JoeyBike

Good idea. For now all Vimeo wants is proper credit given but that could always change down the road.

PatrickGSR94

Maybe so, but I was just noticing how the left brake lever and hood looks absolutely stationary with relation to the frame of the video, which to me means the mount is rock solid.

megalowmatt

It is really solid. The Contour mount was expensive for what it is but with the combination of the locking mechanism and the stability I'm glad I got it. I used it a couple times for a long road ride today.

degnaw

This was my commute from May 2012 to August 2012 - 16 miles each way, every day.

Runs through rural/suburbia south of Tacoma, Washington: Starts in Dupont, WA, passes through Lakewood and Parkland, and ends in Spanaway, WA.

PatrickGSR94

Wow how long did that take you? Very much climbing? At least your 2-lane roads have nice shoulders. 2-lane roads here have nothing but ditches outside the white line. Combine that with lots of hills and that makes for a nerve-racking ride, for me anyway.

degnaw

Nope, it was flat as a pancake and took about 50-60 minutes each way.

I did think the roads in Washington were very nice; I'm a native east coaster so I'm quite used to the roads you describe.

Mr. Hairy Legs

Yesterday's commute home - great weather, crummy traffic at the beginning. I've found that hanging the GoPro upside down from the stem works well with drop bars.

megalowmatt

^^ good video!

AusTexMurf

Great vid, HairyLegs, thanks for sharing......
Love the diversity of your route and the MUP that runs behind your house and other residences.....
Comments:
Only noticed one other bike commuter......is this typical for you ?
Difference is, I can rarely get out to our bike route via a very short distance in my immediate neighborhood w/o seeing another cyclist. Then, once on a main bike route or MUP, quite a fair amount of bicycle traffic, here......
I also appreciate the number of separate bike paths that you have paralleling the roads. Nice infrastructure. Will it all be connected at some point ?

Also, I am so used to hills and the terrain being a factor here that I take it for granted that everyone has vertical relief to deal with. Attacking the ups and flying the downs are a big part of my cycling game, here. Adds loads of work and loads of fun. But we do have the burning, hot ass sun most of the time in texas. Obviously wind and cold are the bigger deals for you.....

Traditional tight road gearing rear w/ single ring OR IGH, drops, rolling on 28-32's probably work well for your commute.
What is your setup ?

Great vid, interesting commute.
Thanks for your share, man.

Edit:

Just saw your ride posted in the pics at work thread and Patrick's response as well. Agreed. See that Silver is indeed a nice, fast, ideal rig for your spring/summer commute......

PatrickGSR94

who, me? lol I had to go back and check that other thread because I couldn't remember what bike you were referring to.

I like the part with the cable-stay bridge. Looks to be one designed by Mr. Santiago Calatrava, is it?

Cfiber

OMG!

That was truly exciting!

Exactly how close were you to that barrier on your left and those railings on your right? (Somewhere around 1:15 minutes)

It looked like you were pretty much threading the needle, between those things!

PatrickGSR94

LOL is it too weird that I followed along that commute with Google Maps satellite images? I just like to see the context! LOVED getting around that train! Of course that was only possible because there were only a couple of cars extending past the grade crossing. Man I bet those cagers were like "OMG seriously why can't it move just a little bit more!"

JoeyBike

I always love a shadow-biker keeping me company.

Nice job. Thanks for posting a great commute!

Mr. Hairy Legs

Thanks for the comments guys.

The span is called the Alex Fraser Bridge, and the path on it appears narrower with the wide angle camera than it is. It's (just barely) wide enough for 2 cyclists to carefully pass each other, unless they both have MTB style bikes. In that case the uphill guy usually stops and leans against the rail to let the downhill guy through.

Typically I'll see maybe 8-10 other commuters at this time of year, but I left a bit earlier yesterday and must have missed the main rush. In the winter the number is sometimes 0...

The infrastructure for cycling here is gradually improving, and by this time next year I should be able to ride the entire distance without sharing any lanes with cars. I do feel spoiled.

PatrickGSR94

Yeah I'll say, my 15 mile commute to work shares ALL of it, 100%, with car lanes.

JoeyBike

I just added a Cateye computer to my video making toolbox. Below is a short sample video of the results. You will need drop bars, a wide angle camera mounted to the bars, an ORIGIN8 FRAME/FORK EYELET STUB, a stack of small washers, a few nuts, a longer 5mm or similar diameter screw, and a rubber coated strap commonly used to install racks on bikes without braze-on attachments.[TABLE="width: 100%"]
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https://vimeo.com/68444489https://vimeo.com/68444489

FanaticMN

I commute between Minneapolis and a first-tier suburb. Here's my summer route (some of the trails are unplowed in winter, so I use more streets). Speed is 1:1 except at traffic lights. No music, lots of wind noise so turn off the sound. I use a bar end mirror, so the head ducks down to the left that YouTube's shake algorithm didn't eliminate are me checking the mirror.

I'm fortunate to be able to take advantage of separated paths and bike lanes for almost all of the route. I take the road for a short stretch at 19:30 because the path isn't in good shape, but they're replacing it this Summer. This is the afternoon run after a rainy start to the day, so the bicycle traffic is lower than is often the case in the summer.

The camera is here: https://www.boostervision.com/cart/sc...?idproduct=134. It's 720p and helmet mounted.

JoeyBike

Nice route! Thanks for posting that. Camera looks cool too. I have been looking for a camera that looks just like a flashlight. Gonna put that one on my list.

Speaking of flashlights, just a suggestion: Use a flashlight mounting bracket to mount your camera to your handlebars, this way you can do whatever you want with your head while riding. You can't point the camera exactly where you want to all of the time like you can mounted to a helmet, but your vid will be much more watchable, probably won't need YouTube stabilization fix, and the lower mounting position will make it appear you are riding faster.

I wore helmet mounted video cameras for years. Then I switched to a handlebar mount and love it more.

So if you try the HB mount, repost your results so we can see the entire ride! Feels like I missed a lot of scenery while looking at the ground.

Cheers!