In preparation for my first 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo, I’ve been spending some time up in Oracle riding the course.
My first trip up was with El Grupo during one of their practices. I managed to do two laps in a row and here is what one of them looked like sped up by 400 percent.
Our team is nailed down and we are finalizing our plans.
The last thing I’d like to practice before the big weekend is riding at night.
Any tips for night riding aside from, “Have bright lights!”
Nice video. Interesting how the video tends to make the “bitches” look flat. I ran my camera a few days ago and got the same effect. ( for the readers, they are not flat ! )
Regarding night riding – yes, it helps to have bright lights 🙂 , 2 of them, though. One for your helmet, the other for the bars; helmet is a spot light, the bar light should cast a wide swath of light. Trust me on this one. Making sure your lights are pointed far enough ahead of you is something you’ll have to dial in.
In a lot of ways, riding at night is “easier” than day riding because the section of trail you need to focus on is, literally, illuminated. All other mental stimuli like cactus, rocks, whatever, are in the dark.
This statement assumes, of course, that there are no night vision issues with your eyeballs.
I have two lights. One is a 150 lumen one and the other is a “claimed” 900 lumen light. Is it better to have the brighter one on the helmet or on the bars?
Putting aside lumen and wattage issues which are personal, complex, situational and resolved by costly experience (the industry is of no help, indeed it confuses people for some mysterious reason), the other important issue and failure point with bike headlights is the handlebar mount. Hacking, Griptex ™ and Duck ™ “Non-Adhesive Shelf Liner” cut to strips works much better than the old fix, old inner tube strips.
Try your stock bike light mounts during the day when there is still time to mitigate. Or you might find your handlebar headlights illuminating your front hub at a bad time.
Gear. Know what clothing you really need. It is so personal, and I find I have even changed my wardrobe over the years.
I ride with two lights. I prefer the brighter one on the helmet, but if it feels too heavy on your head then you could use the smaller on on the helmet. I like the brighter light on the helmet because my head is where I am looking and I want to see that part well, whereas the bike is ‘following’ where my eyes are looking. Also nice for seeing my bike computer too.
I ride with a Seca 800 on my helment and a Stella 300 on my bars and works great.
I use Light & Motion and the attachment for the handlebar is rubber, and it sticks right where I put it even on tough courses like Moab for 24 hours.