Cyclist in Ukraine. Youtube videos

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
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Pokatos
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Joined: 1 Nov 2020, 9:36am

Cyclist in Ukraine. Youtube videos

Post by Pokatos »

Hi guys.
I recently opened youtube channel, where I will post videos about my trips. I live in Ukraine, and I think for most of you it is a rather unknown country, but I will try to show it with my own eyes from the point of view of a cyclist.
I live in Kharkiv, the second largest city (approximately 1.5 million of citizens) and it is quite a diverse region.
We have a lot of beautiful places, but there are also a total ghetto places with alcoholics and additcs. I'll try to show you both sides.

#1
This is a video of my regular ride in the Kharkiv (Ukraine). I went around almost the whole city, I recorded this on video in timewarp mode and I put it here almost without edits. More fun rides in the city and outside you'll see in my next videos.
[youtube]Tf7n1L7LOFY[/youtube]
Last edited by Pokatos on 14 Nov 2021, 5:50pm, edited 3 times in total.
whoof
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Re: Cyclist adventures in Ukraine

Post by whoof »

Thanks, always interesting to see something different.

The section through the forest looked nice.

Are you the only cyclist in Kharkiv as I struggled to see any others?

One suggestion, the music was very laid back. In time warp mode the theme from Benny Hill might be better.
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Pokatos
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Re: Cyclist adventures in Ukraine

Post by Pokatos »

whoof wrote:Thanks, always interesting to see something different.

The section through the forest looked nice.

Are you the only cyclist in Kharkiv as I struggled to see any others?

One suggestion, the music was very laid back. In time warp mode the theme from Benny Hill might be better.


Hi, thanks :)

No, I'm not the only cyclist in Kharkiv, but when I come to the road, others stays at home behind closed doors :D
Of course, we have cyclists, not so much as in Netherladns or Denmark, but quite big community comparing to other ukrainian cities.
We have only one bike lane , probably that is the main reason.

Regarding music, yes Benny Hill would be fine for humoristic video (not my case), but the main reason why I can't use it - I can get a strike on YouTube :(
But anyway, thanks for suggestion, I'll make a note about it :)
mumbojumbo
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Re: Cyclist adventures in Ukraine

Post by mumbojumbo »

Good luck but can you explain what thinking explains the Chicken Chernobyl?
Bmblbzzz
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Re: Cyclist adventures in Ukraine

Post by Bmblbzzz »

Very good! What can you tell us about the narrow gauge(?) railway line in the forest?

whoof wrote:Are you the only cyclist in Kharkiv as I struggled to see any others?

6:45, very briefly.
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Pokatos
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Re: Cyclist adventures in Ukraine

Post by Pokatos »

mumbojumbo wrote:Good luck but can you explain what thinking explains the Chicken Chernobyl?

Hi, sorry, I'm not sure what do you mean. Could you describe a bit more?
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Pokatos
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Re: Cyclist adventures in Ukraine

Post by Pokatos »

Bmblbzzz wrote:Very good! What can you tell us about the narrow gauge(?) railway line in the forest?

Thanks! It is Children's railway, which means conductors are children there. I didn't ride on it for some time, and I'm not sure what is the current status of that. But it doesn't work now for sure, because of year season, but if it will work next summer, I can make a video about it. Thanks for idea :)

P.S. It is not long, about 3.5km only, but yes it is quite interesting thing in the city. Here is website, but you definitely need to use google translator :)
https://www.pz.gov.ua/dept/100062?lid=2
Pebble
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Re: Cyclist adventures in Ukraine

Post by Pebble »

how do you get such good quality on youtube ? the quality of mine are as good on the computer but when I load them to you tube they're poor.
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Pokatos
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Re: Cyclist adventures in Ukraine

Post by Pokatos »

Pebble wrote:how do you get such good quality on youtube ? the quality of mine are as good on the computer but when I load them to you tube they're poor.

I'm not a pro in this area, but first of all, you need to render your video as 2K (or 4K) even if it is 1080 only. Youtube has two codecs (one is good, another - is bad) , and if you want better codec to be used, you need to render video in 2K+ quality. You can find info in google by search query eg
"vp9 codec youtube"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v7FH_p ... TechGuides
Bmblbzzz
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Location: From here to there.

Re: Cyclist adventures in Ukraine

Post by Bmblbzzz »

Pokatos wrote:
Bmblbzzz wrote:Very good! What can you tell us about the narrow gauge(?) railway line in the forest?

Thanks! It is Children's railway, which means conductors are children there. I didn't ride on it for some time, and I'm not sure what is the current status of that. But it doesn't work now for sure, because of year season, but if it will work next summer, I can make a video about it. Thanks for idea :)

P.S. It is not long, about 3.5km only, but yes it is quite interesting thing in the city. Here is website, but you definitely need to use google translator :)
https://www.pz.gov.ua/dept/100062?lid=2

Thank you. I fired up my rusty knowledge of Cyrillic and Polish and was able to get some understanding from that website.
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Pokatos
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Re: Cyclist adventures in Ukraine

Post by Pokatos »

My ride in the forrest at the end of this summer. I went without reconnaissance, just followed maps.me and it [caused some problems], but thanks to this my offroad ride turned out cool adventure. I met two drug addicts in the forest, a couple of wild animals, I had to go through a field with high grass up to the waist, pass through the thorny bushes. In addition to everything, I fell off from the bike on the downhill. I put it here without cuts (almost) , but you can check timecodes for the most interesting moments, so you will not be boring.

