Travelogue while Bike Touring

While showing Jazel some of the local sights for bike photography

Warm Showers bike touring guest during a local bike photo tour

While visiting with Warm Showers bike touring guest Jazael Martinez we discussed many of the technical challenges of documenting a bike tour while tent camping and riding most of the day.  He was feeling frustrated that he was unable to find the time or means of getting his content and or ideas on to his blog.  Another frustration was how to back up and access his many photos. 

After sharing what little I knew that could be of help he commented that he wished he would have thought of those things prior to leaving on his tour.  So this post is being created as an effort to help resolve some of those issues.  I installed bluemail email app onto my seven inch RCA Voyager Pro tablet so I could insert photos to accompany this text and emailed it to my blogger posting email address. All the content was created without needing wifi. Photos are resized with the PhotoMate app and saved to an SD card.  While composing this content I added the resized photos you see here from the SD card in the body of email message with the blog title entered in the subject line of the email.  BlueMail also allows you to insert photos from google drive, amazon photos, google photos, pretty much anywhere you might have photos backed up.

I then installed a free Blogger app called Blogger User Panel onto the same tablet for editing which requires wifi access.  Editing consists of adding links to information, editing photo placement and adding caption information.  To summarize blog photos resized and placed with text content for posting can be done offline.  I can use my phone for wifi access and simply send the email content.  Later, with wifi access that doesn't use up phone plan data the content and can be edited for better search results and appearance. Anyhow, I have been pleasantly surprised by the results and looking forward to a much improved ease of use for sharing content while traveling and hope this information is helpful to anyone looking to document their own travelogue in whatever way that means to you. Jazael also asked me if I do any cooking while bike touring but that's for another post.  Here's a link to Jazael's blog which documents his ride from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Orlando, Florida by way of Mexico : )

Links related to this topic
Import and Edit RAW Files While Bike Touring

Sent from BlueMail

Here's a couple more photos from our evening ride and photography session with Canon G16 and SLIK Mini Tripod

Bike Posing for Bicycle Photo Prints

After receiving the Canon G16 at the beginning of the year I decided to purposefully shoot a series of photos that could be printed and put on display to help support the Natural Living Country Store and Juice Bar.  In order to complete the project required coming to terms with a significant learning curve of befriending digital photography methods and technical methods of adapting to the new technologies.  For example importing raw files to an inexpensive tablet for editing and sharing while on the go.  

Twenty years ago when I would gather up my edited fuji 50 slides and bop over to the old Photo Craft Studio in Portland, Oregon it was a fairly simple process of getting some high quality cibachrome prints made for clients.  After creating an account with Photo Shelter and sorting out the "can's and cant's" of ordering prints I chose to give Pro DPI based in Englewood, Colorado a try.  After downloading their software the process of ordering several prints was a very simple process and I received some very good quality prints very quickly.  Not to mention the print prices are excellent.

Here are a few of the images which were selected for prints and happy to say folks are enjoying them.

Bike Touring Photography Kit, New Gear for The New Year

It always feels good to finish the year in a way that feels good in a sense of moving forward into the new year.  So ending the year by replacing a glitchy old bulky DSLR Canon Rebel with the newest Canon G series camera in the G16 has been such a wonderful treat.  Not simply due to the compact size and weight of the G16 but that it is has proven to be the best camera I could find and afford without sacrificing image quality.

After reviewing many of the four thirds cameras which were actually quite expensive considering I would have needed a couple of lenses and then comparing the low light image quality of some of the better quality bridge cameras or super zoom cameras not only were the lenses considerably huge but to get a good quality image were cost prohibitive.  Also some of both types of cameras mentioned didn't provide an optical view finder which is something I felt would be important to have should the camera screen be difficult to view in bright sunlight.

Having a good enough quality image to make prints from or list for stock photography was another criteria I was looking for and was willing to accept some limitations for blogging and sharing to social networks.  However, that limitation is not the case with the G16.  Although some folks have complained about the wifi feature not working very well with their phones, Canon has since improved this with the Camera Connect App rather than the older Camera Window App.  This makes sharing to Instagram or uploading to your favorite photo storage system much easier when traveling.

