# My commute to work on video:



## Arby (Apr 29, 2004)

Morning!

It's, yet another, slushy morning here in Baltimore. This morning I electrical taped my camera to my stem and recorded video of my 20 minute commute through downtown Baltimore to work. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but I don't know if anyone out there is going to have the patience to download it. 

Video length: 20 minutes
File size: 194M
Format: quicktime MOV.

It's a video from the time I leave my place, clip in, pedal through the city, through the ghetto and to the front door of work, clip out and that's it. 

Link to video is here: 
http://www.phattire.net/commutevideo/commutevid.MOV
_Right click and "save target as" (*commutevid.MOV*)_

If anyone knows how to decrease the file size, I'd love some tips! Thanks.

Enjoy,
RB


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## northcoast (Jul 11, 2003)

*Definitely worth the wait!*

Wow! Talk about being right there in the saddle. Amazing! I like the trackstand behind the Camry. Mums the word on the red lights.
Thanks RB!

Everyone should take time to download RB's commute video


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## Arby (Apr 29, 2004)

*cool*

Glad you liked it. How long did it take for you to download it? 

Today is hell day at work; can't wait to get home!
RB


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## northcoast (Jul 11, 2003)

Arby said:


> Glad you liked it. How long did it take for you to download it?
> 
> Today is hell day at work; can't wait to get home!
> RB



It only took a few minutes because we have a fast connection at my work. People with DSL should not have a problem.


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## Gripped (Nov 27, 2002)

northcoast said:


> Mums the word on the red lights.


Whatever. Glad to see that Arby is doing what he can to increase the public perception that cyclists are responsible users of the road -- not.

I see stuff like that and I think, "another cyclist trying to get me killed."


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## northcoast (Jul 11, 2003)

*Okay, your right...*

...maybe RB needs to pay a little more attention to the traffic laws, but does it tick you off just as much when you see big groups of guys on Pinarellos and Colnagos with pretty clothes blowing lights/stop signs on the weekends? Or just when it's an "urban" type rider?


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## Bertleman (Jan 6, 2005)

I did not see one problem with RB's riding.


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## Arby (Apr 29, 2004)

*RB's a bad example today*



Gripped said:


> Whatever. Glad to see that Arby is doing what he can to increase the public perception that cyclists are responsible users of the road -- not.
> 
> I see stuff like that and I think, "another cyclist trying to get me killed."


I was waiting to get yelled at after Northcoast's comment on the red lights. Not that I don't deserve it; I deffinitely was wrong in blowing the red lights. - Not a good example or way to represent cyclists.

It's not good to whip through red lights especially in a city that hates cyclists. Most of the time I wait for the lights, but, depending on the route I'm taking, and the people standing around/staring me down; I'll pedal on through.

It's hard to always be the better person and do the right thing in a city where bass-booming cars of hoodlums, or just people on the sidewalk think it's funny to throw bottles at you when you're JRA. 

Anyway, my apologies. Certainly hope you don't get killed out there.

RB

http://www.onelesscar.org/


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## Gripped (Nov 27, 2002)

northcoast said:


> ...maybe RB needs to pay a little more attention to the traffic laws, but does it tick you off just as much when you see big groups of guys on Pinarellos and Colnagos with pretty clothes blowing lights/stop signs on the weekends? Or just when it's an "urban" type rider?


Either or. Group rides gotta obey too. I've ridden my fair share of urban in my day and I've ignored stop lights and stop signs too. I've cleaned up my act. I think I tick off my friends sometimes when I stop (track stand at stop signs and shorter lights) and they blow on through. Tough -- I see the faces of the drivers they cut off and it breeds contempt which is something automobilistas have in spades for cyclists.


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## meat tooth paste (Oct 6, 2004)

Fun video! Here I am babying my Pista and keeping it indoors during the rain . That video is a evidence of how burly these bikes are. I'm riding mine in the rain from now on!


