THE KIDS bought me a GoPro 8 last winter, which I enthusiastically opened, charged, read up on, then slowly came around to the idea I’ll… never figure this out. Too much tech.
Two days ago, on sudden inspiration, I put the camera in my pocket before heading to Providence for a routine oncology check at Miriam Hospital. Afterwards, in the parking lot, I set the camera up for the ride home and… wait, I’ve got the windshield with me! (It was 21 degrees that morning.) This’ll make for a fascinating view of nothing, looking out through state and province stickers.
Oddly enough, it turned out to be an interesting audio test, so I accidentally learned something. Even with the camera behind the windshield, the software still can’t filter out wind noise at 65, 75, the occasional 85. But I futzed around in iMovie last night and was surprised to see how well a music track can cover it.
I recorded this footage on I-95 from north of downtown Providence, around Smithfield Avenue, south to the 37 exit in Cranston. Takes 7 minutes. Literally, the first random 7-minute music track I found was the second-biggest motorcycling cliche ever, Derek and the Dominos. At least it ain’t Steppenwolf.
A minute of this will give you the idea.
Same for this next one, a minute is plenty. It’s the same clip without the music. You might be surprised how much wind noise you didn’t notice in the first clip.
Finally, here’s 18 seconds after I pulled into the driveway. Note the telltale sign that someone doesn’t know how to use a GoPro: they look in the lens!
Why? We just do.
Looking in it upside down, that’s bonus points.
I might get a few miles in this morning. If so, I’ll leave the windshield home and see what I get.
Tony DePaul, November 21, 2020, Cranston, Rhode Island, USA
That was some speed you were moving at! You made the cars and trucks on your left look stationary. And without the music, the sensation of speed was even more pronounced. Loved the one with the music though!
On a bike you’re less vulnerable going a little bit faster than everybody else, but someone in a car or truck will inevitably take it as a challenge to blow by your elbow at 90 in a 55.
Great footage Tony! Happy to see you healthy and curious.
Michael
Thanks, Michael. I’ll give you a shout soon so we can catch up. Or, if you’re available for a socially distanced local meet, let’s do that before you head back to LA.
Hi Tony,
Great video! Really felt like being on the highway… good luck with the health checks, hope all’s going well.
What is the gizmo on the tank behind the speedo?
Phantom fan, enjoyed your previous bike trip accounts.
Best wishes
Bill
Hey, Bill. Thanks for writing. That thing with the flashing lights? It reads the voltage coming off the stator.
I shot a little footage yesterday afternoon without the windshield. It’s seriously noisy at highway speed! I’ll try to post a few minutes of it tonight or tomorrow.
Tony: My wife developed breast cancer some months ago and just finished her chemo. She had an easier time of it than you did, thanks to the “modern” anti-nausea drugs. I compare her experience to what our parents’ generation went through without such drugs. Tough!
I am grateful that I read of your own cancer chemo experience in “Nickels” before she had hers. You certainly put a human spin on the experience that figured into our calm, step-by-step approach to her ordeal.
We wanted to do some travelling in this Covid environment. We travelled to Bucks County, PA and did a tour by car of the covered bridges (two routes, actually) there. We’ve also been visiting the arboretums and gardens of Philadelphia and suburbs.
These trips are safe, for being outdoors and visitors are timed at the formal gardens. We want to do more in the four week break before her radiation begins. I’ve also been reading your previous entries to make up for the travels we had planned but we are not going to be making for quite some time, if at all.
Best regards, and be sure to write about your family’s Thanksgiving! I’m looking forward to that! Bought a 24 lb turkey for two people and will end up freezing at least half of it. I have a recipe for turkey enchiladas all at the ready….
Best, Robert
Hello, Robert. I’m so glad to hear your wife is on the post- side of the chemo wringer. It clearly has gotten a whole lot more humane over the years. Patients of decades past really did blaze a difficult trail to our benefit. Through his final 17 years, my friend Johnny Danger always told his doctors he hoped they were learning something through him that would help them treat those who came after.
I was at the hospital twice last week, first on Tuesday, to do blood labs to prep for the Thursday visit. It was interesting to see all the good blood critters headed up on the graph, finally climbing back to where they’re supposed to be. And this was compared to tests done as recently as September. At that point, I was six months post-chemo. It’s surprising how those materials are still beating up on you six months after they’re administered. I hope your wife won’t feel discouraged at the slow climb back, it does get better.
Bucks County! Familiar terrain. I’m from Philly originally, used to enjoy hunting pheasants in Bucks County on frosty autumn mornings. Sounds like you probably saw Longwood Gardens on your trip. A former Dupont estate, if memory serves.
Thanks so much for following the scribble, Robert. Happy Thanksgiving!
Loved the ride both with, and without the music, wind sorta has it’s own music. I have to say I really, really, love that truck. Good health to you Tony!
Thanks, Terry. Happy Thanksgiving. I need to get serious about repairing the front fenders and putting them back on the truck. New England salt really did a job on them. They need lots of new metal. It’ll sorely test my welding skills, which are strictly amateur class. On the other hand, the cab hasn’t fallen apart yet. I did a rebuild on that eight years ago. Here are a few links.
https://www.tonydepaul.net/a-welcome-milestone-today/
https://www.tonydepaul.net/up-the-hill-one-year-later/
Persist with that GoPro 8. I have a friend like you – astoundingly clever in many different skills but he exhibits a mulish woodenheadedness when faced with anything electrical or electronic. I have to hold his hand and show him that he CAN figure it out.
