The Mad Scientist

I'm still working on making my night bikey shots like my drivey shots.

The problem I'm having is getting the camera stable enough. My carbon-fiber tripod, strapped to my rear rack flexes too much (I'm guessing the zip-ties attaching it aren't of much help either...).

When I was in Junior High School, I won the "Most Likely to be a Scientist" Award from the Science Department. I guess they were as close as could be expected - I mean, I doubt they have a "Most Likely to be a Mad Scientist Creating Arty-Farty Digital Imagery on a bike with a tripod zip-tied to the back." or "Most Likely to be a Mad Scientist Creating Arty-Farty Digital Imagery in a bike with a tripod jammed into the backseat."

I love coming up with an idea (or usually half and idea based upon some silly inspiration I had while out riding... or driving to work night after night...) and then playing around with it (experimenting, if you will) until I find the right formula (f-stop, shutter speed, ISO, camera angle, etc.) and then playing yet more.

So I guess, in a way, those science teachers were right.

Now I just need to figure out a way to mount the camera to the bike the way I was able to mount it to the car. If it's securely attached, the bike will remain in focus better than it has.

Stay tuned...

living the velo life - a check in

headed home

When Nikki and I got married - a little over nine years ago - we said that we'd always try to be a one-car (or less) family. It hasn't always been easy, and for a while in the year after we got married I needed a car for the 60+ mile commute I found myself facing twice a day. I bought a beater Volvo station wagon for $800 and drove it for a few months before we bought our first house, which was a more reasonable mile from my work.

At that point, I bought the Breezer and really started my love of bike commuting, and bikes as transportation in general. At the time, we were living in Concord, New Hampshire, and most people riding bikes were doing it for exercise. A guy riding a bike loaded down with groceries, towing a trailer with an infant was a peculiar sight.

Fast-forward a few years (like, way past the two years I spent working 7pm to 2am twenty-five miles from Concord; but, because of my hours, maintaining the one-car family thing) and we've found our way to the bike mecca known as Portland, Oregon.

I ride the Breezer to work every day - roughly 12 miles roundtrip. Most of my ride takes me along the beautiful Springwater Corridor which runs parallel to the Wilamette River. I see Bald Eagles, Ospreys, Blue Herons and something like 150 other bird species, along with other bikers, runners, kayakers, tug boats and more.

We recently bought a used Bakfiets (Dutch cargo bike) and have used it for everything from grocery shopping to basic transportation of the kids all over Portland. We've owned it for almost two months now and have probably put a couple hundred miles on it. In that same time, I doubt that we've put as many miles on our car.

I've decided to keep this blog updated, so stay tuned. I promise that I won't let a nine-month lapse occur between posts.

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Originally uploaded by Ben McLeod

I know, I know...... it's been like 9 months since I last updated this blog.

Sorry.

So.... we moved to Portland - Sellwood, to be precise - right next to the Spokane bike boulevard, to be even more precise....

Nikki is finishing up the first week of her last rotation. 5 more weeks to go! She's already been offered a job, right here in Portland!

I've been working at the Gartrell Group, doing GIS project management and other geeky stuff. I ride my bike to work every day - a twelve-mile roundtrip (unless I have to run home to get the boys, then it's 24!).

Oh, and we got a bucketbike...