TARATS Finale!

Apologies for the glitches and sometimes poor timings in this video. I have HAD IT with my video editor pgm. I spent hours getting everything perfect and it plays beautifully in the editor, but the final output ends up like this. GAH!

 

 

Anyway, thanks to all who entered my contest; I look forward to doing it again in the Fall.

 

 

 

 

 

Congrats Josh! I will email you for a mailing address soon. You too RCT.

 

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

-18 C , -0.4 F: At Least It's Winter

Coldest day so far this winter for me here in London Ontario. The ride in was great, but I overheated a bit, having been a little too enthusiastic in dressing for the first real cold day of the year.

 

I am jealous of those experiencing colder temps, mostly because I would like to break my record of -23 C. That isn't very cold compared to what some Canadians and Alaskans and others do quite regularly, but hey, a personal record is a personal record, right?

 

Mutant Winter IV is performing really well. Needs a rinse though. The bike thaws out and drips dry indoors when I am at work, but I really should rinse that salt and dirt away. I am, as always, being lazy. I drenched the whole bike  (especially the components, bolt heads and spoke nipples) with Boeshield before the snow flew and it is showing no signs of suffering at my lazy hands so far. I'm sure there is a limit to what it can take, though.

 

This is one of those days when coworkers see me in my bike stuff and instantly proclaim "you are CRAZY". I like that very much. I think I'll just keep it up.

 

I am working on the TARATS video, but it is slow going. Thank you, entrants, for submitting your votes. The winner shall be revealed as soon as I can finish the thing. Stay tuned and enjoy the weather, wherever you are... all weather is fun, when you make a game of beating it.

Hey, I have discovered a pretty damned good page (and web site) on winter cycling for those who have an interest: Winter Cycling 101 . This was authored by a fellow Canuck who rides in Edmonton, Alberta. That is hard core compared to me, for sure, and this dude has a good overview written up.

 

 

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

Pretty Morning and Crazy Dog

As many of you are already aware, I have a helmet cam and I take video of most of my commutes. Over time I have developed a system for dealing with lots of mostly boring footage.

 

When processing video files it is easier if they aren't too big, so I stop and start the camera as I ride to avoid massive files. The thing is, I often couldn't remember if there was anything good on the cam when I hooked it up to the computer, and was stuck either deleting files because I couldn't remember or wasting precious time watching the clips from beginning to end.

 

What I do now is this: If I've ridden for a while with nothing interesting happening, I will reach up and block the lens with my hand for a few seconds before stopping the cam. If I have seen something I want to keep, I don't block the lens and sometimes I say something to describe what is on the clip. That way when I'm at home I just skip to the end of the clip to see whether I should delete it (blocked lens) or review it.

 

Believe it or not, all of the preceding stuff is only there to explain my comments at the very end of this unedited clip from this very morning. It was the first "cold" day in a while (-10 C) and I left early enough to stretch out my ride. It was a really great commute about 45 minutes long. The clip I'm posting here will give you a taste of how nice it was...

 

 

 

  

When I compare this kind of thing to driving to work, well, um, there is no comparison at all. If you drive a car every day, you gotta try this if you can. Really. 

Have Great Weekends, All!
 Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K