Tag Archives: bicycle

Will Rolla Replace Zwift?

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Since I got a smart trainer for cycling, I have been using Zwift as my app for training rides.  I have been very happy with the way it works and find it a great tool for training as I can do some pretty long rides on it without getting bored.  I have done up to two hours which would have been inconceivable on older trainers.  I did see a video recently of a new software tool that could provide similar functionality called Rolla.  It is free for the time being, so I decided to try it out.  Will it be a suitable replacement for Zwift?

One of the things I did like the look of was the graphics output.  Zwift has a slightly cartoonish styling which doesn’t bother me at all – indeed, I quite like the odd things that they throw in like a bear falling out of a tree or a stag by the road – but having more realistic scenery was of interest.  Rolla looked like it would be more like riding in real locations.  As a new app, I knew it wouldn’t have extensive scenery databases yet, but they could be useful to try out.Having used it a few times, now, I have come across a bunch of things I didn’t like.  First, the software doesn’t pick up my cadence from the trainer.  I can come across the top of a climb and start speeding down the other side but my cadence on the trainer doesn’t change.  It isn’t reading the cadence either so the data on screen and my data download has nothing of use.  This is not helpful for training my cadence nor for having a realistic riding experience.  I also had issues uploading to Strava.  It now works but there is no way to get it to recognize rides already completed.  The gradient is not connected so my trainer does not respond to changes in slope like it does on Zwift.  That physical feedback of gradient change is very helpful, particularly as slope changes are not very visually obvious.  The rider symbol looks weird too with an odd rolling motion of the hips.  It’s not as bad as the runners I pass, though.  They look like the T1000 from Terminator!  Lastly, sometimes it just seems to have you riding off the side of the road for no obvious reason.All of this is to say it is a long way from being a replacement for Zwift.  It is not going to be something I use for training for now but, with some time to develop it and implement new functionality (plus clean up some of the buggier elements) might make that change.  I would also prefer to just use it on the iPad rather than having to have the phone app open along with the iPad to control things.  We shall see.  In the meantime, Zwift will remain my go to.

 

Friday Night at the Velodrome

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I persuaded Nancy that a fun Friday evening could be had in Marymoor Park if we went to watch some track cycle racing.  Not sure how I managed that, but the food trucks and beer garden might have swung it for me.  Jerry Baker Memorial Velodrome is located in the park and is the last velodrome available in the Pacific Northwest of the US.  It attracts lots of riders as a result.  It is ages since I last went to a velodrome to watch racing, so I was looking forward to it.  The Nationals were on in California, so some of the regular racers were away but there were still plenty of competitors out.

I shall share some examples of the wider view of the arena, the competitors and the spectators for now.  Some more racing specific shots will come in a separate post.  It was a great evening with lovely weather (and great food and beer), and I think we both enjoyed it.  The racing was well structured to keep it entertaining, and they even had races for the kids.  The star of that show was a kid with a big wheel!  It was all I could do not to reference respecting my “authoritie”.

Cross Kirkland Connector’s New Bridge

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The disused railway lines along the eastern side of Lake Washington are progressively becoming trails for the local community.  One section of track that runs through the middle of Kirkland is know as the Cross Kirkland Connector.  This will run up towards Woodinville in due course.  The northern end of the trail for a long time was Totem Lake when the trail came to 124th St.  This is a busy road and crossing it was not a simple process.  As part of the development of the trails, a bridge has been under construction for a while now and it recently was opened to the public.

This bridge is a short distance from my office, and it would provide a useful potential connection if I was to start cycling to work again.  I walked down to the bridge one lunchtime to see how it looked.  The styling of the structure over the road is quite flowing and I had driven underneath at various times in construction, so I was familiar with the general shape.  To get down to the street level, a circular ramp is on the north side, and this loops around near the lake and marshlands.

There are some overlook areas built out from the ramp to encourage people to linger a little.  A few bikes and pedestrians passed over in the short time I was there so I hope there will be a good amount of traffic to justify the investment.  When all of the trails are complete, it will be possible to ride from Renton to the Skagit County line without needing to use the road.

