Bicycle Touring 101: Video taping your bicycle tour

Jeff Palmer used this video camera to take the raw footage for an excellent video of his bicycle touring adventure.
Click to enlarge.

One of the benefits of this web site is that people share their experiences with you. Of course I think the shared aspect of this site is also the key factor in what makes it of value to people. Rather then just hearing one person's opinion you get the opportunity to benefit from many!

Recently Jeff Palmer shared his bicycle touring experience with me using pictures. Unlike most journals where you see a mix of words and static images, Jeff chose to video tape his adventure and he sent me a copy of his DVD to watch.

Jeff rode the Great Divide Ride in the United States as part of a group of people. Two years later he returned once again to redo a few sections that were rained out the first tour. Watching his video was very interesting to me since I've often thought about doing this particular tour but I've never really appreciated what to expect despite reading numerous books before now.

With Jeff's video I was able to enjoy a view of the tour as seen through the lens of his video camera. Instead of wondering what the roads were like or what equipment was used I could easily see the answers to those questions as well as many more.

After watching the DVD I had several questions for Jeff. The following questions and answers will hopefully give you a bit more information about how you can video tape your own bicycle touring adventure as well as some information related to the Great Divide Ride.

Jeff Palmer at Malpais National Monument, south of Grants, New Mexico.
Click to enlarge.

I used a mini-DV camera I purchased in 1999, a JVC DVM50. It weighs a little more than a pound. I had 2 spare batteries and the recharger with me. I had a mini tripod with me but never used it. I carried the camera in a small camera case which I carried in my waterproof handlebar bag.

During your video there are many moments when it appears that you are riding a bike and taping at the same time. How did you manage to do that? Was it tricky?

I carry the camera in my handlebar bag and when I see a shot I want I just take out the camera and video tape while I'm riding one handed. I've thought about a helmet cam, but I like the diversity of angles when I use the camera by hand. I ride a full-suspension Santa Cruz Superlight which does an amazing job of smoothing out the road. I didn't try to tape while riding when the terrain was rough, such as on some of the single track or mud. It's also difficult to film in bad weather so you get the impression from the video that the weather is always terrific.

I've been filming from my bike for several years but previous trips were on the road.

The hardest part about filming an area you haven't been in before is getting to the good spots before the riders, and they aren't willing to stop. I had to ride hard to get ahead so I can do the filming.

Your video of the Great Divide ride is incredible to watch! How much of your raw footage actually made it in to the end product?

The first video, I had about 3 hours of footage. I edited it down to two hours for all the participants on the trip, and then made the shorter version (about 50 minutes) for the general public. The first tour I signed up with Adventure Cycling.

Before watching your video I had a mild desire to ride the Great Divide Ride. Now that I've seen it the urge has become much more burning. Any tips for people thinking about setting out on their first Great Divide Ride (I believe you did it at least twice).

Jeff Palmer riding down the east side of Boreas Pass in Colorado.
Click to enlarge.

I've been touring for almost 45 years, road riding, with an upright and recumbents (since 1980). I had read about the Divide Ride but didn't consider it because I was in my 50's and had never ridden a mountain bike. In the summer of 2000, Sandy (my wife) and I were touring in Wyoming. While in the Tetons we met a Divide rider (Richard), who was on the Adventure Cycling tour. He was very enthusiastic about the trip.

We ran into Richard 10 days later in Rawlins, WY. Sandy and I drove to Denver and rode our bikes from Denver to Durango. On the way to Durango, we ran into Richard again in Salida and he highly recommended the trip. I took the fact that we ran into him 3 times was a message for me to ride the Divide.

In December, 2000, I purchased my Santa Cruz. I tried to find friends to go on the Divide Ride but no one wanted to commit that much time. I told Sandy I wouldn't attempt the trip alone because I was unfamiliar with mountain bike touring and worried about crashing in the middle of nowhere. Therefore I decide to signup with Adventure Cycling, my first group tour. Twelve riders, including 2 leaders, left the Canadian border June 15th. Nine of us used B.O.B.'s. Several people had a trailer as well as front panniers. Most of us used Hydration packs. Six of the riders planned on calling it quits while the rest of us were riding the entire trip. By the time we started the 2nd half of the trip, we were down to 4 riders, although we did meet other riders on the trip who rode with us for various amounts of time.

The riding was challenging, but not as difficult as I thought it would be. I was probably the best road rider in the group, but in the middle of the group as far as mountain biking. Probably the most difficult thing to do is figuring out how much food and water to carry with you. Our longest stretch without a water supply was 3 days.

I enjoyed the other participants. We had a great time camping, cooking, playing, etc. Since I was making the video, I made it a point to ride with all the riders. Most of the riders just rode with 1 or 2 other riders throughout the trip. Some riders started at 7:00, others 10:00.

The reason I rode a second time was to ride areas I had missed 2 years before because of the rain. New Mexico trails become impassable if they get lots of rain, which happened to me on both trips. There are still several parts of the dirt I've missed in New Mexico.

Riding up Marshall Pass, Colorado.
Click to enlarge.

We ended up riding 50 days, but we had lots of rest days, almost 20. So we averaged about 50 miles per riding day. Shortest day was 25 miles, longest 95 miles. I think for experienced cyclist, 50 days total would be a comfortable time line.

I would try to ride the route a bit faster to avoid New Mexico in August. That is when the monsoon hits and the roads turn to mud. We did meet some riders going south to north who were doing well. I don't know if the ran into snow in Montana. If you ride north to south you really can't leave much before June 15th because of the snow, although changes in climate might change that. In 2001, our warmest riding was in Montana, about 95 degrees.

