A small blog about offtrail riding, allroad cycling, fatbiking and singlespeeding.
I got my feet wet using a drone for cycling photography in the spring of 2017 when I bought a Yuneec Breeze 4K. It showed me two things at the time. Firstly, I was able to capture some amazing photos. Secondly, drone technology wasn't ready.
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Seven years ago, I bought a Yuneec Breeze 4K drone for cycling photography. It allowed me to snap some awesome shots only a flying camera can take. It was an unreliable flying object, though. After half a year, it self-destructed. I've been following the development of consumer drones as attentively as the bike market ever since. DJI brought the Spark and the Mavic Minis. US-based Skydio was the first company to release a drone with subject follow mode and obstacle avoidance with the R1 in 2018. They were never available to consumers in Europe. Last year, Zero Zero Robotics brought the HoverAir X1 pocket-sized self-flying drone. They improved this concept this year with the HoverAir X1 Pro/ProMax. While the 8K video-capable ProMax is a drone I could see myself owning one day, I'm getting back into drone photography on a much smaller budget with the DJI Neo.
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Other than a review on theBidon blog and a few Reddits, there's very little online about Shenzhen-based cycling apparel brand Spexcel. I first ran across Spexcel on AliExpress in 2023. I bought a few windproof vests and two bibs for the fall and winter seasons. The quality and workmanship were outstanding. In 2024, I revisited their AliExpress store multiple times. I bought a half dozen jerseys, several bib shorts, and a thin, windproof vest. I have a drawer full of jerseys, some old, some newer; what I was missing were short-sleeve jerseys made from extremely lightweight materials for hot summer days. By hot, I mean 24-28°C. No jersey in the world would make cycling fun at 30 °C. Spexcel had just what I needed.
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I owned a lovely set of red Formula R1 brakes since 2010. They went onto my singlespeed Niner Air9 Carbon, moved to my black 44 Kid Dangerous in 2013, and then to my 44 Marauder in 2017; fourteen years of service and still working perfectly. It was time to treat the Marauder to a new set of brakes. I was just waiting for a worthy replacement to appear on the market. This happened recently with Hope’s release of the XCR brakes in anodized colors and the option of two, or four-piston calipers. Hope is essentially the only manufacturer that still offers disc brakes in a variety of colors. The XCR with E4 calipers were the brakes I was waiting for.
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Just about when the pandemic started, our two cats were diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. The disease was already advanced in one of the two girls. She lived longer than the vets had given her but passed away two years ago. Her sister, now 19 years old, is hanging in there. She is only still around because we are doing everything to give her the best quality of life for the time she still wants to soldier on. Care-taking, whether it is for an elderly parent, a disabled child, or in our case, aging cats with a progressing chronic disease, requires a big part of one’s time. My riding has dropped from a peak of 8’700 km in 2018 to 3’000 km last year. Because of that, a couple of my bikes have not put on more miles. Since I had to be at home a lot for caretaking, I had time to take care of my dormant bike fleet. I replaced and updated components, instead of riding and replacing my bikes as I normally would.
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