[woodsguy]

I didn't take many photos of the ride on Wednesday but I was able to grab a bunch of photos from the helmet cam video I took (which came out really good).

Below is the link to the slideshow. You can click the icon in the middle of the screen to view it full screen. There is music so adjust your volume accordingly. If the music doesn't start right away you may have to restart the show.

Slideshow Link

Enjoy!
Kevin

 

[RideFaster]

Very cool. I also like the host...(as opposed to... youtube<--which should be a swear)....Anyway, great slideshow, very unique too.

 

[sail114]

Nice slideshow man. Hodges is down in Oxford, right? I'm pretty sure that's we're a friend of mine has been doing her night rides with a group of guys from work. She's been trying to get me to come down there... and now I think I really need to! Looks like some perfect trails.

It kills me to see great shots like that when I can't ride right now (neck/back got all screwed up taking a spill out in Oregon a few weeks ago). Hopefully after another week or so of PT I'll be back up on the bike.

 

[woodsguy]

Yea, Hodges Village Dam is in Oxford, MA. Pretty cool trails down there.

Good luck with the PT!

See you on the trails,
Kevin

 

[skyphix]

I may be visiting this on the 23rd per recommendation in my thread a few lines down.

Looks like a nice place to ride. You just happened to post this at the perfect time. Gives me an idea of what I'll be up against.

 

[Yakfish]

Thanks for posting woodsguy! That was fun and I hope to ride with the Blackstone Valley crew again before too long:thumbsup:

 

[tic tac]

Love the music I'll be riding in pocahontas county wv next week good insperation

 

[CRAZY FRED]

That was very well done.

I enjoyed watching that very much.Short but sweet,nice work look forward to more in the furture.CF..

 

[A_A]

Woodsguy,

What are you using for a helmet cam?

 

[skunkty14]

Nice slideshow woodsguy, that quality is great for still captures from video. Liked the soundtrack too.

Guess I'll have to make it out west of Boston for a ride this summer, I like the look of those trails.

 

[woodsguy]

Woodsguy,

What are you using for a helmet cam?

LOL. It's kinda funny actually. I'm using my Canon SD400 point and shoot camera mounted to a small tripod which is strapped to the front of my helmet (see attached pic). It takes really good VGA video at 30fps. It records to mjpeg which is esentually 30 VGA jpgs a second which is why the stills come out pretty good. The downside is that I can only fit 16' 41" on a 2gb SD card and can only record 1gb at a time. But with the button so easily reached it is no problem starting and stopping the video on the move (and 2gb cards are <$20). Another plus is that the mic is on the back so there is almost zero wind noise (but you can hear my labored breathing perfectly!).

I'm considering the slightly larger Canon TX1 which can record HD video up to 4gb at a time (which is also only about 16') and its optical image stabilizer works in video mode. The downsides to this camera are that it is new and expensive so I would be afraid of breaking it (my current camera is getting old so I don't care so much about it) and the fact that it is set up like a video camera forcing me to mount it on the side of my helmet which makes perfect alignment of the video impossible.

I wish Canon would build a helmet cam with the capabilities of the TX but spilt into two pieces connected via usb cable. The camera being one piece mounted to the front of my helmet and the battery, SD card, and screen the other piece mounted to the back (that peice could also double as a media player). It could also be waterproof/shockproof.

Kevin

 

[Evil Chocula]

Wow, that trail is *flat*.

 

[woodsguy]

Wow, that trail is *flat*.

Wow, you can tell that from a few two dimensional pictures? Impressive. You are correct though, it is flat compared to a dh course. But for a xc ride it has a great mix of smooth tight single track, technical sections, tough climbs, and flowy downhills. The "roller coaster" section is especially fun.

 

[Evil Chocula]

Wow, you can tell that from a few two dimensional pictures? Impressive.

Why, thank you sir! :thumbsup:

 

[steveit]

thanks Kevin---nice slide show---people are so creative with digicams and computers----dunno how they do it----question, does anybody ever ride the stuff at hodges off of the power lines that end up on the back side of the rock quarry? ---its fantastic stuff worth checking out if you havent done so---its just that whenever hodges is mentioned, it seems like its always the flowy, roller coaster trails near the french river.

 

[woodsguy]

Yea, I've climbed those powerlines. There are some cool trails over there by the waterfall. I usually only ride at Hodges on the Wednesday evening group rides so we usually don't have time to get over there. The few times I have been over there was because we had a large enough group to split up into a faster/longer group and a mellow group. This ride was a more mellow ride so we just did the trails around the resevouir and covered about 8 miles.

 

[Gates]

Woodsguy,

I'd be interested in meeting up for one of those Wednesday night rides if there's an open invitation!

I've been riding for about 3 years now and mostly hang out at Hodges, Douglas State Park and Boynton Park in Worcester.

Can you give me some specifics on the ride...time, meeting place, etc?

On a side note, I see you're from Sutton. I don't know if you grew up there but I did. Class of 96.


Thanks in advance for any info.

 

[woodsguy]

The Wednesday evening rides are though the Blackstone Valley Chapter of NEMBA www.bvnemba.org. This week we are riding at the Rayburn Trails in Millbury. Forum Link. We are meeting in the Buck Bros lot. The directions are on the website. Hope you can make it.

No, we just moved here in November of 2005. I'm originally from rural central PA. I love this area. It is quiet, rural but still close to Boston, Providence, Worcester, and Hartford, has tons of riding in every direction, and the housing costs are low (comparitvely).

 

[strangeland2]

Definitely check out the group rides if you can make it. They re a good time and allow for just about all riding levels.Just got my new chain and helmet... All I need now is a portable air conditioning unit and Im all set for tomorrow.

 

[PiroChu]

LOL. It's kinda funny actually. I'm using my Canon SD400 point and shoot camera mounted to a small tripod which is strapped to the front of my helmet (see attached pic).

Hi woodsguy,
Very clever idea of helmet-mounting it!

Some questions for you, please...

- In the pic, the camera looks to be mounted up-side-down. If true, then I assume your video is taken up-side-down, but still frames are flipped upon being taken out...?

- What's your tri-pod? (URL?) Looks much smaller/lighter than mine. (I can't imagine mounting my tripod on helmet - too heavy.)

- For my simple low-tech & web-posting (& low-budget) purpose, I'm trying to decide between Oregon Scientific ATC-2000 (30fps for Version 2) with mounting kits or Canon SD750 (30ftp for 640x... or 60fps for 320x...) somehow strapped on a helmet. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
- PiroChu