RAGBRAI Day 7 – Let the GoPro tell the story

By , July 29, 2014 12:34 pm

This is not a sponsored post. My husband and his family gave me a GoPro for my birthday. 

It was so nice to have the GoPro to use at RAGBRAI Day 7. I knew I would want to take photos to document our trip, but definitely didn’t want to use my cell phone – that’s just too dangerous (for me, anyway). 

With the GoPro mounted on my helmet, the trip documentation was a second thought and I just enjoyed the ride! This is a big deal for someone who is constantly getting their phone out to take pictures – it felt so freeing! I never worried about capturing anything, but I was super curious/excited to see what the GoPro did take photos of!

As we started the trip, I set it to take a photo every 60 seconds (it goes down to a photo every .5 seconds!), and only looked at it a few times at stops to make sure it was still taking photos. I also stopped toward the end to switch it over to video camera mode for our descent in to the finish (which I could have done via an app but did manually). And that was all the futzing around I did with it. The GoPro is super easy to use and I am stoked to use it MOAR!!! My parents gave me a head strap for it so I can take it on runs, too (in case I don’t want to wear my helmet when running… maybe not a bad idea?!). 

The only bad thing during the ride was that I think the weight of it made my neck a bit sore – but that could be my bad posture on the bike. Also, it ran out of battery half way through. BUT! My friend Dave had loaned me TWO batteries (cause he rocks) so I was all set with a spare to swap it out!

So, anyway. Along with my earlier post about the ride, I wanted to share what the GoPro was documenting. It remembered a lot more than I did! (There are only two things I am bummed it didn’t capture – the “giant” strawberry in Strawberry Point (so I could show Steven how not giant it is and my mom would see it’s okay that he didn’t get to see it) and the Amish communities we rode by. I am happy it did NOT capture the road kill that people decorated… even though Dad found that very amusing.)

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36 Responses to “RAGBRAI Day 7 – Let the GoPro tell the story”

  1. Scott says:

    Nice job with everything!!! Don’t you love gopros? I took one with me for all four races of the Dopey Challenge, but I did movies instead of photos. Love it!

    • kilax says:

      I do really like it! This was my first time using it. What program do you use to edit your videos?

      • Scott says:

        Ahhh, well to be honest, I’m a TV producer in real life, so I use professional apps. Adobe Premiere Pro right now. But I used to use Final Cut and also Avid.

        • kilax says:

          I thought that might be your answer! I used to have Premiere (when I was in design college) and never got the hang of it. I should try something out again.

  2. Meghan says:

    Holy cow! What an adventure! And the GoPro is AWESOME! My brother has something similar but he actually wears it to concerts and camping. Congrats on an awesome ride, girl!

  3. Rachel says:

    COOOL! I loved looking at all the pics last night, but now knowing the story behind them makes it so much better!

    You’re hooked on the pickles now, hey? 😉

    I want to know the weird guy conversation!

    Hahah at people not knowing what corn looks like vs soybeans. Honestly, it’s hard for me to imagine not knowing the difference. I still have to show you what the tobacco fields look like when you come visit next week!

    • kilax says:

      Now they make sense! Sorta…? 🙂

      Ha ha ha! Apparently. After I saw someone advertising them I told Dad how much they helped at our 10 miler and I knew it would be smart to have one!

      You will like this story, since it’s about your FAVE song. A DJ was playing Baby Got Back and I was singing and dancing along, and that guy (who had been talking to Steven) goes “You know this song is about a guy putting a peni5 in a girl’s vagina, right?” Um. Yes. Why are you telling me this? It skeeved me out!

      Oh yeah! I forgot we were talking about the tobacco fields!

  4. bobbi says:

    LOVE getting to see all these photos!!! So much fun!

    Are you going to post the video of the finish?

    • kilax says:

      I don’t know if I will post it or not, since I am not very good at editing videos, and it’s over 17 minutes long. We shall see!

  5. I love this! It’s such a great way to share the story. And I really enjoyed the disclaimer 😉

    My brother in law used a Go Pro while we were in Colorado, mounting it to the windshield as they drove up the mountain and to film the kiddos “hiking.” I never thought I’d want one … until then.

    • kilax says:

      Gotta get that disclaimer in there. I hate that. Anytime I want to talk about a product, I feel like I just shouldn’t, cause I have to put that in there and it annoys me.

      That is a fun way to use it! There are SO MANY cool things you can do with them!!!!

  6. I loved looking through these photos! Someday I’ll do RAGBRAI…probably after I set aside enough money to buy a bike. 😉 I remember seeing a lot of recumbent bikes when the ride came through Marion when I was a kid. Must be a RAGBRAI thing. Glad you enjoyed your ride!

  7. Shelley B says:

    What a neat thing to do – I love the random pictures and your captions on each one. Super fun!!!

  8. Melissa says:

    I’ve LOVED these updates. So damn cool!

  9. Amy says:

    Such a cool way to document a cool event! I love this post!

  10. That’s so neat! I love this post and seeing your adventure through the camera’s eyes.

    I wish I had a Go Pro for Ragnar. Ah, Christmas will be here soon enough.

  11. Losing Lindy says:

    this post was awesome!

  12. Pam says:

    Great idea letting letting the camera shoot every 60 seconds! Loved hearing the story through the lens! 🙂

  13. I’ve always wanted to do this! Tried to get a group together in 2006 but it never flew. And I struggle being gone for the entire event and leaving the family home. Yet I don’t want to go for just a day or two. Oh well, I’ll get there eventually.

  14. Kandi says:

    That’s a cool way to re-live an event like that! I’m not too familiar with the GoPro so it is neat to see.
    I’m from MD and I’m amazed that people wouldn’t know what a corn field looks like! heh.
    I’m also very curious about your roundabout conversations… I’ve had a few conversations with others about them myself over the years.

  15. Michelle says:

    what a cool way to recap your event. I’d love to see the video!

  16. Melissa says:

    Coming BACK to comment because this RAGBRAI story hit our local news in AL today and I thought you’d appreciate it 🙂

    http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2014/07/genetic_disease_threatening_9-.html#incart_river

  17. Kristina says:

    What a great ride report and then the photos – wow! You are definitely taking advantage of the GoPro – very cool! I always think that I want to take more photos during organized rides, but then I don’t. That’s probably the great thing about that camera, it makes it easy to take photos.

    • kilax says:

      That is exactly it! It’s a second thought. Or really, a third though. You just start it and let it go and enjoy the event as you would without it!

  18. Anne says:

    I think this is my favorite of the RAGBRAI posts – it’s so fun to follow along with you and the GoPro!

  19. Did you eat at the PB&J place? I rode the last two days of RAGBRAI with my mom a few years back and LOVED it. Your pictures are incredible!!!

    • kilax says:

      I didn’t! Is that something at the end or in one of the pass-through towns? I love that you did two days of it!

      Thanks!

  20. Great post! I loved seeing all of your pictures and sort of following along in your adventure.

    Hmm, makes me want to go one too. Would be fun to use during my last three Disney races this year.

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