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## MarkS (Feb 3, 2004)

*A Baltimore Rider's Response*

I don't have much complaint about RB's going through red lights. At the time of day he was riding, there is not much traffic on the roads. And, the denizens of the neighborhoods in the latter two-thirds of the video are not very nice -- it is best to keep moving in those neighborhoods. I do have two other traffic law complaints: (1) riding on the wrong side of the street at the beginning of the video; and (2) blowing past the school bus with the flashing lights at towards the end of the video. I, too, am guilty of riding the wrong way on a one way street every once and a while. But, I know the neighborhood from which RB starts his commute and he easily could have taken a right rather than a left when he left his front door, ridden one-half block and then proceeded on a one way street going in the right direction. Insofar as the school bus is concerned, I know from a friend's experience (while driving a car) that the local police and judges are merciless with people who do not stop for a school bus with flashing lights. The fine is several hundred dollars and if you go to court the judges will throw the book at you.

I like the video. For those who watched it from beginning to end, here are some comments: (1) The last part of my commute is on the videotape just as RB is approaching downtown Baltimore (i.e., just before he makes the first right hand turn in downtown). It was interesting to see RB go to the left as the cars were stopped on particular intersection (Franklin Street) and also see him swerve to the left just past Mulberry Street where there is a raised surface in the road -- I do both of these things without thinking. (2) There is a part of the video where RB makes a right turn (about half way in the video) and there are fairly nice 19th century row houses on the right and an open square on the left. One of the houses on the right was the birthplace and longtime residence of HL Mencken, the famous early-mid-20th century journalist and critic. (3) About two-thirds of the way through the video, there is an unbroken row of houses that seems to go on forever -- this row, on Wilkens Avenue, is one of the longest, if not THE longest, unbroken row of connected houses in the country. (4) If RB had gone straight rather than turning at the last traffic light before he arrived at work, he would have passed the site of St. Mary's Industrial School, a reformatory that closed around 1960. Its most famous alumnus was Babe Ruth, who learned to play baseball there. From what I can see on the video, I think that RB's workplace may back up to the old St. Mary's property.


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## Gripped (Nov 27, 2002)

MarkS said:


> (2) blowing past the school bus with the flashing lights at towards the end of the video.


I played that segment over a couple of times. The school bus didn't have the stop flag out. I believe that it was stopped and just waiting ... something I see school busses doing pretty frequently. In fact, you can see car coming from the opposite direction come around the school bus. I'd say no foul in this case ... but like Mark says, if the flag is out, don't pass a stopped school bus.

FWIW, within the last couple of years, a bicyclist has killed a pedestrian here in Portland, OR. So be wary of kids even if you're on your bike.


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## Knale (Jan 22, 2005)

*blowing red lights*



Arby said:


> I was waiting to get yelled at after Northcoast's comment on the red lights. Not that I don't deserve it; I deffinitely was wrong in blowing the red lights. - Not a good example or way to represent cyclists.
> 
> It's not good to whip through red lights especially in a city that hates cyclists. Most of the time I wait for the lights, but, depending on the route I'm taking, and the people standing around/staring me down; I'll pedal on through.
> 
> ...


I start my commute between 5:15 and 5:30 AM. My whole ride is through city streets. I blow through a majority of the lights and stop signs on my way to work. Traffic is light and it is not like I am aimlessly running the lights... I do check the situation out before its done. Police have seen me do it numerous times. They don't say a word. On the way home is quite different of course, much more traffic. I stop at all the lights. Personally I don't understand how you ride is going to get some other bike rider killed that you don't know.  The people that hate bicycle riders are going to hate them if they abide by the rules or not. I think they are jeolous  

Knale


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## meat tooth paste (Oct 6, 2004)

> If anyone knows how to decrease the file size, I'd love some tips! Thanks.


 You need a video editor program like Final Cut or Premiere. That's how I do it on my Mac. There may be some easier way with free Windows based editors out there.


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## macalu (Jan 16, 2003)

RB,

I really enjoyed the vid. I think you should put it to music. I suggest Coltrane. "Tenor Madness" would work.

I don't have a problem with the red lights. 

mac.


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## Hollywood (Jan 16, 2003)

*cool vid*

mileage? I guess it seems longer than the actual time it took. Huh.

BTW, it took ~55 min. on a not-fast PC with a not-fast DSL hookup. Ow.

