2009 - CA - El Segundo - 4th of July

The Evite read -
"4th of July Party and Drunken Parade!"















- and so it went, something like this...







The Place


Zack Stoller
- Patriotic Party Producer -







After some celebration and tasty hydration, the parade began with a drum-roll.

Some shakers and a dozen kazoos.
Don't forget the flags and homeland cheer!







And when night fell...
fireworks.




Finale!


After the fireworks, the party moved to "The Tavern on Main."












The next morning,
Charlie was hungover when he woke up in a hammock.

2009 - CA - ANF moto ride - Advrider

A fun day in the Angeles National Forest and San Gabriel mountains.
A day full of mist and dirt and broken bike parts
The meeting place was the 7-11 off of Osborne in Sunland, CA. 8:30am.
I got there around 9.

When i arrived, there was only one adventurer.

I made it two. Both of us are on the '08 Husqvarna TE610.

Xymotic just bought that bike two days before with 126 miles on it. Basically new. By the end of the day he had more than doubled it.


Around 9:15, Espiritu showed up on his shiny KTM 950 adventure.




No more waiting and we were off.

We got nice and wet plowing through a thick mist and rain on the way up Little Tujunga Canyon. "Little T" is a great little 15 mile stretch of the twistiest curves on the planet. Very fun, but a little nerve racking when wet.

At the very top of the canyon (near where Nat and I spotted the CONDOR) is a turn off called Santa Clara Divide (SCD) and it is an old, cracked paved road that turns to dirt and runs for about 30 miles across the San Gabriel Mountains.

Off of the main SCD road there are a couple of old Nike Missle sites. All that is left is the concrete slabs that cover them up. Interesting history on those missile sites.















That's me in the mist.
For the first 5 miles of SCD, the visibility was 10 - 50 yards. Horrible.

Here's the best example of what it was like to ride through it.


The clouds/fog cleared up about 15 miles later.
Then the fun began and we could open it up a little!

Espiritu crashed his shiny 950 in a sandy turn. He was the first to go down, thankfully, at slow speed.


He almost put it down again just for the pic.

Espiritu and Xymotic on the dirt.


Then it was Xymotic turn to crash on the 4N24 hillclimb. 2nd gear, throttle all the way open? Don't think so. Here he is giving the advrider salute.


After handling Xymotic's 300lb TE back into an upright, downward facing postion, i found my sleepy little baby here.


.....Kickstand snapped while unattended....
















Notice the nice little crack. Bad news but not a show stopper.

Here is my new $13,000, orange kickstand which included this sharp looking kickstand attendant.



We continued up into the mountains again and over the only water crossing of the day.
We debated which line was best through the water to avoid the underwater rocks. I had always taken center, but Xymotic had always thought right...

Right line though the water...


Center line. Looks like Xymotic is just floating on water...

Espiritu's came out of the right line swinging to the side. He hit something...so...Center Line it is!

This is the view about three or four miles up from the water crossing.
This road is called 4N24.


Xymotic in action.

Back into the clouds at the top of the mountins. We road another 15 miles, over pacifico truck trail and on to a little mountain-top restaurant called newcombs for burgers and a pitcher.

Then it was 30 miles home on the beautiful 2 - the Angeles Crest Highway.
Great ride!

Sony HXR-MC1 camera setups

As promised (to a few of you out there) -

CAMERA MOUNTS and SETUPS for the HXR-MC1 POV CAMERA.


CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO OF SOME MY MOUNTS IN ACTION - vimeo




My little disclaimer to you litigiously inclined finger pointers:
Mounting any camera on any motorcycle or any mountain bike or any moving vehicle could cause extreme bodily harm or even death. In fact, placing any foriegn object anywhere on any moving object could create a potential for disaster, injury, problems, malfunctions, warranty voiding, depression, anxiety, blindness, shortness of breath, dry mouth, bleeding from the ears, nausea, etc. (In-other-words, having fun and trying new things adds risk to both equipment and the rider.)
I am not recommending or promoting any of these ideas, mounts or setups. These aren't even good ideas and the mounts are pretty sloppy. Do not try this at home kids, you might and probably will break something expensive!!

That being said...

Here is what I started with.

I started with as much as possible, so i was able to make as many configurations as possible. This stuff isn't cheap. Next time I will search harder for used hardware. If you have any questions about any particular item, just put it in the comments and I'll answer what i can. Most of the hardware above was purchased at Filmtools in Burbank. Great store - great owner!

You might notice that I have put a quick release on every setup. The last thing I want to do when riding and shooting solo is change camera plates every time I want to move the camera.

ABOVE - MOST IMPORTANT! The quick release and plate and a small ball head.

From there, I was able to start building.


ABOVE - THE BEAST - A very sturdy and versatile handle-bar mount. BOMBPROOF!




ABOVE - THE QUICKIE - This is my favorite mount for the MC1. Put it anywhere! The smaller ball-head makes this less sturdy than THE BEAST, but this thing is SOLID!




ABOVE - THE SLIK - This is a great handlebar mount for the Record Unit. Got this SLIK CLAMP HEAD 32 at Adorama!

The next step is to attach the steel arms and get crazy.


I attached Cardellini Clamps at the corners of the luggage rack and elsewhere.


Then I used Grip heads and connected them with 5/8 and 3/8 steel and aluminum rods to form a triangle. Weight is the key to making this setup work. Next time I will use only steel rods. I love the shot this position provides, but I have not reduced the vibration enough to make it a very useful setup. I'll keep trying.


ABOVE - This mount is rock solid!





ABOVE - This setup creates a very cool shot angle, but is probably the most dangerous to ride with. It affects steering, vision, and can act like a hook in the trees! The vibration on this setup is better than the rear setup, but could be improved.


Here is a similar mount for my mountain bike.ABOVE - This is the only Mountain bike setup I shot. It is very similar to the Moto mount, except that it only uses two arms. Vibration is minimal at low speeds but this setup can NOT handle big shocks! I used only short aluminum rods. Very dangerous for both camera and rider.




ALSO AS PROMISED.

I sent my camera to Todd Moen in Oregon. He's a partner in a great little flyfishing e-zine called CATCH MAGAZINE. Check it out! Todd built this sweet little underwater housing for the HXR-MC1. This worked great for him and I will post some of his underwater results later.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS AT ALL! But...

This sure is a great way to get your MC1 underwater for under 50 bucks! ACE HARDWARE has everything you need.

What was used...

3 inch PVC pipe (fits the century optics fish-eye lens), a rubber glove, zip ties, a piece of glass and some water-sports super glue!


Down and dirty cheap!

Questions, comments, concerns, additions, help, ideas, and general thought puking is welcome.

POV LA - 01

First camera tests with the new Sony HXR-MC1 POV camera.

MUSIC BY SOMATIC MEDIA - www.somaticmedia.com