Pyrenees Trip Video

[Auspanglish]

G'day Vifferarians, in order to combat cabin fever, I've vamped up, into more of a "movie format", one of the vids I shot using my Nokia Mobile Phone (hence the resolution) attached to my helmet whilst on tour in the Pyrenees last summer 2007, on my now defunct 2003 VTECker. Had a wicked curve-carvin' 15 days. This video represents just ten minutes of what went on all day, every day, for 15 days straight, from sun up to sun down. Just a couple of days getting up and back from where I reside had certain straight bits. Apart from that, it was all like you can see here. (Enjoy you snowed-in winterized folk, and those with too much time on their hands):

Hope this is the appropriate place to post it. (Thanks for the posting tip HS!! :rolleyes: )

I'll include the second vid I promised here:

[turtlecreek]

woh, dude...who put acid in my coffee? :rolleyes:

nice road....i wont be able to post anymore of my little back roads from TN anymore as these put mine to shame! :P

[Auspanglish]

Hahahaha, ¿acid? What aaaare you referring to??? B)

In my case I'm still dizzy from the curves and the altitude!! :rolleyes: :pissed: :pissed: :pissed: :pissed:

Actually, something wierd is going on, 'cause I didn't put that embedded video link in there, it wasn't working so I gave up and edited it to be a regular URL link... woooooh, poltergeists or post elves or somethin' spooky goin' on...

[marid2apterbilt]

WoW. What a road.

There is no center line (dbl yellow) or what ever they use over there. Do they not put a center line/lane divider on the roads or was that a 1 way/divided roadway.

Please dont tell me that was a 2way hwy (traffic in either direction) :rolleyes:

[Auspanglish]

WoW. What a road.

There is no center line (dbl yellow) or what ever they use over there. Do they not put a center line/lane divider on the roads or was that a 1 way/divided roadway.

Please dont tell me that was a 2way hwy (traffic in either direction) :blink:

Heheheh, two way it sure was... you didn't watch the whole vid hehehe, caught you out!!! So you didn't see the tractor comin' round the blind corner???

OK, OK;, caaaalm down. It was two way, but it certainly wasn't a highway, not even a byway or a motorway or whatever you call secondary roads over there... it was tertiary at best, but the asphalt was puurrrrfect. The sometimes jittery image is due to the mobile phone being stuck in the helmet in a rather makeshift fashion.

On this road, in fact on most of the roads I travelled, for some unkown reason and contrary to all warnings before I left, there was virtually no traffic. As you can see in this vid, there was one tractor with trailer, one car with a scooter behind it travelling in the opposite direction, and two female bicyclists (saw there BFs further up off the road waiting for the GFs to catch up) in the same direction. I also overtake a GSR600 and an Aprilia toward the end of the vid.

I was sooooooo chuffed with the traffic conditions. I had been warned not to even go into the Pyrenees in August due to the summer-holiday traffic, and almost paid heed. So glad I didn't. I went during the last two weeks, and discovered that many a shop, bar or hotel owner / staff, would say that there's a big difference between the first and last fortnight. Go figure!!!

Even so, I found two or three routes to be somewhat more popular and even if they were lacking a centre line, (due to their narrow nature), there's a sign on entering these unmarked stretches (and at regular intervals along them) which warn that the lack of a line does not mean one-way traffic, or sometimes there's a single continuous or even dotted line with signs warning that it does not mean you can or can't pass respectivley, and to take caution as it just marks the centre of the road as a rough guideline.

I never had a problem with people hogging the road, cutting corners, overtaking on blind bends, nothing of the sort. Hassle-free, almost traffic-free riding.

Now go watch the second half!! Hehehehehe

[vfr_steve]

Sweet vid dude.

Silly question perhaps but just out of curiosity, did you use the vtec mode much in this vid? ... Oh and what happened to your bike?

[marid2apterbilt]

I would have wqatched it all unfortunately my Mobile connection isnt the fastest when im out in the middle of nowhere and makes it skip. will definately watch it all again when im in oakland,ca tomorrow. should have a broadband connection there

[Auspanglish]

Sweet vid dude.

Silly question perhaps but just out of curiosity, did you use the vtec mode much in this vid? ... Oh and what happened to your bike?