HW


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## AMvision (Nov 3, 2004)

yeah, music would be lots of fun to try with this sort of thing--it was fun riding to work with you. You ride like I used to ride when I messenged. I ve since sort of chilled out a bit, want to preserve my life for racing...  


the black and white photo is good, the bike becomes interesting in the feeling of doleful mundaneness. The photo has great balance and range of value. A unique compliment(cover photo) to the bike's liveliness observed in the video.



AM.


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## asterisk (Oct 21, 2003)

AMvision said:


> yeah, music would be lots of fun to try with this sort of thing.


Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar... if you wanted something more hardcore... prehaps some Dieselboy... maybe an Overseer track. You'd need like 4-5 solid tracks to cover all 19 minutes though.

cool vid Arby, makes me miss big city life...


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## meat tooth paste (Oct 6, 2004)

I liked the video with the real sounds of the wind and riding. I guess I have watched too many freeride DVD with overpowering music, so I enjoyed this as it was because it made me feel like I was there.

Although I do like that Chemical Bros' Star Guitar song. Good video for that song by Michel Gondry.


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## commutenow (Sep 26, 2004)

I like the video and I think in the morning when not much traffics out you do what you do. I am riding from 5:40 to about 6:40am or so according to pictures being taken and I think one of the benifits to commuting by bike are the times you make up your mind to handle it the way you want if you are not endangering someone else. I am grateful for our 69 degree weather at least this week it changes often, esp. after seeing Arbys weather.


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## Arby (Apr 29, 2004)

*yep*



Gripped said:


> I played that segment over a couple of times. The school bus didn't have the stop flag out. I believe that it was stopped and just waiting ... something I see school busses doing pretty frequently. In fact, you can see car coming from the opposite direction come around the school bus. I'd say no foul in this case ... but like Mark says, if the flag is out, don't pass a stopped school bus.


You're right. The bus was just parked and waiting. 

I was talking with two riding buddies last night, over a spagetti dinner about city riding and we all agreed that if you live in a city and you ride through the city every day, you are deffinitely going to blow red lights... that simple. 

RB


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## Arby (Apr 29, 2004)

*no need to baby your baby*



meat tooth paste said:


> Fun video! Here I am babying my Pista and keeping it indoors during the rain . That video is a evidence of how burly these bikes are. I'm riding mine in the rain from now on!


I deffinitely don't baby my pista. I did clean out the headset last night though. It was packed with grit and salt. I'm thinking of actually getting a deep cup steel CK headset for this bike in the spring. I'm not happy with the cheese whiz one that came on it. - it's still smooth, but it's nothing special. 

I love working on the pista...soooooo simple.

RB


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## Arby (Apr 29, 2004)

*To all who enjoyed it:*

To all who enjoyed the vid:

Glad you did! It was fun to do. I'll do it again when the weather is better and maybe take you through a better route with the camera mounted (taped like crazy) to my helmet for a better view.

-RB


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## Arby (Apr 29, 2004)

*I think...*



Hollywood said:


> mileage? I guess it seems longer than the actual time it took. Huh.
> 
> BTW, it took ~55 min. on a not-fast PC with a not-fast DSL hookup. Ow.
> 
> HW


I think my commute is ~4miles. Maybe, maybe 5. It's going to be enjoyable this summer.. can't wait for warm weather to return!

RB


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## treebound (Oct 16, 2003)

*Wish I could see it*

Started the download but soon realized it was of "termination size" and it would trigger alarms if downloaded to the local environment just due to its size. From home I'd be waiting a week for it down download. Tried to view it directly and after about 5 minutes of waiting for the viewer to fire off I gave up. I wonder if there is a way to break it up into smaller segments.

Oh well, back to the boredom.


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## MarkS (Feb 3, 2004)

*Topo says . . .*



Arby said:


> I think my commute is ~4miles. Maybe, maybe 5. It's going to be enjoyable this summer.. can't wait for warm weather to return!
> 
> RB


I plotted your route in Topo 3.0 and the stats are: mileage -- 5.14 miles; feet climbed -- 302 ft.


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## Arby (Apr 29, 2004)

*thanks!*



MarkS said:


> I plotted your route in Topo 3.0 and the stats are: mileage -- 5.14 miles; feet climbed -- 302 ft.


