Country Roads Spring Meet 2012 Photo Thread

[vulcanbill]

I'd just about guarantee that rapid police showing is due to the existence of this GBT site.

They say the other big site in the Radio Free Zone is operated by the CIA/NSA and is the meat n' potatoes of
long distance intelligence gathering/monitoring.

I tell ya I saw a couple of those WVA State Police SUV's flying down the road in front of Boyer.

They looked like some pretty stealthy high-tech rigs. Not typical for your VERY small town remote mountain podunks.

I am very sure the US Gov't has a close eye on this thing and the surrounding areas.

[SuperSlider]

[garry]

Here is a video of the entire length of Smoke Hole Rd being run south to north from my ride home on Sunday (26 minutes). I only had to pass one car, so it's a pretty clean run. I uploaded the 159MB video file my GoogleDrive so that Vimeo wouldn't F it all up converting it to Flash or whatever it does. No music. No fancy edits. More a simple documentary of what the road is like. Sorry about the water spots on the lens/case. Hope this works...

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7ZFB3LzTjU5WFYyc09kd1NmVWM

EDIT: It appears that you will need to download the file in order to view the video. The Download option is on the File menu.

[mxvet57]

Just think what you would have learned if you had taken the tour.  

I did it 2 years ago and i wanted to do it again Friday but i got to the motel to late.

Tim, If you can get back down and take the tour. It was well worth it. You think it's big from a distance try standing in front of it. OMFG

[jimmy]

At time 1:10-1:15, I think I see the Rake on the right side of the road!!!!!!!

[ChrisZRX]

I didn't have to download, I viewed it online.

The camera does some weird things.  It makes you look like you are REALLY REALLY hauling ass, the curves don't seem nearly as tight as I know they are, and at the end the bridge seems excessively long.  

But it was cool nonetheless.  

[garry]

I didn't have to download, I viewed it online.

The camera does some weird things.  It makes you look like you are REALLY REALLY hauling ass, the curves don't seem nearly as tight as I know they are, and at the end the bridge seems excessively long.  

But it was cool nonetheless.  

Wow, the Google processing REALLY destroyed the quality. That SUCKS! The video size of the file I uploaded is 480x272 and Google blew it way up making a somewhat pixelated video even worse. The original video was 1280x720 that I converted down to 480x272 to cut the file size down since it was so long. I would recommend downloading the file to view it.

This was my first time using the GoPro camera and it does "straighten" the road. Not sure what's up with that as it was mounted to my bars next to the left mirror in order to get the lean angle. I didn't get the sense of hauling ass that you did, but I wasn't poking along either. Just a nice steady pace.

[Cablebandit]

The straightening effect comes from the really wide lens.

[Carbonero]

The straightening effect comes from the really wide lens.

Yeah, wide angle lenses are great for getting in all the elements of a scene, but they're pretty horrific for image/perspective integrity.

[garry]

Yeah, wide angle lenses are great for getting in all the elements of a scene, but they're pretty horrific for image/perspective integrity.

It turns out that if I choose the 1080 option, I can select from wide (170), medium (127) , and narrow (90) field of view. Rumor has it (based on a quick Google search) that a future firmware update will enable FOV options in 720p as well. Next time out I will try the 1080 medium option since all other video resolution options are wide (170). Maybe that will hit the sweet spot...

[Skee]

I was impressed by the steadiness of the image.  Where did you mount the camera?

I tried taking some video on the way home with my G10.  I taped the mini-tripod mount to the upright mirror stalk.  (I had fairly good luck with this on a Honda in Europe.)  Not so on the Wee in WV.  Vibration turned everything into a blur.  All you can see in front of me is a huge yellow blur about the size of the sun weaving through a green background.  That was Jeets, 3x larger than normal due to the vibration.

[garry]

I was impressed by the steadiness of the image.  Where did you mount the camera?

I have a RAM mount ball on the handlebars next to the left mirror. I mounted the GoPro to a RAM flat plate thing and connected the two with a short RAM arm.

[ConPilot1]

Great vid dude. That's a keeper for when I need a virtual mental escape in my battleship grey cubey-hole.

The lens does indeed, made the road look like no big deal. Ain't so when you're in the saddle.  

Thanks for that.  

[garry]

Great vid dude. That's a keeper for when I need a virtual mental escape in my battleship grey cubey-hole.

The lens does indeed, made the road look like no big deal. Ain't so when you're in the saddle.  

Thanks for that.  

I have older vids of many of the good roads from the region posted on my Vimeo account (if you need additional mental escape options):

http://vimeo.com/user223983/videos

[tthompsr]

OK finally got around to downloading my pics ( Didn't take to many with all the rain we had) and here's a few of mine.
 Was the first tent to set up, was in early on thurs afternoon with temps in the high 80's and all kinds of sun, (if I only knew what was coming). The bike got dirty quick with all the truck traffic I ran into on some of the roads.

[tthompsr]

Woke to a Thunderstorm on Friday morning  and found out quickly that my little tent was no longer waterproof!
Figured at some point I'll have to find a tarp. Once the rain cleared on Friday morning I saddled up and hit the road and hit some of those great twisties!

[tthompsr]

Sat morning woke to gray skies again, figured it would be a great day when we where treated to this first thing in the morning. The day turned pretty wet and I spent most of it in my rain gear!
I was there to ride and that's what I did racking up 300+ miles a day, Did 380 miles on Sat. and mostly on wet roads with some gravel  thrown in here and there.

[tthompsr]

 On Sat.rode mostly in the Southeast corner of the state  33, 219,39, rode thru Helvetia, wound up south of Beckly WV.,Figured I would head back to the Boyer from there. All and all in spite of the rain I had a great weekend, got to meet some more of the STN crowd and ride some great West Virginia roads.

[tthompsr]

Woke up on Sun Morning to pea soup fog! Watched some early risers leave during this.
 I waited it out a little and left about 9, Took and nice ride up 28 and wound up heading home on 55 into 66 and back around the DC beltway. Total miles for the weekend 1380.

[MCGMB]

Here is some of my pics....

My camera crapped out Saturday afternoon so i didn't get any after that.


Saturdays ride. Nuf said.

...

Yeah, Saturday, that won't be a day I'll soon forget.  Thanks for posting mxvet