kelseybacon.com

ODO: 703

Just back for lunch before I go get the kids… I had a ride this morning that took me out a ways and back. (30 Miles Round Trip.) I was surprised to find myself out at Brockhampton Estate before I turned around. I was working on the time it would take me to get back to the school in time to get the kids, leaving a cushion for flats or anything else that might crop up. In the end I made it there and back okay, and without any troubles, which is pretty good when you consider that I did not make it to the school and back this morning without a flat. So, the first thing I did today before my ride was repair my front tire. (Tyre, for those inclined to speak English.)

I got a couple of photos of a couple of churches today too. I first stopped 5 and a half miles out of Worcester to snap Mary Magdalene Church, which claims to be a XII century church. Okay, that is not as old as Worcester Cathedral, but it will do for my gallery of old churches. Another was the private chapel on the Brockhampton Estate. That is a lovely little church from only the 19th Century, with a magnificent design to the steeple.

I hope that these photos will not be as long in the coming as other photos have been… ie, never at all. I have just recently sent in over 30 rolls of film, and have it all back now for the scanning. In fact, the ride today has been a break from that. Now it is time for a break from the riding…

I hurt from it now, but the actual peddling was not as bad as days gone by have been. What a fantastic feeling to get out and ride that far without absolutely killing myself. I remember last year, ten mile fewer than today, and I was toast. So the warm up for this season, taking the kids for rides, has been worth it.

Cheeri-ho… ;o)

Kelsey J Bacon

ODO: 622

Well, it has been a while since I have posted, but that is because the only riding I have done lately has been to and from the school, and the only photography has been for the most part, with my kid’s digital camera. I have taken loads of shots..!! These have all been mediocre, to say the most. There is a lot of white that shows up in the images, and of course the quality is pretty low. The camera only shoots 3.2 mega pixel. When I shoot with my Hass and scan at 1600 dpi, I am getting roughly 16 MP on a 5.5 x 5.5 CM image. What is that to a 35mm? Maybe 20 MP? Without doing the math, I can tell you that there is a SERIOUS quality difference. The big experience for me is knowing how it feels to shoot with reckless abandon, and then have the images to look at on the computer as soon as I get home, rather than buying and loading film, then shooting with caution and without a preview, and then having to wait for a week after I finally get the roll turned into the lab.

Now that Hasselblad does make a 16 Mega pixel back for the 503 CW, does anyone have $10,000 they could spot me for the digital back?

In other news, the PC is smiling. 2.5 GB of RAM and 460 GB Hard Drive space. Okay, the processor is 3.0 Dual Core, but it does a fair number for my work. The specs are happy specs.

Kids will be on holiday after a couple of weeks. They will be off for two full weeks. I need to get some proper film before then. The other reason to go to digital… The stooped local camera shops do not carry a variety of films.

PS, Jessop’s??? They are horrible! Poor customer service, lousy film and services for medium format, and next to nothing available in store. Delivery time is very long, and processing time has taken up to a month for my film. But hey, I have only shopped with them a few times, maybe 12. And they have only done me wrong 8 or so times, so I guess I shouldn’t complain!

So this leaves me two options… I need a digital back, or I need to have a much better supplier for my film. Guess which is the cheapest over the short run? Processing is sorted through Transpcolor, and they do fine work. Thank god somebody in England does..!!! http://www.teanspacolor.com/

Happy shooting..!!!

ODO: 609

The weather has been mostly crap lately, and has not facilitated the sunny, bright, and happy images I would like to create, not the rides I want to take. Any consolation though is the fact I have now got two huge water jugs that need to be emptied of their spring water in order to take them over to Malvern to fill up with Malvern Spring Water. There is just something very yummy about it..!!!

ODO: 547

Have hardly been able to ride due to hail stones the past few days. Every time I go outside it seems that hail is falling, or starts to fall soon after. The truth is that I am glad it is not snow. The mornings are getting lighter and brighter, and the evenings are getting longer. It is coming up to my favorite time of year. My sister sent me a “You Know You Are From Seattle When…” page a couple of weeks back, and one was when you leave for work in the dark, and work an eight hour shift, then come home in the dark. Seattle has nothing on England..!! I can only imagine what it must be like in Olso! Summers are great because daylight rears its head come three in the morning and the day sees the last of sunlight go dim over the horizon around eleven in the evening. Now THOSE are the days I love..!!!

ODO: 540

Today I was on the way to the school to get the boys and when a driver waved me across the road, I gave it a good downstroke to get across the road, and the rear derailure tried to shift gears, dropping me forward rather hard. I lost it, and my right knee went into the spokes of the front wheel as my arms came down on the handlebar, turning it to the left very hard while my knee on the spokes kept the steering straight. I ended up having to straighten the wheel about 85 degrees, straighten a bent gear shifter, and straighten the bent rim after I fell on it. I messed up my speedometer sensor too.

