Today’s Every Rider Uncut ride takes me from Dawlish through Dawlish Warren, Cockwood, Starcross, past Powderham Castle, and along Turf Locks — almost making it to Exeter! 🚴
Along the way I chat about new recording setups, technology, and even AI, before the ride takes an unexpected turn… a puncture that leaves me calling for backup. Thanks to my wife for the rescue! 🚗💨
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This series is a more relaxed, unedited look at my rides — just the road ahead, some thoughts along the way, and whatever happens in real time.
👉 If you enjoy these uncut ride-alongs, check out my main weekly videos for polished cycling adventures around Devon. Don’t forget to like 👍, subscribe, and share your own puncture rescue stories in the comments!
Follow me on Strava: https://every-rider.com/strava
Equipment:
Bike: Boardman ADV 8.9
Camera: Insta 360 Ace Pro 2
Mic: DJI Mic Mini
Okay, starting out the next road today on the cycle path. And uh I’m considering this or I’m going to call this [Applause] a midweek ride. It’s Sunday, which might sound confusing, but I’m starting to get used to like the idea of recording the rides now. It’s only my third or fourth time. Uh, but I feel like although I’ve only got one video on YouTube and it’s just like a test uh I did do a video yesterday, like my first kind of official video, let’s say. It hasn’t been published yet, but it’s given me a lot of food to sort and I’m actually really pleased with the video. I did make a lot of mistakes which I think will be pretty obvious some of them but I managed to make use of what I had and uh cut it into something that although it wasn’t as I maybe had planned to some extent which in reality like nothing’s going to be how you envisioned it it uh but in other aspects it’s actually far better than what I thought I could achieve. So after the the first video I put on YouTube and currently the only one, I started watching a few of the videos of cyclists in the area that I’m already subscribed to and enjoy watching. And I started for the first time really like actually looking at their editing style and not just watching it as a viewer but watching it as somebody that’s also trying to do similar. And I realized like YouTube as we all know it is all about quick cuts and quick edits. Slapping some royalty-free music on. I was previously on my my tech video, that first video I posted, I was using cross fades and not much else really. I know uh I did know that cross fades were kind of old school, but I just kind of stuck with that. I didn’t use anything else like that really aged it like I don’t know these uh page curls and whatnot. But yeah, I think just watching some other videos, it made me realize that the quick cuts are what a lot of people do and if you put music on it actually, it does really increase like the appeal and I don’t know, it keeps people watching. So what I did yesterday in my first official video as I’m calling it was I went to I so I started out in Dorish which is where I live. You’re going to see a lot of Dish. I’m going from Dorish to Dorish Warren now. And actually I did this one on the tech video. So uh but I’ll come back to this in a second like this idea of a midweek ride on a Sunday which is obviously blowing a few minds at the minute. I will explain that. But yeah, yesterday I went from Dorish to Tori. I had a route in mind and I actually changed it a little bit because I realized I was going past some nice places that I could go into and then show off, you know, show off the place, not show off as a a cyclist. Uh, and so I did maybe 3 or 4 hour ride. Yeah, I think it was 4 hours, but maybe I had 3 hours footage. Came home. Thinking, you know, I’ve got something good to work with. And I think the first thing I realized was that the camera on the chest mount, it was pointed far too low. Uh, and you know, I’m obviously not holding the camera most of the time. You’re chest mounted now. So, uh, really 95% of the footage was uh, kind of pointed down and not really looking at the thing that I was going towards. So, uh, there’s a lot of bike shots. Maybe there’s a some people that will appreciate that, but I haven’t got the best of bike, so it’s not something uh that’s that good to be looking at. So, initially, I was feeling a little bit depressed. Maybe I should just bin it all. Uh, okay, that was my fault. I hesitated there. But yeah, I just carried on with it. And like I say, I think having seen other people how they cut their videos, I just practiced with that. Uh spent a few hours yesterday after the ride, maybe an hour today. And I’m quite pleased with what I’ve got. Like I say, the camera angle for the most part was bad, but I did also do selfies and talk about some of the areas that I went to, which I think is one of the better parts. And I also took the camera off and sort of freestyled it as I rode. And I think having the the freestyle and the selfies is what kind of saved it really. So, I scrubbed through like a lot of the footage where it was chest mounted and there were a few bits where it was a little bit higher, I guess, cuz I sat further back. Uh, and I