What is the Jenna and Jonny van project that you allude to in one of your replies? A camper project? I like campers. Sometimes it’s nice to put up a tarp and sack out on the ground but other times it’s nice to crawl into a readymade bunk.
Hey, Peter. Thanks for following the Nickels. The van is a work in progress by Daughter #2 and her husband. It’s about 90-percent complete. It’s a 2019 Ram Promaster, the high-roof type, 159″ wheelbase. It’s got everything, all set up for off-grid living. All my travel is of the type you describe. I’m good throwing a sleeping bag on the ground and calling it home.
Hey Tony,
Pretty soon you’ll have a YouTube channel, keep up the good work! Great choice of music by the way, got that album sitting on the bookshelf.
Thanks for reading, Will. Ride safe if you’re out there on the road this winter.
Good to see you out and about despite the 21 degree temperatures that morning. Certainly could relate to your thoughts of “never figure this out”. Thanks for sharing the ride and have a happy and safe holiday.
Happy Thanksgiving, Dennis. GoPro, GPS, iPhone, I’m completely daunted. I’ve had the iPhone for at least a year and only recently discovered the handiest thing about it: the flashlight!
GoPro audio isn’t great, never has been. I’m sure the professionals use other methods to capture the mellow exhaust tones and the more aggressive throttle twists in their stereoscopic splendor. Great little cameras though. Good to see you on two wheels.
Matt
Adel, IA
Thanks, Matt. My GoPro 2 from the olden days had a microphone jack in case you wanted to hide a remote mic out of the wind somewhere. Not so this new unit.
Cool! Glad you figured it out, dad.
Thanks, my Laur. I scooted up 295 today to help Jenna and Jonny on the van project. Shot footage on the way up & the way back. Not sure what I got, haven’t checked. I just walked in the door about 20 minutes ago.
Hi Tony,
Thanks for sharing your passion. Those white lines were passing by pretty quickly — doesn’t look like 55 mph. You’re one bad-ass dude. Glad to see you’re doing well. Have a great Thanksgiving.
Tim Murphy
Happy Thanksgiving, Tim, and thanks for reading. It’s always good to hear from you.
Do you ever get hassled by the cops for having an obstructed windshield?
Hey, Dave. My line of sight is just over the top of the shield rather than through it. That makes me sit up straight instead of doing the Harley slouch. The Harley slouch is bad for ya. So are Harleys, but you gotta draw the line somewhere.
Piggy sounds smoooove. Well, at least as smoooove as a Harley can sound. Good to see you on the bike! Best for Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving, Chris. Piggy does sound good. Second engine. Five speed box, not the six, but she scoots right along on the open road with the RPMs in a good place.
Not for nothing, but I always picture (hear?) Steppenwolf as the soundtrack for the day you decided to quit The Journal.
Ha! Thanks for following the scribble, Paul. I never thought my exit would be noticed much at the time let alone remembered. My footnote in Journal lore! It was quite a while ago now, April 2006.
Thanks for the ride and the music👍
Thanks for reading, Bob. Hi to Teresa.
HA! Tony – look at you. Go Pro on the Harley, I-phone in a mount, why…..pretty soon you’ll be tech-boy on a HOG and have a GPS in between the bars and a bluetooth headset for your XM radio.
I think you are I are the only ones in the USA that wear hi-Viz full face helmets on FL series Harleys and don’t give a crap about image. Ride on Brother. Oh, and if you want to update to say ….the 1990’s …. use Dave Matthews background music.
Hey, Duano. If you look closely (somewhat obscured by the front brake line) there’s a ball mount for a GPS on the bars. I bought a Garmin 396 LMT-S, another gizmo I have no idea how to use. I don’t need it for the iron piggy, just planning to give it a trial run and see what’s what. I need turn-by-turn GPS for a piglet run on the Trans America Trail, or the MABDR, or the NEBDR, or some other long-range off-road thing. Summer of 2022 at the earliest, I think.
You’ve got the Iron Piggy running smooth and even. Sounds great.
As I watched the video, kept thinking where are the wide open spaces that Tony loves so much… even on the highway there one feels cooped in. Should have been a cowboy, learnt to rope and ride… come on Willy.
Ha! So true… Have got the old truck in addition to the mindset.
Don’t let ’em pick gittars and drive them old trucks… let ’em be doctors an’ lawyers an’ such…
Yeah, seven miles through Providence is a different ride than the 170 miles between Ely and Tonopah where you might see four other vehicles.
I love it. After all these years we can finally ride along (even if it was a freeway). Stay safe, amigo. Happy Thanksgiving to you, Pam, and the family.
Thanks, Brad. Happy Thanksgiving and stay clear of the plague down there in Houston. We’re on an upward trend here, unfortunately.
Any chance you’ll be at Bonneville for Speed Week 2021? If there is one.
Tony, since Jeff died I cannot fathom mounting another Bonneville event or even finishing the bike. Jeff and I complemented one another so well in boondoggles like that and it takes at least two great friends on the same page. I’m just glad I could do that four times. No need to force it. B
Ah. I hear ya. Jeff was exactly the kind of guy who gets missed for a long, long time.