This guy named Hal Ruzal critiques how New Yorkers lock their bicycles. He grades them on the standard school scale of A - F. I can say that I would easily get an F. And I thought I was doing a good job keeping my bike safe when taking it to the grocery store. All I have is 1 lock that I lock the frame to the pole at the grocery store. I get a F-. I need to lock up my new bicycle seat, my front wheel and back wheel to the bike too. I guess I am ignorant. Although it's a bit safer (not that much safer) in California because in my entire life the only thing that has ever been taken was a bike seat at the mall in Canoga Park. I was only gone for 5 minutes too so they got it relatively fast. Then there was this one time that the entire bike was gone when I came out of school, someone picked my bike out of the hundreds of bikes at the school bike lot.
Check this video out:
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Back/Knee Problems w/New Seat
As the title says I am having Back and Knee (not backne as in acne on my back) issues from this new seat. I've adjusted it every way I can to get it comfortable. No matter how I adjust it I am being pushed forward to the handlebars and it has been causing me issues with my shoulders and my upper back.
And my right knee has been giving me issues since I got this new seat. Keep in mind this is only day 5 so maybe 10 more days (the guy said keep trying for 3 weeks, to me 5 days is 1 week since I only ride 5 days a week) and maybe, just maybe that will go away.
I'm going to keep trying though because I really don't want to sit on anything that is going to cause numbness in my giggle area.
I removed the sheepskin during my ride today because I was thinking that maybe the sheepskin is giving me issues and it was. That is what was making me slide forward all the time. So just sitting on the seat without the sheepskin and the seat pretty much grabs onto my shorts like a cell phone on one of those rubber mats that you stick on your dashboard. If that makes any sense.
I'm still going to buy another gel seat and cut the nose (or horn) off then sew it back together so it fits this new seat. I think that will help not only raising me back up to where I was to give my knee some help but also my underwear seam won't hurt my butt lol. And I think it will feel better on my sit bones if I'm sitting on gel instead of the seat. Actually the seat without any cover on it is pretty cushioned, it doesn't really need any cushion so that's good.
And my right knee has been giving me issues since I got this new seat. Keep in mind this is only day 5 so maybe 10 more days (the guy said keep trying for 3 weeks, to me 5 days is 1 week since I only ride 5 days a week) and maybe, just maybe that will go away.
I'm going to keep trying though because I really don't want to sit on anything that is going to cause numbness in my giggle area.
I removed the sheepskin during my ride today because I was thinking that maybe the sheepskin is giving me issues and it was. That is what was making me slide forward all the time. So just sitting on the seat without the sheepskin and the seat pretty much grabs onto my shorts like a cell phone on one of those rubber mats that you stick on your dashboard. If that makes any sense.
I'm still going to buy another gel seat and cut the nose (or horn) off then sew it back together so it fits this new seat. I think that will help not only raising me back up to where I was to give my knee some help but also my underwear seam won't hurt my butt lol. And I think it will feel better on my sit bones if I'm sitting on gel instead of the seat. Actually the seat without any cover on it is pretty cushioned, it doesn't really need any cushion so that's good.
Bike Cam 2 Video
The video starts out on Manor St. and ends up at China Grade Loop. It takes me about 44 minutes to get to my final destination from the house then after I have rested for about 5 minutes I get back on the bike and head back home. My total round trip ride coming all the way out to here is 22 miles, it takes 2 hours but waiting for the stop lights/signs and my 5 minute break my total time is about 90-95 minutes and my average speed is 14.0-14.3 mph.
At the end it says To Be Continued... As soon as I get used to riding 22 miles per day and it's not enough exercise then I will be adding more miles by continuing past China Grade Loop on the bicycle trail.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grd4VTPQtBs
At the end it says To Be Continued... As soon as I get used to riding 22 miles per day and it's not enough exercise then I will be adding more miles by continuing past China Grade Loop on the bicycle trail.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grd4VTPQtBs
Bike Cam Part 2 Troubles
I took the camera with me this morning and turned it on just before I got to the tunnel to go past Manor St. I went through the tunnel, over the bridge and through the woods to grandmother's house er um wait no that's not right... ok, I went through the tunnel then over the bridge ... then kept riding.
As I went over the 2nd bridge the bicycle went over the usual bumps before and after but the 2nd bridge screwed up the camcorders ability to auto focus lol. I tried fixing it but it just would not fix so I stopped recording but I just could not fix it. I turned it off hoping that would help and it did. So I turned it back on and kept riding. I went all the way to the end of that part of the bike trail and turned off the camera.
I get home and plug the camcorder into the computer and the program I use ImageMixer 3 gives me errors. It cannot download from the camera at all. I have a feeling it's because of those darn bumps but then I go to watch it from the camcorder onto the computer with PowerDVD and it stops after only 20 seconds which was when I first started filming so I'm a bit stumped.
This morning at 8am they closed that part of the bike trail from the first tunnel to the 2nd tunnel until tomorrow afternoon at 2:30pm so tomorrow morning I won't be doing my 22 mile trip, instead I'm going to have to settle for 16 miles so I won't be able to do it over tomorrow.
