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 