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Secret Roads


HispanicSlammer

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Veefalo on hwy 9

I needed a much deserved ride Monday, and solo so no deciding, or waiting, or compromising just how I wanted to ride. I wanted to just go and go and go all day. So I got up, put on my leathers and headed for this secret road my friend Sfarson took the fast group on during the summer summit. I suppose its no longer a secret but in fact a part of the vfrd lore now that its been an official "summer summit route" but I don't care its a Colorado Paved road I haven't ridden yet so I needed to remedy that.

I set the radar detector to highway and turned up the volume, added some new mp3 tracks of Sarah McLachlan newest album and turned it down for background music. I love the zumo its so nice to have a listen to music while you track your routes. I got about have way through the album after the first hour and thought well shes put out better music before this! Well it also took a good hour to get past all the usual hwy 24 traffic too, my route would take me up Hoosier Pass, into Breckenridge - past Dillion where the summer summit was and over to Kremmling. I would gas up there a second time since my first fill up along Ute Pass. I was trying a couple of new things this ride, new bike, new HD contour camera, new soft daily contacts, and newly fixed seat!

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Fix for my sore butt scoop out a bucket

I haven't been too happy with the seat as of late since its pinching off blood flow to my legs and I am getting sore after 100 miles now, so I took a sander to it and scooped out some foam to make a more bucket like shape out of it, then stapled the vinyl seat cover back on. This was the test run to see if I can hack it all the way to Oregon next month, it don't look so pretty anymore but I am happy to say it feels better.

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Pikes Peak from the gas station on Ute Pass

I gassed up like I mentioned at the Kum and Go station in Kremmling and there were all kinds of bikes out, mostly HD cruisers but a few Beemers too the Veefalo turned a few heads, you can tell who the motorcyclists are! They do double takes when they see it. My recently installed headlight modulator might contribute to that as well. My contact fell out so I stopped into a restaurant called the Moose Lodge to get it back in and felt like I needed to sit down and patronize the place for using their bathroom. I ordered the cheapest thing on the menu since well I am pretty much broke at the moment with only $30 bucks in my pocket, so the special said Grilled cheese - Tortilla soup - Desert $5! Yea that sounds about right! The whole thing was cheap and good very good, cant go wrong with grilled cheese! The soup was good too, and the apple pie hit the spot. Two sisters worked the place like a well oiled machine, one would pick up where the other left off and they teamed up on the lunch crowd like a couple of seasoned pros. It was definitely a local hangout and well that suits me since I cant stand yuppie tourist traps! Good price, good food, great service and well what more could you ask for? Pretty too they were both very pretty!

So I strapped my new HD camera too my helmet and rode up Gore Pass a couple of times, up and down and of course first time I had the camera pointed too low. So I wont add that to the video stock, this thing makes quick time HD mov files, so I had to figure out how to edit those, so I used the Sony Vegas software I bought a few months back and it worked great. I have to figure out how to upload them here but in the mean time - above is the best one of the day hosted by vimeo. No its not the secret road ~ It was shot late in the day about 3/4 of the way home of my 500 mile ride, I like it best cause it was great hardly any traffic at all and the cars I did have to pass were all lined up in the passing zones with no oncoming traffic it was so nice! I got lucky on that run.

http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/videos/491/bearcreek.mp4

Back to the story, I found this road 21mile road its called at Oak Creek Colorado and it heads north west from there up and over a mountain in a nice tight windy road up and down a few mountains, I can see why Steve was reluctant to share it, its sweet! Then it head into more open rolling hills where its like a race track, long straits and sharp to tight sweepers, you can definitely get in trouble speeding on that thing! It took a good half and hour to do it since I stopped to film some of it, and messed that up too. Had it on but did not set it to record properly, This thing needs some getting used too.

