Hey Rob :-). Thanks for the visit. Definitely enjoying riding and camping. Well, I was, anyway. KY winters are tough for that kind of thing ;-). I really need to finish editing part 2 🙄. Hope you’re well!
Nice video. A suggestion regarding your camping gear. Have you considered a camping hammock in lieu of a tent? They pack a lot smaller and you don't have to worry about tent poles, which don't pack well at all on a bike. Some camping hammocks have a rain fly built in. With others you can simply make a fly with a tarp. Pair the hammock with an under-quilt and/or sleeping bag and you are good to go! Keep up the vids. I'm looking to get back into riding and have a serious craving for some adventure riding myself and this is only feeding it 😄. Good luck on future adventures.
Thanks for watching, and for your comment! I admit that I’m hammock curious because they make a lot of sense, and I’m also a hopeless gear addict so I would not mind “the hunt” to find the “best” one, but there is one huge thing holding me back: I fear I won’t be comfortable. I don’t have the best back, and I really prefer being on a flat (but forgiving) surface. I wish it was otherwise, or I’d try one.
@@cowcar87 Thanks. I did end up with a Naturehike down bag, which packs down very small, for warmer weather, and a Western Mountaineering Terralite, which *also* packs down pretty small, for colder weather (on or off the bike). I’ve tried the latter on an overnight upper-30s moto-camp with a Klymit insulated Static V pad and I was toasty all night (with basic camp clothing on inside the bag).
Hey there. Interesting timing. I had an occurrence last night. Very minor, and it had been six weeks since the last. Most of the ones I’ve had (which has been every few weeks until this “dry spell”) lately have been only a 1-3 out of 10 on a pain scale. I can truly be thankful for that. I’ve been using Thealoz Duo Gel drops overnight with good success for quite a while now (rather than Muro128). Advantage is they are easy to put in, and even when applied are more transparent than Muro128, and so I can go to bed without having blinded myself. When I wake up to pee, I usually add more drops. I do still use Muro128 every once in a while in case it has advantages.
@@mike.thomas mine happened last night almost after a year minor but enough to bring all those horrible feelings back. I never used any drops or ointment. I’m going to start using them and I hope never experience it again. Appreciate Mike for getting back to me mate. Lots of love brother ❤️
@@Jack14432 Oh, sorry to hear that, but glad they are infrequent and this one wasn’t bad. Def keep hydrated and consider trying drops/ointments until you find one that works for you. That said, it might not really be necessary if you have them that infrequently.
@@mike.thomas I had a few in the past 4-5 years and always thought it’s my eyelashes going inside my eyes and causing the discomfort til one night the pain was so intense that I thought I’m gonna take the eye out. I see a specialist the next day and he told me what is happening. He gave me FML fluorometholone eye drops used it for 5weeks and last night was my first episode since then.
I know how hard it is to start something. I'll try not to come out as arrogant, if it sounds like that, it's not intentional. It's your first try, so obviously you will do things that no one cares about. By no one, I mean me. Just showing road... And more road... What's the point? There are zillions of hours of fu(£€rs riding and showing POV footage of... road. It gets boring after the first second and a half. It's incredibly time wasteful, but set the camera on the road, ride by, get back for the camera, repeat... POV is just 😫 now. It's easy, but you are just doing what everyone else has done to exhaustion. Spending time on bla bla bla to fill minutes. Why? Go straight to the point. I skipped some of the video, was getting bored, the bla bla bla, on what I thought would be very interesting. Don't get low on motivation by my comment. If you're happy with the video, ignore me, otherwise, would you rate 10/10☆ if this video was from someone else?