Now just why that would be a silly question I won't know until you tell me... but to answer it, in this particular vid, as you can see, there are some real tight curves and real narrow stretches. So, in regards to the operative word in your question "much", no I don't think I use it "much" in this vid. Thing is, the way I recall it, I would sit just below the engagement point on entering curves if I could see they were curves that opened out instead of closing in, in order to cross the VTEC threshold on coming out. I think right about where I overtake the two cyclist girls the road "opens out" a bit to allow me to let my hair down (so to speak).

I can guarantee you, the videos always let you down when you finally get a chance to play back what you've recorded, there's something about having the cam on/in your helmet that seems to reduce the perception of speed, somehow it looks so much slower than it felt in real life. I always found myself saying: "that really doesn't do it justice, I was fairly giving it some there"...

And it's virtually impossible to tell above the wind noise in the microphone. Which would otherwise make the VTEC engagement a dead give-away.

You got me wondering and so I took a few screen shots when the instrument panel comes into view and I can just make out in a couple that I'm hovering just below VTEC, so probably was using it to pull out of quite a few of the curves, which is what I recall...

There's another vid I have where I know I definitely use the VTEC a lot more, as I redid the road a couple of times, the curves were that delicious midway point between hairpins and sweepers. Not too sharp, not too boring... and almost always opened out!!!

But I'll tell you something, I virtually never live above the VTEC threshold in a constant fashion, I tend to use it as I pull out of curves, I don't tend to be in VTEC on entering a curve. Not even the one time I took her on a track day, and I don't mean to brag, really I don't, but I surprised myself at overtaking most of the VFR crowd (it was our Spanish Club's anniversary) on that day and the number of people who made cmments about my "rhythm". I just do what comes nturally. I'm not very technical when it comes to riding, like for example Turtlecreek, who is lapping up all the technical stuff, and will be, if he isn't already, one solid rider.

On one of the curves at the track which was really long and had a constant, medium-length radius, I noticed I was able to take her in the VTEC realm, but prefered and was able to do it at the same speed in a lower gear, hovering just below VTEC to get a nice pull out of the curve and have the advantage of being able to overtake with a burst on the way out, or hold back if the moment wasn't right.

You know, that "power manoeuvre", if I were already in VTEC, or too far below it, that burst of acceleration just isn't there...

Pardon the ramble... so anyway, this Christmas, I slammed the bike into a guardrail after over-zealously dropping one gear too many on a slightly muddied road (after the rain) with a downhill gradient going about 50 km/h. Back wheel lost traction, could hear the chain clacking and jumping all over the place. Jut f&%ked up basically, the cold weather didn't help, cold tyres, plus it makes your muscles fatigue earlier and your movements are less precise and we had ridden all morning.

I tried to iron out the flicking rear end and lean her into the upcoming corner like your man what's-his-name whose famous for "backing it in" but I ran out of road. Just really braindead, I wasn't gunning it, wasn't in a hurry, I had just had lunch, the local club's Christmas lunch, only had one beer on arrival, lunch in Spain can take hours, but I think I was just warm and toasty on the inside and let my guard down too much for the shitty conditions on the road... made an absent minded gear-change and didn't have time to save it...

Woe is me!!

[Brown81]

Wow, what a cool video!! :thumbsup:

I think I remember that road from when Lance and I were on the Tour last year...... :salesman:

[Auspanglish]

you've been through the Pyrenees?? Awesome!! If you recognize that road you've got a better memory than mine, it's all a dizzy blur of curves, although I've still got all my notes and maps marked out and if pressed might be able to recognize the odd stretch... some bits still really stand out in my mind, the mountains are awe-inspiring. Here's the route on a planner:

The red x marks the spot!!

[spud786]

Hahahaha, ¿acid? What aaaare you referring to??? B)

In my case I'm still dizzy from the curves and the altitude!! :blink: :rolleyes: :blink: :goofy: :blink: :blink:

Actually, something wierd is going on, 'cause I didn't put that embedded video link in there, it wasn't working so I gave up and edited it to be a regular URL link... woooooh, poltergeists or post elves or somethin' spooky goin' on...

GOD ! I was sure hopin that road was in TEXAS

[Auspanglish]

There you go Rapsidy: personal request.

Like I said, you can hardly hear the motor unless I'm accelerating out of a curve taken at relatively low speed. Wind noise!!

[V4 Rosso]

Nice road. what time of year was this trip?

To bad nobody took a pic of you with a cellphone taped to your helmet. Poeple probably wondered about that cheap ass handsfree kit :lol:

[Rivcyko]

GOD ! I was sure hopin that road was in TEXAS

LOL!