I soon was on hwy 40 and in Steamboat Springs, the furthest away from home I would get on this ride, and pace up Rabbit Ears Pass at 80mph cruising speeds, the veefalo she likes sweepers but these are bit too easy to really be fun with all the traffic, coming down off the pass I chased a sporty Audi 2 seater and the driver made like he wanted to go! So I followed him, hes radar detector kept setting mine off so I was a bit paranoid at first about the radar blips, so I turned it down for the duration. Darned cheap RDetectors set mine off! Anyway he held me off for a good 5 miles and I had fun, till he got behind a row of cars and so I passed the whole bunch at a clip, he did not follow. Back in Kremmling I headed again down hwy 9 to Dillion, where I rode past this l lake I have seen a good number of times, Green mountain reservoir. Its very pretty and I have always thought I should stop and take a picture so I did!

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Green Mountain Reservoir

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Green Mountain Reservoir panoramic

I did not stop much this trip for pictures, these are about it for pics, but I took all sorts of video. I did one going up and over Loveland pass I will upload next, vimeo only allows one hd upload a week for my account unless I upgrade, that will be next. I ended up catching a pickup truck on the way up and most of the way down the driver was going rather quick, too quick for me to make a safe pass on the top curves, not enough room or long enough sight line for me to attempt it. After watching him go completely over to the oncoming lane passing him would be on the top of my list, no talent driver - doing stupid stuff crossing the double yellow cause he was over cooking the turns not too skilled!

I did get past him though! HEH

http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/videos/491/lovelandpass.mp4

500 miles and some good turns along the way - here is the map

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12 Comments


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  • Member Contributer

Did you get the 1st or 2nd generation of the ContourHD cam? I have the first one and it's pretty sweet. What quality were you recording at? I just leave mine on the highest setting but the 60fps doesn't work well for editing. Of course all I have is crappy free ware editing software which I hope to fix here pretty soon. The microphone sucks as all I get is wind noise. There is a way to cut that out but wrapping the camera in Styrofoam seems a big waste of time if it is going to be on a helmet.

Regardless, both the videos were cool. I am so itching to get another shot at Colorado!

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  • Forum CEO

Did you get the 1st or 2nd generation of the ContourHD cam? I have the first one and it's pretty sweet. What quality were you recording at? I just leave mine on the highest setting but the 60fps doesn't work well for editing. Of course all I have is crappy free ware editing software which I hope to fix here pretty soon. The microphone sucks as all I get is wind noise. There is a way to cut that out but wrapping the camera in Styrofoam seems a big waste of time if it is going to be on a helmet.

Regardless, both the videos were cool. I am so itching to get another shot at Colorado!

I dont have a clue which version I have, its pretty basic how it works, I used the low setting with the wider angle and 60fps, Yes all I got was wind noise too, I was gonna figure that one out. I mounted it behind the windsheild for one run and I got more engine sound but it was buzzy and well I did not record the best parts.

I rerendered the Lovelandpass video - trying to make the HD off more simple and less resource intensive and made the HD version render at higher resolution bit rate, so the oposite. The loveland video is easier to view on slower connections or slower computers. I basically uploaded it to vimeo hosting service then took the mp4 files from the brower cache then analized them to see how they rendered them, then copied the settings for the loveland video and rendered it in sony vega with the same settings as vimeo used. JWplayer will play mp4 files so I uploaded it the vfrd server and viola HD vfrd video!

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  • Member Contributer

I dont have a clue which version I have, its pretty basic how it works, I used the low setting with the wider angle and 60fps, Yes all I got was wind noise too, I was gonna figure that one out. I mounted it behind the windsheild for one run and I got more engine sound but it was buzzy and well I did not record the best parts.

I rerendered the Lovelandpass video - trying to make the HD off more simple and less resource intensive and made the HD version render at higher resolution bit rate, so the oposite. The loveland video is easier to view on slower connections or slower computers. I basically uploaded it to vimeo hosting service then took the mp4 files from the brower cache then analized them to see how they rendered them, then copied the settings for the loveland video and rendered it in sony vega with the same settings as vimeo used. JWplayer will play mp4 files so I uploaded it the vfrd server and viola HD vfrd video!

