Deep Fresh POW

More helmet cam testing

 It was dumping all last week and had the opportunity to go out Sunday. Hmmm what can I say, IT WAS FREAKING DEEP that`s what it was. We ended going up to Mt. Henning( Coquihalla Lakes Area) and good god it was insane. Everywhere you looked guys were stuck, on the trail, off the trail, it did not matter. Hell I got stuck going downhill it was so deep.

 

It could have been an epic day for me but unfortunately I had to ride a backup sled. What can I say it was and is a complete turd. It was so deep that the exhaust would clog up and it would drop a cylinder and well in that deep of snow leave me to the stuck gods. It was frustrating to say the least.  So finally giving up on riding I pulled out the cameras and let Paul play as I took some images.We also did some more testing with the Contour HD 1080P Helmet Cam.

So it could have been epic but in the end it was a fail for me. Guess I am a turbo snob. It is true though once you go turbo you will never go back. I have no intention of riding that 2005 900 King Cat ever again.

You Arctic Cat guru`s  have any insight on what can be done to make that sled run better feel free to comment below.

Thanks

Contour HD 1080p Helmet Camera

Well as you all know a while back I received my GoBandit HD GPS helmet cam. I was all excited for that camera because of the gps and skinning options for the gps info. In the end though the lack of options and more inportantly the poor video quality made me return it. Hopefully some software/firmware upgrades will fix it because I think this camera has potential.

I had to move on so I exchanged it for the Contour HD 1080p helmet cam. Now it does not have the options of the GoPro Hero HD and I think the hero footage is marginally better but not by much. I just preferred the design and ease of use of the Countour.

Here is a very boring video showing samples of the camera in action. It shows how it handles the brightness,transitioning from shade to bright  and at the end low light when the heli is dropping off the sled. The footage is straight from camera with no color grading etc. It was shot with the default out of the box settings in 1080p @30fps. I just wish the viewing angle would be a bit wider than 111degrees as compared to the 135 degrees when in 720p mode.

Youtube compression has degraded the footage a bit and some of the artifacts you see is not in the original footage.

Whistler +Bluebird Day+ Fresh Snow = Epic

Rider: Paul Gibbs          Sled: 2010 HCR800 Arctic Cat

Well it has been awhile since my last blog. I have been busy and that is a good thing. Had a chance to get up to Whistler this weekend, what can I say, it was a bluebird day with fresh snow. What more could you ask for............

Vancouver Motorcycle Show

Hey guys just a quick reminder that the Bike show is on this weekend the 20th to the 23rd  of Jan at the Abbotsford tradex. If you have not been then you are missing out on a great show. All kinds of stuff going on for the whole family.

                                          Click logo for more info

Here are the show times

ArenaCross Dead at 20

That is correct, at the ripe old age of 20 due to circumstances I really know nothing about the  Nex Trax Arenacross series has suddenly died. Tits up as some would say.

 

 Sounds like the expansion to Grande Prarie, AB, a week before Christmas might have been the final nail in the coffin so to speak of the series. But just to make things perfectly clear that is just pure speculation on my part as I have nothing to do with the organization.  I know it is a sad time for a lot of people who enjoyed the series. My son who at 5 years old was racing for his second season will miss it as will I. 

You can read what they have to say about it over at 

Nex Trax Arenacross

Please feel free to comment on the subject.

Thanks

Sledding fun with injuries.

. Paul Gibbs(ripntear) and myself were able to get out again. He is still turboless so he was on the 900 King Cat again. I think he is starting to like the sled. We just made a quick trip up the the Coq.We just decided to go up and play in the trees in the Mt. Henning area.

While playing in the trees Paul seen what looked like a good kicker and wanted to hit. So I pulled out my camera and this is what happened.

New helmet camera test.

Well finally got a few hrs of sledding in this past weekend. Just went locally up to the Coquihalla. Lots of fresh snow you just had to get out of the general travel areas to play in it. Sled was working awesome. Me on the other hand was a different story. My sled was broke all last year so this was my first real ride in over a year and a half, and it showed. I nicknamed myself "pinball" for the day LOL.

                          Handed Paul my camera to take a few pics of me , thanks dude.

                           Here is Paul on the 900 KingCat, breaking in a new engine.

It was also my chance to try my brand new helmet camera which is also new to the market and just released in Canada this past week. It is called the Gobandit HD. It records in 720p at 30fps. Not as robust as the Contour HD or GoPRo HD but it had one feature that interested me. It is a gps unit so it tracks your speed and elevation but the really cool part is that you can skin your video with this info. Pretty cool, especially handy to see your start and stop elevation when climbing in the back country up around Whistler, BC.

First impressions are disappointing to say the least. It seems to have a huge banding issue ,out in the snow anyway. Will do some more testing before I really rip it apart.

You can also check out hd 720p version on vimeo