Nice videos.

[Auspanglish]

Nice road. what time of year was this trip?

High Summer. Last two weeks of August. Don't let that fool you. I left home wth temperatures of over 40ºC (104ªF???) and got up to Zaragoza a few days later, which is quite close to the Pyrenees, where it was still 40ºC at 20.00 hours and all through the night it never really dropped to a comfortable temp. One day later I was up close to the French border, still in Aragón (Spanish region) but almost into Basque Country, a town called Burguete, and it was 8ºC at mid-day!!! The weather changes drastically and rapidly, typical of high-mountain regions. I was never really overly cold though, my Evolution textile combo is the Duck's Nuts. Just my gloves, guantlet style, perforated leather with all the padding and hardware on hte knuckles and such, let too much cold air in, but for the lower altitudes and sunny stuff, my thermal riding gloves would have been too much. I had a basic route planned but was happy to detour to avoid storms s I knew with the tangled labyrinth of roads I could always loop around to catch bits I had been recommended and didn't want to miss.

The VFR motor (a hot runner) loves the cool mountain air...

[Brown81]

you've been through the Pyrenees?? Awesome!! If you recognize that road you've got a better memory than mine, it's all a dizzy blur of curves, although I've still got all my notes and maps marked out and if pressed might be able to recognize the odd stretch... some bits still really stand out in my mind, the mountains are awe-inspiring. Here's the route on a planner:

The red x marks the spot!!

No, I was lying. I haven't been on "THE Tour" with Lance Armstrong, either!! :lol:

I just watched the Tour on TV and the roads looked similar!

[vfr_steve]

Sweet vid dude.

Silly question perhaps but just out of curiosity, did you use the vtec mode much in this vid? ... Oh and what happened to your bike?

Now just why that would be a silly question I won't know until you tell me... but to answer it, in this particular vid, as you can see, there are some real tight curves and real narrow stretches. So, in regards to the operative word in your question "much", no I don't think I use it "much" in this vid. Thing is, the way I recall it, I would sit just below the engagement point on entering curves if I could see they were curves that opened out instead of closing in, in order to cross the VTEC threshold on coming out. I think right about where I overtake the two cyclist girls the road "opens out" a bit to allow me to let my hair down (so to speak).

I can guarantee you, the videos always let you down when you finally get a chance to play back what you've recorded, there's something about having the cam on/in your helmet that seems to reduce the perception of speed, somehow it looks so much slower than it felt in real life. I always found myself saying: "that really doesn't do it justice, I was fairly giving it some there"...

And it's virtually impossible to tell above the wind noise in the microphone. Which would otherwise make the VTEC engagement a dead give-away.

You got me wondering and so I took a few screen shots when the instrument panel comes into view and I can just make out in a couple that I'm hovering just below VTEC, so probably was using it to pull out of quite a few of the curves, which is what I recall...

There's another vid I have where I know I definitely use the VTEC a lot more, as I redid the road a couple of times, the curves were that delicious midway point between hairpins and sweepers. Not too sharp, not too boring... and almost always opened out!!!

But I'll tell you something, I virtually never live above the VTEC threshold in a constant fashion, I tend to use it as I pull out of curves, I don't tend to be in VTEC on entering a curve. Not even the one time I took her on a track day, and I don't mean to brag, really I don't, but I surprised myself at overtaking most of the VFR crowd (it was our Spanish Club's anniversary) on that day and the number of people who made cmments about my "rhythm". I just do what comes nturally. I'm not very technical when it comes to riding, like for example Turtlecreek, who is lapping up all the technical stuff, and will be, if he isn't already, one solid rider.

On one of the curves at the track which was really long and had a constant, medium-length radius, I noticed I was able to take her in the VTEC realm, but prefered and was able to do it at the same speed in a lower gear, hovering just below VTEC to get a nice pull out of the curve and have the advantage of being able to overtake with a burst on the way out, or hold back if the moment wasn't right.

You know, that "power manoeuvre", if I were already in VTEC, or too far below it, that burst of acceleration just isn't there...

Pardon the ramble... so anyway, this Christmas, I slammed the bike into a guardrail after over-zealously dropping one gear too many on a slightly muddied road (after the rain) with a downhill gradient going about 50 km/h. Back wheel lost traction, could hear the chain clacking and jumping all over the place. Jut f&%ked up basically, the cold weather didn't help, cold tyres, plus it makes your muscles fatigue earlier and your movements are less precise and we had ridden all morning.

