Sergey Pisarenko

…continued from part 1. 12. Nutrition and hydration Regular nutrition is key to riding sustainably for many kilometers. In the morning or the previous evening you should stock up on dried fruit, bananas, bars and other snacks. I can ride for many hours if I eat something small every hour or so. Big meals are great but they are time consuming. There’s also a fat chance of overeating. I recommend planning for dinner and nothing else. [Read More]

2014 is a pivotal year in my cycling “career”. I went on my first multi-day tour. I went on my first multi-week tour. I’ve set a personal distance record. And I’ve set a personal vertical ascent record. Admittedly, I did not do the best job documenting and sharing. But I digress. On the 1st of May 2014 me and a 4 friends from work embarked on a biking trip from Andermatt, Switzerland, to Rotterdam, Netherlands, along the river Rhine. [Read More]

Switzerland-Germany-Denmark-Sweden-Norway-Latvia-Lithuania-Poland-Czech-Germany-Switzerland, day T-1! Phew, that was a mouthful. Tomorrow I am leaving for a 4 week motorcycle tour across Europe heading to the North. Every summer for the past couple of years I was swearing that next year I am going to be somewhere North, rather than elbowing annoying tourists in the Southern honeypot tourist traps. Finally, I am doing it! I have been dreaming of this trip for years. I am not going to lie and say that I planned this trip in detail. [Read More]

This is the part 3 of cyclocross bicycle build series. Jump to part 2.

I briefly mentioned in one of the previous posts that I am building this bike specifically for touring around Switzerland and Europe. Together with a couple of colleagues we went on a bike tour from Andermatt, Switzerland to Rotterdam, Netherlands along the Rhine river. I’ll be covering the tour separately in a series of posts. In this post, however, I would like to share lessons learned from the building process and the bike itself.

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I always had passion for motorbikes, especially so because everyone around me tried to prevent me from riding as I was growing up. I have started riding motorcycles just 3 years ago not knowing what to expect. I was not sure about whether I want to ride sport bikes or off-road monsters or touring rigs or choppers. Last year I went to a 2 day training camp at California Superbike School to their Las Vegas Motor Speedway offering. [Read More]

This is the part 2 of cyclocross bicycle build series. Jump to part 1. Disassembly preparation With the bicycle, materials, tools and parts figured out I was ready to begin the disassembly process. Taking things apart is fun and bicycles are not exception to this rule. As a guide I reversed the bike assembly order from Parking Tool website. The process starts with the chain removal and continue along the drive train until the levers and controls are taken off. [Read More]

This year I realized that I am wasteful with photo gear so I decided to switch to one digital camera system. I’ve sold all cameras and various gear I had from before and settled on Sony A7R. One thing I appreciated from my Canon collection is Yongnuo set of flashes and remote radio triggers. Yongnuo are inexpensive and for a price of one Canon flash I got two flashes and radio controllers. However, despite the fact the flash mounts are the same on Sony A7R and Canon 70D the Yongnuo RF603 radio trigger did not work.

Turns out the solution is one resistor away! I’ve discovered the following YouTube video that explains how to make the trigger work with Sony cameras. The solution is to solder a 120kOhm transistor between yellow wire and battery contact plate.

For years I have avoided any DIY job that requires soldering. I decided now it’s finally the time to purchase a solder iron and finally understand basics of electronics.

Aaaand success! The trigger now works great on Sony. I know this job was extremely simple but for me it has been satisfying to make a physical electronic thing work differently.