Sorry for this ultra-long response. But your thoughtful comment put me in the frame of mind to dump a little ;-) First, thanks for taking the time to watch and comment. Constructive and respectful criticism (like yours) is much appreciated, actually! If you’ll allow me to “bla bla bla” for a moment: I’m not really new to YT production (I have uploaded nearly 500 videos of wildly varying content, and quality, over the past 12-ish years), but my “golden years” of production are way behind me 😅. People liked my videos for the photo content, but many wrote over the years to say they just like to hear me talk about stuff. Even recently, a couple of old-time subs commented they’re digging the moto content, but would like to have me talking to the camera a bit more. Maybe they’ll like the vid(s) that I think I’m going to try to make, if I can keep the faith. It’s a funny thing - out of hundreds of videos this is easily the most complex edit I’ve ever done. It probably took me at least 25 hours to do the final vid, which I tried hard to keep to 10 minutes. Yet, since the old days of plopping a camera down at a desk and talking about cameras and photography, or knives, or watches, or whatever, everyone’s expectations have risen due to YT creators really upping the bar year after year, to an incredible extent. It’s an amazing phenomenon, but also creates a situation where it’s difficult to compete (for lack of a better word). I have no interest in making a living at this, though I used to make decent “hobby money” from it. I do mostly enjoy the creative process of putting together video and music (some of which I actually produce myself), etc. At the same time it is kind of a beat-down, TBH, and it actually creates a moderate amount of stress in my life when I feel on the hook to produce a video. Weird. Back in the day, my YT work was a bit (or more than a bit?) short of the work done by the more “pro” YT photo guys back then. But it was still sooooo much work. It got to the point where I stopped doing YT vids about photography, as well as photography itself because I was burned out from it. And here I am again, sitting at my desk for days producing something that is not quite there. All that whining aside, your observations are not off-base, at least for your own tastes, which nobody can question. I literally spent weeks on and off thinking about how to approach “the story” of this vid, realizing at the same time that I probably didn’t have just the right footage to pull it off. That is stressful, believe it or not. I *thought* I’d kept the lead-in riding short enough to “set context”, and that it had enough cuts to keep it from being boring. It took me hours to reframe the 1.5 hours or so of 360 video that I’d taken, and I kept only a couple of minutes for the ride in. Then it took me hours to sync the 360 and helmet video and do the multi-cam editing for that couple of minutes. Yet it’s still too much for some peeps, and that’s natural (I, on the othe hand, will sit and watch a half hour grainy video of someone riding trails through forest 😆). I totally agree about stopping to place cameras for interesting angles! 💯 But I also agree it’s difficult and time consuming, and actually kind of dangerous (esp on these super narrow no-shoulder back roads in KY). I’d also love to add more drone video of riding, but same deal. I do both from time to time, but feeling driven to do more of that might be enough to kill off my desire to do videos at all (again). It truly destroys the enjoyment of the ride. I wish I had a partner and we could help each other film. I don’t, though. One thing I’ve learned from doing so YT content, for good or bad, is that you’ll definitely never please everyone. Anything I included was definitely not trying to “fill minutes” (I cut a lot out!). If talking about my gear was boring to you, it might have been interesting to someone else (or not). Some people might be interested in what I brought, and my thoughts on whether it’s too much or not. Others, not so much. That’s OK. OK, I’m winding down, I promise… Anyway, hopefully the above doesn’t sound too defensive. Really just trying to supply context. Having the desire to produce YT content has been a truly double-edged sword for me. I’m NEVER truly satisfied with what I produce in any medium, but that’s my nature. YT is where the knives come out and it can be very tough (you should see some of the shitty comments I’ve gotten over the years). Anyway, though I am a perfectionist and I know I can’t please everyone, I realize that eventually I have to push my little videos out of the nest and see if they can fly. Again, I really do appreciate the respect you gave me in your comment and will try to keep your thoughts in mind. But not too much, because - I gotta be me 😉. PS I’ll warn you in advance, that if there was too much “bla bla” for you in this video, definitely *do not* watch Part 2. Just trust me on that 😆.