I tried to iron out the flicking rear end and lean her into the upcoming corner like your man what's-his-name whose famous for "backing it in" but I ran out of road. Just really braindead, I wasn't gunning it, wasn't in a hurry, I had just had lunch, the local club's Christmas lunch, only had one beer on arrival, lunch in Spain can take hours, but I think I was just warm and toasty on the inside and let my guard down too much for the shitty conditions on the road... made an absent minded gear-change and didn't have time to save it...

Woe is me!!

Hi and thanks for the details. I sometimes hesitate before mentioning the sacred word (vtec) because it gets everyone in such a tizzy. I used to have issues with the bike but now that I've passed 20k the transition is seamless. I am just curious to know how others ride there bikes and whether I'm using my vtec in the most effective way. I've heard some that always ride above 7k, to me that's cumbersome as like you, I also use the 4 valve mode as a pulling away method, I like how honda have geared the bike so if you change at 10k your still within the vtec if you want to go crazy for a while-- but it's nice to have smooth mid-torque keeping the revs around 5500-6 and the power is there if you need it.

Thanks for your thoughts - sorry to hear of the accident, take it easy and I hope you get her back on the road again soon

[Guest]

There you go Rapsidy: personal request.

Like I said, you can hardly hear the motor unless I'm accelerating out of a curve taken at relatively low speed. Wind noise!!

Thank you auspanol i will sit back with my pop corn and enjoy the ride :thumbsup:

rather be doing it :rolleyes: that would have been awesome

[Guest]

Man this vid needs some music its so windy can't hear anything :rolleyes:

it sounds good though when you can hear it its a pity, they look quite tight those corners? you look like your moving a bit to how fast were you going through there?

Did you have a few moments there you seem to tell yourself off a couple of times couldn't make out what you said sounded foreign?? Sorry just looked at your avtar your from Spain!!!!

[AussieinUSA]

Thanks for posting, haven't had a chance till now to check it out but was worth the wait. Did you say you took this with a phone camera :warranty: pretty cool, nice editing.

What ya doing about the bike? Ya gunna fix it or is it looking like its history, I believe you said the cost of fixing would be about the same as if they totalled it out. I'm hoping your connections worked out :thumbsup:

Sorry just looked at your avtar your from Spain!!!!

Na, he's just a mis-placed Queenslander, been away so long he's forgot the language :rolleyes:

[Auspanglish]

Man this vid needs some music its so windy can't hear anything :rolleyes:

it sounds good though when you can hear it its a pity, they look quite tight those corners? you look like your moving a bit to how fast were you going through there?

Did you have a few moments there you seem to tell yourself off a couple of times couldn't make out what you said sounded foreign?? Sorry just looked at your avtar your from Spain!!!!

Why you...!!! Why I oughta...

I told ya so!!! The wind noise just drowns everything out, and is really quite annoying.

Anyway I had just written up a real detailed answer to your post, but the battery dropped out on my laptop cause I didn't hear the low-battery warning cause I had it in silent mode and so I lost it all.

To cut a long story short: I don't know what speed I was going, it varies, that road is really twisty, narrow at times and the curves were mostly on the tight side. If I had a good view well ahead and could see there was no oncoming traffic, I would set mysef up for some real corner carving. The truth is, videos taken from a helmet cam seem to reduce certain aspects such as speed and the true degree of the corners' radius, as it follows wherever I'm looking, and I look ahead to judge my path through the curves, so it "smooths it all out". You also tend to keep your head horizontal, which eliminates the lean angle the bike has to undergo, so once again the dynamic effects are lost. If only I had set the camera up on the bike...

To answer your question, yes, I had one moment on that video where I get startled out of "The Zone" in which I spent prolonged periods on that Pyrenees trip, as it is so conducive to it. It happens towards the beginning of the vid, you can hear the peg scraping big time as I enter a left-hander and I say "Güeeeeey, rozando estriberas, ¡¡joder!!". Which = "Woooooooh, scraping the pegs, f&%k". No big deal.

Later I come across the GSR and play a joke for a mate, who has one, by saying "Nemo is that you?" (His nickname = Nemo). Oh and I comment on a sign indicating 33 more Kms of continuous curves, saying "check it out, and I haven't even had lunch yet!!"

