camera has proved to be! Half the time the micro smart card doesn't remain connected to its socket! This is totally unforgivable for a sports action camera. So hours of recording are never recorded! It is absolutely useless in anything but bright sunlight and then it paints the sky in lunatic LSD colours! I have another Sony product going back because it rattles like a bucket full of bolts. Is there any Sony Product which actually works as its hype department claims?
A whole day, only 9 miles covered but I eventually had two videos (almost) worth sharing. Albeit with absolutely appalling soundtracks! YT didn't like my second video and spent ages processing it after processing the first one "live" without so much as a pause before it was available for public viewing. Then the Itinerant went off! Weather apart, it has not been my day at all!
Top view:
Another view:
I have now added music to the videos to hide the mechanical racket and buzzing LCD screen and suggest you watch full screen in HD if you can. Though picture quality is still vastly inferior to the original videos in 1080p watched on my own computer. Despite appearances no part of the roads covered were flat. Given the tiny number of tricycling videos posted online I hope you consider my very amateur efforts worthwhile. There is a strange irony that there are literally hundreds of YouTube videos of adults playing on children's toys. Yet very few videos of touring and racing tricycles being ridden by "real" cyclists.
Tuesday 29th 44-67F, 7-20C, still and sunny. Forecast is just as warm again but possibly cloudier than the clear blue skies we have been enjoying for days now. It became very warm and stayed sunny. Four and a half miles in a couple of hours wandering in the woods. I saw bullfinches feeding each other, a lot of different warblers, two Shelducks, a hare, three large deer and a buff coloured, middle sized, bird of prey. And two domestic cats hunting in the spray tracks.This early in the morning the oil seed rape hardly smells. It is probably at its best right now with most flowers open right to the tips. The woods are glorious with new foliage lit by the low, bright sunshine. Though the camera makes a very poor job of capturing the beauty of it all. It lacks the range of contrast of the human eye and is easily burnt out by brighter highlights.
Time for a ride. Rode to a plant nursery in bright warm sunshine. A blind, senile, drunken, retarded psychopath with a drug habit brushed past me at high speed on a wide open road in his car. How do I know he had all these excuses ready? Do you know any other reasons for such dangerous and anti-social behaviour? Why does the mere ownership of a car provide such a lethal weapon without security and psychological tests? If I owned (say) a large howitzer would I be allowed to wander the roads of the entire world without some kind of checks? Yet any fool can drive a car! And most of them do! 23 miles so far.
Wednesday 30th 61-66F, 16-19C, thin, high cloud, warm and sunny, with light winds. Had a 3 mile walk. Recent spraying had re-opened the spray tracks beside the woods. Pig shit must be a valuable commodity now. I keep seeing vast, 6 axle, stainless steel tanker lorries stinking of the stuff. One tanker was being loaded beside one of the giant storage tanks at a huge pig farm. So there can be little doubt that shit is being ferried away from the originating farm.
I have a new pair of shorts from Wiggle. Thought I'd try their dhb Aeron race shorts for when I don't want (nor need) to wear my best bibs. The pad looks quite reasonable, perforated for airflow and the shorts material is multi-way stretchy and comfortable in a compression fit. So they shouldn't sag at the bum like my older shorts. Nor sweat like the awful Bontrager bibs with the frilly rubberised legs! I'm going out for a ride in my freshly laundered, new shorts after coffee and rolls.
The new shorts were more comfortable than any of my older ones but slightly too "grippy" on the Brooks saddle. After a few miles this seemed to wear off to some degree and I could adjust my position without lifting off. I presume that shorts are designed to work best on modern "plastic" saddles and their artificial coverings. These may be more slippery than solid, treated leather. Then again, the shorts may have picked up some free wax from the Brooks Proofide in this warm weather. Allowing them to slide more freely. 16 miles so far. Plus 13 more pm. I was unusually grateful for my water bottle today and kept taking swigs. (Of tap water)It's not as if I normally ride like a basking shark but I still managed to get several large flies in my mouth today. The warm weather has produced too many of the things. The overall stench of weapons grade, pig shit might also have something to do with it. I must have seen over a dozen huge shit dribblers today but only one traditional muck spreader.
The new shorts are fine so far. The original grippy feeling on the saddle is now gone. They stayed cool and dry on what was quite a warm day. Nor did I have to keep pulling them up like the old ones. In fact I was looking for a pair of clip-on braces to wear with my original collection. Until my wife insisted I buy some new shorts.
Click on any image for an enlargement.
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