Saturday, October 12, 2024
7:21 a.m. My Room in the House
Port Dickson, Malaysia
(1,548 words)
It’s getting closer and closer to the day my visa expires and I have to leave Malaysia. I was counting the days yesterday, and I panicked myself twice because I miscounted both times, and it appeared that I had already overstayed my visa. But I counted a third time and I was much more careful, and I confirmed that my visa expires on October 26th. That gives me exactly two weeks from today. I haven’t made a full decision about what I will do, but momentum seems to be taking me in the direction of following through on this Sumatra bike trip. I could say that I’m 90% positive that that is what I will do. In the end, I think I will definitely take my bicycle on the ferry to Sumatra. That will give me the option of cycling across Sumatra to Sibolga via Lake Toba or simply hanging out in Tanjung Balai for a while and then returning. So it could turn into a big cycling trip or a simple visa run. I think that will depend on my mood, my finances, and my knees. To my dismay, I find that my right knee is already in some pain. And that is from just riding around and testing my bicycle yesterday. There’s a chance that I won’t be able to ride my bicycle at all. Over the next two weeks, I will make sure to ride my bicycle a few kilometers every day and try to ease into it. When I encountered this problem in Sumatra last time, my knee eventually recovered and I was able to cycle up to Bukittinggi. It took a lot of rest and gradually putting my knee to work. Hopefully, I can do the same thing this time.
I’m MUCH happier this morning about my bicycle and my camera mounting system. I wrote yesterday that my original attempt with a full broomstick mounted to the bicycle frame wasn’t working out. The whole rig was simply too big and complicated. But more than that, it didn’t seem to be secure. Despite working very hard on the mounting points, the broomstick seemed to be bouncing around quite a bit. I decided to try out a different approach and mount a much shorter broomstick directly onto the handlebars. I had rejected this approach in the past because I disliked how the camera swung from side to side when you turned the handlebars. But I think when I did that experiment, I was using quite a long stick – even the Insta360 invisible selfie stick. And the swinging motion was extreme. For my experiment yesterday, my plan was to use a shorter one and see what happened.
I’m happy with the results so far. I made a list yesterday of all the possible advantages, and they have all turned out to be true. It’s much more pleasing to have such a simple rig with a shorter mounting broomstick. It’s easier to work with. It looks better and is more streamlined. It doesn’t get in the way. It’s more stable and the camera doesn’t bounce around as much. I’m also able to mount a second camera right on the handlebars, and it isn’t affected by the broomstick. The broomstick doesn’t get into the field of view. Therefore, I can mount one GoPro on the end of the stick and a second one on the handlebars. That isn’t possible when the broomstick is attached to the bicycle frame. And I can use a quick release mounting base on both cameras.
For my test yesterday, I used a permanent mounting option. I attached the base of the broomstick to the handlebar stem with two hose clamps. They are quite strong. But removing the broomstick isn’t really possible. With this approach, I think I would leave the broomstick attached permanently. It’s all quite fortuitous in a way. The angle of the handlebar stem just happens to match perfectly the angle that I need for the broomstick to position the GoPro correctly. The whole system came together nicely without my usual endless problems.
It’s true that the camera does swing through the air as I turn the handlebars, but since the broomstick is relatively short, the movement is not too distracting. It’s a bit distracting, but I think it’s tolerable. And in some ways, it is better. For example, I can turn the handlebars in order to point the camera in different directions. And I kind of like the sense of motion that you get when you turn the handlebars. It might give more of a feeling of riding a bicycle as opposed to the stable and fixed position of mounting the broomstick on the bicycle frame.
As far as I can tell, there is only one disadvantage to this new mounting method. And that is that the camera is closer to me and that makes the field of view a bit less pleasing. The test video I shot with the long broomstick looks better. The camera is situated farther away, and I am smaller in the frame with more of the background visible. I’m able to use the Linear Lens, and it looks natural with straight lines. But with the shorter broomstick mounted on the handlebars, the Linear Lens looks a bit cramped. And when I switch to the Wide Lens or SuperView, distortion gets introduced. Overall, it doesn’t look as nice, but I think it is acceptable.
I feel confident enough about this new mounting system that I think I will dismantle the old system. It clutters up my bike, and it requires the long broomstick anyway. So there is no point leaving it on the bike frame. If I wanted to keep it as an option, I’d have to bring along the original long broomstick. And I don’t want to carry it around for no reason. It’s going to feel good to dismantle the original mounting apparatus. I want to get rid of it and forget that I even tried to do it. If I decide to set it up again, I will just buy a new broom in Sumatra.
All of this effort, however, is mainly about mounting one or two GoPro cameras. I also have to think about the Insta360 X3. In a way, I do like the approach that Itchy Boots took. She didn’t use the X3 as a 360 camera. What I mean is that she didn’t try to mount the camera high in the air or far to the front, back, left or right. She simply mounted the X3 directly on the handlebars and left it there all the time. She basically just took advantage of the extreme wide angle nature of the lens. She didn’t really use it as a 360 camera.
However, that won’t really work on a bicycle. The handlebars are simply too close to your body. I plan to do another test with my bicycle by mounting the Insta360 X3 and seeing how that works. That is probably one problem with my current setup with the short broomstick. It is fixed in place permanently at the moment, and it would interfere with using the Insta360 invisible selfie stick. So I’d likely have to remove it. Or I can just mount the X3 at the end of the broomstick just like the GoPro. I don’t know if the broomstick would end up invisible. Or I can just mount the camera vertically. That would have the broomstick in the shot 100% of the time, but if I reframe to the left, right, or front it won’t matter. And if I’m aiming the camera towards me, I can just angle it so that the broomstick is out of the frame. I’ll test that next.
I’m still expecting a couple of items to arrive in the mail for this trip. The most important item is a new raincover for my bicycle trailer, the Radical Design Cyclone IV. I ordered it directly from Radical Design in the Netherlands along with a couple of axle spacers and a safety cable. The package hasn’t arrived yet even though we are long past the estimated delivery date. I also ordered a second set of Telesin quick release mounting adapters. I’m glad I ordered it, but it was also kind of a mistake. I somehow set up my Lazada account so that I can order items and pay for them with Touch’N’Go with just one click. I didn’t realize I had done that or what it meant. So I clicked on something I had put into my shopping cart just to get some information. But with that one click, I actually ordered it and paid for it without intending to. It should arrive next week.
And in terms of preparing for this possible trip to Sumatra, I guess I will have to start on Monday with applying for the visa and changing money. I have two weeks to get that done, so as long as I apply for the visa on Monday, I will be okay. I don’t want to leave it for too long. And with the remaining time I have in Malaysia, I guess I will continue to work on Patreon.