Btw, youtube cut the quality too much, I don't understand why (yesterday it was better), so please, check the highest available quality (at least 1080p60). It should be better in the future (I hope), but I can't wait for it, so I published it as it is. I hope it is ok for you

[youtube]FYydSU8vSwI[/youtube]
Last edited by Graham on 14 Nov 2020, 2:37pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: FFE . . .family-friendly edit
Psamathe
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Re: Cyclist adventures in Ukraine

Post by Psamathe »

A few questions:

1. How do drivers trat cyclists? e.g. UK I've found very different from France or Netherlands. Do they generally give you good clearance or do they treat you as a nuisance deserving discouragement?

2. Camping. Is there plenty easy to find (and not in the "ghetto places with alcoholics and additcs")?

3. Cycle paths or on roads?

4. What do cyclists do to create routes? (if routing, web like cycle.travel and even Google don't seem to do routing for cycling).

Thanks
Ian
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Pokatos
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Re: Cyclist adventures in Ukraine

Post by Pokatos »

Psamathe wrote:A few questions:

1. How do drivers trat cyclists? e.g. UK I've found very different from France or Netherlands. Do they generally give you good clearance or do they treat you as a nuisance deserving discouragement?

2. Camping. Is there plenty easy to find (and not in the "ghetto places with alcoholics and additcs")?

3. Cycle paths or on roads?

4. What do cyclists do to create routes? (if routing, web like cycle.travel and even Google don't seem to do routing for cycling).

Thanks
Ian

Hi Ian

1. I think situation can be different in different regions, I didn't ride around all Ukraine, so I can say only for Kharkiv's and Poltava's regions.
In general I would say situation is not so bad, but of course is not the best. Drivers are angry not only to cyclists, but to pedestrians and to other drivers too :) But if we're talking about cyclists - if road is narrow and traffic is high, you should be really carefull because sometimes drivers pass too close to you, without respect. I don't like it. But if traffic is not high, usually they wait behind you and pass safety when there is no outcoming car. But in general situation is ok for me, I'm just trying to avoid narrow roads, or even if I decided to move on it, it should be second-class road, usually it is empty, but there is another problem - surface can be ugly :)

2. You can make a camp where you want, but not on private territory of course. You can make a camp near the river, in the forest, or just at the road. But it would be better to ensure that you're not visible for other people. Not because of law, but for security reasons. It doesn't mean people in Ukraine want rob you, usually no. But I would recommend to follow this rule in every country.

3. In Kharkiv we have only one bike lane on the edge fo the city. In Kyiv as far as I know situation is better. Also, there is something in Lviv (West) and Chenihiv(North), but I didn't visit it on the bycicle, so I don't know is it convenient or no. In 99% you need to ride on the roads or, if the sidewalk is empty you can move there. It is outlaw, but nobody cares about it, if you ride carefully.

4. In 99% I use maps.me app, but sometimes it makes routes in some specific crazy way - it is a cons. Also, maps.me doesn't create routes through the international roads. I really don't remember if it is outlaw, but in fact, international roads can be the best choise if you want to ride some distance very quickly - usually road is wide and with 2-3 bands for the cars, so you will not be stressing about high traffic.
Also, there is OsmAnd, sometimes I use it, or if I want to ride to some specific place, I can ask on the forum or check activities from locals in the Strava.
Pebble
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Re: Cyclist adventures in Ukraine

Post by Pebble »

Pokatos wrote:
Pebble wrote:how do you get such good quality on youtube ? the quality of mine are as good on the computer but when I load them to you tube they're poor.

I'm not a pro in this area, but first of all, you need to render your video as 2K (or 4K) even if it is 1080 only. Youtube has two codecs (one is good, another - is bad) , and if you want better codec to be used, you need to render video in 2K+ quality. You can find info in google by search query eg
"vp9 codec youtube"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v7FH_p ... TechGuides


Thanks for that, I have tried saving the video at 60fps but when I upload it still reverts back to the poor quality AVC
the following would be OK if I could keep the original quality but as you can see its poor.
4x Speed across the moor

[youtube]ZzXcfGCDsok[/youtube]

would love to be able to get your quality of video - what sort of camera are you using or what do you edit your movies on ?
Psamathe
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Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 8:56pm

Re: Cyclist adventures in Ukraine

Post by Psamathe »

Pebble wrote:
Pokatos wrote:
Pebble wrote:how do you get such good quality on youtube ? the quality of mine are as good on the computer but when I load them to you tube they're poor.

I'm not a pro in this area, but first of all, you need to render your video as 2K (or 4K) even if it is 1080 only. Youtube has two codecs (one is good, another - is bad) , and if you want better codec to be used, you need to render video in 2K+ quality. You can find info in google by search query eg
"vp9 codec youtube"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v7FH_p ... TechGuides


Thanks for that, I have tried saving the video at 60fps but when I upload it still reverts back to the poor quality AVC
the following would be OK if I could keep the original quality but as you can see its poor.
4x Speed across the moor

[youtube]ZzXcfGCDsok[/youtube]

would love to be able to get your quality of video - what sort of camera are you using or what do you edit your movies on ?

I had big problems with uploading to YouTube (high resolution) - my video had clear blue skies around sunset and it always "banded" and looked terrible so I gave-up and self-hosted mine.

Ian
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