The video plays just fine in the camera so I thought that maybe I could just plug it into the TV and record it with my DVD recorder. Well, when I plug it into the TV it shrinks the video from 16:9 to 4:3 so that doesn't do me any good. I'll need a widescreen TV to be able to do that. So instead I just put the mini DVD into the DVD recorder and recorded it to a VHS then recorded it back to a regular DVD.
I tried putting the DVD into my computer but it won't recognize dvd's that I've recorded on the dvd recorder so I had to put it in my laptop. It's uploading now so as soon as it's finished I will transfer it over to my computer and work on it. I will try to get it on YouTube today and when I do I will post it here. Well, as a new post.
As I went over the 2nd bridge the bicycle went over the usual bumps before and after but the 2nd bridge screwed up the camcorders ability to auto focus lol. I tried fixing it but it just would not fix so I stopped recording but I just could not fix it. I turned it off hoping that would help and it did. So I turned it back on and kept riding. I went all the way to the end of that part of the bike trail and turned off the camera.
I get home and plug the camcorder into the computer and the program I use ImageMixer 3 gives me errors. It cannot download from the camera at all. I have a feeling it's because of those darn bumps but then I go to watch it from the camcorder onto the computer with PowerDVD and it stops after only 20 seconds which was when I first started filming so I'm a bit stumped.
This morning at 8am they closed that part of the bike trail from the first tunnel to the 2nd tunnel until tomorrow afternoon at 2:30pm so tomorrow morning I won't be doing my 22 mile trip, instead I'm going to have to settle for 16 miles so I won't be able to do it over tomorrow.
The video plays just fine in the camera so I thought that maybe I could just plug it into the TV and record it with my DVD recorder. Well, when I plug it into the TV it shrinks the video from 16:9 to 4:3 so that doesn't do me any good. I'll need a widescreen TV to be able to do that. So instead I just put the mini DVD into the DVD recorder and recorded it to a VHS then recorded it back to a regular DVD.
I tried putting the DVD into my computer but it won't recognize dvd's that I've recorded on the dvd recorder so I had to put it in my laptop. It's uploading now so as soon as it's finished I will transfer it over to my computer and work on it. I will try to get it on YouTube today and when I do I will post it here. Well, as a new post.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Bike Cam Part 2
When I did the Bike Cam video the place where I stopped at was my half way point, the place where I would rest before I got back on and turned around to go back home. That was 16 miles round trip. Well, since then I've added to my bike ride. I was going 19 miles then 20 miles then 21 miles and now I'm going all the way to China Grade so my bike ride is now 22 miles round trip.
So since I'm going to China Grade now, the next time I ride I will bring the camera with me and when I get to Manor St. instead of going through the tunnel I will set my camera up on the handlebars and then continue through the tunnel from there and go all the way to China Grade before stopping the camera.
This of course means that I will have to leave the house at 5am instead of the usual 4:30am because when I get to Manor St. the sun isn't even up yet and I don't think doing a video in the dark is very productive lol. Especially since I don't have a light for the camcorder.
Anyway, tomorrow is my day off from riding, I do 3 days on then 1 day off to give my body (and now especially because of the new seat) some time to heal. So Thursday morning I will take the camera with me and video tape it and then by Thursday afternoon the video will be on YouTube.
If you want to help me before then, suggest a couple of songs for me to buy to put in the video via a comment.
So since I'm going to China Grade now, the next time I ride I will bring the camera with me and when I get to Manor St. instead of going through the tunnel I will set my camera up on the handlebars and then continue through the tunnel from there and go all the way to China Grade before stopping the camera.
This of course means that I will have to leave the house at 5am instead of the usual 4:30am because when I get to Manor St. the sun isn't even up yet and I don't think doing a video in the dark is very productive lol. Especially since I don't have a light for the camcorder.
Anyway, tomorrow is my day off from riding, I do 3 days on then 1 day off to give my body (and now especially because of the new seat) some time to heal. So Thursday morning I will take the camera with me and video tape it and then by Thursday afternoon the video will be on YouTube.
If you want to help me before then, suggest a couple of songs for me to buy to put in the video via a comment.
Day 3 With My New Bike Seat
Today is the 3rd day and final blog post about my new Ergo bicycle seat. I'm getting used to it more and now instead of just being strange it's starting to feel normal.
It's still too hard for my butt so I still plan on buying another gel seat cover and cutting off the nose (to spite it's face? lol) then of course sewing it back up so I can just put that on top of the seat. The sheepskin is nice but it's a winter coat for a bike seat, not a summer coat heh. Hopefully by winter I will be able to slip the sheepskin over the gel but I'm not quite sure how that's going to work out so we'll see.
I still highly recommend "the Bicycle Seat" but I would go with the gel seat if you have a fat ass like mine and you don't like hard seats lol.
It's still too hard for my butt so I still plan on buying another gel seat cover and cutting off the nose (to spite it's face? lol) then of course sewing it back up so I can just put that on top of the seat. The sheepskin is nice but it's a winter coat for a bike seat, not a summer coat heh. Hopefully by winter I will be able to slip the sheepskin over the gel but I'm not quite sure how that's going to work out so we'll see.
I still highly recommend "the Bicycle Seat" but I would go with the gel seat if you have a fat ass like mine and you don't like hard seats lol.
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