Mark,

Thanks! I was wondering how far it was. That's awesome. 

RB


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## meat tooth paste (Oct 6, 2004)

As for all the comments about RB's "lawlessness", I guess I didn't think what he did was that bad because it seemed like he was breaking the rules with a some sense of caution. I know that sounds like a contradiction. But hey, that's just my opinion.

I guess my years in New York and San Francisco has stretched my definition of what's ok . Messengers and city riders there are a different breed. I rode fast and hard during those days too. Now I am mellow and Mr. Safety. 

For true recklessness and abandonment, show up in NYC during an alley cat race day. This video makes our RB look like the Patron Saint of Safety.

Now for some real dangerous riding...
http://www.digave.com/videos/red-web.mpg


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## damon (Dec 24, 2001)

Arby said:


> Morning!
> 
> It's a video from the time I leave my place, clip in, pedal through the city, through the ghetto and to the front door of work, clip out and that's it.
> 
> ...


Next time you pass a double parked H2, i expect to see a middle finger somewhere in the frame, OK? You're slackin' off, brother.

http://www.fuh2.com/

: -D

p.s. i got a little motion sickness queasy watching that video. Good job!


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## diatribe (Jun 7, 2004)

I'm in agreeance with RB on the "blowing the red lights and stop signs".

I'm still downloading the video so I don't know the exact situation, but I also ride completely across Philadelphia and every single block is either a stop sign or a traffic light.

I ALWAYS slow down when approaching the intersection, look both ways and if its completely clear, I will proceed through the intersection even if its a red light. If there are any cars at all coming, I will stop and wait.

I think the best thing to do in regards to the traffic light situation is to make your best attempt to pedal at speeds that will allow you to hit all green lights.  It's a bit of a challenge, but after riding the same route for a while you can definitely get a feel for the length of the lights.

In regards to the size of the video - did you try to zip it up to reduce the size?

It's taken 10 mins to down 22% so far. I'll update when down.

Later!
diatribe


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## diatribe (Jun 7, 2004)

It took about 40 mins to download the whole video and that's with 3 - T1 lines here at work - of course, I share these with the entire office.

After watching the video, I have to say that I actually feared for your life out there.

For a while I thought the camera was strapped to your head and thought for sure that you were going to get side swiped - then I re-read that you had taped it to the stem! Felt much better at that point.

Are you still riding with the slicks on those crappy roads? Have you received NO SUN in Baltimore since it snowed? LOL.

It was really cool to see someone elses commute in full length video - thanks for sharing...

diatribe


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## AMvision (Nov 3, 2004)

meat tooth paste said:


> As for all the comments about RB's "lawlessness", I guess I didn't think what he did was that bad because it seemed like he was breaking the rules with a some sense of caution. I know that sounds like a contradiction. But hey, that's just my opinion.
> 
> 
> 
> HA! Rules are made for those who can not make their own.


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## mtbnutty (Feb 13, 2003)

*Damn!!!!*



meat tooth paste said:


> For true recklessness and abandonment, show up in NYC during an alley cat race day. This video makes our RB look like the Patron Saint of Safety.
> 
> Now for some real dangerous riding...
> http://www.digave.com/videos/red-web.mpg


Damn Meat! What a video! One false move and those guys are Meat! (couldn't resist)

My riding is so safe and mellow also that it may border on the boring. I save my helter skelter riding for the mountain bike.


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## AMvision (Nov 3, 2004)

http://www.digave.com/videos/red-web.mpg[/QUOTE]


and everyone knows lucas...


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## Arby (Apr 29, 2004)

*That's exactly on the money*



meat tooth paste said:


> http://www.digave.com/videos/red-web.mpg


Meat,

That video is dead nuts on the $. I felt like I was in that alley cat. Excellent video. Those guys came to Baltimore for the Tripple Crown alley cat last Memorial Day Weekend (one race in Bmore on Sat, one in DC on sunday and one in Richmond, VA on Monday). All strong, all crazy and all fun to ride with. There are some pictures from the Baltimore alley cat of the Tripple Crown on my site at:
http://www.phattire.net/bmorealleycat.html
don't miss the link to the DC race on that page.

Great video, thanks for posting!
RB


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