The Orlando Critical Mass Bike Ride: Another Angle

Some of you may have seen my recent September Critical Mass Bike Ride video. The Critical Mass rides are always a fun experience and while I tried to capture the essence of the entire scene in the video, one of my primary objectives in attending the recent September 2018 ride was to shoot some aerial drone footage of the 'Mass riders for videographer Chad Pearce who was creating a short biopic about Orlando Critical Mass frontman Nicholas Mandino.

In this short, but fantastic video Nick talks about some of his personal battles that led him to become a cyclist and how cycling provided a form of liberation. He then goes on to talk about how this led to him forming the "Orlando Chapter" of the monthly worldwide cycling movement and phenomenon known as Critical Mass.

Without further ado...

September 2018 Orlando Critical Mass Ride

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It's been a while since I attended a Critical Mass Ride. At least 6 to 8 months. While I really enjoy attending these things and riding with 3, 4,or 5 hundred like minded riders, the last Friday of each month has a strange habit of creeping up on me without notice and as a result I usually remember that this ride is taking pace at the last possible second - which is always too late to attend. That is, when I DO remember!

I hadn't really planned or considered attending this month's Critical Mass ride but a friend brought something to my attention the day before. A documentary video about the phenomenon that is Critical Mass and it's organizer is being produced for an Orlando area community web site and they wanted someone with a drone who could shoot aerial footage of the ride. I have a couple of drones so I confirmed that I could attend and do it. With a day's advance notice I surely wouldn't forget this time.

With bike locked & loaded, batteries charged, and drones packed and ready I made the 10.5 mile ride on my bike Friday afternoon to the starting point at Loch Haven Park. The original plan was to do the ride and shoot a few random aerial scenes of the riders along the way, then hand off the video footage to the producer of the documentary. Simple enough. But then I figured, since I am going, I may as well bring my other gear as well, and shoot a bunch of various shots, both aerial and handheld, and use them in a video of my own creation in addition to supplying the aerial footage for the documentary.

The result of what I did is what you see above.

Until next time....

It's been a little while since I've ridden in one of the urban mountain bike rides in Orlando. I used to participate in these rides pretty religiously, so after seeing the Facebook reminder posted by the ride leader last week, I decided to go. It was pretty much business as usual: Approximately 20 miles in distance over just about any and all types of terrain that an urban jungle has to offer. City streets, alleys, grassy transitions, brick roads, staircases of various heights & lengths (lots of them), and a few drop-off ledges just to name a few.

I decided to make a return visit earlier this week with some camera gear on board. I figured I'd try to catch some various random shots of the riders doing their thing. Leave me a comment and subscribe for updates on future content if you like this sort of thing!

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