[Cycling] Evening Thorndon run.

Took the MTB out for an evening blast round Thorndon Country Park, and a bit of road on the cyclepath attached to the A127 then the country lanes on the way home.

Really getting to know the Thorndon South to Thorndon North the back to South route now, can almost do it without thinking.  I think next time I will try it in reverse to see if it offers a different type of climb/descent. There are some bits that I imagine will be better the other way round, more smoother ride.  I did try a few different bits at Thorndon North, just need to explore there some more and see if I can find some new trails as well.  Also noticed a sign that pointed a path towards Hartswood, so might shoot off that way and see where that takes you.

11.85 miles covered in 56mins, climbed 942 foot in total.Not bad at all I think.  The mile (ish) alongside the A127 was harder that I thought it was going to be, mainly due to the fact I still haven't got my saddle back in the right position, but also as Ive been spoilt by road bikes on nice smooth tarmac - the MTB seems like hard work for not much speed reward now.

Took the Veho Muvi camera with me again, this time strapped to my helmet, rather than the stem, which gave a much better field of view.  Still need to fine tune the angle as I got a lot of trail/front wheel this time, which although better than endless sky still isnt quite what I wanted - you find yourself trying to look up whilst watching the footage back.

This is a short clip form the total video, of the run into Thorndon North and back to the gated cattle area towards Thorndon South.  The video was edited down to 240p to take up less room and the middle section (1.14-2.05 ish) is double time to make it fit better, the rest is normal speed. The camera copes with the low evening light and the changes in light dynamics well I think. The helmet mount is much better for eliminating the wobble too.

Music is "14th Street Break" by The Beastie Boys, off their album 'The Mix Up'. And of course my heavy breathing. Nice.

May's Cycling Totals:

• Total Duration = 12h 2m 39s
• Total Distance = 164.77 mi
• kCal burned = 11836
• Average Speed = 13.49 mi/h
• Average Pace = 4m 36s/mi
• Elevation Gain = 8248 ft
• Elevation Loss = 7930 ft
• Activities = 12 (6 Road Bike, 6 MTB)

[Cycling] Bank Holiday 22 Miler.

Nice weather means the road bike comes out.  And it was great cycling weather today - little bit of sun but also some cloud cover, warm air but also a nice breeze - excellent.

Went out without a planned route in mind, ended up going for a nice 22 miler; West Horndon to Thames Chase, up to North Ockendon, Bulphan, Dunton, Dunton Wyatts, Herongate, back to Bulphan on the A128 and then home to West Horndon. Almost bailed at the first pass of Bulphan as I developed a stitch on the climb at Thames Chase, but glad I carried on and took the climb at Dunton/Herongate well if a little slow.

Total mileage was 22.36 miles, in 1hour 22minutes, average speed of 16.22mph and top speed of (only) 32.11mph.  I need to work on my cadence down hill to boost that speed up.  I did manage to get some decent flat speeds, so happy with that.  Total climbs of 738ft and approx. 1k kCal burned, so a decent run.  I also tried out my Veho Muvi camera on this run.  I used the clamp from the Sports Pack to mount it on the stem of my Carrera Virtuoso, which annoyingly gave the camera too much "up" and I ended up with lots of shots of the blue sky and the road on the very bottom of the screen.  Never mind, I'll try mounting it on my helmet next time and see if that helps the angle, but also the judder/wobble from  the road.

I've edited the ride (well most of it, lost the last blast back from Bulphan as the card was full) down to 4 mins (so about x16 speed) and added some UNKLE over the top for your pleasure...

So apart from the angle, it seems to be rather good for the size and price.  Might have to get a bigger microSD card at some point though, but Im not sure there was more at 2 hours battery in it anyway.

[Cycling] First ride in 2 weeks, plus new tyres.

So, due to holidays, weather, punctures and a head cold I hadn't been out on either bike in almost 2 weeks.  Seeing as my 'phone conferences had finished early, I took a later lunch and tried a quick blast round one of my usual on-road/off-road routes.

It's a nice simple route up to and round Thorndon Country Park.  I certainly felt the fact I hadn't been out for 2 weeks, even had a stitch by the end.  Ended up doing 7.37 miles in 40mins 12secs, top speed was 28mph.  Not bad, but done that route faster before.

The interesting bit was the new tyres I ran on the MTB.  The Kenda tyres than came with the bike seemed to be puncture magnets, so I decided to get some new budget ones.  Plumped in the end for some Continental Mountain King 2.0s as they seems to tick all the boxes.  They were a decent price (£17 each at Halfords, probably could have got them a lot cheaper online but I needed wanted them there and then), nice and knobbly for off-road and could go to 65psi to decent road rolling.  Plus there some some good reviews online saying they were well suited to gravel tracks, trails and the like.

Had a bit of a problem getting them fitted - not the tyre's problem, just had a batch of bad Halfords inner tubes that decided to (a) deflate overnight continually and (b) explode at 30psi when pumping up.  Those things are LOUD when they go bang.  Anyway, I got them fitted and sorted.

They were rather nice to ride on.  Much less road noise than the Kenda ones, better traction at slow speeds on road too.  The one downside was that they felt rather skittish one the loose gravel, which is odd for a knobbly tyre like this.  Maybe having them at 65psi didnt help, I'll try then lower at 50 next time I try this route. They are good looking tyres too, if that matters to you, with a decent looking logo and lettering.  The 2" tyre was a bit less than the 2.2 I had with the Kendas but I didnt notice the difference at all once out and about.