Sounds like you got the 2nd generation. My ContourHD renders HD into a .mov file (Apple format) and it's a PIA to convert to an AVI format and the quality loss is quite noticeable. The Contour has a new firmware update that allows you to set the dB level of the mic which might cut down on the wind noise but I haven't had a chance to play with it yet. You can also vary some other settings to alter color balance and lighting as well. And you are definitely right about being easy to use. That's one of the many reasons I chose it over other models out there. You should check this site out if you want some good reviews on helmet cams:

Helmet Cam Central

Again, once I get my video editing software I plan on getting some of the footage from the Summer Summit meet up but there is not point right now if all you get is wind noise for a sound track and a poor quality conversion from MOV to AVI. :dry:

Seeing your videos though definitely gives me hopes of what the results will be. :fing02:

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  • Forum CEO

I dont have a clue which version I have, its pretty basic how it works, I used the low setting with the wider angle and 60fps, Yes all I got was wind noise too, I was gonna figure that one out. I mounted it behind the windsheild for one run and I got more engine sound but it was buzzy and well I did not record the best parts.

I rerendered the Lovelandpass video - trying to make the HD off more simple and less resource intensive and made the HD version render at higher resolution bit rate, so the oposite. The loveland video is easier to view on slower connections or slower computers. I basically uploaded it to vimeo hosting service then took the mp4 files from the brower cache then analized them to see how they rendered them, then copied the settings for the loveland video and rendered it in sony vega with the same settings as vimeo used. JWplayer will play mp4 files so I uploaded it the vfrd server and viola HD vfrd video!

Sounds like you got the 2nd generation. My ContourHD renders HD into a .mov file (Apple format) and it's a PIA to convert to an AVI format and the quality loss is quite noticeable. The Contour has a new firmware update that allows you to set the dB level of the mic which might cut down on the wind noise but I haven't had a chance to play with it yet. You can also vary some other settings to alter color balance and lighting as well. And you are definitely right about being easy to use. That's one of the many reasons I chose it over other models out there. You should check this site out if you want some good reviews on helmet cams:

Helmet Cam Central

Again, once I get my video editing software I plan on getting some of the footage from the Summer Summit meet up but there is not point right now if all you get is wind noise for a sound track and a poor quality conversion from MOV to AVI. :dry:

Seeing your videos though definitely gives me hopes of what the results will be. :fing02:

Yea it makes mov files not mp4, I used sony vegas to make the mp4 files,

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  • Member Contributer

HispanicSlammer,

Sorry for the late reply. I am very impressed with your adventure on your 2010 VFR1200 through Colorado.

I loved the pics of Colorado and of your sweet vfr.

I lived in Colorado Spring for about 14 months until I lost my job. I didn't learn to ride a motorcycle until after leaving Colorado, and crap, I wished I had now seeing what you recorded.

Thank you again for sharing your ride and stay safe!

Yellowvfrider

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Guest Goosechef

Posted

What a great ride. Looks like you got stuck behind farm equipment at the end.

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Great post. Bear Creek is my backyard. Let me know when you do the Highway 7 video. This fall might be a spot on time.

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Guest sfarson

Posted

Miguel... Pleased to see you paid a visit to Twentymile. Kevin, Rob, Jeff and I know it intimately looking for your ignition key. :laughing6-hehe:

Yes, the ContourHD coupled with Sony Vegas is a great combo. It is what I've settled on. Gread vids btw. Hey, things have come a ways since your vids recorded by an ancient Canon digital camera in movie mode!

Hey, why don't you send a message to Bill and anyone else, and let's gather for another Monday ride.

Steve

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  • Member Contributer

Yeah the connection between Kremling and Steam Boat via Gore Pass is far more exhilarating than Rabbit Ears... I wish it wasn't so affected by the beetle kill though :(

P.S. Last year I contacted forest service to ask why the camp ground at Gore Pass was closed and they said it was for "routine maintenance"... looks like it's been closed for at least 10 years. Anybody know how long and the real reason?

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Guest sfarson

Posted

Don't know how long the Gore Pass campground has been closed, but read the other day how the Forest Service did not open hundreds of campgrounds this year due to fear off beetle killed trees falling on unsuspecting campers. Article went on to note 100,000 beetle killed trees fall over every day in Colorado. :ohmy:

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