@@mike.thomas i may give part 2 a go if it comes across my path. 😉 Regarding riding videos, I made one. I had some POV images, but tried to avoid it as much as possible, using different angles such as leaning and pointing the camera so it would record the front wheel and the road, or the rear, spent hours placing the camera, riding by, going back for it... you get the point, took me days. I only did that once. You can guess why, after all that work only a handful of people was interested. I didn't get any nasty comments, quite the opposite, people questioning where was it, and saying they really enjoyed the scenery. In the end is a matter of why. Why do I spend time doing this? If it's so I get views... not the right reason. For me is because I get some enjoyment. 14 people watch a video, 2 leave a comment, ok. But, personally, I'm not going out of my way for a video. Everyone should do the same, there's already enough stupid things on tik tok, which I don't watch at all. You, well you do you. Whoever doesn't like what you have to offer can f off. No one is forcing anyone to watch anything. Just I couldn't step away without saying this to you as I came to you expecting more than you had to offer. That's on me, not you. But if I think there's room for improvement, why not say it? The production is not all. The content is. Take Matt from the workshop, the worst production EVER, can't get worse than that. Children screaming, diesel cars idling 5m away, bad camera angles... Yet the content, what he has to show is what makes it interesting.
@@zefautino I wish your video was still up. I’d like to see it. Thanks for telling the story. Since you’ve made one, you understand the struggle. You work your ass off, and get just a few views. Or you get a snotty comment from someone who has no videos and no idea what it takes to produce one. I do have other moto videos here, in other “styles”, and not a lot of talking. Some are OK, and some are crappy. Maybe all are crappy 🤷🏻♂️. I definitely have done rides where I moved the 360 camera around a lot on the bike (esp on the BMW, which has a lot of places to clamp onto). It is effective. I’ve also seen people just hold the 360 cam on the selfie stick, which offers great footage, but strikes me as dangerous. And again, drone footage is great, but difficult to manage, but I’ve done some of that, too. I keep thinking a Skydio would be a good tool, but $$$. In the end you’re right that content is king and there is always room for improvement. Thanks again for your thoughts.
Hey old friend! Great video. Good to see you are doing what you love.
Hey Rob :-). Thanks for the visit. Definitely enjoying riding and camping. Well, I was, anyway. KY winters are tough for that kind of thing ;-).
I really need to finish editing part 2 🙄.
Hope you’re well!
👍👍
Nice video. A suggestion regarding your camping gear. Have you considered a camping hammock in lieu of a tent? They pack a lot smaller and you don't have to worry about tent poles, which don't pack well at all on a bike. Some camping hammocks have a rain fly built in. With others you can simply make a fly with a tarp. Pair the hammock with an under-quilt and/or sleeping bag and you are good to go! Keep up the vids. I'm looking to get back into riding and have a serious craving for some adventure riding myself and this is only feeding it 😄. Good luck on future adventures.
Thanks for watching, and for your comment!
I admit that I’m hammock curious because they make a lot of sense, and I’m also a hopeless gear addict so I would not mind “the hunt” to find the “best” one, but there is one huge thing holding me back: I fear I won’t be comfortable. I don’t have the best back, and I really prefer being on a flat (but forgiving) surface. I wish it was otherwise, or I’d try one.
@@mike.thomas That's fair! Whatever works best for you. I hope you find a good fit for your needs.
@@cowcar87 Thanks. I did end up with a Naturehike down bag, which packs down very small, for warmer weather, and a Western Mountaineering Terralite, which *also* packs down pretty small, for colder weather (on or off the bike). I’ve tried the latter on an overnight upper-30s moto-camp with a Klymit insulated Static V pad and I was toasty all night (with basic camp clothing on inside the bag).
Hi Mike, how are you doing mate?! Good to see u . Just a question about your RCE how is it going? Any updates or tips? Cheers 🙏
Hey there. Interesting timing. I had an occurrence last night. Very minor, and it had been six weeks since the last. Most of the ones I’ve had (which has been every few weeks until this “dry spell”) lately have been only a 1-3 out of 10 on a pain scale. I can truly be thankful for that.
I’ve been using Thealoz Duo Gel drops overnight with good success for quite a while now (rather than Muro128). Advantage is they are easy to put in, and even when applied are more transparent than Muro128, and so I can go to bed without having blinded myself. When I wake up to pee, I usually add more drops. I do still use Muro128 every once in a while in case it has advantages.
