THIS!
In other news, came off the bike this morning after the tyre came apart (but to be fair, I started noticing this yesterday and was a bit overconfident that it’d hold until the end of Friday) and the inner tube went !POP!. I’m fine, and the bike’s fine, but there was a bit of a kerfuffle getting it off the right and I’ve hurt my ankle a little bit as well as being a little bit sore. So it’s back to the buses for the next week and a half..
Update: I’m reworking the videos to be a little less vomit inducing – i.e. not quite so fast, and with less silly music.
If only I could travel this fast.. sigh..
Warning: may not be suitable for those with motion sickness as the videos are very fast and bounce along at a fair old pace.
Both editing with the beta version of Windows Live Movie Maker which does indeed improve on the current released version in a number of small ways. Still too basic for fancy pants stuff, but fine for simple things like this.
While I start prepping the 17 hour monster Premiere Pro rendering of 2 and half minutes of speeded up biking from Knaphill to the Surrey Research Park, here’s a small taster of the sights you’ll see on route:
Have returned from a hugely enjoyable weekend in Dorset attending my brother-in-law’s wedding. You couldn’t have asked for better weather, and all went without a hitch. Well, almost. On the Friday I managed to break the zip on my shorts necessitating in me borrowing a pair from my father-in-law. I hadn’t brought any other pair of trews other than my smart suit trousers which were intended for the wedding day itself. Sadly, I managed to split the borrowed pants on the Sunday when we got home. So it’s off to buy replacements later..
On the big day itself, we were picked up by Mary, my mother-in-law, and awaited the procession. I borrowed Memset’s HXR-MC1P high-definition “actioncam” at the last minute to record proceedings. As we were waiting in the car, the future Mr & Mrs got in the impressive Land Rover taking them to the wedding venue (the old town hall). We were still sitting in Mary’s car, so I took the camera and started filming out the rear window. The resulting footage looks like I’ve been staking out the place, awaiting the suspects to come out into the open! It gives me an interesting opening angle on the finished wedding video – a “24″ style title sequence.
The ceremony itself went without a hitch, and I’ve got some good footage of the whole event (even if I was filming their backs – but the ring exchange footage is a lot better than I expected – this camera is a little beauty) along with the reception party and speeches. I’m going to be editing it down into something watchable and distribute the results to the family on DVD and Blu-Ray (for those that have them).
On Sunday, we demonstrated the art of candy floss making to our 3-year old niece and 10-year old nephew. Never have I seen sugar consumed at the speed of light given them two. But great fun nonetheless. Was also exposed to “Dora the Explorer” for the first time (Pirate Adventure) and I can honestly say that it was: odd. For example: Lisa the Lizard doesn’t pay any attention to steering the ship while huge rocks threaten to destroy Dora and her gang – all they can do is sing, “Lisa, turn the wheel” with huge grins as impending doom threatens their very existence. Part of me wishes they were all crushed against the rocks as punishment for trusting the safety of the entire ship to an idiot. And what’s with baby Jaguar? Every other animal can talk, but he seems to have speech impediment – all he can do is go, “mewmewmewmewmew”.
Took the HXR for a bike ride to work today. I have some excellent footage (all things considered – the camera is poking out the back of my backpack), including a cyclist who is talking on his mobile phone whilst riding on the main windy road towards Worplesdon.
I’ve now done two trips (Guilford to Knaphill, Knaphill to Guildford) on the new Wisper 905se City S and I can say with great relief that this is a wonderful bike. Worth every penny.
The pedal assist appears to be slightly weaker (even set to high) than the Urban Mover that I’ve been using, but that’s no bad thing – gets me fitter by making me work harder – a true electric/normal pushbike hybrid. I was aching somewhat yesterday evening having had to put in a bit of extra pedaling, but I’ll get used to it. That said, there is .. THE THROTTLE. THE THROTTLE is the turbo boost that makes the bike shoot up hills with ease. It doesn’t drain the battery much – I’ve completed the round trip with one battery charge and there is still a bit left over.
The saddle is so comfortable. Not only does is it very soft, and therefore keeping one’s squishy bits nice and squishy (EWWW! There will be repercussions! – Ed.) but there is .. SUSPENSION! Yes, the seat will happily bounce up and down gently as you go over the the unavoidable Surrey potholes. The front forks are adjustable as well, so the entire bike is one smooth(er) ride.
Breaks are excellent – the front uses disc breaking, the back V-pads. Gently pressure to the breaks gets the bike stopping nice and easily. Thankfully there are no Knaphill car drivers around today stopping in the middle of the road to talk to spaniel walkers.
Time will tell how well the bike performs overall, but so far I’m very very happy with it.
Thanks to my employers, Memset, I can now travel to work in style on the Wisper 905se City S electric pushbike. Here’s the company fleet (with me in the background looking rather .. odd, as if to exclaim, “where the heck did all these bicycles come from?! What do you mean these are our backup power generators for the datacentre?”) in it’s glory (photo by Kate Craig-Wood via her Tweetphoto stream)
Initial impression is that it’s a wonderfully smooth ride. I now have something called .. oh, what is it again .. ah, yes – suspension. The throttle makes short work of hills, and the assisted pedalling helps enormously, of course. But what’s great is that the saddle and handlebars put you in a more upright position which feels a lot more comfortable.
