Ok folks, just got back from the trip and this is my first time on a computer since the day I shot the video. Here's why I did it.

Skyline Drive in Shenandoah Nat'l Park is 105 miles long and 35 mph or less. I was about an hour into the park and my mind was totally wandering. The cruise was set on 35, in 3rd gear, because I knew I would subconsciously want to speed up. It was a hazy day so the valley wasn't clear when I would stop at the various pull-outs for a photo op. I was on my way to D.C. and finally just decided to set the cruise and get through the park with no more stops. As you can imagine, 35 mph on a Vision for more than 5 minutes is pretty numbing. It didn't take long for me to start riding one handed, swapping off every few minutes. Then, as I would swap hands, I would take a little longer time putting the other one on the grip. Next comes putting my hands in my lap for a few seconds. The bike was driving itself. (Now I'm alert and paying attention to the ride!) The video is shot with a Canon Elph Powershot (tiny little digital camera). I had been shooting still photos from the bike but my daughter had briefed me on the video function just prior to the trip. (I was borrowing her camera.) I clicked the camera to the video mode and looked through the viewfinder. The road ahead looked cool but very boring at 35 mph. You couldn't see the grips so there was no way to prove it was driving itself. I leaned back and got the handlebars in the view, but still no grips. I thought about pulling a "Schultzy" (read the Mike Schultz article on this forum under "Articles" tab) and sitting up on the back seat but immediately nixed the idea on a two-way road. I finally got to where I could keep my feet on the floorboards (and cover the rear brake), put my butt on the leading edge of the rear seat and lean all the way back to the trunk. (I was basically doing an elongated "crunch".) I made a couple of dry runs, practicing jumping back down into the front seat and grabbing the bars to see how long it would take to grab the grips and pay attention to how the bike would react to the drastic move. Once I felt confident with my "out" move I worked on getting the grips into the frame. I ended up with the camera resting just off my big gut, at the base of my ribcage. The GPS is not in my normal line of sight at all but the low angle of the camera is about the same height as the top of the trunk so it looks worse than it is.

I initially thought I was just going to shoot a 10 second clip but decided to keep rolling until I came up on a sharp curve (always marked) or ran out of memory on the SD card. I ran out of memory.

My main motivation for doing the video was to prove what the bike could do. Like a lot of you, I have told stories about the capabilities of the Vision and have gotten the "bull----" response. I shot this video so that no one else would have to. I shot some other clips on the trip where I'm passing semi's with one finger barely touching the grip. (Will be posted soon.) Passing semi's with no pressure on the grips is not dangerous. The bike is doing the same thing it always does. The only difference is I have my hands in a different spot than normal when I shoot the video. I do it long enough to get the shot, then I cover the grips as normal. Do I ride that way all the time? Of course not, but I felt that it was worth a couple of minutes of limited risk to prove a point that every Vision owner already knows and other riders simply can't believe.

Oh yeah, my one week old Garmin Zumo 450 died 20 minutes prior to the video shoot and the two white dots on the windshield are a reflection of the heads of the bolts for the GPS mount. And now you know the rest of the story. Good day.

VIC2004-08,

Gee, no need to yell.  I can hear just fine.  You talk like my crazy sister.