Filming my Rides

There’s riding a bike.

And then there’s bringing the ride home with you.

That’s where the DJI Osmo Action 4 comes in.

Torque already gives me the ride. The speed. The climbs. The rattling descents. The woodland tunnels. The sudden open views. The muddy tyres. The orange details. The moments where the trail gets properly interesting.

Now I want to capture all of it.

Not from the side of the trail.

Not from fifty metres away.

Right there.

On the handlebars.

Welcome to TORQUE // ACTION RIDES.

I’ve had the DJI Osmo Action 4 for a while, but there’s something particularly satisfying about using it on Torque.

A handlebar-mounted camera gives a completely different feeling from a drone shot or a normal photograph.

The drone shows the landscape.

A photograph freezes the moment.

The Action 4 puts you inside the ride.

You see the trail coming towards you.

You see the handlebars moving.

You feel the bike turning underneath the camera.

You see the gradient suddenly disappear over the front wheel.

You get the little jolts, compressions and movements that tell you the bike is actually working beneath you.

That is exactly what I want.

Not perfectly sterile footage.

I want to feel like I’m back on Torque.

My ride camera is the DJI Osmo Action 4.

Small.

Tough.

Simple.

And importantly, easy enough to use that filming doesn’t become the whole purpose of the ride.

I don’t want every bike ride to turn into a film set.

I want to ride.

The camera just needs to quietly get on with recording it.

That’s why the handlebar position makes so much sense.

Clip it on.

Angle it.

Press record.

Ride.

Job done.

My plan is to mount the Action 4 close to the centre of Torque’s bars, ideally near the stem.

That matters.

The further out towards the grips a camera sits, the more movement and vibration it gets.

Near the centre, everything becomes calmer.

Less wobble.

Less chatter.

Better footage.

And there’s another advantage.

I actually want a little bit of Torque visible in the bottom of the shot.

Not loads.

Just enough.

A little handlebar.

A glimpse of the front end.

Maybe occasionally the tyre.

That becomes the reference point.

It tells the viewer:

You’re not watching the trail. You’re riding it.

I’m going to run the camera very slightly tilted upwards.

Probably only around 5–10 degrees.

Too low and the entire film becomes a documentary about dirt.

Too high and you lose the connection with the bike.

The sweet spot should show:

🌲 the trail ahead 🚵‍♂️ a little of Torque 🌤️ enough sky and scenery 🪨 the terrain immediately in front of the wheel

That should give the footage a proper sense of speed.

And speed is one of those strange things cameras can easily flatten.

Twenty miles an hour on a rough woodland trail can feel fairly lively on a bike.

On badly framed footage it can look like somebody cycling to the post office.

We’re avoiding that. 😂

I’m keeping this simple.

For normal rides, my default setup will be:

4K 60fps 16:9 landscape 3840 × 2160 Wide field of view RockSteady+ Normal 10-bit colour EV -0.3 Auto white balance ISO around 100–1600 Wind reduction ON

That will effectively become my:

I don’t want to fiddle around with twenty menus at the trailhead.

I want one dependable setting that works for most rides.

Turn the camera on.

Ride.

🎬 WHY 4K 60FPS?

This is probably the sweet spot for what I want to do.

4K gives me a lovely clean image.

60fps keeps fast movement looking smooth.

And it gives me a bit of flexibility later if I want to slow something down.

That could be:

💦 a puddle splash 🌲 a fast descent 🪨 a rough section 🚵‍♂️ a sharp corner ⚙️ suspension working 🍂 leaves flying beneath the wheels

Suddenly a normal few seconds of riding becomes something much more cinematic.

Cannock Chase isn’t a studio floor.

That’s rather the point.

There are roots.

Ruts.

Stones.

Mud.

Loose surfaces.

Braking bumps.

And the occasional section where the bike feels considerably happier about proceedings than I do. 😂

That’s where RockSteady+ earns its keep.

I want the footage stable enough to watch without making everyone seasick, but still alive enough to feel like mountain biking.

Too smooth and it starts looking artificial.

Too shaky and it becomes CCTV from inside a washing machine.

Somewhere between the two is exactly right.

This is probably one of the biggest decisions.

That creates enormous files.

It drains batteries.

And later I’d have to search through miles of footage for the interesting bits.

No thanks.

Instead, I’m going to record short sections.

Maybe 10 seconds.

Maybe 30 seconds.

Maybe a couple of minutes if the trail is particularly good.

That means I finish a ride with a collection of highlights rather than an accidental surveillance archive.

There are certain moments I’ll deliberately look for.

Fast descents.

Sweeping corners.

Long flowing sections.

Technical bits.

Beautiful woodland.

Open heathland.

Puddles.

Sunlight flashing through trees.

Interesting climbs.

Trail signs.

Viewpoints.

And probably the occasional café stop.

Because no great cycling expedition is complete without suspiciously expensive coffee. ☕😂

These little clips will become the building blocks of the final film.

And this is where the whole system becomes wonderfully easy.

I’ll transfer the best clips to my iPhone and use the GoPro Quik app to edit them.

Yes.

A DJI camera edited in a GoPro app.