@@mike.thomas mine happened last night almost after a year minor but enough to bring all those horrible feelings back. I never used any drops or ointment. I’m going to start using them and I hope never experience it again. Appreciate Mike for getting back to me mate. Lots of love brother ❤️
@@Jack14432 Oh, sorry to hear that, but glad they are infrequent and this one wasn’t bad. Def keep hydrated and consider trying drops/ointments until you find one that works for you. That said, it might not really be necessary if you have them that infrequently.
@@mike.thomas I had a few in the past 4-5 years and always thought it’s my eyelashes going inside my eyes and causing the discomfort til one night the pain was so intense that I thought I’m gonna take the eye out. I see a specialist the next day and he told me what is happening. He gave me FML fluorometholone eye drops used it for 5weeks and last night was my first episode since then.
I know how hard it is to start something.
I'll try not to come out as arrogant, if it sounds like that, it's not intentional.
It's your first try, so obviously you will do things that no one cares about. By no one, I mean me.
Just showing road... And more road... What's the point? There are zillions of hours of fu(£€rs riding and showing POV footage of... road. It gets boring after the first second and a half.
It's incredibly time wasteful, but set the camera on the road, ride by, get back for the camera, repeat... POV is just 😫 now. It's easy, but you are just doing what everyone else has done to exhaustion.
Spending time on bla bla bla to fill minutes. Why? Go straight to the point.
I skipped some of the video, was getting bored, the bla bla bla, on what I thought would be very interesting.
Don't get low on motivation by my comment. If you're happy with the video, ignore me, otherwise, would you rate 10/10☆ if this video was from someone else?
Sorry for this ultra-long response. But your thoughtful comment put me in the frame of mind to dump a little ;-)
First, thanks for taking the time to watch and comment. Constructive and respectful criticism (like yours) is much appreciated, actually!
If you’ll allow me to “bla bla bla” for a moment: I’m not really new to YT production (I have uploaded nearly 500 videos of wildly varying content, and quality, over the past 12-ish years), but my “golden years” of production are way behind me 😅.
People liked my videos for the photo content, but many wrote over the years to say they just like to hear me talk about stuff. Even recently, a couple of old-time subs commented they’re digging the moto content, but would like to have me talking to the camera a bit more. Maybe they’ll like the vid(s) that I think I’m going to try to make, if I can keep the faith.
It’s a funny thing - out of hundreds of videos this is easily the most complex edit I’ve ever done. It probably took me at least 25 hours to do the final vid, which I tried hard to keep to 10 minutes. Yet, since the old days of plopping a camera down at a desk and talking about cameras and photography, or knives, or watches, or whatever, everyone’s expectations have risen due to YT creators really upping the bar year after year, to an incredible extent.
It’s an amazing phenomenon, but also creates a situation where it’s difficult to compete (for lack of a better word). I have no interest in making a living at this, though I used to make decent “hobby money” from it. I do mostly enjoy the creative process of putting together video and music (some of which I actually produce myself), etc. At the same time it is kind of a beat-down, TBH, and it actually creates a moderate amount of stress in my life when I feel on the hook to produce a video. Weird.
Back in the day, my YT work was a bit (or more than a bit?) short of the work done by the more “pro” YT photo guys back then. But it was still sooooo much work. It got to the point where I stopped doing YT vids about photography, as well as photography itself because I was burned out from it. And here I am again, sitting at my desk for days producing something that is not quite there.
All that whining aside, your observations are not off-base, at least for your own tastes, which nobody can question.
I literally spent weeks on and off thinking about how to approach “the story” of this vid, realizing at the same time that I probably didn’t have just the right footage to pull it off. That is stressful, believe it or not.
