Helmet camera

After much deliberating and chatting to some of my cycling colleagues who were in the know, a couple of weeks ago I made the decision to organise the purchase of a helmet camera. This was done, not only with the idea of documenting elements of my ride through Italy, but also as a bit of a "safety" measure for when cycling the roads of Melbourne.

Whether it is six o'clock in the morning, during peak hour traffic or otherwise, there are a certain number of motorists out there (and I am sure that none of you would do so) that don't perhaps realise how wide their cars are, are not paying full attention to the road ahead or simply believe that cyclists don't belong on the road and hence force cyclists into the gutter or worse.

So on Saturday, after cycling out to Kangaroo Ground from Heidelberg with the Lead Out crew, I headed into Ted's Camera store to buy a Contour2+ camera. It wasn't until Tuesday however that I was able to try it out. Twenty five kilometres and just under an hour later I discovered that activating the camera through my mobile phone however doesn't work all that flash hot. Basically it would seem I cannot operate my helmet mounted camera (via my phone) at the same time as recording a log of the trip on my cycling computer because the Bluetooth messages from the separate devices (camera to phone) and (bike computer to cadence sensor) get confused with one another and therefore wipe one another out...

As a result, I decided to head out this afternoon, for a quick trip out to Heidelberg.... with the view of giving the camera a bit of a spin..... It's a bit fiddly to mount in terms of ensuring that the horizon is level and provides sufficient view of the road ahead but I think I'll be right, with the next big question to be resolved - How do I attach said footage to this blog.....

Either way, that should keep me out of mischief for a couple of days, but hopefully by the time that Saturday rolls around, I'll be able to show you some of the wonderful sights of the back roads of Eltham, Kangaroo Ground and so on.

The Journey Begins

With just under a month to go, the anxiety & excitement about what lies ahead, in terms of my cycling adventure through Italy is being to rise. Airline tickets have been bought, accommodation booked & my training regime is beginning to show results, which helps to a certain extent with the trepidation about what lies ahead.

On that note, I would like to thank both Conan & Mark from Lead Out Cycling from establishing a program which has already seen my endurance, fitness & speed improve quite markedly. Hopefully I will be able to fly their jersey with distinction as I ride up the Passo dello Stelvio, not that I am necessarily expecting to win any Strava segments on that particular climb.....

Whilst there is still a considerable amount of preparation & training which will still need to occur over the course of the next few weeks, I do believe that things are beginning to fall into place. Of course, you can play your part in this little adventure, by making a donation towards "The Kids' Cancer Project" via The Kids Cancer Project Donation Page which would make my hard work climbing the various hills in Italy all that much more worthwhile.