Documenting your rides (digital equipment, cameras, etc.)

[chatnoire]

After reading this blog post last night, and seeing lots of the photos of people on their rides (especially the long tours), I was thinking about the different ways of documenting....

Since I usually do 20-30 miles, we stop at the turn around and take a snapshot of us with our iphones. However, I've got a photography degree, and a boatload of pro equipment that's not being used (I'm in another field now) - and I've been considering switching to a smaller, more portable, but still *good* camera for documenting rides.

Other people are probably too busy just riding to to bother with photos.

So I was wondering - what do you do on rides? Do you document with gps/garmin/map my ride type tracking? Do you blog about it? Do you take photos? What do you use to take photos? Are you worried about breaking the camera?

That's a lot of questions. But I'm definitely curious, because a portion of my rides are so gorgeous, that I want to take photos, more than just the facebook self portrait style pic at the various points on the ride. I'm interested in what every one else does...or doesn't do, even.

[Catrin]

I just focus on the joy of riding and the scenery - on the road my rides range from 15-60 miles. I do map my rides afterwards on ridewithgps.com (I don't have a GPS unit). I typically do have a camera of some sort with me but I rarely think about using it until it is too late. For me the camera seems to be a distraction in that I get so focused on taking the picture that I don't enjoy the scenery as much as if I just took it in. That is just me however, quite a few do like to take pictures and videos during their rides.

I am more likely to take a shot or two on the mountain bike trail as I stop more frequently there, but I still don't take that many of them on the actual trail. My mtb pictures are more typically of event-related activities. I will take some this weekend

[shootingstar]

For purposes of personal security, I would never post ride maps of where I ride locally for the Internet.

My partner does keep ride maps he used in Garmin, but more for the bike touring trips outside of our provinces. It's just for himself.

But I do take photos and add them to personal collection. A few end up on my Cycle Write Blog, and it's a whole melange depending on topic of blog post. His and mine at times. Sometimes from different years.

I've amassed a ton of personal photos from international trips,etc. They are for me, friends and family to show.

From the perspective of Internet readers, really detailed trip logs with photos, are ok but you have to write in a style that doesn't get too ground/overwhelming down into route details (gets boring for many readers who aren't familiar with area) unless you are literally writing a guide book/blog for reader wanting to do same route.

[Crankin]

I don't take pictures or use a GPS for rides when I ride alone. We do have a pocket sized very good digital camera, which occasionally is used on rides. But, every year, I ride the same routes; there's a lot of them and I live in a beautiful area, but, after a point, I don't need pictures of the beauty that surrounds me daily. We do take pictures on vacations or tours when we ride, or when it's some kind of special occasion.
My DH has a GPS, but his sense of direction is so bad, he has actually made wrong turns more than once when we were leading a ride. Since once I do a ride, unless it's very long I have the route committed to memory, I have had to sprint to catch up to him, to re-route the group (I was sweeping).
When I first started riding, we did a lot of exploring of our local area by bike. That's how we found our routes. Occasionally, I will look at a map to plan something. Our friends we ride with plan some of our longer local rides, as he likes to do that with his GPS.
Really, I don't document anything, except vacations. I mean, who cares to read or see what I am doing? I stopped logging my miles on Bike Journal, because it did nothing but make me feel badly, as in not far enough or fast enough. I use my computer(s) on my bikes to tell me how far I have gone, and that's it.
A while ago, after looking in my photo albums from the past, I realized that if someone who didn't know me looked at the pictures, he or she would assume all I ever did was go to the beach or eat. It would be the same now, except the topic would be cycling.,

[shootingstar]

I tend to learn and remember things visually so photography is a natural extension of this. But mine is done with just a pocket Nikon digital I keep it in my pocket or in pannier.

He uses his own plus a helmet cam that he uses occasionally.

I do need photos to remember certain trip details. In the past I have used photos for landscape painting.