just use those for transitions really and put music over the top. So, I think it’s turned out well with like the cuts. I did time some of the cuts to like changes in the music. Uh, quite pleased with that. It wasn’t perfect. But I can get better with that with time. I also had because the camera’s chest mounted. I also had like me lifting the the drinks bottle up a couple of times and I thought that was like a nice little touch. And when I finished doing like a selfie where I stopped and talked about the location, I showed like me starting off again. So I think there some nice little transitions in there. And although they could be improved some more, like already it gives me opportunities to like really have a nice style that works well for me. Uh so I really got a good chance to experiment and I’ll come back to that in a sec. Let’s go to the the midweek idea now. So, it’s a Sunday, right? This isn’t obviously a midweek ride. But what I want to do is once a week have like a more polished and cut and edited video like the one that I did yesterday. That’s still in the works. So, that’ll come out Sunday next week. Uh, but then these midweek rides, they’re just going to be more of free flow, less editing. So, I don’t expect as many people to watch these. Maybe it’ll be more of like a second channel vibe behind the scenes. I haven’t even got a first channel yet, so I’m obviously thinking quite a bit ahead. But, this will be Yeah. like this will be published in the midweek is what I’m saying and it can be done any time of the week but I think it just helps to bank these things get more footage maybe I can start to make shorts out of them post them in you know shorter formats elsewhere like Tik Tok I’ve never used Tik Tok I’m 40 plus so I kind of shudder at the thought But this is all stuff I can look into. And yeah, so today’s ride is, as I say, really just an opportunity for me to talk about whatever it is, not be so worried about uh format. And today in particular, obviously, I’m trying to hopefully improve the angle of the the chest mounted camera. With it being up against my chest, I can’t see the screen. But uh the Ace Pro 2, it has got an app. I suppose a lot of the cameras will have this. It’s got an app where I can actually see it on my phone. I think it only works on Wi-Fi. I’m assuming you can see my phone now. And I I pointed it too high. Yeah, I think this only works on Wi-Fi. Let’s try it, though. I have got Bluetooth enabled, but it seems it’s going only going to be a Wi-Fi thing. But this is what I did when I was at home outside just in the uh Oh, no. It is working. All right. Well, that’s good. So, yeah, this is what these tests are for, I suppose. So, I can now see the chest camera and I can also see that you can see what you’re seeing again in infinite. So, uh I can see some sky this time. I can see the horizon although we’re on flat currently. But this is obviously how I optimize, right? And I’m sure this is absolutely killing the battery on both my phone and the camera. But yeah, I can check this once in a while just to make sure that things are straight and framed well. The idea of what is framed well, I don’t know yet. I still have quite a lot of handlebars in, so I think I’ve got more room to uh point it upwards. Oh no. Okay, that was a weird thing to say. Pointed upwards as I was going past a load of people, but never mind. I’ve said worse. So yeah, I’m gonna I don’t know where I’m going today really. This is just a little opportunity to get out. One thing that I am thinking with the video editing is that it does take a long time to do. Like yesterday I did have 3 hours. I cut it down to 13 and 12 minutes, which I know is sort of like where you want to be for YouTube videos. Uh I was thinking today like I’m excited to do the editing, but it does also stop me then from cycling, right? So, I guess that’s going to be a new thing trying to work out that balance. And okay, I sat back then and I looked down at the phone. I can see like where I’m sat back is where I’d rather have the camera. So, I think it is a bit too low. Uh, but yeah, I need to work out a good balance so that I can still like do a good amount of cycling and try not to have it interfere with my editing. It’s really got me excited, but you know, I got a lot of uh a lot of work a lot of work on at the minute and a lot of stress with that. So, I need to just be sensible about how much I’m taking on. So yeah, I guess just in the same way that I’ve been doing with the cycling, you know, get it done. Doesn’t have to be the fastest. Just make sure you get it done and have the improvements come slowly over time. I need to apply the same to trying to get these videos out right. So one video a week, I think, is what people would expect if you can do more than a course. I’d love that. assuming they love your content. But I think one a week is doable. And then like I say, maybe these midweek ones are bonuses where there isn’t any pressure to do them. There isn’t any pressure to edit. If I do edit, you know, I can spend 10 minutes just cutting out the waffle, which on this ride I haven’t stopped. But I don’t need to