Cycle “Adventures” Volume 101

Back to a more normal schedule (and video length). This one’s under 5 minutes.

I do have a burning question though, as stated in the video and description: does anyone know when the 1.5m safe passing distance for cycles actually becomes law? No mention of it since it was briefly mentioned in the media late last year.

If anyone does know, please let me know via any available contact method.

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Smart Watch

On a recommendation from a friend, I decided to give the Smart Watch scene another go. I know what the form factor is capable of so I set my sights very low and bought a Q8 Smart Bracelet from Amazon at a cost of just under £33. Recommended because it’s lightweight and has a great battery life. It’s not overstuffed with useless features but does function as a fitness monitor. Given the price I doubt it’s that accurate but hey, it’s a rough guide and I do what I want fitness wise anyway.

The app is available on the Play Store, which is always a bonus for these things. It has a heart rate monitor, blood pressure reader (though how that’s supposed to work from its location is a complete mystery to me) and sleep monitor. Given its light weight and close fitting form it means I can actually wear it in bed without noticing.

I’ll come back to this topic after I have been using it for a while. My friend has had his for a while and considers it the best he’s had.

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Cycle “Adventures” Century Edition!

With a new camera I enter 3 digits of this cycling video series!

The new camera is great but has taken some getting used to! First, it doesn’t show the date/time on the screen so I’ve missed the fact it had reset to default. It’ll probably happen again but I’ll try to keep my eye on it. The low light quality isn’t great and on auto white balance you can just see a few spots of light. Setting it to cloudy makes it visible with an orange/yellow tint, but it’s better than black so it’ll do. Clipping with ffmpeg from past cameras has been quick and simple with the -c copy switch but that yields glitches at the start of each clip with this camera, so I have to recode, which takes a bit (not much) longer. On the positive side, the quality is awesome, there is no stopping after 29 minutes and the battery life is, in comparison to my past cameras, quite stunning.

The Century Edition is a whopping 10 minutes and 25 seconds! Lots of red light jumpers and not just bikes this time!

Cycle “Adventures” Century Edition!

As it’s a special number, I’ve made another face to camera video. Still quite a lot on ums but maybe I’ll get there eventually… if I can be arsed to practice! I never know what to say so making these is actually quite difficult.

History of My Videos

Anyway, that’s the first 100 out of the way. Enjoy the videos!

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A Short Story

Since G+ is now gone, and this was primarily posted there, I thought I’d resurrect it here. A short story I wrote some time in 2015, with a hidden message.

“Yes, I’ll do it!” he exclaimed enthusiastically.
Once he’d heard of the task there was no question,
Unicorns were his favourite mythical beasts.

Jeff made his way to the forest.
Unicorns were all around.
Suddenly, everything went dark.
Things were starting to happen.

Little did he know,
Over the other side of the forest,
Spirits were stirring,
Trouble was approaching.

Then he felt nothing but pain.
Helpless, he fell to the ground.
Everything hurt, nothing else mattered.

Ghostly forms appeared around him,
As he died.
My story is finished.
Endings don’t always make sense.

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New Phone!

It’s not often I get a new phone, so when I upgrade, I make sure it’s good for a few years!

This is a OnePlus 6T with 8GB RAM in Mirror Black. I’m impressed with it so far! 😀

Unopened.
Just out of the box.
All set up!
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Cycle “Adventures” Volume 99

3 weeks worth!


I had a few days off work for the Ingress event in Bristol, so it took longer. Next one will probably be similar (I have a few days off for my wife’s birthday) but it’ll be with the new camera, and the century episode!

I’m going to script another face to camera video for that. Same place, same channel 😉

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New Camera

I bought a new camera, which arrived today. It’s an Apeman Trawo 4K. I have all the footage I need for “Adventures” 99 so 100 will be all with this camera 🙂

On charge. Will test for low light later.
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Custom Cases

Thanks to Alun Jones for the custom 3D printed cases for my animated Custom Ingress Resistance Badges 🙂

The split in the right hand display is a camera artefact.
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Welsh Cakes

I thought I’d try something new (for me) yesterday and made a batch of Welsh Cakes.

While they were still warm they were quite soggy in the middle, but once cooled they were very nice!

I made a few mistakes, like adding currants before mixing, and I think I had the heat set a little too high so they went brown too early, but this was my first attempt after all.

No baking stone (yet) but the large pan we have works just fine 🙂

Rolled and cut.
On the pan.
All done!
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Cycle “Adventures” Volume 98

Over 8 minutes this time around! I’m back in sync with my work schedule now so normal running times should follow for a while.

The running theme seems to be the Psychic School Of Motoring and Must Get In Front impatient b’stards that can’t stand to see a cycle ahead of them at traffic lights, even if it means cutting in at the last moment!

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