Better get the road bike out over the weekend then I guess....

[Music] Perfect Partners: The Distillers - The Distillers | Sorry & The Sinatras - Highball Roller.

We all know the feeling.  Its the feeling you get when you play an album through and you have the urge to play a album by a different artist as they will just “fit”?  I get that feeling a lot.  Sometimes it’s instant, sometimes it takes a while to come through.  Sometimes there is only 1 album you can link it to, sometimes there are a few.  Well, here is the first in a (possible) series (maybe) of albums that sit well together - Perfect Partners.

  

The Distillers - The Distillers [2000] | Sorry & The Sinatras - Highball Roller [2009]

The Distillers eponymous début from 2000 is an album I’ve had for 10 years.  I first got hold of a copy based purely one some magazine descriptions and the fact it was on the Epitaph label.  I played it a bit, and oddly quickly forgot about it. ‘HighBall Roller‘, Sorry & The Sinatras début, was purchased based on one fact - Scott Sorry is the bassist in The Wildhearts.  For me, that was all I needed.  Interestingly, it took The Wildhearts, with Scott on bass, to bring the Distillers album back to my ears - The ‘Hearts covered “The World Comes Tumbling” on their covers albums ‘Stop Us If You’ve Heard This One Before’, on which Scott plays.

Both albums are gems of modern punk.  All three-chords, distortion and noise.  Brody Dalle (Distillers) and Scott Sorry (S&TS) both have a rasping voice that is suited to the fast-paced energetic pop-punk, allowing the vocals to simultaneously rise about the guitar but also blend and merge into the melee.

The Distillers were formed around the singer/guitarist Brody Armstrong/Dalle in 1998; just after Dalle had moved to LA from Australia after marrying Tim Armstrong of Rancid/Operation Ivy.  The Rancid influence is clear on the Distillers 2000 début.  Whilst not been as ska-influenced or as pop-polished, there are times when the vocal phrasings, time signatures and structure could have been lifted form a number of Rancid songs.  This isn’t a bad thing to my ears, Rancid have been on my radar since ‘…And Out Come The Wolves’ in 1995 - one the albums alongside ‘Dookie’ and ‘Smash’ [see a future PP] to broaden my metal mind to fun, punky music.   

It would have been lazy to do this about The Distillers and Rancid though…

Sorry & The Sinatras were an offshoot project for Scott Sorry during some Wildhearts downtime, with début album being released in 2009.  Scott joined the ‘Hearts in in 2006, replacing long time bassist Danny McCormack.  Sorry and Wildhearts front man Ginger had known each other from the Nikki Sixx/Tracii Guns band Brides of Destruction. Despite his trade as bassist in these groups, Scott sings and plays rhythm guitar on Highball Roller, with bass duties covered by Rags from Trashlight Vision.  The whole members/links between S&TS, Wildhearts, Amen, BoD, Yo-Yo’s etc is long an confusing at best and not worth trying to repeat here.  

Again, it would have been boring to try and link S&TS with The Wildhearts...

So do these albums really work together?  And why?  Well, they might have been recorded 10 years apart but they both share the same roots that go back to the 70s/80s punk and hardcore scene.  S&TS have a more pop influenced sound than the Distillers, but still have the moments when the drop into raw, off-kilter punk.  Brody’s voice is a stronger than Scott’s, but both albums share a great use of backing vocals and harmonies.  Why they work together, for me, is that playing them back to back or mixed prolongs the feeling of each separate album.
 

Both are often overlooked classics of the genre, so check them out:  Spotify - Sorry & The Sinatras – Highball Roller | Spotify - The Distillers – The Distillers

[Photography] ImpossibleProject PX680 Beta.

The ImpossibleProject has released new colour film for Polaroid cameras. Here is a selection of my shots from my first pack of the beta release of the film, taken back in April. I have 2 packs left of the beta and will be buying some of the FirstFlush when I can.

Shots were taken on a Polaroid SX-70 Alpha camera, with the ND filter over the electronic-eye removed to compensate of the faster ISO of the film (it's ISO 600ish and was deigned for use in Polaroid 600 cameras, rather than the SX-70 which is designed to use film of approx ISO125).  Removing the ND filter and turning the exposure compensation dial all the way to darken gave me the exact colour/contrast balance I wanted.

The film is excellent, so much more than I could have hoped for less than a year after they launched the FirstFlush of the (very) experimental PX600 and PX100 monochrome films.  TheImpossibleProject have learnt a lot in that time.  There seems to be a much better UV protection in place, less chemical leaks and much better longevity of the final image.  Also, this film produces a brilliant dynamic range.  Pure blacks are placed alongside clean whites; with shadow and highlight detail up there with the much-missed Polaroid 600 consumer film that so many of us know from childhood.  In fact, if anything I would say this film has a stronger contrast that suits my images more that 600.  I'm impressed, as I have been with most of the Impossible films I have used over the last 12 months.  Sure, there are some imperfections still.  You can see those small white dots in the images? Im assured by Impossible that these are only on the beta and wont be on the final releases. Same goes to the small bits of "flame" light leaks.

I really must get out and shoot those other 2 packs....

[via my photblog: http://imlosingfocus.blogspot.com/2011/05/impossibleproject-px680-beta.html]