I had the urge to go Hollywood again yesterday, so I grabbed my Flip Video Ultra HD and the Voodoo Nakisi and rolled over to Palmer Park.
I spent ninth grade through high-school graduation living a stone’s throw from the park, which we called “The Bluffs,” and which played host to all manner of nefarious activities. In my dotage, I’m only about 10 minutes away by bike, and so I’m usually in the park at least once a week — more often if it’s windy, as it has been this spring.
Palmer Park’s 730 acres comprise some 30 miles of trails, some of them absurdly easy to ride, others not so much (think full suspension, body armor and a solid health-insurance policy). Quite a few can be navigated on a cyclo-cross bike, and those get even easier on the Nakisi 29er with its triple chainring and 700×38 WTB Allterrainasauruses; the 700×45 Panaracers I used at first were overkill. It’s not difficult to arrange a couple satisfying hours of riding in the park without too much repetition.
This little video required some repetition, however. The Flip (which Cisco recently discontinued) is no GoPro Hero or Contour HD — it looks like a Hershey bar mounted to a helmet and catches on bits of this and that if you happen to be riding through the trees, as I was. And getting it mounted at the proper angle took three trips down (and back up) the trail.
Plus importing the video into iMovie is fiddly. You can’t just click “Import from Camera” — the clip winds up truncated by about a third. No, you have to hit “Import Movies,” and then fetch the clip from the Flip. A minor annoyance, but an annoyance nonetheless.
As it happened, I stumbled across another videographer during my ride. He had a Contour attached to his helmet and professed to be very happy with it. Naturally, gadget envy seized me at once. So if you suddenly start to see more and better video around here, you can blame him.
Mad Blog Media 
Summer? Getting a little ahead of yourself, eh, Patrick?
Wishful thinking, eh? I’m still starting every ride wearing arm warmers and knee warmers in addition to the usual “springtime” attire.
Hey not bad,I thought you were on slo-mo for a second but the music told me you were going full tilt, now thats my kind of trail, tired of dodging redwood trees
I’m always on slo-mo, especially on a swoopy, sandy little bit like this. I almost washed out the front wheel on another bike in a sandpile, and I hate crashing into cacti.
Nice.
So how did you mount the camera? Maybe I’ll mount my Flip and film the ride to work. No trees, but lots of cars to dodge.
Ben, I used a little Flip tripod that comes with Velcro straps for latching onto this or that. But there’s all kinds of stuff out there that should be cheaper and more widely available, now that Cisco’s croaked the Flip.
I’ve been playing with a Flip this week. Got roped into doing some stuff for Bike To Work Week and that’s what they handed me to use. It’s way cool and uber easy to use. I’d run out and buy one if Cisco hadn’t killed it off.
Jeff, the Flips are are fun (this is my second; I passed the original on to Herself for recording librarian wonkiness). I have a Canon ZR500 MiniDV camcorder that I hardly ever use because the Flip is so damn’ handy.
But it sounds like we may all be shooting suitable video with our phones here before much longer, if MacRumors is to be believed. Remember when we used to just talk into the friggin’ things?
I’d like that… I’ve been waiting for the next iPhone now that Verizon sells them. I was hoping for next month, but it really looks like September given Apple’s supply chain problems in Japan.
Very relaxing to watch the video…really sort of had me in a trance. But then I thought, ok Patrick has something unexpected coming up here, I need to pay attention. I just knew any minute a bear was going to jump out in front of you on the trail. BOO!!
Nah, Sharon, I’m just trying to get comfy with the technology. Can’t add the special effects until I figure out the basics, like getting a usable clip and editing same.
There is a bear that lives in this park, and one of the guys who put on last weekend’s MTB race saw him. I’ve just seen coyotes, mule deer, redtailed hawks and barn owls. And mind you, this place is in smack-dab the middle of Bibleburg. Used to be the edge of the eastern ‘burbs back in 1967, but no longer.
HD video in 3,2,…
Excellent video Patrick. Palmer looks like fun as our trails here in SacTown are not even close to “legal” or as swoopy. Well I take that back, there is one which is primo singletrack if you get it at the right time of year, but it can be sketchy since everyone and her mother is out there watching birds, walking dogs and/or not paying attention. I have a friend who rode parts of Palmer on his cross/commuter bike a few years ago. He claimed that he was able to keep up with “guys of duales” but I have a feeling it may have been this trail – he made it sound like the DH at Mt. Snow.
James, the legality of this particular trail is open to question. It’s actually adjacent to Palmer Park, and I think it may be part of a development just to the east, but the old barbed-wire fence separating the two has been allowed to fall into disrepair, and as you know, here in the West, the law says you have to fence critters out, not in. Plus it’s clearly a well-established trail and I don’t leave anything but tire tracks, unlike the young pierced-and-tattooed stoners I see using it occasionally.
It’s also the most gentle trail around, so I didn’t have to worry about launching the Flip or myself into some jagged rockpile. I have trouble running some of Palmer Park’s more technical trails, like stretches of the Templeton, which is double-boinger/body-armor country.
I’ll post some video of the gnarlier trails one of these days, but not today. It pissed down rain all night long and that turns PP’s adobe-based trails into rivers of gooey clay.
Funny, as often as I’ve been on the trails there, I don’t actually think I’ve been on that one. I appreciate your slowing down the footage so I could get a good look.
“Slowing down the footage.” Bwahahahahah. You’ve seen me ride, Doug … it doesn’t get any slower than that.
This trail gives you the option of skipping that long sandy downhill stretch of trail between the Glenn Urban pavilion and Lazy Land, which is kinda boring unless a sandpile grabs your front wheel and throws you ass over teakettle.