try and maintain attention, I guess, on these ones. This is just for whoever’s really keen. And I guess anyone that wants to come on this journey with me of not only cycling in in Dorish and Devon and maybe other places in the future, but also just starting out as a a vlogger, trying out some of this tech and trying to get better at it. I did look today at YouTube monetization. I know that like my goal for this is just to do it because I enjoy it. I know that to make money on YouTube, you got to have a huge amount of views. Ah. So, and with this type of video, like I know it’s not going to get that many views. If I were to get 100 views on a video right now, I think I’d be delighted. And then if I could hit the low 1,000s, like if I could be hitting that in a year’s time, then that would be great. But uh yeah, I was looking at the YouTube monetization. I know there are certain requirements. You’ve got to have a certain amount of minutes watched. I kind of dismissed that as one of the easy ones because the one that really seemed like a big thing that would be a long way away is subscriber count being 1,000. So I can’t imagine I’d do that within a year. I don’t know. I know maybe there are different ways to do that in a way that isn’t very authentic. That’s not for me. I just want to try and get one video out a week, be consistent. Uh I have had my own web development company in the past, so I know how to do social media and obviously building websites. I don’t want to have to build websites because I don’t necessarily enjoy it. But I’ve definitely got to know how to do it and how to maybe do it quick. And uh Oh, yeah. I’ve still not messed with the camera. Actually, I’m looking down at the my phone again. So, let’s stop for a sec. It is also That’s the issue, right? I kind of have to guess. So, I guess you lock in your position that you’re happy with and then somehow like mark it on the the chest mount or the camera. That’s still a little bit lower than what I’d like, but we can see ahead. You can see some sky. So, I’m already going to stop again. And here’s a bit of gravel for my road tires. Don’t panic too much. Road tires. Okay. So, unintentional selfie upside down. Let’s try that. So, I don’t even mind if it goes a bit further actually. Like, I don’t know. Like, if anyone’s watching this and let me know what you think, especially today in the high is it too much? Are the arms too much? Yeah. In this video I did yesterday, I filmed yesterday. Let’s say it isn’t published yet, but I uh it was a nice day really. I really enjoyed the ride. It was a slower ride, which again comes down to the filming and the stopping and tweaking stuff, doing selfies and whatnot. So that as well will impact what I was doing previously. But uh yeah, I did a lot of climbs yesterday and because you couldn’t see ahead that well, especially on the climbs cuz you’re, you know, you’re further down like you’re really it’s basically like a let’s say crotch mounted camera. you weren’t quite getting the uh the money shot, but you’re definitely getting legs and and thighs at one point. Went on the really steep hills. It was just looking down at the road. So, the idea of that video, it’s called coast and climbs. We go along the coast gish to talk and we obviously do some climbs. It’s about 1,000 mters of elevation, which for me is I guess the top end of what I do. The most I’ve ever done actually is,00 combined. So that was a lot for me, but was talking through it. I don’t know, just having something else to put your mind on. Actually, it did seem like I know I can do more. and it was 46 km which isn’t I’ve done much longer than that but 1,000 mters elevation over that is I guess that’s what the challenge was that the unique challenge for me yesterday it was a lot of elevation in lesser distance than what I would normally do that amount of elevation that’s more like a a dark more 60k sort of ride for me so Yeah. All right. I’m going to stop again in a sec. Maybe nudge the camera further up. But one other thing I’ve been doing, I guess this is just the thing right now at the minute and without a doubt it’s going to be the future as well, is I’ve been asking Chat GPT for advice on YouTube videos. You know, how do I do it? What do I do? What do I think about? I’ve even been asking like, do I mount the camera above the like the the part on the chest? Do I mount it below it? Uh, it’s always good advice. And I really think that’s going to push me ahead already because I’ve already like if I didn’t do that, I think I would have published or about to publish a much lesser quality video. Uh I wouldn’t have done like thumbnails and I wouldn’t have thought about all of the thumbnail sort of stuff we know about like you know just attention grabbing. I have even I’m not going to use it just yet because it’s not quite right. But I did take the thumbnail from the the video. I took three that I thought would be good and it would show roughly show like coast and climbs in that thumbnail with also my face. And I asked Chat GPT to put the the text over the talks. It told me like you should put text in as well. coast and climbs and it did