While true a local area may not mean much, you never know you may no longer live there. Whenever I go back to visit Toronto, I do specifically cycle to document things I never had digital photos. I lived there for over 20 years...and know of its unique things not available in Vancouver or where I am now.

[lovelygamer]

I GPS track with endomondo and occasionally snap an IPHONE picture but I'm too lazy to carry along a camera. I do love to see ride pictures but I rarely see anything that exciting and/or I am on a roll and don't want to stop.

I know other commuters who use video cameras on their helmets for liability purposes. I've thought of it but haven't gone that far, yet.

[Mel.b]

I keep track of my spins using the runkeeper app on my phone however i've ordered a garmin so i'm looking forward to getting that, if for no other reason that i won't have to worry about my phone going flat on a spin now.

I'm lucky that i live very near some really scenic areas with castles, ruins, amazing landscape etc, so i'll often stop and snap a photo with my phone and upload it to my facebook page to show my friendsa and family who are all in another country. I do have a good pocket camera and if i have a route planned with some particular photos i want to take then i will pop that into my jersery pocket.

I also keep a brief blog/log on another forum but i only update it about once a fortnight it it doesn't go into a lot of depth.

[jessmarimba]

I just take iphone pics, since it's the fastest way to put them straight on facebook anyway. I used to ride with a little point-and-shoot but I mostly mountain bike, and it got pretty banged up in one or two wrecks. The iphone stays in my seat bag until I stop and take it out.

[luv2climb]

I carry a camera at all times because you never know what kind of interesting, random stuff you can get pics of. Also, I live near the Sierra Nevada mountains. We have some beautiful scenery here.

I also use a Garmin Edge 500 for GPS data (elevation gain and loss, percent grade, altitude, distance, time, speed, HR, etc.). For video, I use a GoPro HD Hero 960 on a chest strap mount and a ContourHD on my helmet. I used to post videos and pictures on this forum but I have stopped. One, certain members here assumed that all I did was take long rides by myself because I mainly posted the ride reports with the pictures and videos. Two, I believe in "keeping it real". I refuse to cover up the natural sounds of a real bike ride with music. This means you can hear me breathing hard on climbs, which seemed to upset some people here.

Here's a few examples of ride reports I've posted here.

Road ride on Donner Pass Road in the Sierras

First MTB ride in 15 years with new bike

Climbing the steepest streets in San Francisco with a Bike Friday Pocket Companion folding bike

For those who still enjoy my videos, my YouTube channel is in my profile under "Contact Info".

[Jiffer]

Every now and then me or someone else will take a photo, usually at events or on more "epic" rides. And usually with a phone. The iPhone is actually GREAT at taking pics, as I'm sure you know.

I just recently started blogging about various things, including cycling, so I have a few posts with pics there.

I document every singe ride I do, in detail, on bikejournal.com. I keep track of my time, distance, pace, elevation gain and then make comments on various things depending on the ride. I also do "laps" on a lot of my rides and will document all of my laps, speed, pace, etc.

I can tell you how many miles I rode the past few years (including this year's pathetically low number, cause my health has prevented me from riding much). I can look up any ride I've done and see my stats and notes from it. My husband calls me the stat monster. Actually, he calls me the Snotty, Potty, Stat Monster! Cause in addition to having a "thing" for stats, I keep tissue in my jersey to blow my nose several times during a ride and also tend to go potty often (in general).

Our club asks for photos to post on their website, or to cycle through on a big screen at club meetings. Everyone votes for their favorite and it gets put on the website.

I know a club member who used to consistently post pics and details of rides on this forum.

[shootingstar]

You're very faithful Jiffer.

My style of "documenting" stuff related to my rides has changed over the cycling decades.

I used to note mileage for first few years in a cycling journal. Not routes. Waaaaay too much effort for me and well too dry, for my taste. Crappy scribbles of notes. Very mechancial writing.

