Bike Gadgets!

Bike lights

Many of you must of been wondering just what light I am going to use for the all night stage of the 24 hour race? I am sure you have been wondering just how many lights provide enough light and last all night....and not have a battery bigger than the average house.

What do you mean you have never given it a second thought?

I decided after much research that I should just spank the credit card and get the best money could buy - Lupine. I opted for their new LED product which last summer was the 'wilma'. I went for the one with the second largest battery pack, the Wilma 6. The reason for this had to do with positioning of water bottles and battery on frame.....all of which is now redundant because I have a new bike (see below). I wont go into all the things this light does but worth mentioning that the power output is completely controllable for brightness.

Burn times are as follows:

15W: 4 hours
9W: 6 hours 30 minutes
1W: 42 hours (still brighter than a standard commuter light)
0.5W: 84 hours

I have kept my programming simple and have mine set up to run at 2 brightness levels. 90% and 40%. A simple touch of button takes you between the two.

Here is what it looks like when used in anger.

The burn times seem to be conservative, it really is a top notch product and beautifully made. Running the light at 40% during the majority of the race will doubtless make it last all night.

Hand grips

After just one practice lap of the course last year I knew my hands would not stand up to 24 hours on my hard standard grips. The hammering to the hands was unreal.

I decided to treat myself to some grips I had been thinking about for ages......as luck would have it one of the trade tents had them for sale!

They really are the brilliant and if your going to do a long cross country mountain bike race then i really, really reckon you should give them a whirl! They are made by Ergon and are the large GR2's

Let this post to serve as a reminder to all of you that boredom is a terrible thing.