Pretty sick. This is better production quality than Kona coverage it seems...

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

Very cool!

What drone did you use ?

at 1:46 i was waiting for it to smack the road sign.

very cool vid.

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80/20 Endurance Ambassador

Skydio 2

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Amateur recreational hobbyist cyclist
https://www.strava.com/athletes/337152
https://vimeo.com/user11846099

Nahhh, that’s child’s play for this thing. The drone sees stuff like that and decides whether to fly around, over, or under it.

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Amateur recreational hobbyist cyclist
https://www.strava.com/athletes/337152
https://vimeo.com/user11846099

thanks for posting this drone... im not a drone aficionado at all, but this little guy looks awesome!

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80/20 Endurance Ambassador

I am equally impressed by your taste in music.

Great job staying on the bars while climbing to the rock southbound! That section is always a struggle.
This stretch of the PCH is what keeps me from ever leaving SoCal.

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Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

Ok.......that was cool

What about an oncoming semi going 80?

I just checked the price and it's like $2500. Damn expensive!!!!

In that situation, I would definitely put my money on the semi. But to avoid that, keep the drone off to the side and/or use the height floor to keep it above the fray.

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Amateur recreational hobbyist cyclist
https://www.strava.com/athletes/337152
https://vimeo.com/user11846099

Pretty cool.

Actually, $999. You just have to be patient as there is a fairly long order backlog.

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Amateur recreational hobbyist cyclist
https://www.strava.com/athletes/337152
https://vimeo.com/user11846099

Where did you see that?

https://www.skydio.com/

Shows a price of $999.

Im sure there are lots of accessories to drive the total price up....

Oh! I just did a quick search 'Skydio 2 drone' on eBay and they must have included a lot of accessories.

https://www.ebay.com/...0&_odkw=skydio+2

I’m really excited about drone related sports and activities including filming but also towing for board sports. Looks amazing!

drone wakeskating


drone surfing


wakeboarding



I looked up the price of how much a drone that could tow could be and it is expensive. $18K for the Freefly Alta 8. It looks sick though.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/...t=BI%3A514&smp=y

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

Yes, there are lots of uses for drones I'm sure.

Bringing this back to why I initially posted the video, I do wonder if a drone like the Skydio2 could be useful for TT fits. If you have a nice deserted road, you could disable the height floor and have it fly very low (e.g. just a few feet above the ground) and provide not just the classic "profile" view but also any number of other angles.

I think many have had the experience of a fit (or a component thereof) seeming to work on the trainer in the fit studio but then not working so well IRL. Good drone footage would give fitters a look at how an athlete is functioning IRL on their bike.

I have a stretch of road (actually more like access path) very close to home that would be perfect for this purpose, but it's also too close to LAX to get FAA clearance for a drone flight (yes, even if the drone will never fly higher than 10 or 20 ft off the ground). But I think I know similar stretches further north and south and outside the FAA 5 mile zone that might work well. Need to do some location scouting.

Also thinking this thing would provide some wild footage in a crit - that's another upcoming test case.

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Amateur recreational hobbyist cyclist
https://www.strava.com/athletes/337152
https://vimeo.com/user11846099

Great ideas - thanks for posting. I have a woefully underused Mavic 2 that I'm scared to death of crashing as it was a gift. This is motivating me to use it more. Not quite ready to let her rip up and down PCH yet but the shots sure are gorgeous.

This is my first and only drone. I've kept track of the advances in "Follow Me" technology over the last several years since my drone photography interests are 99% sports related (and 90% of that cycling related), and have passed on other models - Airdog, Staaker, original Skydio - but this one (the Skydio2) finally has enough AI and obstacle avoidance that these types of use cases are viable.

And this technology will only get better and more advanced, because... technology.

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Amateur recreational hobbyist cyclist
https://www.strava.com/athletes/337152
https://vimeo.com/user11846099

Sorry - didn't mean to hijack your thread. Your footage is impressive. Would you say its fairly open box to filming? Do you wear a wrist gadget for the drone to follow?

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

Very cool footage indeed.

I am not a drone - or even tech - man myself, so I have to ask: comments in this thread indicate that the drone is remote controlled by the cyclist himself (or rather follows him automatically). Is this really the case?

And if so, what is the least one would have to spend to start toying with such a drone (to record golf rounds)?

Yes, it's really quite simple to use. I know that, for me at least, when I am in the middle of a ride, I have limited spare brain cells so anything too complicated just wouldn't work. With the Skydio2, I use this little device, which they call the "Beacon." The drone can follow you without it, but this thing just makes it more accurate. And if I were to ride behind trees, go through a tunnel, etc, the Beacon would allow the drone to follow. You set use it to launch/land (just hold down a button), select one of 8 angles (like the points of a compass), and can make it follow closer or farther (have yet to vary that).



It would be pretty easy to mount it on the stem, but I just stuck it in a pocket and pulled it out when I wanted to change angle. I edited that out of course. But it's more or less like reaching for a Clif bar, pressing a couple buttons, and then back in the pocket it goes.

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Amateur recreational hobbyist cyclist
https://www.strava.com/athletes/337152
https://vimeo.com/user11846099

Wow - that is impressive and intuitive functionality! Pretty awesome.

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney