Training done this week

I took it easy early in the week after last weekends big ride and I've been traveling to a customer every day this week apart from Thursday. So I've managed a 30 min and a 45 min run plus a 1 hour ride. I'm taking this weekend off too.

Hopefully I'll get a bit more in next week.

Lights sorted

I was worried that the Dinotte 200L light would not be bright enough but topped up with my eBay bargain 21 LED helmet lamp, it seems fine. The picture below shows the light output (I know the back garden's a bit of a mess !). The picture's a bit darker than in the flesh but you get the idea.



...and the head torch in action. I'll play with the position to see if I can move the weight back a bit.



Being able to look around and look into the next turn makes a huge difference. This is supposed to run for 20 hours on full beam too !

We're planning an easy going 8 mile off-road night ride next week to give the setup a shakedown.

Big training kick off ride

We went off to the Peaks on Saturday for a kick off ride near Holymoorside. The ride was about 16 miles and even though there hadn't been any rain for a few days, the first half was pretty sticky in places.

There were plenty of hills without being silly and the wind added to the challenge. All in all it went well but we've realised that we have a long way to go before we can even think about attacking a 24 hour race. At the moment we'd be lucky to complete much more than a lap of the course each !

We have a weekend in Wales booked for early April. Until then we have about 5 weeks to work hard on building a good level of general fitness and endurance.

More pictures of the Holymoorside ride can be found here

After worrying myself about the lights I've ordered an eBay bargain "high power" head torch for £5 inc postage. I'm not sure how good it will be but it's worth a go before I start talking myself into additional lighting. All the reviews for the Dinotte say it's good enough for endurance racing so maybe I'm worrying myself needlessly ?.

oops, should have done this earlier !

Here are a few links.

Find out all about the CLIC24 event here and any sponsorships gratefully received here.

I tried the lights with 2500mah Nimh batteries last night and they seemed brighter and there was no red low battery indicator lit on the back of the light. I'm still not sure they are going to be good enough to ride unfamiliar trails for 8 to 10 hours through the night.

I'm going to try the helmet mount option to see if that helps but I'm definately going to need a second lamp on the bars too if that's the way to go.

Lights

After much mind changing I decided to buy a Dinotte D200L front light at the bargain price of £65. It gets good reviews and is way cheaper than £200 to £300 on a mid-range halogen/HID set up.

I've taken them for a quick spin in the dark in the forest this evening and they seems OK. I need to play with the positioning to get the best spread of light. I'm charging up some 2500 mah Nimh batteries at the moment. I'll stick them in and try again. Hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures too.