Capturing audio for mountain bike subject matter

[mtb.arizona]

so ive already placed an order for a zoom f1-lp because it looks like itll do the trick but i figured id check with the pros around here as well in case there are better options i havent thought of yet.

Amazon.com: Zoom F1-LP Lavalier Body-Pack Recorder, Audio for Video Recorder, Records to SD Card, Battery Powered, Includes Lavalier Microphone: Musical Instruments

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one of the main reasons i picked up a mavic 2 pro recently is to film during mountain bike rides. that in itself has proven challenging since im used to riding with minimal gear (just gopro previously) so a large backpack has made life interesting while riding. but its worth it to bring the drone along. aaaaanyway....

i want to get audio of the rider that im filming and obviously the drone doesnt do that, nor would it make sense. i could record audio with the dji app, but im not gonna be near the rider that is being filmed, so it isnt really relevant audio.

i thought of the lav mic + phone on rider option, but getting friends to load up some kinda recording app, pray that it records properly, etc. isnt really feasible. plus having to get the audio files from them afterwards.

so the small recorder plus lav seems to be the best route and the zoom f1 seems to fit that bill well. i am sure ill need to get a better mic, big fluffy dead cat to kill wind, etc. but ill tackle that when the time comes. i am a little worried about getting levels right, but im hoping a little trial and error will work.

so yeah, any advice or tips/tricks would definitely be appreciated. just to give an idea of the type of shot im wanting to get audio for, heres my recent ride in Sedona. drone bit starts around 50 seconds in.

 

[brettbrandon]

That recorder should work great for what you are looking for. I also think you may find the mic that comes with it very useable. What you are recording does not contain low bass or high cymbals and that is mostly what a better mic will bring to the table.
If you are looking to have the rider wear the mic, I would place it lower on the torso and not right by the mouth. The reason for this is to get the sounds of the bike and surroundings as well as the rider. Also, the farther away the mic is from the mouth, the less problem you will have with volume peaks with the rider speaking or possibly yelling to another rider and distorting the audio. When you set your recording level, have the person yell with the mic placed where it will be used and set it so it almost peaks. If the level turns out a little low its not such a big deal with digital like it was with analogue. You dont get more noise but you do lose a little dynamic range but again with what you are recording its not going to matter much.

I would almost suggest creating a little rig you mount on the handlebars and create a v shaped wind shield for the mic to sit behind. The mic would also have to be shock isolated as not to pick up sounds through the mic mount. I think this would give a good mix between the rider and the surrounding sounds and also help alot with volume peaks.

 

[theDRONEranger]

Remember, there will be a significant amount of extraneous noise to compete with, i.e., huffing and puffing of the rider (is there a face mask?), the rattle of the bike, the swish of the wind, etc.
Brett gave some very good advice on this.
This is not an easy tasking to complete without some audio editing, but you can pull it off. I am anxiously awaiting final results. Document your trials and errors and equipment used, and share them as well.