# Altamont Road hill climb video



## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

I've been playing around with some software to overlay GPS and PowerTap information on top of a ContourHD video. You can see my first attempt here. Next time I will try to keep my head a bit more still!

This is an SD video shot from a helmet-mounted ContourHD at 848x480p @ 60 Hz. It has been composited with GPS information from an Edge 305 and power/HR/cadence from a PowerTap. The PowerTap data is unfortunately somewhat out of sync with the other data. The bike route was a hill climb on Altamont Road in Los Altos Hills. The light was rather poor that day, and this was an endurance type effort. My PR for this climb is about 5:30 minutes as opposed to the 7 minutes in this video.


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## samh (May 5, 2004)

this is nice video. Grade goes from 4 to 15%, speed decreases, but HR drops (from 170 to 140?)?


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

samh said:


> this is nice video. Grade goes from 4 to 15%, speed decreases, but HR drops (from 170 to 140?)?


Yeah, I know. The cadence/power/HR data is out of time sync with respect to the GPS/video data. They're being collected separately by the Garmin Edge 305 and the PowerTap CPU and the software that stitches them together isn't getting it right. I will fix this to give more believable data. It's either that, or I have superhuman powers.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Here's another Altamont Road video, first climbing up and then riding down. I fixed a lot of stuff, and it is now in HD with audio and fills the screen.

This is an HD video shot from a helmet-mounted ContourHD at 1280x720p @ 30 Hz. It has been composited with GPS information from an Edge 305 and power/HR/cadence from a PowerTap. The bike route was a hill climb and then descent on Altamont Road in Los Altos Hills. I need to adjust the camera mount upwards so that there is more sky and less road in the picture!


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## quidquam (Nov 4, 2008)

I actually like that there is more road in the picture. It gives you a better sensation of speed and road conditions.

Nice video. I like the overlaid version lot more than the boxed version.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

quidquam said:


> I actually like that there is more road in the picture. It gives you a better sensation of speed and road conditions.
> 
> Nice video. I like the overlaid version lot more than the boxed version.


Cool thanks. When I watch I'm often looking fifty yards down the road just like when I'm cycling, and it gets annoying if this is bouncing around right at the top of the screen. In particular I want a little more sky so that it doesn't lose the horizon when I'm in the drops (like on the descent). I always wanted to try the overlay approach, it just took me a while to get around to implementing alpha transparency in the graphics. I will admit that that the boxed version looks completely lame by comparison now. Cheers!


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## Tort (Nov 4, 2008)

That was pretty cool. I like the overlay.


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## willhs (Apr 10, 2009)

Really awesome videos. The criterium videos are absolutely amazing, though they don't have telemetry. Keep it up!!


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 2001)

This is brilliant. Haven't seen anything like it, not even in the big leagues.

fc


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## Dr_John (Oct 11, 2005)

Very nice.

Where is the gearing info coming from?


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

francois said:


> This is brilliant. Haven't seen anything like it, not even in the big leagues.
> 
> fc


Thanks! I'm thinking of doing one for each of the well-known local hills, and then watch them while riding on the rollers or the trainer. But I guess I can't upload 90 minutes of Mt Hamilton up to youtube so easily!

I really wanted to go out riding with you guys yesterday to get some more interesting footage with some riders in the picture, but I got stuck at the house doing chores and repairs.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Dr_John said:


> Very nice. Where is the gearing info coming from?


Thanks. The gearing info is the special secret sauce!


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## haitech (Jan 2, 2010)

Nice Video, lots of information! Do you ever ride over in the East Bay like Mt. Diablo?


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## Miiles (Oct 25, 2008)

ukbloke said:


> Here's another Altamont Road video, first climbing up and then riding down. I fixed a lot of stuff, and it is now in HD with audio and fills the screen.
> 
> This is an HD video shot from a helmet-mounted ContourHD at 1280x720p @ 30 Hz. It has been composited with GPS information from an Edge 305 and power/HR/cadence from a PowerTap. The bike route was a hill climb and then descent on Altamont Road in Los Altos Hills. I need to adjust the camera mount upwards so that there is more sky and less road in the picture!


Wow. That's an impressive video. Care to share how you went about doing all of this (software, etc.)?


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

haitech said:


> Nice Video, lots of information! Do you ever ride over in the East Bay like Mt. Diablo?


Diablo is certainly on the to-do list!


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Miiles said:


> Wow. That's an impressive video. Care to share how you went about doing all of this (software, etc.)?


All the hard work is done in a python script that I wrote myself. I'm still adding features and finishing the rough edges, but it is working well enough already that I can produce these videos without much human effort. I use SportTracks and Golden Cheetah to get the data off my Garmin and the PowerTap. I'm using Sony Vegas Studio to composite the overlay with the video. I'd like to catalog the local hills and get in on some group rides to make the footage more interesting. More consistent light would help too.

Thanks for the comments!


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## ratpick (Jul 31, 2008)

This is great stuff.. OLH on a sub-20 minuter please..


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

ratpick said:


> This is great stuff.. OLH on a sub-20 minuter please..


I have an OLH run "in the can", but it was a gloomy and rainy day. Also, my fitness at the moment is nowhere near the 20 minute level! I couldn't believe how lush and verdant green the bottom of OLH is at the moment. It almost feels like a rain forest. Hopefully my times will improve as we get into the spring.


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## willhs (Apr 10, 2009)

Man, I would seriously pay you for DVDs of that kind of footage (just to get good quality, long videos for trainer rides). There are ways to download stuff off of Youtube and then stitch it together, but it's sort of tedious.


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## Miiles (Oct 25, 2008)

ukbloke said:


> All the hard work is done in a python script that I wrote myself. I'm still adding features and finishing the rough edges, but it is working well enough already that I can produce these videos without much human effort. I use SportTracks and Golden Cheetah to get the data off my Garmin and the PowerTap. I'm using Sony Vegas Studio to composite the overlay with the video. I'd like to catalog the local hills and get in on some group rides to make the footage more interesting. More consistent light would help too.
> 
> Thanks for the comments!


Figured it wasn't going to be a "oh just download this program" kind of thing, good for you.

Get some of the very South Bay for me, Metcalf road perhaps ?


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

willhs said:


> Man, I would seriously pay you for DVDs of that kind of footage (just to get good quality, long videos for trainer rides). There are ways to download stuff off of Youtube and then stitch it together, but it's sort of tedious.


Cool, thanks! Interestingly, my wife keeps telling me that I should make DVDs too. She thinks other riders would use them for training. Perhaps I can use this as an angle for getting in more rides?  "Hey, honey, I'm just heading out to make another DVD".


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Miiles said:


> Figured it wasn't going to be a "oh just download this program" kind of thing, good for you.
> 
> Get some of the very South Bay for me, Metcalf road perhaps ?


I'll add Metcalf to the list. Perhaps with Umunhum, Quimby and Henry Coe to cover the south south bay. It's getting to be a long list though ...


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Here's a new video descending Highway 84 in the wet. I've made a lot of improvements to my software though most don't really affect the output. There's one neat extra gizmo you might spot in the tight corners.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Rather than continuing to disturb the peace and tranquility of the Northern California forum, I started another thread over in the "ride reports" forum. There's a couple of new videos posted from doing some time-trial practice on Central Expressway in Sunnyvale using the cloverleaf intersections for the turn-around!


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