For 2024 I’m still using a paid version of Komoot for Bike Touring / Bikepacking.
Other sports included are Running, Hiking, Mountain Biking and Road Cycling.
Currently I’m still using a paid version of AllTrails for Hiking.
Komoot uses OpenStreetMap.
It has an Apple Watch app assistant.
Click PLAY or see how it works on YouTube.
I do like being a tourist close to Pike Place Market in Seattle.
The original Starbucks opened here in 1971.
Downtown Seattle is a little grungy. That makes it more interesting.
I normally stay at a Green Tortoise Hostel right by the Market.
One night they offered all you can eat Mexican.
Next night, Green Tortoise offered all you can drink local wine.
Ivar’s is a Washington State institution.
I had several meals there looking over the port.
AND here’s where you drop off your gum when finished chewing. 😀
Once again I had a terrific time in Coeur d’Alene.
Our first day, we joined in the FUN at Dave’s gourmet restaurant, Candle in the Woods.
An amazing, unforgettable meal.
Timing of this visit was to volunteer at my favourite Gymnastics competition in the world — the Great West Gym Fest.
It’s so well organized I didn’t really have much to do.
I DID help with the set-up and take-down of the Gym. And made a few VIDEOS of the competition, including this one.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
A few photos from the competition.
VIPs get to check out the resort penthouse. And balcony hot tub.
We did get out for one hike in Farragut State Park.
Delaney took me climbing. AND I was not bad … aside from then time I fell from the top risking concussion. 😀
Late February the weather was … mixed. We had some wind, some snow. Some sun.
I did get to try Dave’s Fat Bike out on their property.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
The Isar, 295 km long, flows through Munich.
I spent a lot of time last summer cycling this river.
One highlight is surfing a standing wave (a stationary hydraulic jump).
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
That’s in the English Garden (Englischer Garten), one of the world’s largest urban public parks.
On sunny days, it’s packed with tens of thousands.
I’m planning on cycling Iceland late summer 2024.
This would be the ultimate … — … AND I won’t be doing anything this challenging. 😀
Riders Chris Burkard, Eric Batty, Emily Batty, and Adam Morka.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
In 2024 — I have to call myself an experienced Bikepacker.
Any trip where you carry enough gear to allow sleeping overnight … somewhere. Even a motel.
A multi-day cycling trip.
For me it was a natural extension of hiking. Fun, enjoyable, exercise outdoors.
Low cost.
I enjoy tenting. So that’s a bonus for me.
Joe Cruz posted a terrific History of Bikepacking article.
People have been cycling overnight trips since the invention of the bicycle.
It’s astonishing to me how little bicycle technology has evolved.
Here’s Frank Lenz, who famously went missing during his circumnavigation of the globe, which he started in 1892.
Any bicycle carrying enough gear to allow you to sleep overnight … somewhere. Even a motel.
There’s a continuum between those who carry panniers. And those who use smaller bike bags.
Those who are trying to make more miles. On rougher trails. Possibly carrying their bike, … I call bikepackers.
I use panniers and call what I do bike touring. I might add a trailer, one day. … Perhaps an electric motor. 😀
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
related – WHY Bikepacking ?? … 🚲
For me bikepacking was a logical extension of hiking.
A Christmas present to myself 2023.
Here’s my 1st video using mostly Ace Pro footage.
Videotaping animals and birds is particularly challenging when using cameras without much optical zoom.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I’d long planned to replace both my old GoPro and my Sony ZV1 camera with one action camera — and finally made the leap when the Insta360 Ace Pro was released December 2023.
My minimum gear for shooting video has never been lighter nor more compact.
I can use the Ace Pro with all my GoPro attachments.
Action cameras are even more durable than phones.
Of the dozens of cool features available with the Ace Pro, I’ll actually be using very few for my hiking videos.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
90% of the time I will be shooting:
I like HDR (high dynamic range) and shoot the same on my iPhone. Over-saturated video looks good to me on YouTube. Especially if watching on a phone.
4K 30fps is the most I can shoot in HDR on the Ace Pro. (Better would be 60fps in HDR. That would be my #1 request for future upgrade.)
I export at 1080p 30fps so can crop / zoom down without losing resolution.
Shooting in this setting I can quickly zoom 50% and yet still end up with 4K video whenever I want by double tapping the screen. How does 4K zoom to 4K? … Some sort of digital trickery in camera they call clarity zoom.
Their 8K is 4K with 4 small pixels replacing each normal 4K pixel. So far I haven’t been much impressed with 8K for video.
Ultrawide gives the widest possible perspective for outdoor scenery. I’ll use that mode when shooting BIG outdoor vistas.
Most of the time, I’ll use Dewarp (minimal distortion) as it most closely matches a normal camera with almost no curvature to the image.
I’ll be using the Apple Watch app quite a bit. It’s simple. Quick. And intuitive.
I might never use the phone app which is complicated. And really not needed for someone who plans to edit video later on laptop.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Initially, I thought I’d shoot photos on iPhone 13. Video on the Ace Pro.
Comparing different photos on the Ace Pro v iPhone 13, so far I’m MUCH preferring iPhone. Seems Apple does a much better job with photos.
On the other hand, it’s bloody convenient to take a photo simultaneously while videotaping with the new camera. A great feature of the Ace Pro.
AND I’m thinking it will be more convenient to take selfie photos and video with the Ace Pro on the tripod using Voice Command.
Voice Command on iPhone seems to screw up a lot for me. I probably won’t use it.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Voice Command on the Ace Pro works most of the time, even in noisy environments.
This camera has Gesture Control — but it works inconsistently, as it does on every other product I’ve tried with that feature.
The AcePro has no GPS. With iPhone photos and video, I sometimes look up the metadata to see exactly where and when I took the picture — very useful.
It’s possible to use the phone app — or even the watch app — to get the metadata, but that’s too much hassle for me.
The biggest problem now, however, is lack of much zoom on any of my cameras. I’d love to have something with 10x optical, as well.
Since I export at 30fps, in my normal shooting mode I won’t be able to slow down video. In reality, I don’t use much slow mo anyway, so it probably won’t be a problem. BUT I’ll need to remember to switch to slow motion if I ever want some of those captures.
Still experimenting …
English actress Emilia Fox is Signora Volpe. 😀 Sylvia Fox in this excellent TV show.
Well, the first 2 episodes are great. I could have lived without episode 3.
Disillusioned with her work at MI6, spy Sylvia Fox travels to Italy for the wedding of her niece.
Although her relationship with her sister, Isabel, is troubled, Sylvia is welcomed warmly by her family.
But when the groom goes missing, leaving a dead woman behind, Sylvia feels compelled to investigate. The trail leads her from an empty pizza box and stolen children’s book to a deadly showdown.
The badass decides to move to Italy at the end of the first episode.
It’s Italy. Beautiful.
There’s romance. Charming.
An English language TV show set in Italy well done, with many Italian actors and Italian dialogue.
They did not make the same mistakes as Murder in Provence. 😀
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
This is my 2nd experiment in video editing using software called Audio Sound Design to add sound effects.
I MIGHT have overdone it. 😀
The software has 70,000+ royalty free sounds, loops and music cues. But for me it’s overkill. Too complicated. A bit buggy.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Rick McCharles 