Playing With the Insta360

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I did a little filming on a bike ride with an old GoPro Hero 5 of mine.  The current generation of action cameras has all sorts of clever tech built in which can deal with rotation of the camera and stabilizing the image.  The Hero 5 doesn’t have any of that and I ended up spending a lot of time stabilizing the images in post processing to try and get something usable out of it.  I was surprised how badly it came out and started thinking about an upgrade to incorporate all of the newer capabilities.  It was at this point that I got a little silly.  I had seen videos before about the Insta360 cameras and had found them intriguing but not so much that I wanted to get one.  Now I was looking for a new camera, the capabilities that they have seemed like it could be a good step forward.

For those that haven’t seen one, the Insta360 in its current X3 form has two cameras on opposite sides of the body with fisheye lenses with over 180 degrees of coverage.  The sensors are 5.7K resolution and the camera can stitch the two outputs together to give spherical coverage.  It also has a stick on which you can mount it which the camera will recognize the location of and take both images to effectively remove the stick from the video.  With the high resolution of the original files, you can then use their software – either on your phone or using the desktop app – to pan and zoom around the original files and generate video output of whatever you want.

What this means is that you don’t have to frame a shot when you are shooting.  The only thing you have to do is have the camera in the right place.  You can worry about where it is pointing later on which is great when you are already doing something else.  The removal of the stick is very impressive, only slightly undermined but the fact your hand that is holding it now looks a little odd.  Also, if the shadow of the stick is in shot, the software doesn’t know to do anything about that!  (As an aside, there is a mode where you only shoot with one side like a normal action camera if you want.)

What is the downside to all of this?  Big files!  You are shooting a lot of data on two cameras simultaneously so you can fill up cards fast.  You do also have to then review each clip and pick your angles for the shots, but you would have had to do that beforehand otherwise so no great loss.  Other than that, not a lot to complain about.  I have tried it on a few occasions so far.  The length of the stick makes it seem like you have a drone flying above you if you put it up there.  A cool result.  I took it out on a bike ride to see how things came out and I have a short video below that shows you the result.  No great cinematography here but an introduction to what can be done.  Remember that each shot is only moving the camera around and the panning and zooming is all done back at home.  Amazing tech!

Chilly Hilly 2022

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The Cascade Bicycle Club organizes a few large rides throughout the year and March is the time for the Chilly Hilly.  This is a ride around Bainbridge Island which means taking the ferry from Seattle across to the island.  I was going to do the ride with a friend of mine but he got injured prior to the ride so I ended up doing it alone.  Not many photos from the ride but I did record some video on a GoPro and that result of that is below.  It wasn’t too chilly but it was definitely hilly!  No video from the big climbs.  Too much effort went in to not grinding to a halt!

Riding Up the Centennial Trail

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I have been doing a lot of riding my bike this year and have been gradually expanding how far I go.  I decided I wanted to do a longer ride but figured I should not combine that with lots of hills in case I overextended myself a touch.  I figured it might be a good time to try out the Centennial Trail.  This is a trail that starts in Snohomish and runs 30 miles up past Marysville and Arlington to the county line with Skagit.

An out and back seemed like it could be fun and it is a converted disused rail line so it wouldn’t have hills.  (That isn’t true of course.  It does have hills but the grades are gentle.  I wondered why I was slow for a while and then found myself zipping along so clearly the grades were noticeable.). I started early one morning which meant I avoided some of the busier traffic that comes later in the day.

It was a fun ride.  Once out of Snohomish, the trail only occasionally crosses any roads so you can trundle along without much interruption.  Since it is an old rail line, there are some old rail bridges to cross occasionally when you get to rivers.  There are mile posts to let you know how you are doing and even areas where horse riders can cross when hoof marks have been set into the surface.  Aside from a brief stretch through Arlington’s more industrial areas, it is a pleasant ride.  A nice park in Arlington itself provides a stop off if you need it and the end of the trail is at a barn seemingly in the middle of nowhere.  A good ride to get 60 miles under your belt!

