Making Miles on the Concours

We had a break in the Canadian winter (in April) and I finally got a chance to exercise the Concours.  This jaunt took me over 250kms from where I live in the tedious industrial farming desert of South Western Ontario, an hour up to the road to the edge of the Niagara Escarpment where I have a small chance of finding a corner to ride around.  It usually gets colder by the lake, but contrary to physics, it went from 12°C when I left up to 27° by the lake.  It only dropped down into the low 20s again once I found some altitude on Blue Mountain (a hill anywhere but in Ontario).  Even on the straightness I got into moto-zen riding mode.

https://goo.gl/maps/6DWBjfGv1WgbX6Ws5

It's been a long, cold COVID winter #2 and the opportunities to make miles on two wheels have been thin this spring.  A warm Sunday to get up to the big water and stare at the blue horizon was much needed.

It is actually nuclear powered!  I feel like I really bonded with the Connie on this ride - we sailed for miles and we had many more in us when we stopped for the day.  If you're light on the throttle it gets reasonable mileage, but it's a wonderful thing when you wake up that motor.  Kawasaki has a special touch with engines.

I had the 360 camera along for the ride and put together a montage using an incredibly complicated process that involves batch processing the 360 panaramas into 'tiny planet' images and then clipping them all together in video editing.  It isn't for the faint of heart, but it sure looks unique.  This is the how-to if you're feeling brave.

300kms in Two Days

It was a long winter this year, made particularly difficult by grinding through a second year of COVID19.  I find a great deal of satisfaction in spannering my own bikes, but that isn't an end in itself for me, riding is.  With a few days off work and the weather finally breaking, I got over 300kms while I could.  Both the nineteen year old Triumph Tiger and the twelve year old Kawasaki GTR1400 worked like a charm.

Guelph Lake is still frozen...

All photos taken with a Ricoh Theta 360 camera mounted on a flexible tripod and set to shoot automatically every 10 seconds.  I select the good'uns and sort them out using the Ricoh 360 camera software and Adobe Photoshop.  If you want a how-to, here's one:  https://www.adventurebikerider.com/how-to-capture-360-photos-while-riding-a-motorbike/  Here're others!

That many-things-my-eyes-have-seen face!

First Ride of the 2022 Season: Scratching That Itch

Imagine having an itch you can't scratch for 112 days.  Riding a motorcycle in Canada is an ongoing act of stoicism.

It was a long one this Canadian winter.  I'm usually able to get out for a cheeky February ride, but not this year in Ontario. Winter started later but when it came it clamped down on us like an angry professional wrestler and didn't offer any breaks from Polar Vortexes and snow.  My last ride was mid-November, it's now March.

T'was -22°C on Friday and tonight we've got freezing rain and snow into tomorrow, but it was a balmy 6 today so off I went.

The C14 started on the first touch and was bullet proof on a 30km ride up and down the Grand River:

The bisons were out at Black Powder.

It was mennonite o'clock as I shook the cobwebs out of the Connie.

The Tiger took a bit more convincing but that wasn't its fault, I'd had the whole fuel injection system out for a cleaning and it needed to get represussurized.  Once it had fuel it took off like a rocket!

Leaning into a corner, finally!

The zipper replacement on the jacket is working like a charm!

The roads were thick with sand and salt so after a cleanup everyone is back under a blanket waiting for the next break.  I'd be a year rounder if I still lived in Norfolk (UK).

On the upside, the 750cc cylinder head for the 71 Bonnie project came in so I've got other things to do!

On bike photos were taken with a Ricoh Theta camera attached to the windshield and auto-shooting every 8 seconds.  If you're curious, here's a bit on how to make awesome on-bike 360 photos.  Here's another published on Adventure Bike Rider Magazine in the UK:  How to capture 360-degree photos while riding your motorbike.

Looking forward to leaning into more corners in less than another 112 days!

Triumph Tiger 955i on the edge of winter

 Single digit temperatures make for a brisk ride.  This one was down to Guelph Line before coming back home and warming up again.  All photos taken with a Ricoh Theta 360 camera set to fire automatically every 6 seconds, attached to the rear view mirror using a flexible tripod.  Here's a walkthrough if you want to try it yourself.

Motorcycle Riding In The Rain: Algonquin Park in October in 360 Degrees

 Deerhurst Resort to Algonquin Park and back again, chased by the rain.

Algonquin Park in the rain at the height of autumn colours. The Theta 360 camera held up but I eventually pocketed it when the deluge become too heavy.  The camera is mounted on a ball mount on the handlebars and set to fire automatically every 10 seconds.  Photos captured in the Theta camera app and then modified/enhanced in Photoshop.

This is the raw photo out of the camera. The fixed lense doesn't collect a lot of light, so on a dim, rainy day like this the image is quite muddy.  I brought up the shadows in Photoshop and the result (with a bit of cropping) is the same photo above.

If you're curious about how to put together on-bike photos, check this how-to out.  It's also available on Adventure Bike Rider Magazine's site here.  You can pick up a simple 360 camera for a couple of hundred bucks.  Fully waterproof ones (which I obviously need) start a bit higher.

I got into this with Ricoh's Theta way back in 2013, but Ricoh has been stingy about support and won't even offer me at-cost options for educational use.  Looking around recently, the Insta360 offers some interesting combinations with next generation 360 imaging, though it's very video focused and I prefer still shooting.  Gopro also has the 360 Max, though it isn't as aerodynamic and therefore might not be the thing to put on a bike in the wind, though I'm willing to give it a go.

Gopro goes out of its way to support users and especially ones who advertise for them on social media.  I wish Ricoh were so forward thinking, but they aren't.  I'd suggest the Gopro if you want to get into 360 photography.  It's remarkably easy to set up and the results look fantastic.  You should give it a try.

Post from RICOH THETA. - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA