Another Vid on YouTube

Whenever I ride I always clip on my Drift HD helmet camera. You never know when you'll need that little electronic witness.

On the days I work in Winchester I usually use the M27 / M3 to get there in the morning, and have a relaxed ride home across Morestead Down. On 14 August, as I had heard on the local radio - Jack FM, actually - that the M27 was blocked due to an accident, I decided to go in to work over the downs.

It was a sunny morning, which made the contrast between shadow and bright sun difficult for the camera to adjust to. My view, as the rider, was better than the video shows because the good old human eye works better than the best lenses in that department.

Anyway, of the 40 or so minutes I travelled to work, these seven are the best - overtaking!

I've got a leisurely ride planed for the beginning of September, I'll try and get some interesting footage for you.

Here's today's offering - The Morning Rush Hour

The bike is my Honda FJS600 Silver Wing, and the route is from Park Gate, through Burridge, Bishops Waltham and Morestead on B, and unclassified roads.

Home movies

Though I have recorded many hours of tarmac and traffic, none has been completely newsworthy. But I have found it interesting to review a few situations and learn from what I see.

I have tried editing with Serif Movie Plus, Apple iMovies and Windows Live Movie Maker. iMovies has the nicest transitions, and Serif a pretty good work space, but the best results overall seem to be with Windows.

There are three clips on YouTube, so far:

Winchester to Bishops Waltham 3Apr13 - highlights of a run home from Winchester across Morestead Down

NewForestShortcut 28Apr13 - On a run to Bovingdon Tank Museum we took a shortcut across the New Forest using the B3078

Rush hour traffic 2May13 - A short clip of rush hour traffic, and how not to filter

All these clips a from the Drift attached to the side of my crash helmet, in wide angle at 1080p and 30 fps

Let me know what you think ...

Six thousand miles, actually

Back in November I bought the Suzuki GS500F with 4000 miles on the clock. On Thursday we passed the 10,000 mile mark.

This momentous event happened on my way home from work. I'd left my office in Winchester at 5.00pm and headed out of the city along Bar End Road. I ducked under the busy M3 and joined the unclassified road that runs through Morestead and on to the B3035 at Corhampton.
From the A31 the road rises steeply and arrives at the top of the downs with a satisfying long left hander that opens to a short straight section. As the road starts to descend you need to ease back on the throttle and move tight to the left hand verge. Snick it down into fifth for the tight right and left bends that precede the drop down in to Morestead.
The 40mph limit keeps things steady through the cross roads and the tight left as you head back up on to the downs.

10000 miles here! Keep to the left ready for the right hander dropping down to Owslebury cross roads.

The road rises and there is a series of rights (here was the 10000 mark) before the drop down to the Owslebury crossroads. You need care here as the road is fast and straight but, like all crossroads, drivers can go in any direction without warning.
Straight through and up the other side of the dip where the road closes in and there is a slight left at the brow before you see the warning signs for a '30mph' left as you drop sharply into a very tight, '25mph' right. Back uphill into a wooded section where there are a series of bends, opening to a drop where there is a crossroads on a sweeping right hander. The road rises again into another wooded section and more bends that need to be read carefully. Watch out for debris. There may be washout from the side of the road, or branches, flints, gravel. Keep your speed down so that you can pick a safer line if necessary.

Awkward right turn round the bollard

As you clear the trees there is a cross roads were I leave the 'main' road and take the right turn towards Bishops Waltham. This road has a poor surface, drops from the junction then rises up between high hedgerows. The straight section ends in a shallow right followed by a tight left where there is usually more debris. There is a tight section running down, between houses and past the pub, to the B3035, just as it runs in to Bishops Waltham.

It's a nice run when the weather's good, but be careful when conditions are anything but perfect.