Photo shown above was looking quite good and needed a good tripod for slow shutter speed in order to render the image sharp enough for approval with my stock photo agency at dreamstime. For this reason I went about researching some of the most popular travel tripods that offer compact, lightweight designs.  One of the greatest hurdles was cost vs. versatility and function.  Many of the more popular designs either didn't extend tall enough or if they did they were simply too bulky or heavy.  This could be one of the main reasons when I researched the leading bike touring blogs I didn't find the information I was looking for.  I was trying to remember what tripod my old friend Harry Boyd used back in the day and it was a Slik. Then I found the Slik Mini II and what a pleasant surprise to find a such a lightweight compact design that would in no way adversely effect my bike touring kit.

Long time Pro Photographer friend Harry Boyd 

At 1.7 pounds and a closed length of just under fourteen inches, a fully extended height of forty three inches while providing more than stable support for the little Canon G16 it has turned out to be a tripod that has met all of my expectations in a nice, quality, durable tripod that I'm certain will last for years to come.  Making low light or night photos much easier and without all the noise of lesser quality cameras.

Night photography or low light images are not an issue with the Canon G16 and Slik Mini II tripod.

As I recently had five out of eight images approved with my stock photo agency I wanted to share this information with fellow bike touring folks who might be looking for a versatile, lightweight, compact photography kit that is affordable and of excellent quality.  Visit my blog articles at Bike Tourings by clicking on links provided below.  Happy New Year!!!
Slik Mini II Tripod
Canon G16

Surfside, Texas Beach Camping, Bird Watching, Bike Tour

Bikes, photography and bird watching, not just a bike geek.

When I got an opportunity to check out some of the awesome birding opportunities available in south Texas I grabbed my pack kit and pedaled Southwest...

Yep, that's right into the wind as currents more than typically blow from the Gulf with such vigor that often times it is nearly impossible to enjoy riding a bike, thank goodness for drop bars.  However my fifty mile route to Surfside fortunately winds its' way through the 44,414 acre Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge, part of the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail which not only offers awesome birding opportunities but provides some much welcomed wind breaks as the road winds through and along the fresh water slough and salt marshes.

Whether it be dumb luck, good timing or the good graces of the bike gods the winds have turned in my favor providing not only a potential tail wind but cooler temperatures as well.  Because my rides are planned around my work schedule and the fact that wind is a factor for bike travel time I have found a nice reference for estimating my travel routes with a wind map providing current wind conditions throughout the United States.

I prefer having my pack kit ready to roll out when opportunity presents itself.

Fun Mountain Bike Build for Bike Packing, Avid Tourer

This bike rides well on most any terrain

Low rider front rack from Minoura 

Bike Touring Around Your Hometown

Maybe you don't have the time to get away from it all for a weekend camping trip, let alone a several week long bike tour.  Grab your bike and head out to your local sights and simply play tourist for a day or more.  Making the time to just get out and ride makes room for appreciation of your local surroundings.  If you like photography or some other activity such as fishing or even shopping you can create your own little bicycle tour.

Dreaming of far away places for the "epic" bike tour isn't necessarily a waste of time.

Discover unique perspectives that come from knowing your area.

If you're lacking creative inspiration check out some of the local landmarks as a tourist might.

Sometimes you might just be pleasantly surprised by what you might find

Have a fun and safe pedal filled summer, wherever your travels might take you.

Mountain Bike for Touring

Good mountain bike frame design for bike touring offered in a classic Diamond Back Ascent EX circa '91.

If there was ever a good reason for installing dirt drop bars on a mountain bike one designed for touring settled that conflict of adding road style drop bars to a mountain bike. 

For more information regarding the Origin8 Gary2 Bars visit Biketourings' Review and build of this rare design.  Bike's original stem and flat bar did not complement the long top tube in a way to provide comfortable performance or handling, particularly for the long haul.  By replacing the stem and adding the dirt drop bars this is a very nice bike for just about any type of riding.  By adding the Kenda Small Block Eights in 26 x 2.35 the tires provide nice cushion and roll efficiently and effectively over most terrain.  

Mountain bike for touring with dirt drop bars

Some bikes beckon to ride them and this is one of those that when you're walking past it you want to hop on it and take it for a spin.  I have some experience with short and shallow bars but the dirt drop bars flare out a bit and with a 530mm width I was concerned they might be a bit wide.  They are very wide but surprisingly comfortable as the brake hoods are not too wide and is where I would place my hands on longer jaunts through the countryside.  

Test rode the build with handlebar bag full of photo equipment and loved the way it handled.  

Components For this Build Included:

Origin8 Gary-2 Bars

Tekro RL 340 Ergo Brake Levers

Sunrace Bar End Shifters

'91 Diamond Back Ascent EX mountain bike for touring