Just 4 of us free today. Gill in Devon, Louise busy and Lynne unfortunately unwell. But on a positive note...
- Andrea joined us for the first time in a while due to knee injury.
- Jeanette rode her normal bike ie NOT her ebike today. We agreed this would be a gentle pace and a local short loop, so ideal for her to try it again after many months.
- My first time back cycling since my cataract surgery 2 weeks ago, and I wasn't sure if I would still be fit! It was so nice to ride without prescription glasses on underneath my safely glasses.😎
- The first outing for my new DJI NEO 2 drone on a bike ride. (there is now a "cycling" mode)
I asked the ladies if they would be happy if NEO joined us? I was keen to make a short test film of how it might cope in a group situation. I know it follows well, and locks on to one person, but would it get confused?
I had also thought a good Drone day, since the forecast was fairly mild. But as I set off in fingerless gloves and just 2 layers I was cold. We headed to Dinton Pastures, where I added my rain jacket as an extra layer before starting to film. I was a bit slow to get set up, since I also had two Wifi microphones with me, and wanted to use the phone app to control the drone, enabling better audio capture for commentary. So a bit of faf, faf, faf due to gloves. So, apologies that it was a slow start, and chillier than expected.
Screen grabs are all drone shots, unless stated as DJI OSMO which is my action camera on my handlebars. The slow moving shots are pretty good, but the fast moving ones a bit blurred. We were SOOOOOO fast! 😂
Route link "Scotty dog" screen shot at end.
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| Low circle shot around us for use as an opening clip for the film |
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| And we're off, through the gate into Dinton. Andrea was leading but unfortunately went the wrong way initially which meant a few walkers, and dogs. |
I had stopped to land the drone to avoid a dog, so caught up with the ladies at the bridge with the drone following me over. And I kept going.
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| Stopping to do gesture control to raise the height Can't do that whilst bike is moving. (but can adjust on the app screen whilst moving) |
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| Neo tracking me from the front now, (in the sky) and did a fantastic job of avoiding the tree branches. Phew. It seamlessly did a bit of ducking and diving. |
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| Neo was in front of me in the middle of this narrow path. It's sensors moved it well over this fence as it spotted these walkers approaching. Then moved back into place infront as they passed. Amazing. |
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| Hand gestures to get it higher and farther away from me as we continued towards the air museum. |
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| Another tree branch avoided with ease, as Neo lowered itself until enough free space once more. |
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| Neo automatically coming back to me as I stopped when this dogwalker approached. ( He was fine, and very interested.) Because the dog walker wanted to chat, I lost the others but thought they would probably wait at the air museum car park. They were not there, so I continued straight through the narrow pathway to emerge on Sandford Lane at the The Millhouse. Still no sign of them, so I guessed they were cold and fed up waiting, ( understandable) and we had discussed dropping down Sandford Lane, so I peddled fast down to meet them at the bottom. NO sign of them! 😟😟 Then a call from Jeanette, which I answered but no sound. I tried to call her back, twice. I sent her a Whats app. Then she called again, no sound. I suddenly wondered if my blue tooth microphone was affecting my phone? And as soon as I turned it off.... it worked. Something else learned today. (So much to remember!) As 2 of them got in sight, I started to pull away, but then realised no Andrea. She had been right behind them a moment ago they told me. As she appeared, a shout to say she was feeling a little unwell, and would now head for home. We had only done 5 miles, but it had taken almost an hour, so I expect the cold wasnt helping. Sorry Andrea. She assured us she was fine to go on her own. I had already decided at this point, that it was unfair to keep stopping and starting on a cold day, so abandoned the drone flying for now. I took a few shots on my action camera until we reached West End Lane, by which time the sun had come out, and what a difference that made. So, a little more filming with Neo tracking this time from the side. (This had been hopeless on the first Neo model. But with obstacle avoidance now, I felt more confident. Once more the drone was amazing at missing the foliage in its path.   moving position "to avoid obstacles", as it tucked behind me.  I caught up with the other 2 and passed them doing 15mph. Drone kept up no problem, before our right turn. Interesting on the bend, since using my phone app I had used the wheel to move it into "front follow". It tried, but it held back until it was happy with the scene, then shot passed me and Martina. 😂  A loop next to Waltham St Lawrence and over Milley Bridge, before into Castle End Road to Ruscombe.  the next few miles to Ruscombe. She's back!    as we peddle into Stanlake Vineyard. No one else at the Vineyard so nice and peaceful for our cuppa and mince pies.  The wind had REALLY picked up now, and we peddled the main road from the Vineyard continuing along the Straight Mile to return on Broadcommon Road. Jeanette suggest another drone flight on Broadcommon, but sods law 3 cars came at different times, so landed it and abandoned the idea. But it did cope in the wind before going away!  Our final mile or so was over the 2 motorway bridges towards Cantley. This was a harder test for Jeanette, who told us to go ahead and we would meet on the other side. She wasn't that far behind us at all, and I hope she won't mind me sharing that she arrived in tears overcome with joy that she did it without her ebike. First time for almost 12 months. Go girl! 😇😇😇😍 Thanks all for your patience to practice my piloting skills today. Will be easier in warmer weather and already look forward to flying with more confidence in the spring in the Beechwoods. My plan is to make 2 films. One with just the best bits, and a second one as a Youtube tutorial, with commentary on what settings I was using. I will share when the films are ready in the next couple of days. Hope to see more of you next Friday. At first glance I see today's route as a Scotty Dog, on it's back legs stretching up. 😂  |