0001 - Walking: Colonial Knob

https://d.tube/#!/v/kiwibloke/ipafl8p8

**About**
Following this mornings USO group cycle ride, instead of doing my usual morning cool down 40km ride, I decided to do a small walk up the steps of Colonial Knob Walkway, out in Porirua Wellington. This is quite a challenge because I've only done this once 2 years ago and it was hard then. This time round, it's winter, wet, muddy and windy, definitely not ideal. These spur of the moment decisions are crazy but the view at the top was worth it. Check out the heavy breathing going on LoL, I don't like walking or running, so this is a new journey I'm undertaking.

I did not expect a bicycle pump at the top, even though I knew there is are excellent down hill mountain bike tracks up here.

**Thoughts**
This video would be a great way to start my outdoor activities series. I forgot to take the selfie stick because it would've helped to reduce camera shake. I'll be better prepared next time.

**My External Links** (not sure how long I will keep youtube/blogger, my goal is move away from Google)
Friend me on Endomondo: https://www.endomondo.com/profile/35696393
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPrOD2d5D17haHApvJMhNKg
Blog: http://www.taramai.nz

**D.tube Exclusive**

The Sony FDR-X3000, Endomondo, Virb Edit Experiment.

https://d.tube/#!/v/kiwibloke/l30t1x6k

Virb Edit, creating data overlays for you sports videos. This inbuilt editor is AMAZING, but lets go back to the beginning as to how I started putting this together.

Method

The Walk (that's me and it was freezing outside, mid winter, gets dark at 5:30pm)
- record using Endomondo the entire walk on my Huawei P8lite
- during the walk, record snippets on the Sony FDR-X3000 camera
Video Creation (all with Virb Edit)
- import all the video clips (as is), place in timeline
- while playing through the timeline, trim each clip
- export the GPS to GXP (using Endomondo Website)
- import the GPX file
THE SHOCK
- 1st gauge I added: position - track (the map inside the circle)
- when played, Virb Edit knew where each video clip appears on the track
- as you watch this video you can see the dots move accordingly
- there can be discrepencies within a few meters, you can fine tune if you want
Completion
- add music (provided by Virb Edit)
- add titles

Thoughts

This was all created in-house, no external editors used. I really am impressed with this software (and yes it is free). What is important to realise, the data here is based on a GPS signal and the accuracy of a satelitte. Still, as a graphical indiction I think it is really cool. I really don't like the existing gauges but you do have the ability to create your own.

I wouldn't necessarily use an overlay like this on all my video's, probably when there is sports events, like to 10km charity walks I sometimes participate in. I had fun putting this together.

Note
 
The Endomondo App provides alot more GPS data than the Sony FDR-X3000 which results in more gauges you can use.

https://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=6591

**D.tube Exclusive**

Opening of Wainuiomata Hill Shared Path, New Zealand

https://d.tube/v/kiwibloke/oyunyshq

This was a significant event, especially those that live in this suburb of Wainuiomata. The only access into the area is by this road. When they upgraded the road from 2 lanes (1 up 1 down) to 4 lanes, there really wasn't any room for cyclists though there are those like myself that risked being brushed aside by vehicles. Walking/running up either side of this Hill on gravel had it's risks as well, but the workout you get from it made it worth while.

This shared pathway (pedestrians/cyclists) is definitely going to become popular and there are some concerns, mainly aimed at the cycling community which I can totally understand. It really comes down to common sense, I ride/race on a road bike and coming down here at 60km+/hr would be the norm, therefore using this shared path is not an option for me. This brings us to those who drive over the hill in vehicles, who yell at cyclists to get off the road and back onto the new created shared path. I will ignore them, safety of pedestrians on this path are more important and unless I purposely ride up/down at 10km/hr or slower I will stay on the road. The next few months as summer approaches will be interesting.

My grandson and I, enjoyed the sunshine, the community spirit, and this wonderful path that we walked on today.

Camera: Sony FDR-X3000
Video Editor: kdenlive on Linux Mint 64bit

Timelapse 4K UHD: Wainui Hill Summit, Meeting Great People!

This mornings walk was very unique, with the amount of cloud movement I just had to do another timelapse. I really didn't want to take it at the top of the summit but it was fairly windy and using a heavy camera tripod would've kept my camera stable. As always, my timelapses are free to use :-)

downloadthe 1280x720p(HDTV) 30fps
download the 1920x1080p(HD) 50fps 
download the 3840x2160p(4K UHD) 60fps

While shooting the timelapse, it was a good time to test my DIY Solar Panel setup. As predicted, it wasn't very effective at that time in the morning, delivering only 40mA at 4.85V.