I *thought* I’d kept the lead-in riding short enough to “set context”, and that it had enough cuts to keep it from being boring. It took me hours to reframe the 1.5 hours or so of 360 video that I’d taken, and I kept only a couple of minutes for the ride in. Then it took me hours to sync the 360 and helmet video and do the multi-cam editing for that couple of minutes. Yet it’s still too much for some peeps, and that’s natural (I, on the othe hand, will sit and watch a half hour grainy video of someone riding trails through forest 😆).
I totally agree about stopping to place cameras for interesting angles! 💯 But I also agree it’s difficult and time consuming, and actually kind of dangerous (esp on these super narrow no-shoulder back roads in KY). I’d also love to add more drone video of riding, but same deal. I do both from time to time, but feeling driven to do more of that might be enough to kill off my desire to do videos at all (again). It truly destroys the enjoyment of the ride. I wish I had a partner and we could help each other film. I don’t, though.
One thing I’ve learned from doing so YT content, for good or bad, is that you’ll definitely never please everyone. Anything I included was definitely not trying to “fill minutes” (I cut a lot out!). If talking about my gear was boring to you, it might have been interesting to someone else (or not). Some people might be interested in what I brought, and my thoughts on whether it’s too much or not. Others, not so much. That’s OK.
OK, I’m winding down, I promise…
Anyway, hopefully the above doesn’t sound too defensive. Really just trying to supply context. Having the desire to produce YT content has been a truly double-edged sword for me. I’m NEVER truly satisfied with what I produce in any medium, but that’s my nature. YT is where the knives come out and it can be very tough (you should see some of the shitty comments I’ve gotten over the years). Anyway, though I am a perfectionist and I know I can’t please everyone, I realize that eventually I have to push my little videos out of the nest and see if they can fly.
Again, I really do appreciate the respect you gave me in your comment and will try to keep your thoughts in mind. But not too much, because - I gotta be me 😉.
PS
I’ll warn you in advance, that if there was too much “bla bla” for you in this video, definitely *do not* watch Part 2. Just trust me on that 😆.
@@mike.thomas i may give part 2 a go if it comes across my path. 😉
Regarding riding videos, I made one. I had some POV images, but tried to avoid it as much as possible, using different angles such as leaning and pointing the camera so it would record the front wheel and the road, or the rear, spent hours placing the camera, riding by, going back for it... you get the point, took me days. I only did that once. You can guess why, after all that work only a handful of people was interested. I didn't get any nasty comments, quite the opposite, people questioning where was it, and saying they really enjoyed the scenery.
In the end is a matter of why. Why do I spend time doing this? If it's so I get views... not the right reason. For me is because I get some enjoyment. 14 people watch a video, 2 leave a comment, ok. But, personally, I'm not going out of my way for a video. Everyone should do the same, there's already enough stupid things on tik tok, which I don't watch at all.
You, well you do you. Whoever doesn't like what you have to offer can f off. No one is forcing anyone to watch anything.
Just I couldn't step away without saying this to you as I came to you expecting more than you had to offer. That's on me, not you. But if I think there's room for improvement, why not say it?
The production is not all. The content is. Take Matt from the workshop, the worst production EVER, can't get worse than that. Children screaming, diesel cars idling 5m away, bad camera angles... Yet the content, what he has to show is what makes it interesting.
@@zefautino I wish your video was still up. I’d like to see it. Thanks for telling the story. Since you’ve made one, you understand the struggle. You work your ass off, and get just a few views. Or you get a snotty comment from someone who has no videos and no idea what it takes to produce one.
I do have other moto videos here, in other “styles”, and not a lot of talking. Some are OK, and some are crappy. Maybe all are crappy 🤷🏻♂️. I definitely have done rides where I moved the 360 camera around a lot on the bike (esp on the BMW, which has a lot of places to clamp onto). It is effective. I’ve also seen people just hold the 360 cam on the selfie stick, which offers great footage, but strikes me as dangerous. And again, drone footage is great, but difficult to manage, but I’ve done some of that, too. I keep thinking a Skydio would be a good tool, but $$$.
In the end you’re right that content is king and there is always room for improvement. Thanks again for your thoughts.