In 2014, I finally got something I've always wanted - a sports video camera! My ideal choice would have been Contour ROAM2, but in the end I bought this Chinese "Mini F9 Sport DVR", at just above 1/3rd of ROAM2's price and with a selection of mounts included.

Here's an example of a handlebar mount. The camera does 1080P at 30 fps and 720P at 60 fps. Video quality is OK, while 5 Mpx stills are rather useless. It's waterproof and the battery lasts about 2 hours. I equipped it with a 32 GB Micro SD card for hours and hours of recording.

Another thing I've always wanted to have is a deep profile carbon wheelset. I jumped at the opportunity and bought these Fulcrum Red Wind 50 mm Carbon Clinchers with alloy braking surface, shod with Michelin Pro 3 Race tyres.

They look great (though I don't like the clash of the frame's UD matte finish and wheels' glossy 3K finish), roll and accelerate very nicely. They are stiff, but not uncomfortable. Quoted weight is 1755 g, but I suspect they are considerably heavier.

Just testing my new 50 mm F/1.4 lens on CybeR1 in an urban environment :-).

Scott CR1 with Fulcrum Red Wind wheelset.

Scott CR1 with Fulcrum Red Wind wheelset.

Scott CR1 with Fulcrum Red Wind wheelset.

Not having done much riding this year so far, I had decided to devote a week to nothing else but my passion, so in the beginning of May 2014 I packed my bags and shot off to a nice little Istrian village of Momjan, close to Slovenian border. The heart-shaped Istrian peninsula in Croatia is becoming increasingly popular location for pro cycling teams and amateurs alike - and you'll easily figure out why.

My hosts were my old friends Michael and Marijana, passionate cyclists that run apartment accommodation and a bike hostel, ride a custom built racing tandem bicycle and drive around in a very early model Zastava 750 - as you can guess, they are quite a cheerful couple! :-)

I started off with an easy-ish ride on Slovenian roads together with M&M - and gelato aka ice cream is always on their agenda, so we've had one at "Cacao" in Portoroz.

However, the next day was reserved for some serious riding - cutting from the West to East of Istria, going to the top and over Mt. Ucka down to Opatija and all the way back - with ambient temperature peaking at 33'C.

After a hilly route to the start of the climb, it was time to climb from 400 to 1400 alt. meters in 12 kilometers (8.3% average), with first 6 km's averaging at over 11% and with some really steep sections.

From 1400 m, I descended all the way to the sea level and then tackled the same climb from the other side, but going over a pass at 1000 alt. meters this time. 16 km's averaging at 6.25% but with some sections between 14% and 18%.

The climbing was not over yet, as I've still had a 6.2% 6 km climb to do and - as if that wasn't enough - there were three short 13% to 17% sections waiting for me going into the village - the ones that I've had to do at the end of each ride!

A long day in the saddle with quite possibly the biggest amount of climbing I've ever done on a ride.