RR: My Santa Margarita River Trail solo

[PacMan]

Went on a solo this morning after I dropped by boys off at school. I wasn't feeling the motivation (my dental issues were flaring up--ouch) but the weather was just so damn beautiful I couldn't resist.

I have always wanted to share my local trail with you all anyway, so this was my primary motivation for a "1 man RR."

I got the idea to bring along the camera and see what kind of pics I could come up with using the 10 second delay setting. It worked out pretty good IMHO, as all but one of the pics below was a "first try" photo. It was quite a challenge finding level surfaces to set the camera on and then making the dash over to the bike to try to get a "natural" looking shot. I gotta get one of those "Gorilla Tri-Pods."


My riding partners for the day:


Heading up the street to the trailhead:


End of the pavement, start of the dirt:


The initial drop-in:


Just riding along:


Tight "S" curve, didn't quite make it:


From the exposed hillsides, down into the canopy:


Log roll--a lot bigger than it looks:


My "tri pod" for the log roll shot:


The entrance doesn't look too bad...


...but the exit's a doosy:


Lame vid of me rolling this section (hey, I did what I could, yes I know it's lame). You can also hear my IPod playing through the Surround Sound helmet:


Token handlebar shot for Allison:


"Strike A Pose" shot for Justin:


Nothing like climbing 300'+ in 1/2 a mile to get home (notice the water tank from the 4th pic waaaay at the top of this hill):


Another lame video (not for those who get motion sick easily). You can hear my IPod in this one too. Who needs a helmet cam when you've got a hand cam??





Thanks for coming along on the ride with me!!

[allison]

Doug - sweet write-up! Self-timer shots can be pretty cool. Yours came out really well. Thanks for posting the "tip over" shot instead of saving it. I really like how it came out (and not just cause you fell over!). LOL'd at the pose shot

[foofighter]

i love the frame rate of the first vid...it's like slo mo when you were running away from the camera

[PacMan]

Originally Posted by foofighter

i love the frame rate of the first vid...it's like slo mo when you were running away from the camera

I think it's the crappy hosting site I used. It looks normal when I view it in QuickTime on my computer. I wish I knew how to embed vids.

Originally Posted by allison

Doug - sweet write-up! Self-timer shots can be pretty cool. Yours came out really well. Thanks for posting the "tip over" shot instead of saving it. I really like how it came out (and not just cause you fell over!). LOL'd at the pose shot

That "pose" shot was the only one I didn't get first try. I think it took 4-5 tries to get that how I wanted it.

Can you help me with embedding the videos?? They suck when viewed through the hosting site's link.

Edit: Figured out how to embed vids....links fixed.

[allison]

Originally Posted by PacMan

Can you help me with embedding the videos?? They suck when viewed through the hosting site's link.

No.





jk.

Actually the only way you can embed vid's here on STR is by hosting them on youtube or Google video. I have mixed experiences with youtube (half the time vids won't go live, they fail for no reason), so I use google then. But, emptybeer doesn't use google video for embedded vids.

Either way when you use a video hosting site you lose a lot in image quality because it compresses the video a lot. The upside is that I don't have to use a TON of bandwidth on my buddy's site uploading video..

[foofighter]

Originally Posted by PacMan

I think it's the crappy hosting site I used. It looks normal when I view it in QuickTime on my computer. I wish I knew how to embed vids.

do you have an account on youtube? if you do, upload the video and when it gives you the url=youtube.com/ouwer=r3j35k63ksiw take and copy the the string that's after the = sign and put it in between the [yuotube]r3j35k63ksiw[/yuotube] (i intentionally mispelled the youtube so the code will show)

[PacMan]

Originally Posted by foofighter

do you have an account on youtube? if you do, upload the video and when it gives you the url=youtube.com/ouwer=r3j35k63ksiw take and copy the the string that's after the = sign and put it in between the [yuotube]r3j35k63ksiw[/yuotube] (i intentionally mispelled the youtube so the code will show)

OK, trying it now.

Edit:--Finally got it. Yay!!

[MTBBill]

From the looks of the pics the trail seems to be in good shape. How is the sand after the bit of rain we had a week or so ago?

[foofighter]

Originally Posted by PacMan

OK, trying it now.

Edit:--Can't get it to work.

give me the link and i'll show you

[PacMan]

Originally Posted by MTBBill

From the looks of the pics the trail seems to be in good shape. How is the sand after the bit of rain we had a week or so ago?

The summertime sand is still in full effect. I figure it won't be better until around January or February.

[allison]

Originally Posted by PacMan

OK, trying it now.

Edit:--Can't get it to work.

Once you upload the video to youtube get the information like this:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fK9ZXy9fZE8

Then in a message here on STR you type in:

"[youtbue]fk9zxy9fze8[/youtbue]

Then it should show up fine. Sometimes there is a "-" sign before the text. Include everything after the equal sign.

Then hit submit.

[foofighter]

bingo! listen to Allison

[PacMan]

Originally Posted by foofighter

give me the link and i'll show you

Finally got it. Yay!!

Thanks. I stupidly forgot the "/" before the "youtube" at the end of the code.

[allison]

woohoo! looks good

[bjammin]

Awesome RR Doug. The pose photo should be your new avitar!!!
I can't wait for a full Tour de SMaRT.

[DeeZee]

How tall are you? That bike looks small or is it the camara angle?

[PacMan]

Originally Posted by bjammin

The pose photo should be your new avitar!!!

Good idea. Done.

Originally Posted by DeeZee

How tall are you? That bike looks small or is it the camara angle?

It's just the angle. I noticed that too. I'm 5'10" on a medium 575. It does look weird though.

[MTBBill]

There is a lot of stuff there if you are willing to your feet wet and slog a little sand.

[PacMan]

Originally Posted by MTBBill <