I stopped some time later on this ridge and the Aprilia and GSR caught up, we took each others' photo and swapped info,

I ended up taking their route later to avoid storms on mine which in hindsight I'm so glad I did. I never saw them again but it took me through some amazing scenery and one of the highest transitable passes (The Spanish use a fullstop to mark thousands and a coma for decimals, and no, tht's not a below sea level minus sign, it's a hyphen :warranty: ):

With some wicked curves

And I came across this little baby:

I really froze my butt off on that "detour", but it was well worth it!! Sometimes the unplanned bits are the best!!

[Auspanglish]

Thanks for posting, haven't had a chance till now to check it out but was worth the wait. Did you say you took this with a phone camera :huh: pretty cool, nice editing.

What ya doing about the bike? Ya gunna fix it or is it looking like its history, I believe you said the cost of fixing would be about the same as if they totalled it out. I'm hoping your connections worked out :thumbsup:

Sorry just looked at your avtar your from Spain!!!!

Na, he's just a mis-placed Queenslander, been away so long he's forgot the language :warranty:

Why you...!! Why I oughta... you too!!! Incorregible Aussies!!

So I've forgotten the language have I??? :rolleyes: :goofy: :goofy:

Yep, Nokia Mobile Phone Camera: only 1.3 Megapixels!!! The one I have now has 2.0 megapixels and a flash!!! I actually was carrying a Casio digital camera with up to 7 MP, but hadn't hooked up the RAM support. Too lazy!! No, I was going to take the 5th gen and had the RAM connectors sete up on her, but bought this 6th gen at the last moment and took her instead, didn't have time what with all the more important logistics to be organized. The previous owner came down on the day I was leaving, at some unGodly hour in the morning, to bring me the Bagster tank cover for the Bagster tank bag he'd already left with me, from some 45 minutes away, just because he's such a nice guy... lastminute stuff, you know. That Bagster bag was such a handy item, couldn't have lived without it. Imagine a Kangaroo without its pouch...

I'll post up another vid from that trip soon, stay tuned... and later I'll post up another with the camera attached to the bike and you can see the difference in how much more dynamic it is.

[AussieinUSA]

Thanks for posting, haven't had a chance till now to check it out but was worth the wait. Did you say you took this with a phone camera :huh: pretty cool, nice editing.

What ya doing about the bike? Ya gunna fix it or is it looking like its history, I believe you said the cost of fixing would be about the same as if they totalled it out. I'm hoping your connections worked out :thumbsup:

Sorry just looked at your avtar your from Spain!!!!

Na, he's just a mis-placed Queenslander, been away so long he's forgot the language :warranty:

Why you...!! Why I oughta... you too!!! Incorregible Aussies!!

So I've forgotten the language have I??? :rolleyes: :goofy: :goofy:

Yep, Nokia Mobile Phone Camera: only 1.3 Megapixels!!! The one I have now has 2.0 megapixels and a flash!!! I actually was carrying a Casio digital camera with up to 7 MP, but hadn't hooked up the RAM support. Too lazy!! No, I was going to take the 5th gen and had the RAM connectors sete up on her, but bought this 6th gen at the last moment and took her instead, didn't have time what with all the more important logistics to be organized. The previous owner came down on the day I was leaving, at some unGodly hour in the morning, to bring me the Bagster tank cover for the Bagster tank bag he'd already left with me, from some 45 minutes away, just because he's such a nice guy... lastminute stuff, you know. That Bagster bag was such a handy item, couldn't have lived without it. Imagine a Kangaroo without its pouch...

I'll post up another vid from that trip soon, stay tuned... and later I'll post up another with the camera attached to the bike and you can see the difference in how much more dynamic it is.

As much as i wanna i'm not gunna argue with an English Major :huh:

What, so ya saying me English ain't what its spose to b, damn if only u weren't so right!!

[Auspanglish]

Well a promise is a promise, or as they say in Spanish: Lo prometido es deuda.

Here's that "other" road I mentioned, about half and hour from the one in the first video. These curves are a different species, more sweeper-like, and going uphill is alway more fun than going down!!

The bits tagged on the end are from the stretch of road in the first vid. Just listen to that Aprilia!! (I tacked them on to get to the end of the song!!)

The third video I promised is soon to come... stay tuned!!

[turtlecreek]

thanks for the extra vid. i like the helmet cam as it really lets you see where you are looking as you go through a curve. :thumbsup: