Now that we’ve been in level 3 lockdown for a couple months, I finally have time to get through my huge backlog of gopro footage from the motorcycle rides I’ve done here. On top of that, I’ve just bought a Yamaha MT-07, which means I’ll probably have tons of more footage to get through, so it’s time to crank out these kinds of videos.
Here’s the Wulai video. I had rented an MT-10 if I remember correctly, and extended it a day to do a solo ride. I also was testing out a double gopro setup, with one chin-mounted facing forward, with another mounted on the top of my helmet and facing backwards. I’m not sure the reverse camera offers much when I’m on these solo rides, but I think future videos of group rides might have some cool shots of it. I also recently bought a dedicated microphone so hopefully I can get better exhaust sounds, rather than all my previous videos which feature basically just wind noise.
I’m still trying to find my way in terms of how to go about editing these videos. A big hurdle I had to get over was that I basically need to throw away like 98% of my footage, which the archivist in me hates doing. On reflection though, my botched previous attempts at videos are pretty boring, simply for being far too long. The most important thing also seems to be just get the videos out. I was cleaning up my youtube channel and saw that in my college days I had basically just been using it as a backup server for all my videos, and I remembered that I had hundreds of hours of footage from my life in China, Japan, and just college in general, that I always told myself I’d edit. What a shame I never did! I can’t keep letting all this footage pile up, clearly I’ve always had an interest in amateur videography, and the best way to learn is by doing.
If you’re interested in motorcycling in Taiwan, feel free to email me at caleb at this domain. I’ve got a couple articles spinning on how to go through the whole process, but until then, I’m happy to chat with people directly.