It snowed again today too, but this had nothing to do with my accident. I got some pictures of the weather for you.

This shot was taken facing North from the top of the Gorse Hill.

I took this shot out the bedroom window facing South while it was snowing today. My Neighbor did not seem to know the weather forecast, but then, neither did I.

ODO: 527

Dropped the kids off at school this morning, and will be picking them up tonight and taking them to the Police Station to pick up a lost bag that the younger one left in town on Monday.

Right now I am carrying someone else’s digital camera and giving that a try. It is nowhere near the Hass, but it is very nice to take a photo and just have it to look at. I will try to put anything interesting up on the blog in the future. The younger boy’s camera is a Canon, and the one I am going to try today and on is a Nikon. The Nikon is a bit more expensive, so I expect better results right off. We’ll see how it goes. This is not about me switching over to a Digital camera, but more about taking the plunge and buying a digital back for the Hass. That takes serious consideration since they range from £6,000 to £29,000. Not to be taken lightly.

ODO: 518

Dropped the kids off at school today, then rode around with the younger child’s new digi-cam and shot some pictures of Worcester with it. All went pretty well with it, but the screen is not too reliable for reviewing the shots as some came out a bit blurry. Today’s light was not conducive to photography without a tripod.

Mechanically the bike is sound. I have the road tires back on as of this morning so I can go faster and easier. I am still not pleased with the rear derailure, but I have to admit it is a minor inconvenience. I have to overshift a gear then shift back down one to get in the gear I want.

ODO: 497

Back and forth to the school is something like 3.4 miles, and I do it every weekday with the kids. Oops! But the youngest got a flat tire on the way in this morning. Also, it was snowing. He needs a better bike. He only has front brakes working on his little golden gremlin, and with his definite skill in using it, I have nick-named him “crash” for his acrobatics. Anyway, I might have to fix that tire rather than making him push the bike home. Not fun under the school bike shed!

I put my enduro tires on this morning before heading out the door. I set them at 40 psi for the sake of better traction, but in the end tat roads were no longer covered when we left for the school, so they turned out to be unnecessary. I am going to go ahead and crank them up to 80 psi before I leave to get the kids, and enjoy a little easier peddling. The street tires can stay off for the weekend. I don’t have extra rims, and changing out means fully dismounting the tires from my rims. The streets are like motorcycle tires, and they grip the road like a hooker on a millionaire.

Got to run!

Today is Thursday. I have not been doing a lot of riding as such, but I have had to take the kids to and from school each day this week. I took the bus into town this morning on business, only because it was snowing, and I did not want to risk it piling up while I was down the hill. Besides, I am not comfortable with the idea of locking my bike up in the City Centre, as it is obviously not that secure there.

I do want to post where I am at on my Odometer (ODO) so I can track my progress and average out the miles I do per week.

ODO: 490

No other information to record at this time.

I believe that is calibrated correctly as I use a GPS along with it at times, and though I have not yet checked measurements, I get a pretty accurate speed measurement with it.

I could stand to have my rear derailure adjusted again as it is taking a while to hop the chain into the proper gear. Aside from that, the 2005 Specialized Hardrock Sport is holding up just nicely at the time. It needs a good cleaning, but apart from that I cannot think of any maintenance issues to report. Having said that, knock on wood… ;o)

Now that we are officially tracking the miles, let’s see how it goes. Mind you, I do not always get out, and when I do, I have never been one of those ultra-fit blokes that pumps out a 60 mile ride for his Saturday work-out. You should expect more like 10 miles in the week and if I can get out, maybe 10 more on the weekend. Finding out is why the idea of mileage posts on the internet. Let’s see how it goes, and let’s see if I can avoid carrying an extra tire around my waist.

Cheers..!!!

Hi there,

This is a post that spills over from my MSN blog because for some reason the ADD PHOTOS link is not working over there for me. It just doesn’t like me, or maybe Microsoft are aware of the latest Bill Gates joke I have been telling. Whatever the cause, this post has been added here.
I was out one morning to take the kids to school, and the rain had been falling all morning, but on my way home the sky suddenly went through a dramatic change unlike any I had seen over the Severn Valley before. Mind you that this is overhead lighting rather than the kind of light you normally get from the sun being low on the horizon. I had to get pictures. When the photos came back from the lab they just did not have the colours in them that I had seen that morning. Then, the other day I popped them in to Photoshop and adjusted the contrast and brightness, and suddenly the colors I had seen that morning came flying out at me, so I decided they were in a condition to publish.