Technology has apparently decided brand loyalty is optional. 😂

But Quik suits exactly what I’m trying to achieve.

I don’t necessarily want to spend three hours editing every ride.

Quik can take a pile of good clips, sync cuts to music and quickly build something that already feels like a finished little film.

Then I can tweak it.

Change clips.

Adjust timing.

Add titles.

Pick music.

Trim sections.

Export.

Done.

A ride film changes completely depending on the music.

A slow cinematic track makes woodland feel enormous.

Electronic music makes flowing trail sections feel faster.

Something harder gives rough descents a completely different edge.

This is where the NIX side comes in.

I don’t just want footage.

I want atmosphere.

The music, editing and trail should all work together.

A three-minute film should feel like a little journey.

Not just a camera bolted to a bicycle.

⏱️ HOW LONG WILL THE VIDEOS BE?

My target is roughly:

That feels ideal.

Long enough to tell the story of the ride.

Short enough to keep it punchy.

A particularly good ride might stretch to six or eight minutes.

But most of the time I think four minutes will be perfect.

Four minutes of the best sections.

No filler.

No endless waiting at gates.

No fifteen-minute climb where nothing happens apart from heavy breathing.

Nobody needs that in 4K. 😂

Once the Quik edit is finished, I’ll export it and upload it to YouTube.

That gives every Torque ride film a proper permanent home.

And more importantly, it means those videos can then become part of NIX DRONES.

The system becomes:

TORQUE 🚵‍♂️ ↓ DJI ACTION 4 🎥 ↓ IPHONE 📱 ↓ QUIK 🎬 ↓ YOUTUBE 📺 ↓ NIX // TRAIL 🟧

That feels beautifully simple.

Over time this could become something really interesting.

One ride.

Then another.

Then another.

Different seasons.

Different trails.

Different weather.

Different parts of Cannock Chase.

Summer dust.

Autumn leaves.

Winter mud.

Spring woodland.

Eventually I won’t just have photographs of Torque.

I’ll have a proper moving archive of the places I’ve ridden.

Of course, Action footage doesn’t have to stand alone.

This is where things could get really good.

Imagine a ride film opening with a drone shot.

Torque moving through the landscape.

Cut.

Handlebar camera.

Down the trail.

Cut.

Static shot of the bike.

Cut.

Drone orbit.

Cut.

Action 4 blasting through woodland.

Suddenly the whole thing becomes much more cinematic.

The Action 4 gives me the experience.

The drone gives me the scale.

Together, they tell the full story.

I’m not abandoning photography either.

Quite the opposite.

One ride could now produce:

📸 hero photographs 🎥 POV video 🚁 drone footage 🗺️ Strava route data 📊 ride statistics 📝 a NIX story 📺 a YouTube film

That’s a lot of storytelling from one afternoon on Torque.

And that’s exactly where I want NIX // TRAIL to go.

Cannock Chase is almost built for this.

Narrow woodland trails.

Fast little sections.

Open views.

Changing light.

Orange-brown forest floors.

Grey tracks.

Green canopy.

And Torque sitting right in the middle of it all.

The Action 4 should be able to capture that beautifully.

Especially when the light starts dropping in the late afternoon.

That combination of shadow, bright sky and woodland could look superb.

Torque isn’t exactly anonymous.

Midnight Grey.

Orange pedals.

Orange grips.

Orange details.

Chunky tyres.

Mudguards.

Lights.

The whole bike already fits perfectly into the NIX visual world.

Graphite.

Grey.

Black.

Orange.

Woodland.

Road.

Sunset.

Trail.

It all connects.

And once the Action 4 footage starts appearing alongside the photographs, that visual identity should become even stronger.

Until now, a ride could be remembered through a route map and a few photographs.

That’s great.

But video captures something photographs can’t.

Movement.

Speed.

Sound.

Rhythm.

The moment the bike drops into a descent.

The handlebars twitch over rough ground.

The trail narrows.

The light flickers through the trees.

The front wheel hits loose gravel.

Those are the tiny details that make a ride feel alive.

That’s really the whole point.

I don’t just want somebody to look at a picture and think:

“Nice bike ride.”

I want them to watch the film and think:

I want to ride that.

I want the trail rushing towards the camera.

I want the corners to feel quick.

I want the woodland to feel huge.

I want the little orange flashes from Torque to become part of the visual identity.

I want the film to feel like being there.

I think this could become its own little strand within NIX.

Short films.

Real rides.

Real trails.

Real data.

No massive production crew.

No complicated filming rig.

Just Torque, the DJI Action 4, my iPhone and whatever trail happens to be in front of me.

There’s something rather appealing about that.

Simple technology.

Used properly.

So this is the plan.

DJI Action 4 on the handlebars.

4K.

60fps.

Wide.

RockSteady+.

Short clips.

Edit in Quik.

Three to five minute films.

Upload to YouTube.

Then bring everything back into NIX // TRAIL.

One ride becomes far more than a line on a map.

It becomes a film.

A story.

A memory.

And another little chapter in the life of Torque.

Ride it. Film it. Edit it. Remember it.