Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Helmet Cam - Race @TheRent, June 2, 2009

Early in June I had the misfortune, I mean privilege, of doing a really hard race. Hard for me anyway. One of the frequent East Hartford Races @ The Rent.

I wrote about it a bit here, but, as you know, there's nothing like a more comprehensive description of the event.

So, calculated at 30 frames per second for 9 minutes and 59 seconds, there are about 17,970 frames, and therefore about 17,970,000 more words on the topic.

Roughly.

(I'm not counting the text in the 17,970 frames.)

Without further ado, a clip of a complete failure of a bike race by yours truly:



(Jeepers. 3 hours to upload a 318 MB clip. Maybe I'll post this tomorrow.)

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Aidan (aka coach) is awesome. I actually paid him for the month using race winnings. That was a good feeling.

I can't wait to start racing the A race at the rent. I know I'm going to get my behind handed to me, but that's the best way to learn isn't it?

See you there soon.

Yokota Fritz said...

Hero Cam?

Aki said...

Was thinking of a new cam but like the high quality of the DV camcorder + 520 line chasecam. I think two smaller cams would be better, one forward, one back - I briefly contemplated a DVR with two chasecams.

Also, recently, I got some footage from a round self contained cam but it seems weird compared to the DV. I'll be posting that at some point shortly (it's undergoing some final checks). You'll be able to see the weird wavy images at that point.

Helmet cam details are here. Only changes - I'm using lightweight Lithium AA batteries, versus the original heavier rechargeables.

Yokota Fritz said...

That seems like a lot of weight to put on your head.

Will I see you and Mrs Aki at Interbike this year?

Aki said...

hahaha No, just the chasecam bit goes on my head. Camcorder in center pocket, battery pack in right one, cables connecting the lot. Helmet weighs maybe 100-200g more than normal, cable tugs at it sometimes.

If I had a second chasecam type unit, or a self contained one, I'd mount it on the bike somewhere, probably pointing back.

Aki said...

Oh and we should be there.

Yokota Fritz said...

Camera on back is pretty cool. Have you seen Steven Woo's videos? He has a camera mounted front and back -- check out his criterium crash video, for example.

Aki said...

I've seen the clip/s on that crash and I think they're very illuminating for that incident.

For me, I'm trying to balance recording time vs weight vs quality.

I have no budget so for now I can't make any changes. I'm even to the point of recycling my DV tapes.

My first choice is a helmet cam (okay, my real first choice is an eyeball cam, but that would be a bit crazy). It shows where I'm pointing my head, which in general is where I'm looking. Second choice is a rear pointing one.

I think other views would be interesting (Rock Racing had cameras pointing up at the face from the stem for example) but I haven't had too much motivation to experiment.