A Waseley kind of Saturday...

I was up a bit later than planned and got my arse on my MTB and headed over the Waseley Hills. The intention wasn't so much as to go for a bloody good pedal, but to try my film kit out. Especially the camcorder.

The route started just over the road from where I live at the playing fields which leads into the fields and a track that gets you up the Waseleys without having to ride on the road.

I turned my helmet cam on when I got to the bridleway at the start of the climb. A brief few minutes of panting and I arrived at the woods where it was quiet with no-one else around. Good. Ideal for leaving my camcorder unattended while I ride through a few shots then.

The US Army ammo pouch was working well letting me have quick access to the camcorder and holding the kit securely while I was pedalling.

While I was finding a suitable tree to stick my camcorder on to film I saw this disused birds nest. Obviously abandoned due to how low it was in the tree.

Camera set up then ride through, which I did a few times. I tried to get the film to reflect the trail through the woods, then over the top of the hill with Worcestershire blasting out into the distance westwards.

The weather was always threatening to rain and indeed it did drizzle a few times which concerned me as the camcorder is not waterproof.

I did cut the ride short as it started to belt down, so the Lickeys didn't get a visit and I just stayed on  the Waseleys. I did a measely 5 miles. Not exactly an epic!

I took this at the start of the Waseley bridleway, I guess the sign is a giveaway! I must just quickly mention that this was my first ride of my Marin with disc brakes. They are certainly the way forward for stopping a rolling mass like me. Absolutely brilliant!

Anyway back home and downloaded the stills and footage. Then onto editing!

OH...MY...GOD! How hard is this! It's now 1500hrs and I've just finished.

The main problem was that my Samsung Camcorder delivers its footage in .MP4 format which Windows Movie Maker doesn't like, so I had to convert the .MP4 files into .WMV files which didn't half ruin the quality. As you'll see it's a bit pants but I guess you have start somewhere.

The Muvi helmet cam produces .AVI which is ok to edit.

Enough of my talking it down, here it is my first proper effort at filming with a camcorder and helmet cam. It's bloody hard!

Any advice for editing MP4 to retain the quality would be greatly appreciated (Bruce).