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MuniAddict
2009-10-11, 05:37 AM
Hi all!

Wow..just WOW! I arrived at the bottom of Hummingbird trail at 7:45am this morning, (Simi Valley, CA) and set out to ride/walk my MUni all the way to the top and then drop back in for the awesome DH. This is usually always done as a shuttle, but I was solo this time. Right as I was about to start on my way up, I met a cool hiker who wanted to come along, and he also used my camera to film me on the way back down. :D

After that ride, I met 2 more hikers who joined me for a ride down Stage coach, aka, "Devil's Slide", which isn't far from Hummingbird. I was able to actually set up my "Uni-cable-cam", even though there aren't any trees to speak of there! I had brought a couple steel stakes and a small hammer, so I could wedge them onto some boulders, so I had something to attach the two cable ends.

I've made lots of cable cam vids before, but this was really the first technical riding I've done using the UCC, and I'm pretty happy with how it came out! :thumb:

So here's the video, and I hope you'll enjoy it, and let me know what you think. Thanks! :)

YouTube - Mountain Unicycling: "Balance of Power"
Ben_Ceyssens
2009-10-11, 08:04 AM
Nice video!
MuniAddict
2009-10-11, 05:15 PM
Nice video!
Thanks Ben. :)
OrganicSteam
2009-10-11, 09:29 PM
Wow, you always out do yourself. Great vid. You always seem to be improving your vids every time.
MuniAddict
2009-10-11, 09:35 PM
Wow, you always out do yourself. Great vid. You always seem to be improving your vids every time.Thanks, it's really nice to hear that, and it really means a lot. Especially after making more than 200 videos, it's like, ok, now what? (Actually, that question came up after just the first 5 or 10, haha!) So that basically forces you to keep trying to improve in your riding, filming, editing, and just trying different approaches, which is a good thing really. :)
munirocks
2009-10-11, 09:46 PM
Wow, this one is really good, Terry! You rock, man! Looks like you had lots of fun too.
MuniAddict
2009-10-11, 09:53 PM
Wow, this one is really good, Terry! You rock, man! Looks like you had lots of fun too.Thanks much! Yeah Hummingbird is a great trail that throws pretty much everything at you; knarly DH, rocky terrain, Moab-like sections of petrified sand dunes turned to rock, some big drop opps, numerous caves, rock climbing off the flanks, amazingly beautiful scenery.

All this and it's relatively short at less than 2 miles each way. But you can play there all day doing various lines in the same general area. This time of year is ideal weather-wise; in the summer it's deadly hot and there's basically zero shade, except for those caves. :)
MUniThomas
2009-10-11, 09:55 PM
UniGeezer whats wrong with you!? That's the trail closest to my house and the first I have ever ridden and you did'nt invite me!? We gotta ride sometime dude! G-spot or hummingbird trail man. Message me when you want to go!
MuniAddict
2009-10-11, 10:05 PM
UniGeezer whats wrong with you!? That's the trail closest to my house and the first I have ever ridden and you did'nt invite me!? We gotta ride sometime dude! G-spot or hummingbird trail man. Message me when you want to go!Haha, sorry I didn't know you lived there. No wait, isn't Camarillo like 20-some miles from there? Yeah the other trails, G-spot and nature trail are also crazy technical! :D

Btw, Have we ridden before?
MUniThomas
2009-10-11, 10:10 PM
No we have'nt but I would absolutely love too. We, i think, are planning a ride at the hummingbird trail at the end of this month so you should definetely join us. I'll give you details as we get closer to the end of the month so you can decide whether or not to go. Hopefully you can be our shuttle buddy. :D

EDIT: Heres a website that unfortunately does not get updated often because of lack of riders. You should definetly sign up and join. http://vcunicycle.webs.com/
MuniAddict
2009-10-11, 10:29 PM
No we have'nt but I would absolutely love too. We, i think, are planning a ride at the hummingbird trail at the end of this month so you should definetely join us. I'll give you details as we get closer to the end of the month so you can decide whether or not to go. Hopefully you can be our shuttle buddy. :D

EDIT: Heres a website that unfortunately does not get updated often because of lack of riders. You should definetly sign up and join. http://vcunicycle.webs.com/Oh cool, I didn't know of that website but am a member of SBUni (Santa Barbara) and LA Muniriders. Yeah just let me know by PM or email about the ride. As far as shuttling, I figured it was just as easy-and more fun-to just hike/ride up from the bottom, since you have to still climb almost a mile up that fireroad even with the shuttle!