The Walk:

I have to admit it, I didn't put any real effort into this mornings walk, more like a casual Sunday stroll.

That last photo is where I wanted to do the actual timelapse, maybe I'll take my heavy Tripod on the next walk!

Meeting Interesting People on the Hill:
(I didn't take any photo's of these people because that would've been rude)

Tania's 24Hr Walkathon:
I meet a really nice young lady named Tania, she had an extremely interesting story with a goal to walk over Wainuiomata Hill every day in 2018 and she achieved that WOW!!

She is doing a 24hour walkathon 15/02/2019 and I intend to support on that day. Check out her givealittle website. I'm going to shamelessly share this on all my social media.

https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/walking-the-wainuiomata-hill-for-24-hours

Mormon Elders:
2 really nice guys who stopped at the top of the hill to take some photos of Wellington Harbour. We had lengthy discussions on basically everything and it wasn't too religious in nature. I admire the sacrifices these guys take to come to our shores. One is from Texas, the other from Melbourne.

Very memorial day.

Todays Walk

It has been a while since I've done a walk, so my body wasn't feeling too comfortable half way through this loop but I'm sure it would get easier once I get back into some sort off  routine.

13.5km Fitness Walk: A small Blog Experiment

Click here to watch video

The aim here is to break away ties with YouTube, using BitChute as the source to store my video's. As mentioned in the previous post, the disadvantage is the viewer has no playback quality selection.

Original video recorded and uploaded in 1920 x 1080res 50fps, 797.7MB
Post upload BitChute video  15.6MB 768 x 432res 24fps, 15.6MB

The downside of this method, I have create an image, use the images caption as the link to the videos URL, which then opens a new browsers page at the videos URL location.

Thoughts
I wonder if it is possible to easily imbed the video onto this page ...

Wainui Hill Summit Walk

On today’s walk, once I had reached the top of the hill, I decided to shoot a timelapse of the clouds racing across Petone. It takes around 28 minutes to produce enough images to create a 12 second timelapse video so after a little snack, a drink and feeling well rested, I may as well record myself walking back down, and checking out the fantastic stabilization of this amazing camera.

Thoughts

Just noticed our 4k TV cannot play my recently created 1080p50 H264 videos directly from a USB key, needs to be investigated to find out what the problem is.

Winter is Coming

On this evenings walk it got dark fairly quickly, still another 13km under my belt.

The Endomondo App glitched in a few places and gave some obvious bad GPS results for speed, but I'm putting this down to having my mobile phone in my shorts pocket. When I had it in my backpack all went well.

The sony FDR-X3000 night shots came up pretty good. I had to put the Sony on top of a wooden post, hand held gave terrible blurry pictures.

Todays workout:-

1st Endomondo Challenge Completed

I'm finding it hard to walk but it is still early days.

Walking 12km Was Too Much

So 2 days later I did a 15km walk, I know, crazy! At the 12km mark I wasn't feeling too good. Surprisingly at the 14km mark I felt really good. Walking does take up a lot of time so I must work on my time management to include longer walks.

I surprised myself with this one, and as I write this blog, I'm still feeling pretty good.

Some photo's taken en route:-

Yes, it was a wet day.

Second Walk Recorded

I got invited to this challenge that closes very soon (duration of 1 week), which prompted me to get some km's under my belt.

Doing 12km was a bit too far, 8kms would've been more comfortable, it was extremely hot out there today.

I really like this Earth song by Nihilore and I'm going to use it on all my walk videos. So here's todays video of my walk:-

Next time I will take a drink bottle .. so needed it.

Thoughts:

• I like the idea of creating video's under the Unlisted Category, where the only way to access the video URL, is viewing my Endomondo Profile or by coming here to my Blog.
• On the subject of routes, I cannot see myself setting any up . Unlike cycling where it is all about beating your time over a set distance, walking for me should be enjoyable, and a different route taken on every outing.

First Walk Recorded with the Sony FDR-X3000

Really pleased how this video turned out, now just need to work on composition, I'm sure I'll get better as time goes by.

I don't get a buzz out of walking. It seems you put all this effort and a lot of time getting no where fast. But it is obvious a lot of people enjoy this activity, maybe I should try the bush walks around here, there is many to choose from.

I need to work on creating myself a route with a target of 8km at this initial stage, and attempting to walk the route at least 3 days a week (24km/week).

Another Endomondo Challenge: Walking

As of today that leaves 22days to complete this challenge. Even though this is a small challenge it's kind of a biggie for me, I don't really like walking or running but one can only improve by actively doing the hard yards.