Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Port Renfrew Loop: Revisited

As many of you know, a couple of months ago Chuck, One A day - Mostly Seattle (<-- click link) accompanied me to Vancouver Island for a couple of days to ride the "Port Renfrew Loop". He on his new Vespa 400-MP3 and myself on my then new Suzuki V-strom DL650. We met up with another V-stromer, Ian whom I met from the Stromtrooper.com forum who lives in Brentwood Bay. I won't rehash the details as I have posted this information before and also on my Ride Report which was posted on the Stromtrooper.com forum (below is the link)

http://www.stromtrooper.com/showthread.php?t=44747

This past weekend I had to opportunity to actually meet Brad (<-- click link) and Mrs "B" (<-- click link) and their friend Rick while down in Seattle for the motorcycle show. I had previously arranged to meet up with Chuck for dinner somewhere and it turned out to be at a very nice restaurant named, Cafe Revo (<-- click link). This has been a busy week for me and I have not yet found time to actually post anything about the Seattle Motorcycle Show, but will get to it soon.

The three of us spent a few hours socializing and discussing this and that and the topic came up about the video I took the weekend that we spent together. So tonight I spent a few hours putting a few clips together and here it is.

I just wanted to mention that the camcorder I was using is enclosed in a waterproof case, is shock resistant & uses flash memory. It is mounted on the right mirror stem with a U-mount and arms from Ram-mounts. The camera is not mounted behind any protective windscreen and is complete exposed to the elements, whether it be sand or water. I did not realize that I should be wiping the front glass to keep it clear so as a result much of the video is focused sharply on the water droplets rather than Chuck, whom was sandwiched between us on his MP3

I decided that I would "film" the portion loading onto the ferry so you can visualize just how big our BC Ferries are. There are two car decks and some shopping on board with a combination of 3 eateries. The larger ferries have a full buffet, self serve cafeteria and a coffee shop with sandwiches. You are also able to rent staterooms for the short 1-1/2 hr crossing.

10 comments:

  1. Bob,
    Nice video! A certain amount of water droplets are okay in my humble opinion. They add to the feeling of the wet Northwest and the terrain. Good job - thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Bob,

    Very clear, great Youtube quality again, they are still rejecting mpeg2 form me....I heard your voice for the first time, you sound American, I though that you would sound Englishy with a hint of Frenchness being Canada.

    I actually thought the rain drops added to the video to set the stage/atmosphere for the ride!!

    Cheers,

    Dave...

    ReplyDelete
  3. I thought you were telling your friend to throw up but it seemed a little early in the boat ride. I liked the shot of the fire extinguisher case on the prototype Key West-Habana Ferry which will go into service one day.We will have to imagine the shops and restaurants and 90 minute cabins. The kaledeiscope ride was nice. Especially seeing you keep up with the fearsome MP3 whose claim to fame is high speeds in wet conditions, unlike over engineered Japanese V-twins. Hope Hawaii treats you to better weather but don't forget to take your socialized medicine with you, you communist, just in case. US hospitals charge a thousand bucks an hour for their rooms. Happy Christmas.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Pretty cool video setup. Apparently lane sharing is legal on the ferries.
    Looks like a great twisty road and good scenery on a drier day.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dear Bobskoot:

    The great little special effect at the beginning of the video suggested this production would have an "edge of the seat" sort of theme to it. And quite frankly, riding down wet metal boat ramps and puddled decks had me half expecting a little shipboard excitement.

    It would have been okay to wander around the boat with the camera running, or showing how the bikers were lashed down too.

    However, I did learn one lesson from all this: to either wipe the camera lens or the container the camera is in, or to limit the wet ride video.

    I am delighted, and somewhat envious, that you got to meet a few other bloggers on an international run down to Seattle. I'm going to have t experiment with the video capabilities of this Mac. Your blog is creating that level of drive and inspiration.

    Fondest regards,
    Jack • reep • Toad
    Twisted Roads

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mike:

    Actually, that should be my signature on all videos, the water droplets on the lens protector after all, this is the Wet Coast

    Dave:

    Chuck didn't know the parking procedure, with all the noise I had to shout at him, and it felt good

    Mr Conch:

    we always ride slower in rainy conditions, and for a time it was really coming down. It was weird to be following the 3 wheel tracks in the water.
    I have additional travel insurance for unlimited trips into the 'States, so thanks for asking. Hope your back is getting better, if not go down to Duval for a therapeutic massage and tell them Jack sent you.

    cpa3485:

    I'll bet you don't have roads like that in Kansas. I have another video taken the next day on dry roads when the sun came out

    Jack "r":

    You really have to be careful on the steel decks as they are saturated with oil from all the cars and don't get washed away. I have previously posted information as to securing your bike on the ferries. I think if you go back to May sometime for the Victoria rally.
    I don't think too many riders would be videoing in the rain while riding. My camcorder is waterproof. I have lots of riding video clips not yet compiled into movies. There are 7 tunnels in the Fraser Canyon, I have videos going through all of them.

    http://www.travelthecanyon.com/frasercanyontunnelsalexandra.html

    If you are having trouble with videos, upload them to skydrive and I will take a look at them for you. Skydrive is a free service with 2 gigs of on-line storage. you can give me the password to download them

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Live_SkyDrive

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is indeed a wonderful loop, have done it twice this year. Too bad that the weather didn't play along in the beginning. A true wet coast vid nevertheless.
    Cheers, Sonja

    ReplyDelete
  8. For once I find myself agreeing with Reep. ( groan! ) You may be setting a new precedent wherein we all feel compelled to now add video to our posts.

    Video would be so cool as a teaching tool, too. I may have to start exploring that option myself.

    A couple of interesting observations on the video. I kept getting this weird feeling that Chuck was dragging a leg dirt rider style. I realized it was actually the inside front wheel's shadow in the curves.

    Secondly, I have come to the realization that, after training riders for so long, that I can't watch these kind of videos or follow bikes without critiquing the lines!

    The trip down into the ferry was so cool. I've never had the courage to trust the bike to stay in place while I wandered around topside.

    ReplyDelete
  9. im rendered typeless, joyful, and have only two words come to mind worthy to write; ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!

    thank you for sharing this with us. ive been wanting to film for our international friends for some time now. bravo my friend. fabulous ride, fabulous video, fabulous times.

    ReplyDelete
  10. SonjaM:

    I also did this loop two weekends in a row. The first weekend it was sunny, but I only posted pictures from the rainy weekend.

    One of the best roads on Vancouver island is Hwy 28 from Campbell River to Gold River. Bring you bike and let's go for a ride . . .

    Irondad:

    When I was with Chuck, I too thought that he was "dragging" his leg, but then I too discovered that it was his WHEELS. We went through some heavy rain and it was wierd to follow those THREE wheel tracks on the pavement.
    There is a place for video where you wish to highlite sounds and motion. Perfect for motorcycles.

    Ms M:

    I used to take photos with my left hand and trying to compose and shoot while riding and controlling the steering and throttle with only my right hand and eventually I thought it too dangerous to do anymore. I think Video is much safer as it is mounted on the handlebars and all you have to do is start and stop the recording. The camera is fixed to capture all the action in front.

    Thank you for your kind words and glad you liked the videos

    ReplyDelete