another great article by commute orlando blog
One of my favorite blogs to follow, because it taught me soo much about safely commuting by bicycle... they just put out this article about the new bill forcing cyclists to stay in bike lanes, even if it means the cyclists would be in danger of getting killed...
Proper cycling techniques for the beginner cyclist..
Suppers guys, well today i wanna talk about safely cycling and commuting on roads... Pretty much my rule of thumb is NEVER EVER cycle on sidewalks... if you do, you're gonna get in an accident and you can die... why?? well lets put it in this perspective... why do people cycle on sidewalks in the first place?? because they are scared of cars.. they don't want to be in an automobile's way. and they try to be invisible to cars.. what happens when you try to be invisible to cars?? they naturally wont be able to see you and when cars don't see you, accidents will happen. riding on sidewalks might give you a false sense of security but you must realize there are driveways intersecting with sidewalks EVERYWHERE!!!! and cars don't hesitate to drive up these driveways, especially when you do not see a cyclist(who's apparently trying to be hidden in the first place).
so where should you ride??? well most people think cyclists should be in the bike lane. and normally i do take bike lanes when available... but be careful!! bike lanes are pretty dangerous also... but NO WHERE NEAR as dangerous as cycling on a sidewalk... when i ride a bike lane i'm super aware of my surroundings... i always make sure no one's going to be flying out of a driveway into me or turning into me at an intersection.. those are the scariest... but in general bike lanes are SOOOOO much safer than sidewalks... and pretty convenient too, since it's a lane made specifically for cyclists, i guess go ahead and use it...
Ok so sidewalks are a death trap for cyclists, and bike lanes still require you to be super aware of your surroundings.. What's the safest way to travel by cycle?? truth is the safest way to cycle is in the middle of a car lane! some uneducated people might think this is crazy! as cars are driving 45mph and faster on car lanes, but think of it this way... the safest cyclists are the cyclists that are the most visible. when cycling in the middle of a street lane you are in direct view of a motorist. and when a motorist sees a bicycle in front of him he'll slow down or change lanes to pass... now think about it... does a motorist slow down and change lanes for a cyclist in a bike lane??? NOPE!! but when you get out of the bike lane, into the lane of a car, the car will slow down, or pass you on the other lane, and normally at a slower speed than normal... also the car passing will be 6-8 feet away from you when he's passing... when a car passes a cyclist in a bike lane, the car will not slow down.. he or she will be going 45mph or faster and be passing you 1-3 feet away from you if you're lucky... so tell me now.. what's more safe???
anyways.. some of you motorists out there will be like "well you're just slowing down traffic!!" ok lets look at it this way... if i'm in a bicycle in the middle of a lane... when do you do?? you pass in the other lane.. how much time to do you lose getting to your destination??? 1, 2 seconds, if any!?? how bout a slower car in front of you??? well you'll be behind that car for a while. how bout buses?? people get stopped completely!! and school buses?? same thing!! you get stopped for an entire minute waiting for those things... even if i were to be in a car instead of a bicycle... that's another car you'd have to deal with on the road.
Now think of it like this... what if 5 or even 10 cyclists were on the road... how much time would it take to pass a group of 5 or 10 cyclists??? probably the same amount of time as it takes to pass one cyclist... but what if there are 5 or 10 more motorists on the road instead of cyclists??? you get more traffic... instead of passing these cyclists, and never having to be slowed down by them again, you have to drive behind 5 or 10 cars for a couple minutes... being slowed down for a large part of your trip... so remember this next time you see a cyclist on the road... they're doing you a favor by not being part of the traffic problem...
Now check out this interesting fact... Portland... a city with one of the best cycling infrastructure.. has absolutely NOO traffic hours.. keep in mind that it's a large city that's been growing very fast!!! the amount of vehicles on the road has increased something like 75% in the past 15-20 years.. but they have not had ANY increase in traffic!! why??? because that 75% increase in vehicles was from people cycling... if you were to drive a car through portland during the peak traffic hours... you wouldn't be affected what so ever by slow traffic condition... and it's because there is such a good biking infrastructure there and people cycle...
cycling does everyone a favor... and I admire it whenever i see ANYONE cycling on the road taking over a lane... those people aren't a problem... they're trying to be the solution to the problem...
For you Photographers out there..
Well for the past two years i've also been delving into the world of photography, and although i'm not as experienced as many of the Pros out there, i feel the skills i've aquired through my limited experience has given me much insight into this expensive hobby i've added to my array of, uhm... hobbies.. heh.. but yea. so today i'd like to talk about focal ranges and lens setups... some people swear by prime lenses, saying that zooms are too slow(small aperture) and bulky.. and some people swear by zooms(mostly the new kids on the block), that the versatility of carrying one lens to take pictures of everything is more important to them(the prime lens guys would call this the point and shoot style ;) well there are good points to both side, and in today's post i'm going to give yall my opinion on this little debate.
