Usually I spend a good portion of the winter months prepping and planing for the cross country road trip that ensues the following summer, but this past winter was different... Due to a number of different reasons, I wasn't sure if I was riding anywhere outside of Michigan. I tried not to let it bum me out, so i just paid it no thought.
Then everything changed about a week or so ago, when I was informed I'd be riding on the Long Road ride that leads up to the Smoke Out 13 in Rockingham, North Carolina. I was excited, but also a bit nervous because I hadn't had time to plan or prep at all, so this past week, things have been in non-stop over drive.
I leave tomorrow after work, and I still haven't even so much as opened up my atlas to even see where i'm going. I've got a rough idea of the route-- head south thru Ohio and into Kentucky, then south east into Tennessee, then up and over through Kentucky again and into West Virgina, then back down to TN again and then back over to Rockingham, NC. Then back home... I think.
I spent the whole week getting the Road Couch ready for war. New rear tire, check. New brake pads, check. Fresh fluids all around, check. Everything else looks and sounds solid, so I figure nothing left to do but get on her and ride. By the time I get back home, I'll have roller over the 50,000 mile mark on this bike in just under 3 years, and i'm feeling pretty good about it.
The amount of gear i'll be taking this time around is just insane, its so much stuff! Not only will I have my home for 2 weeks strapped to my back seat, (tent, air pad and sleeping bag), but i'll be toting two camera bags carrying four different cameras and all of their accompanying giz-mos and doo-dads.
Along with finding out I'd be riding the long road, I also discovered I'll be filming and editing the Smoke Out 13 DVD! Which means more gear, and more responsibility. While I'd love to take the Chop or the Wide Glide down there, (and i will one day,) I just can't afford to break down or even run in to so much as a hiccup on this trip. The Wide Glide has some un-sorted charging issues, and the Chopper hasn't seen enough love to really break state lines. Every day and every hour of this trip has to be so well orchestrated in order to capture it all that if I miss even one day of it, the whole thing could be shot, which can be worked around when on a trip for pleasure, but make no mistake, I'll be working my ass off for the next two weeks around the clock.
Since I was already fit to bring two decently sized camera bags, I figured I'd go the extra mile and take a few more camera luxuries along with me, mainly a single studio light, it's power chord, and a mono-pod. This allows me to capture still scenes at night, such as shooting a bike feature after dark. Doing so involves a process known as "light painting", in where you place the camera on a tri-pod (or mono-pod in my instance) and open the shutter for a longer period of time, in my case about ten seconds. In those ten seconds, you can fire your flash or studio light from a few different angles, providing the illusion that you're using multiple light sources, when in fact you've only got one. Its a tricky process, and I'm still a little ways away from really nailing it, but i'm close, and the next two weeks will provide me with ample opportunity to practice and get some cool new shots in the magazine.
Did some test shots with the light painting technique on the fully loaded Road Couch this morning, think they turned out pretty okay. The sweet spot was somewhere in the ball park of a shutter speed of 10 seconds, F-stop 20, ISO 100, and three burst of light, two up high and one down low.
This time tomorrow I'll be flyin' down the road! Stay tuned for some mobile up-loads over the next two weeks, and a full run down in the mag, along with the DVD of course! Oh boy!
Then everything changed about a week or so ago, when I was informed I'd be riding on the Long Road ride that leads up to the Smoke Out 13 in Rockingham, North Carolina. I was excited, but also a bit nervous because I hadn't had time to plan or prep at all, so this past week, things have been in non-stop over drive.
I leave tomorrow after work, and I still haven't even so much as opened up my atlas to even see where i'm going. I've got a rough idea of the route-- head south thru Ohio and into Kentucky, then south east into Tennessee, then up and over through Kentucky again and into West Virgina, then back down to TN again and then back over to Rockingham, NC. Then back home... I think.
I spent the whole week getting the Road Couch ready for war. New rear tire, check. New brake pads, check. Fresh fluids all around, check. Everything else looks and sounds solid, so I figure nothing left to do but get on her and ride. By the time I get back home, I'll have roller over the 50,000 mile mark on this bike in just under 3 years, and i'm feeling pretty good about it.
The amount of gear i'll be taking this time around is just insane, its so much stuff! Not only will I have my home for 2 weeks strapped to my back seat, (tent, air pad and sleeping bag), but i'll be toting two camera bags carrying four different cameras and all of their accompanying giz-mos and doo-dads.
Along with finding out I'd be riding the long road, I also discovered I'll be filming and editing the Smoke Out 13 DVD! Which means more gear, and more responsibility. While I'd love to take the Chop or the Wide Glide down there, (and i will one day,) I just can't afford to break down or even run in to so much as a hiccup on this trip. The Wide Glide has some un-sorted charging issues, and the Chopper hasn't seen enough love to really break state lines. Every day and every hour of this trip has to be so well orchestrated in order to capture it all that if I miss even one day of it, the whole thing could be shot, which can be worked around when on a trip for pleasure, but make no mistake, I'll be working my ass off for the next two weeks around the clock.
Since I was already fit to bring two decently sized camera bags, I figured I'd go the extra mile and take a few more camera luxuries along with me, mainly a single studio light, it's power chord, and a mono-pod. This allows me to capture still scenes at night, such as shooting a bike feature after dark. Doing so involves a process known as "light painting", in where you place the camera on a tri-pod (or mono-pod in my instance) and open the shutter for a longer period of time, in my case about ten seconds. In those ten seconds, you can fire your flash or studio light from a few different angles, providing the illusion that you're using multiple light sources, when in fact you've only got one. Its a tricky process, and I'm still a little ways away from really nailing it, but i'm close, and the next two weeks will provide me with ample opportunity to practice and get some cool new shots in the magazine.
Did some test shots with the light painting technique on the fully loaded Road Couch this morning, think they turned out pretty okay. The sweet spot was somewhere in the ball park of a shutter speed of 10 seconds, F-stop 20, ISO 100, and three burst of light, two up high and one down low.
This time tomorrow I'll be flyin' down the road! Stay tuned for some mobile up-loads over the next two weeks, and a full run down in the mag, along with the DVD of course! Oh boy!
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