it and it did it well. It uh it definitely changed my face a little bit and made it a little bit more I don’t know smoothed out. You can tell that it’s AI still. It changed. Yeah, it changed my like the the emotion on my face a tiny bit. Like I look a bit more annoyed. I don’t know. Like a little just a little bit more uh curious to anyone else seeing it, I think. And I was like the one of the frames I took. I was also uh like pointing into like towards the sea along the coast that I just come from. And I even changed like the point of my finger. Whether it was intentional or not, I don’t know. But it’s kind of like rather than just pointing out as if to say, “Oh, look over there.” It’s more sort of pointing down and like with the angry face. I don’t know. It just makes you think, oh, what’s this guy like going on about? So, yeah. I don’t know if that was intentional. I do want these videos to be uplifting as much as I can, even though I don’t think I’m particularly positive, but I am trying. Uh so the question is should it be like a negative thumbnail just to get more attention and then the rest of the video is uplifting. So I think I’m okay with that. I know in the past I wouldn’t be, but the reality is everybody knows how YouTube works. That’s how attention grabbing works. And if I can grab your attention and then you get to see this video where I’m trying to be uplifting and trying to inspire people to do what I’ve done in the last few years and that’s get off my ass and ride and have fun, get a little bit fitter, and so be it, right? Like steal the attention and then steer people in the way that you think will help them. So, I’m going for that. The only reason I didn’t want to use the thumbnail just because I didn’t like the font I used. Actually, I say that. It’s AI, right? But yeah, I uh I’m a web developer as I said and definitely fully engaged with using AI every day throughout the day. It’s excellent for programming. I was thinking the other day that this is the thing that I talk to most in the day which is maybe the negative side. I work from home on my own. So no colleagues to talk to except for like a stand up a day and I spending more time talking to the computer and asking the computer stuff. But although I guess it’s the same as everything, right? Like it’s a tool. How you use a tool is really down to the human still. And it’s so useful in my work. I also recently started working for an AI company. They generate images and videos from text prompts and various other parameters. So, I’m deeply involved in it now. I can start using that software for my thumbnails and maybe some video editing in the future. So, I saw an article the other day. I guess we’ve all seen these already, but it was about well, it doesn’t really matter what it was about, but I saw some images that went with the article. I don’t know if the article is AI generated. I didn’t even read it, but the images were AI generated. And if the article was truthful about an event that happened, the images obviously weren’t. They were just a betrayal. But who wants that, right? like if there aren’t images of the event and don’t show it because you’re changing the the narrative in that way. So yeah, that that’s a problem. Like everybody’s going to use these tools for money making and buying themselves some time, but that’s not the way to do it in my opinion. And that’s not an issue of the tech. I don’t think it’s the issue of the user. So that’s where I stand on it currently. There is also the concern about AI kind of going outside of its bounds against like the will and the the rule of humans. Apparently it’s been found already to has tried to replicate itself outside of its system. I was reading an article about that the other day. like against all of the rules that were put in place, it still tried to do it. And what really scared me on Friday is I I’m looking at um some brand new tech to me like it’s a web development framework and I’ve been asking the I was asking chat GPT first and then I went on to Gemini because I think Gemini is better for that sort of stuff dealing with code. Uh it was like I didn’t quite get one of the concepts. I didn’t even realize it was a thing. And then in asking these questions, the AI was like, “Yeah, this is definitely how it is. It doesn’t feel right, but this is how it works. You need to change, you know, your way of thinking about this for it to work in the way that you expect.” And I just couldn’t believe how that’s how it worked. and I changed back to chat GPT and said is what Gemini is telling me right? Uh so you kind of start to put the AI against each other and get them to validate themselves. Maybe that in itself is a bit of a a concern, but yeah, it said it was right and I went back to Gemini, asked more questions, like obviously check the docks as well just to make sure that it was true. And then I started to grasp what it was telling me. And then it meant that I had to make quite a few changes to this prototype that I built. And the part that scared me was that Gemini started in its like text response started give me like almost like its own inner dialogue like I