I think everyone pretty much needs a landscape/group picture/wideangle lens, a long distance/sports lens , and a portrait/everyday/walkaround lens. Pretty much on the wide-angle side of things you don't really need that super wide aperture that a prime provides.. it's nice to have but seriously, when are you going to take a landscape picture that isn't gonna be stopped down to improve the overall sharpness and details of everything in the photograph.. also if you're going to be shooting a group picture that needs a wideangle to get everyone in the picture and the aperture is super large, then half the people in that picture will be out of focus... the cost of wide angle primes are also more expensive than the zoom options so for me i chose to include in my lens collection the 16-35mm f/2.8L II.. it's sharp, has a superwide angle on my fullframe 5DmkII and even though it's a zoom, still allows a pretty wide aperture of 2.8(i know i said you don't need large apertures on wideangle shots, but it's nice every now and then when i' shooting in a low light location). Another more cost effective solution i would highly recommend would be the 17-40mm f/4L. Might not be as wide an aperture but still super sharp high build quality lens, plus it's an L!! here's a following picture taken by my 16-35 zoom lens
Ok so i covered wide angle, now the opposite end of the focal range spectrum... the critical telephoto range... lenses in the long focal range start getting really expensive especially when you're shooting with only primes. Plus when shooting longer ranges, i tend to like the flexibility of zooms, since it's tougher to frame shots the way you want them to look while shooting a moving object further in the distance.. my weapon of choice is the 70-200mm f/2.8L with IS. another choice I'd recommend is the 70-200 f/4 with IS.. i really like the image stabilized versions of the 70-200's because with these long lenses used for sports, you're going to get way more keepers when shooting stabilized... also when shooting far distances you don't need as lar
ge an aperture to create decent amount of DOF boceh for portraits, photo shoots, and beautiful candid shots... 2.8 is super nice looking and f4 still offers a pleasant boceh.. =)
here's a sample from my 70-200mm f/2.8L IS showing off the excellent image stabilization in panning mode.
Last on my list is the focal range that lies in between... This is the normal range, and what i like to refer to as a walk around/everyday lens range... also should be good for portraits and photo shoots. For this mid range setup, i SWEAR by primes... some people like a good 85mm lens, which i used to have, but i think I'm more a 50mm guy. plus i already have the 85mm range covered by my 70-200.. so 50mm is comfortably between the missing 35-70mm range that my zooms aren't covering.. the 50mm lens is also very compact and as it's a prime, has a SUPER WIDE APERTURE, IMHO EVERYONE should have a 50 in their collection =)!!! I LOVE my 50mm f/1.2L! probably 90% of the pictures i take are taken with this 50mm lens. it is a challenging lens to use because of its incredibly narrow depth of field, but produces incredible boceh and some of the sharpest photos of any lens in that, if not ANY focal range! . a couple other lenses I'd recommend are the sigma 50mm f/1.4 for a lens just as sharp, a tad slower, but also cheaper than my 50mm 1.2. Like i said everyone should have a 50mm lens since it's so versatile and if you can't afford on of these faster 50mm's you can def afford a 50mm 1.8/f lens from canon, and if you're a Nikon user, they have a similar lens for similar price i believe.. just $100!!! so no excuses!! heh.. here's an example of a photo i took with my 50mm 1.2
my Lil nephew rieley.. =)
so there ya have it.. I might love primes!! and wish i had the money to have all the L series primes, but having zooms are perfectly fine as they are a Lil more cost effective. I actually am very happy with my lens lineup and you can have a very similar setup for even less by choosing the 17-40mm f4L, 70-200 f/4 IS, and the 50mm f/1.8. which are also highly recommended lenses that many pros use.. =)
This just makes me SICK!!!
like the title says... check out this article on the latest critical mass yesterday in LA... they were trying to protest BP and in return 1000s of cyclists got harassed, and BRUTALLY attacked by the LAPD... sigh...
been a while...
so it's been a while since i last blogged, but here it is... so i been cycling here and there, usually during the evenings because it's too hot during the day to ride.. well not too hot but hotter than comfortable... and also i been working a whole lot lately and no longer have a social life.. =( it's all good though.. so i started playing starcraft 2 beta... it's a pretty dope game and i been getting better and better at it pretty quickly... also been watching replays of the game in order to get better at it, plus watching starcraft replays is entertaining.. =) here's a link to one of the best sites for starcraft replays.. =) just ordered some drop bars for my bike.. b123aa's to be exact.. can't wait till they come in... now i'll be able to slice through the wind when im mashing around.. oh and quang got a new bike!!! here's a pic of it..
it's a kilott stripper edition... and super legit bike.. paint is really nice and it's FAST! i swapped out the rear cog on it for a 17t cog to help with the tire life... super dope.. and ordered a new seat for it... it should be in today or tomorrow though... but yea.. critical mass is tomorrow and i'm excited about that..
New Cinelli Mash!!
The Cinelli mash has always been one of my favorite looking framesets.. with its pursuit style sloping top tube it just screams aggressiveness... and with this new version of the mash, with a higher bottom bracket for more aggressive handling(no more worrying about scraping the pedals mashing while leaning through the turns...) and geometry suited more for track racing that urban cruising... it seems like the perfect aluminum frame!! if i ever add a lightweight aluminum frame to my collection of track bikes, this would have to be the one.. ;)
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