I like taking interesting/pretty photo shots ...whenever. Sometimes I go for weeks, not taking any photos. There are different photos in all 3 different blogs. Which 2 of them will change over time.

Blogging, actually reminds me that there is an audience out there..and hence, I write for an imaginary /real audience. Which does mean a writing style that's better than writing just for myself. But best thing of all, I like marrying a "story" with photos. Cycling is just a launch pad for other topics and pics.

I couldn't take my camera with me all the time because I do cycle for shopping and errands sometimes. I don't want to bang around my camera by forgetting that I have it..which has happened. Fortunately no damage yet.

My blogs do remind me of some experiences I've had /things I've seen both cycling and non-cycling related. I know some of other bloggers do look back on their own blogs to "relive" or to remember. To me a trip is best remembered, seen and read as "highlights", not a mechanical recitation of a route. Of course, the metaphor of a bike trip is...life's journey through a blog.

I'm not a Facebook user and doubt very much my own family and friends would be as interested in just a pile of photos unless I gave more explanation...which I can't be bothered FB or Twitter style.

[Atlas]

I only take my camera if we're on tour or an overnight trip - basically if we're already hauling gear then I'll take it. On my short rides by myself I don't take it, but part of that is I don't have a lot of bags and such on my bike. If I had a frame bag or top tube bag I'd maybe consider taking it more often. I have a Panasonic Lumix that I love and adore and have taken more photos on it than on my big Nikon dSLR. I love the wide open Midwestern landscapes I ride in and I like having a tiny wide angle camera to capture it.

[hebe]

Interesting topic!

I love taking pictures on my rides, but there haven't been many recently as I've been working on improving my fitness/times. I often blog about my riding. I was using a Garmin Dakota and Garmin Connect to track my rides and mileage but am currently testing out Sports Tracker on a Windows Phone. I love reading about other peoples rides and seeing their pictures - so many of our bikes are the same the world over but we all cycle in such different (and yet sometimes similar) places. I should do a "photo" ride the next sunny weekend and not worry too much about times.

[Cataboo]

I used to carry a gps just in case I got lost - I know the area better and haven't been bothering lately. I used to record how many miles I've ridden,I haven't been bothering lately. Even when I was recording tracks, I never really bothered to download the tracks and see how fast I was going.

I keep a small waterproof camera in a fuel belt bento box on my top tube, and whip it out when I want to take some pics. If I'm riding with someone else, I don't hold them up by taking photos. If I'm riding by myself, it depends on my mood. Some days I just want to bike and don't stop to take photos. I just pass things and think "that would be an amazing pic, too bad I'm not stopping" Other days, I just want to explore and get some nice pics.

I went out riding yesterday 'cause there's a road near by along a creek that is usually covered with daylilies in bloom on either side... I biked over and found that someone had mowed down the daylilies I started biking the route that I've been doing lately and realized I was bored, thinking about my to do list, and just really didn't want to be biking. So I turned off down some other roads and decided to just explore. All of a sudden, I was enjoying my ride.

And getting some wacky pics:

[Suze]

AdHi Chat Noire,

First, great name!

I do blog, and do carry a camera. In ancient, 35mm film, days I had an Olympus and a number of lens, but my lovely camera got old, was injured, and out of date, and heavy. So now I use a point and shoot Canon A590. Sometimes I stop for photos, sometimes I set it for motion (I think they call it children and pets setting, but I imagine that gives priority to a fast shutter speed) and shoot while I ride. I think the images lose a fair amount of quality when I load them to my site, but that may be my lack of understanding of modern technology.

I've read about a smaller, thinner, Canon, that might be better quality, but I have no budget for it right now.

Mostly I take photos when I am riding alone, or casually with friends. This season, I've ridden some good routes with local cycling groups and I don't even take the camera, it is all I can do to keep up. I will figure that out, maybe take photos later, because I want to include the rides in my local routes section. But, no photos= no posts.

Happy cycling, and photography!
Suze