Sunday, January 30, 2011

What's a Motorcycle Blogger to do... When the Words Fail Him?

For the past couple of weeks, I've stumbled around, chasing my tail, trying to find some inspiration to form the frame on which I could hang a fresh post. It's been a bit of a frustration... I'm not a guy who is generally at a loss for words. So it's an affliction I'm not familiar, or comfortable, dealing with.

Being the writer of two websites, three blogs and recently, one genuine western fiction novel :o), I feel a responsibility to produce something of value to compensate the readers who have yielded time from their lives... to read the scribblings of my meager publishing effort.

I started to notice that the affliction seemed to be contagious. Most of the Motorcycle blogs I read regularly, haven't been posted to for weeks... some of them, months...

I wondered... why?

If they were all from bikers up north, that could be an answer... Not much riding goin' on of Motorcycles up in the North Country... Not in December and January...

Back in Colorado... I rode all winter... one of the few. When it was 15 degrees, even 10! if the road was clear... I was on the bike... more than once, I was already out on the road when it started snowing... and road on home, encrusted in that white junk...

I commonly say; "Take away my motorcycle and you might just as well shoot me in the head... I'm not gonna be of any use."

But... most of the blogs I'm talking about are written by riders in Southern California, Arizona... and other places... where I can't truly believe, that weather... is any sort of an excuse... Winter stored bikes can't be the reason...

So what gives? Is there some great emotional depression goin' on that I'm unaware of?

Parked for much of the winter down on the Arizona Desert, I've been riding... I see lots of other bikes on the road...so they're moving...

I'm sure you've heard some motorcycle riders say something to the affect of; "My bike doesn't have much shiny chrome... I spend my time riding... Not... Polishing." :o)

Maybe, the failure to produce blog postings is because they're riding... and not writing?

I can only hope.

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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Sunday, January 16, 2011

Motorcycle Vlogging Equipment

It sure would help if I had some sort of an Idea what I was doing! :o) It's kind of like the words from the old song; "It's a Bad motorcycle with the Devil on the seat, ridin' 90 miles and hour down a dead end street!" ... or something real close to that.

I'd pretty much focused in on the go pro Hero camera for Motorcycle Videos... but, it lacks any ability to plug in an external microphone... so I figured that I'd be needing either/or a second camera in my helmet or a voice recorder of some sort... and then splicing the two together, after the fact... more hassle than I'm really wanting.. and my learning curve is already steep enough! :o)

so... I kept looking, and yesterday I ran across what just might be my answer. Don't know why I hadn't found it before... It's called Helmet Camera or Extreme Mount Helmet Camera. This unit has a remote microphone, as well as an extension available for that... so a guy can mount the camera unit anywhere... on the bike, helmet, looking forward, looking backward... and move it around several different mounting locations... while having a microphone mounted inside the helmet... exactly what I've been looking for...

It seems like a no-brainer to me... If you're marketing a camera for "action" type videos where the intention is to mount it to vehicles or your body in some way... and you put in the effort to add audio capapbility to the camera... why wouldn't you make provision to plug in an external microphone for on the spot Voice over... Duh!

One advantage for me is, that though the camera is better than a hundred bucks more for their system... it eliminates the need for a second camera... and... a fresh helmet that I could fit the second camera in... and/or the audio recorder... that would be needed with the Go Pro model...

So... my research into Motorcycle Vlogging equipment is starting to bear fruit... now... all I got to do is find the $400 bucks! :o) ... and maybe a review or two, from riders that have used this camera setup... before I plunk down those precious greenbacks...

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

Return to the Home page of Motorcycle Touring on Freedom Road
Visit our sister site goin' RV Boondocking

Share your stories and opinions;
*Tell us Which you think is the... The Best Touring Motorcycle
*Share...  Your Personal Motorcycle Philosophy with us!
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Friday, January 14, 2011

Motorcycle Vlogging... Uh Oh...

Yeah... I'm another Blogger/Website writer (I hate the word webmaster!) gettin' that itch. I've been studyin' it for a while... and seriously looking at moving into a regular Motorcycle Vlogging effort. I've been thinking of things I could do with it... the opportunity for having some pretty good times...

... as well as looking at the $$$ cost of getting set up in a way I can do what I think would be a good job.

A "Hero Go Pro" camera is nigh on to $300 bucks... a second small camera suited to mount inside my helmet; which in my case, 'cause of my big freakin' nose... will require a fresh helmet! :o) and a few other odds and ends...

In my research of what other people have done so far... One of the things I've seen, among the current crop of Motorcycle Vloggers, is far too many people just ridin' down the road with little thought about what they're doing... talkin' about nuthin'... and not really producing anything useful...

Right there, to my mind... is the dangerous part of Blogging, not to mention Vlogging, ... at least if you don't pay attention to it...

The dangerous thing I see in it is; Ego...

Let's face it... who am I to criticize what other folks are doing? So the next words here... are addressed to myself as much as anyone.

It's too easy to just hang your face... or your Blog/Vlog on the net... and think you're something special... but you ain't! You're (I am) just another person among something better than 6 billion pushin' and shovin' to get by...

So... What's my point?

My Point is this... if you're not gonna share something of value... if all you're gonna do is make some noise, thinking anyone wants to hear that... then why bother? The world has enough noise... why not, since you're there anyway, and making the video any way... why not, put out a lil' more effort, a lil' more thought, and actually create something people can use?

So... That's what I'm thinkin' about and workin' on these days... I've already built a few videos at this point. Those are mostly information type stuff... but creating them, kind of tickled my imagination. I can see Lots of room for improvement... and I've got lots of ideas for some videos that I think... in my ego :o) ... some riders might find useful... and then... I've got a few whacked out ideas... that would be just a flat out hoot to build.

So... as soon as I can fit the required equipment into my sorry, anemic budget... I'm gonna throw my helmet into the Motorcycle Video Blogging ring... and see if I can do a respectable job...

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

Return to the Home page of Motorcycle Touring on Freedom Road
Visit our sister site goin' RV Boondocking

Share your stories and opinions;
*Tell us Which you think is the... The Best Touring Motorcycle
*Share...  Your Personal Motorcycle Philosophy with us!
*Tell us about your...  Great Motorcycle Roads