Recording Our Journey

One of the great things about bike touring is that you travel fast enough to see new scenery every day, but slow enough to take it in while cruising along on a bike.  It differs from riding in a car where you really need to stop to appreciate anything, and from hiking where you travel so slowly that it's better to use other means of transportation to skip over the less scenic sections (few would hike through the Central Valley to get to the Sierras).

As we set out on our journey we knew that it would be something that we would want to record, both to remember for ourselves and to share with others.  We've posted some photos to Facebook, the first album is on the PortlandCruz page, and the second one is one that I created from pictures I took. We'll add more pictures in the future from Jack, Matt, Ryland, and Lorenzo's collections of photos when we have time.

Lorenzo and Ryland also purchased GoPro video cameras prior to leaving on the trip.  The GoPro allows for easily recording video on the fly, but it's harder to view and edit the resulting video.  Video also takes much longer to upload than photos and so we have been able to share a relatively limited amount of the interesting video that we recorded (and of course there is much more uninteresting video, such as 30 minutes of the inside of Ryland's bag).  We've uploaded some of the video to our YouTube page and hopefully Ryland and Lorenzo will be able to upload more in the future.  But in the meantime I thought I'd post something about what's already there for those who might be interested but missed it.

1) The first video records part of the ride from Mt. Shasta to Ashland.  Matt and Ryland were playing a game called movies that I don't completely understand.  It involves matching actors with movies that they starred in.  Unfortunately the audio isn't great but the video gives a sense of some of the scenery.


2) The second video we posted is a quick 30 second clip biking uphill on our way to Ashland.

3) This video shows part of the descent down Dead Indian Memorial Highway on the day that we left Ashland.  We started the day with about 20 miles of climbing uphill before getting a little bit of a descent.  Lorenzo recorded this video with his GoPro by holding it in one hand while controlling his bike with his other hand.



4) The fourth video shows part of the descent out of Crater Lake.  Another one from Lorenzo's GoPro, but I think this might have been helmet mounted.


5) We biked from Eugene to Salem on July 4th and during our ride we ran into a parade.  There wasn't really any good option for backtracking and after a few minutes of discussing where we needed to go the guy blocking the road decided to let us ride along through the parade as long.


6) On our way up to Crater Lake we stopped at the Rouge River Gorge.  From here the idea of Nature Notes was born as Matt explained the natural history associated with various scenic spots.


7) Nature Notes #2 at Crater Lake.  Matt explains the origin of the lake and why the water is so clear.  I think he might have misspoken at one point because he meant to say that Crater Lake is the deepest lake not the largest lake in the U.S.


8) Nature Notes #3 was recorded on Ryland's GoPro.  Here we were expecting a massive storm to hit us at Odell Lake, but we ended up missing the storm.  Things did look ominous at the time though and we did have nonstop wind the whole time at Odell Lake.


9) Nature Notes #4 was recorded when we left Portland on our way to Hood River.  Here Matt explains how the Columbia River was formed.


10) This video records the recovery of Ryland's bag as Lorenzo brought it up from the highway.  It was recorded with Ryland's GoPro and we have more footage from Lorenzo's camera that might be posted later of this humorous (in retrospect) event.


11) The final Nature Notes doesn't really follow the same format.  Here Matt alludes to his crash and signs off for the time being although remaining optimistic that he'll be back out on new adventures soon.

That's all the video that we have for now.  But we'll post more later when we have time, although for the moment Lorenzo's footage will have to wait because he's making his way through Wyoming and will be heading into South Dakota soon.