In my opinion, Montana is the best part of the trip. Lots of diversity, tough climbs, and single track. Colorado is the easiest riding. New Mexico is interesting but water problems, too much or too little, can frustrate you.

I really enjoyed this tour; it has spoiled me. It was so nice to ride and not have to worry about cars and trucks. There were days when didn't see a single vehicle! The experience was very similar to backpacking.

From your video it appears that roughly half the riders were using BOB trailers and the other half were using panniers. By the end of the ride was there a clear consensus on what worked better in particular conditions during the ride?

I don't think there was a clear consensus. The two fastest riders were using panniers, but I don't know if it was the panniers or their ability. The bikes with panniers had more problems with their wheels. We did have one trailer wheel's bearings freeze up and a couple of times the wheel came off. It makes for an interesting experience to watch your trailer wheel pass you!

I used a trailer for the first trip and full panniers on the second. I've used a B.O.B. on road trips as well with my Vision recumbent.

Malpais National Monument, south of Grants, New Mexico.
Click to enlarge.

I had one bad experience with the trailer while riding in the Yukon (1998). I was descending a pass about 40 mph on pavement when the trailer started oscillating back and forth and crashed me. Needless to say that ended my trip with lots of road rash and messing up of my bike. Since then I don't go faster than 30 mph with the trailer. On the Divide tour I warned other riders about going fast but they ignored me. Some of them were descending at over 45 miles per hour on rough dirt roads. No one had any problems. I even started descending faster; up to 40 mph. I think the rough road prevent any problems with oscillation.

As far as my experience with panniers and a B.O.B. for touring on a full suspension bike, I had mixed experiences.

When pulling a trailer, I couldn't stand very well to climb because the action of the rear shock was greatly exaggerated with the trailer.

When I used panniers, the rear panniers affected the action of the rear shock as well. I think a better setup for touring would be a hardtail, but the full suspension sure helped me doing the video.

Life is a bunch of compromises. If I do another mountain bike trip, I'll probably use my trailer.

Do you offer your video for sale to others who might be interested in obtaining a copy from you?

I gave copies to all the participants. Several people bought copies. I just charge enough to cover cost to make the copy and shipping.

Can you say a bit more about the music. The kind and the style,,,what drew you to it?

Sandy and I spent the Fall of 2000 doing volunteer work at Bandelier National Monument. While we were there we had the opportunity to listen to several CD's written and performed by Native Americans. We really enjoyed the music and it seemed to match the mood of traveling by bike in the southwest. I got the music from 2 CD's, "Orenda" and "Weaving the Strands". Ironically, the songs on "Orenda" are written and performed by Joanne Shenandoah who is an Oneida Indian from a reservation in Central New York, about 30 miles from my home. I had to go to New Mexico to hear music from this area.

How did you go about creating the dvd? What software did you use? Do you have any tips for someone else considering doing something similar?

When I bought a camera, I specifically picked a DV camera so that I could save the video to digital tapes (MiniDV). I have a Macintosh G4 computer with 2 extra hard drives. I use Final Cut Pro software for editing the video. I transfer a tape directly to a hard drive and then edit the video. I then transfer the edited video back to a tape as a backup. From Final Cut Pro, I save the video in a format that can be transferred to a DVD. I use a software package, IDVD, to design my DVD and add the file from my video to IDVD. I have a built in DVD drive on my computer so I make the DVD from my computer.

A DV camera which usually starts at $400.00 USD. My camera would be about this price now although it was much more expensive 6 years ago. Obviously a small camera is much easier to carry on a trip; mine was 1 pound/2.2 kilograms. My camera has a 10:1 optical zoom which is plenty. I can't hold my camera steady at the longer zoom settings and I don't carry a tripod with me. I would love to find a camera that had simple features because I don't do any editing in the camera. Don't use a digital zoom while filming!

A Macintosh computer (minimum $800.00) with at least a G4 processor and Mac OS-X as the operating system. It is a good idea to have a second hard drive (minimum $100.00) to store your data. Video files are very large. A 1 hour video takes up about 25 GB of space. You can purchase a Mac with a SuperDrive which will allow you to create DVD's. A SuperDrive adds about $100.00 to the cost of the computer.

I used Final Cut Pro which I purchased before other software was available. New Macintosh computers now come with movie making software (iMovie) which will work just fine. Mac's also come with iDVD so you don't have to purchase any extra software.

The most important part of making a video is taking the raw video. It is difficult to make a good film with lousy footage. I highly recommend taking a beginning course in filmmaking. Most people don't know what to look for and how to shoot good video. I found a course very valuable. I always had my camera with me, on and off the bike, to be ready for good material. I have thought about mounting a camera to my helmet to shoot video, but decided that is too limiting, so when I shoot from the bike, I just hand hold the camera. That way I can get video in all directions. Just be careful to pay attention to the road as well as the subject.

The most time consuming part of making a video is the editing. It took many hours for me to edit the video from 3 hours down to less than 1 hour. Editing is critical for making a video that is interesting to the viewer. Again, a course in filmmaking really helps you learn how to do this.

It is very difficult to record sound of bike videos (especially while moving) unless you have very sophisticated equipment (expensive). I chose to just add music to the video. Some day I may write a narrative and add that to the video but I haven't been motivated to do that yet.

If you have the opportunity to see Jeff's video I highly recommend it. Once you've seen it you might discover a sudden desire to ride the Great Divide and also to tape parts of your next bicycle touring adventure!