shouldn’t say this because this is confusing to the user so I should do it like this. And it was really I’ve not seen it do that before. I guess that in itself could just be a feature, but maybe why would it be presented in that way? Like the AI talking to itself. Surely it should just still present that information to you if it’s going to give you thought its own thought process. I know people do want to see thought process and citations. So, I don’t know if that was intentional. I don’t know if it was a bug, but I’ve never seen it before. one just to see like it explain itself to itself. It really did give me a bit of a fright. All right, another tweak of the camera. I’m sat back a little bit. So, I don’t know. I don’t know how much I’m changing. And needless to say, it’s getting dark. I didn’t even know where I was going to come today. I guess this is my default route. I didn’t want to come out too far, but I didn’t even think I could do like that much talking on the camera, but clearly I can’t stop. Lots of bugs there. So, so that’s what this channel’s about, right? Like just getting outside of your comfort zone, trying things, improving your health, improving yourself. I felt something terrible on my back wheel and I can feel a bubble now. All right. I’m still having a bit of trouble with detaching the camera. Oh, and it’s telling me it won’t show me the screen because I’m and I I paused the video by mistake. Uh, how do I get out of this? All right, obviously some more learning opportunities there. I’ve uh turned the video off twice, but Oh, okay. Would you believe it? Here’s me doing a tech test on the camera and everything else. And I’ve got absolutely flat tire. That puts an end to it, I suppose. Uh, I have a front tire that is tubeless. This rear tire is tubed. because I had issues with it in the past. So maybe I won’t end it there just yet. Let’s go back to that car park and uh maybe I can film myself uh kind of trying to uh stay off my own ass so I can get back home without having to call my wife. All right, let’s give it a go. I do normally carry all the kit I’ve got to actually change the tire. Hopefully that’s the case today. I’ve got my pump. I’ve got a spare tube and oh no. Okay, I think I’ve got my tools. All right. Well, I guess this is unexpected, but it’s always good to do these things. I’ve done it once before out on a uh a gravel ride. So, let’s see how it goes. I’ll uh take the wheel off. So, it’s completely flat. I don’t know. I think sometimes these things split and they just go, don’t they? I’m wondering how much you can see. Okay. All right. I think I’ve just made myself even more yellow. I’ve shot the little ring on the valve. That’s not a good start. It’s gone in the grass. And I’m hoping this is the tubed one. I’m pretty sure it’s the back. Oh. Oh, no. All right. Well, I don’t know what’s happened. I think that’s going to mean that I need a a lift home because I’ve taken the wheel off. The cassette’s fallen off. These have fallen off from behind the cassette. And I’ve never dealt with behind the cassette on this wheel before. So I think it’d be a major mistake to try and get it on while the cassette has fallen off. It should be tight on, right? So uh I think I’d rather not try and fix it. I haven’t got my, you know, my wrench anyway. So knowing that it’s likely to fall off, I think is a major mistake in trying to ride home. So I’m going to have to call in for a ride. So these things happen. It’s a learning experience. And uh that’s it for today, I guess. Thanks for watching. Bye. All right, so just joined my video. Uh I did make it home. Not by my own power, unfortunately. Uh I did have to get a pickup by my wife. Uh first time doing that. But I think the good news is that we uh we talked about it in the past and we did kind of plan for it. We keep the uh the the bike mount for the car, the bike rack in in the boot. So, uh, we knew that maybe this one day would happen. Um, it was a puncture that I had and it was quite a big one. So, uh, it just took the wind or the air out of the the tube straight away. And I think what happened was, um, like I was obviously trying to fix it in the dark when I took the the wheel off. Uh, the cassette just fell off. And I didn’t realize that was a thing. Um, I have taken that wheel off quite a few times, so I don’t know why. like it hasn’t happened in the past, but I believe it is quite a normal thing to to happen. Um, and I was talking about AI in that that video uh prior to the kind of uh the puncture. Um, I did check GPT whilst I was actually like out in the dark trying to fix the wheel and I asked like is that a normal thing? So, I was on my way to kind of putting the the cassette back on. Um, it is a normal thing apparently. I didn’t know it. So, another thing to learn. Uh, first time that I’ve had to call up my wife. Uh, kind of a little bit embarrassing and the kids had to come as well. They were just kind of getting ready for bed. So, these things happen, but back home safely. Uh, maybe my uh pride has kind of uh taken a little notch, but never mind. It’s just another learning experience and uh part of the the fun of