But yeah, either way is cool with me. The timing should work, but soon I'll be going to NV to ride "Bootleg Canyon" (http://www.bootlegcanyon.org/) again. It's literally like the "Disnelyland" for mtb! It's located in Boulder city, and I plan to go for a few days toward the end of the month or very early November...hopefully before it rains!
Michaelgoround
2009-10-12, 01:57 AM
Like fine wine you get better with age.:D
MuniAddict
2009-10-12, 02:42 AM
Like fine wine you get better with age.:DI'd drink to that! (Non-alcoholic, of course, lol!) :)
Thanks Michael, that really cheered me up!:D
dangerdog
2009-10-12, 06:20 AM
Nice one.Those are the best cuts of glide cam so far.

john
surfer1024
2009-10-12, 06:38 AM
Nice one.Those are the best cuts of glide cam so far.

john

+1 I was just about to say that. Good vid. The cable cam clips transitioned really nicely together.
Shug
2009-10-12, 02:32 PM
Terrific ride and video Terry!!!!!
All was brilliant.
Shug
Slocan
2009-10-12, 03:21 PM
Very nice. Some of the shots really conveyed the steepness of the trail, which is quite hard to do! And the cable-cam shots are getting really good!
MuniAddict
2009-10-12, 04:00 PM
Terrific ride and video Terry!!!!!
All was brilliant.
ShugThanks Sean. How's the ridin' and the shows going in your neck 'o' the woods? :)

Very nice. Some of the shots really conveyed the steepness of the trail, which is quite hard to do! And the cable-cam shots are getting really good!Yeah I was surprised it did seem to convey the steepness pretty well; especially since I was using my point & shoot. (sony w-290) It has a video mode that shoots in wide screen HD, but the focus tends to go in and out and get intermittently blurry. :(

Nice one.Those are the best cuts of glide cam so far.

johnThanks. I think you actually meant cable cam; glide cam is hand-held. Most of my other ucc videos have much longer duration to each run, but these were quite short, and less then 80-100 feet on average.

+1 I was just about to say that. Good vid. The cable cam clips transitioned really nicely together.Thanks. Of the several ucc videos I've made, this was the first where I used it for riding technical terrain. And as I had mentioned, there weren't any trees, so I had to secure the cable by pounding steel stakes into nearby boulders. :)
Unigurd
2009-10-12, 04:51 PM
Looked cool. :)
It was first now that I have fully appreciated how smooth the cablecam is. Well, at least I appreciated it more than before. :p:)
MuniAddict
2009-10-12, 05:08 PM
Looked cool. :)
It was first now that I have fully appreciated how smooth the cablecam is. Well, at least I appreciated it more than before. :p:)Thanks Sigurd. Actually, the one I made called "Floating images" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPXRBdLW7sE) was probably the smoothest and the shots were at lot longer.

Btw, has anyone noticed that the guitar riff in the Strokes song, "The End Has No End", (The last of three songs I used in the video) sounds a LOT like the opening of "Sweet Child of mine"? :D
MuniAddict
2009-10-13, 06:42 PM
Just found this cool site (http://www.gifninja.com/ConvertVideoToGif.aspx) to make free gifs, so I made one from this video. :)

37266
phthoruth
2009-10-13, 08:34 PM
Just found this cool site (http://www.gifninja.com/ConvertVideoToGif.aspx) to make free gifs, so I made one from this video. :)

37266

Ah gifs... a poor mans <video> tag. I've used them to put videos in emails.

Looks like some fun rocks to play on.

When I see pedestrians on a narrow path/sidewalk I usually get off. Not because I think I'm going to hit them, but because they think I'm going to hit them... sometimes they even panic.
Occasionally (twice ever) a pedestrian doesn't like unicycles on a walking path... but the overwelming majority love unicycles.
MuniAddict
2009-10-13, 09:10 PM
Ah gifs... a poor mans <video> tag. I've used them to put videos in emails.

Looks like some fun rocks to play on.

When I see pedestrians on a narrow path/sidewalk I usually get off. Not because I think I'm going to hit them, but because they think I'm going to hit them... sometimes they even panic.
Occasionally (twice ever) a pedestrian doesn't like unicycles on a walking path... but the overwelming majority love unicycles.Actually those hikers waved me on after I had stopped. They all loved it and what you don't see is that They wanted to take pictures for like 15 minutes haha! The two ladies you see giving the peace sign with me were part of that group. They were just loving it. One lady kept asking me to "Pose" for her on my uni, lol. "One more, one more, please, just one more!" :p