Disassembled Bicycle Tire Valve

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I recently bought some replacement valve cores for my bicycle tires.   I notice that part of the core was bent so decided to replace it.  It is a quick job to change the core over and, prior to throwing the old core away, I figure I would play with the macro lens.  I first too a picture of the still assembled core trying to angle it to show how badly bent the part was.  Then I figured I could take the core apart altogether.  Another focus stack and I could show the parts separated.  I love the detail you get of the metal surfaces when you shoot macro.

Closing the Viaduct and Opening the Tunnel

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For decades, the dominant feature of the Seattle waterfront has been the Alaskan Way Viaduct.  This carried Route 99 from the south side of the city along the waterfront before diving into the Battery Street Tunnel and then popping above ground to continue to the north.  It was a double deck viaduct with the northbound traffic on top and the southbound traffic on the lower level.  The viaduct suffered damage in the Nisqually Earthquake and further investigation showed just how vulnerable it was so the replacement process commenced.

The replacement is a tunnel.  Building the tunnel under the city was not an easy task.  A tunnel boring machine named Big Bertha was brought in to cut the tunnel.  Unfortunately, at some point it struck a hard object which damaged the main bearing for the cutting head.  A hole had to be dug and the machine extracted, repaired and reinserted.  This added years to the project but finally, in January 2019, the viaduct was closed.  A three-week period was set aside between closure of the viaduct and opening of the tunnel to allow reconfiguration of the approaches at each end.

On the weekend before the tunnel opened for traffic, WSDOT held celebrations.  A fun run took place on the Saturday and the Sunday included a bike ride.  This included riding both directions through the new tunnel as well as both directions on the old viaduct.  I signed up to take part.  Tons of cyclists also took the opportunity and the event was sold out well in advance.  The number of people mean things were pretty crowded and it could be congested at times.  The long descent in the opening tunnel section could have been quite fast but it wasn’t possible to speed along given how many people there were.

The new tunnel sections were nice and well let.  We actually rode quite a distance south after popping out near the Coast Guard base in the harbor and the wind was in our faces but that meant the run back was a lot easier.  The second part of the tunnel had to be a climb given the descent we had made originally but it wasn’t too bad.  Then we turned and were directed on to the streets to enter the Battery Street Tunnel.

This was a far more dismal experience.  It is a dark and dirty tunnel and I was pleased to get through it quickly.  We actually went through it the wrong way and we went south on the northbound part of the viaduct before diverting off and coming back on the lower level.  One last run through the dirty tunnel and we had completed the ride.  As I exited, plenty of riders were just starting.  It would have been possible to do it all again but I was happy to have done it and decided it was time to go home.  Later that day a serious (for Seattle) snow storm swept in so we had been lucky to get the ride done without any disruption.

Chicago Criterium

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QB5Y6217.jpgMy friend Ben Kristy is a keen cyclist and his son has been competing well in various cycling events. As a result, Ben has been to a number of races and has shared a bunch of pictures of racers competing. This all triggered in my mind some cycling shots that I got quite a while back. Chicago held a criterium race series once a year for a number of years. I have no idea whether it is still taking place but I did go and watch it one year.

QB5Y6213.jpgThe races were held in Grant Park and made use of the roads around the park including Michigan Avenue. There were different classes or race and various age groups. Plenty of people came out to watch things but it wasn’t too crowded so it was possible to move around to see things from different locations. I had only shot cycling a couple of times before and never had I previously thought about what shots I wanted. Then I had just taken pictures of whatever was going on from where I was standing.

CRW_6149.jpgThis time I tried various locations to get different perspectives on the riders. I tried getting low down and being both inside and outside the turns. Getting something that conveyed the speed at which they were going was what I was interested in. This is now quite a few years ago. If I were to do it again, I suspect I would have tried a bunch of other things but these shots I what I came out with on that day.