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859
Joined
12/5/2007
Location
Lisle, IL, USA
Edited Date/Time
1/26/2012 3:22pm
I know its still early, but Perry Mountain 24 hour race in June. Has anyone done it? My friend and I are teaming up and gonna do it this year. A few years ago he won his class as an Ironman, but wants to do a team this time. Anyone have any tips for training? Or what to expect down there?
Good helmet lights are a must. Course last year was mostly open with anything from sand to rock and roots. Its typically around a 10 mile course.
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This is from the website:
: 2 riders - each rider may rider their own bike
: This class is not eligible for cash prizes
: No impound bike allowed
: Pre Entry $150 per duo (closes 4/25)
: Post Entry $200 per duo
Its never too early to start planning. Its a real fun event and some big names show up.
EDIT: Also the ground last year was very hard packed in lot of sections. Teams were melting bibs and tires wear out quick. Good idea to have spare wheels and parts in your pit.
A couple of things I learned from this event:
Racing at night is cool! I can't explain it, but to the man, everyone who got on the bike at night said they wanted to do a night race again.
It always seems crazy hot down there during this event. It was over 100 during the day on pit row, and the haze from the humidity was so bad you couldn't one end from the other. We used waaay more drinks and ice than we though we would. Fortunately we had a friends wife with us down there, who ended up running out in one of the trucks for more ice and drinks throughout the day.
Bring a lot of light for your pit. We started with a few worklights and ended up going out to buy a couple of 4ft long fluorescent lights to hang from our easy-up.
Helmet lights are great. We bought 3 Trail Tech HID helmet setups in addition to the bikes race light, and did a few night rides with them before the event. At the time they were the brightest helmet setup available, and they worked flawlessly every time, until of course we got to the race and evening rolled around, then none of them worked. After a while we got one working by cutting out the connector and hardwiring it into the bike. After we got home and tried them again, they all worked fine. Next nighttime event we did, same story...couldn't get either of them to work. Most of our problem seems to be with the connector to the battery, not the light itself. They may have fixed this by now. We looked around and didn't see anyone else using this same light. The guys pitted next to us "yeah, after a while you learn what works down here and what doesn't". I will say, when those lights are working, the light they put out is awesome.
The year we were there, not a lot of teams ran the bike into the night. From about midnight on, the course was pretty quiet except for the A teams. If you are looking to place well, this is definitely a good time to crank out the laps.
All in all, that race was a great time. I hope to get out there and do it again someday.
The thing about having 2 seperate light systems as one on the bike and one on your helmet does a couple of important things for you, 1) the bike light is more powerful and can send light further down the trail to see what's coming sooner. It gives you the ability to run faster since you can see further. If you've never rode in the dark you will soon understand the term "over riding your light" in a hurry. I use the bike like to see farther ahead to avoid that. The helmet light works great for tighter turns and more techincal slower stuff. With the light being mounted on your helmet it looks where you are giving you the ability to look into turns and helps get rid of shadows in dip, whoops, drops, ect. The combination of the two lights makes a HUGE difference in the ability to see and go faster. 2) if per chance one of your lights fail you still have the other to ride on. This happened to me this year at the 24hrs of SR when my bike headlight quit. Being out in the middle of nowhere with no lights at all sucks trust me! But I still have my helmet light and although I couldn't go nearly as fast I could still ride. When someone finally caught up to me and passed me at my slower pace I could follow them and use thier light to keep my pace up with just my helmet light. Without that I would have been screwed.
So you need to look at this race in two ways for your lighting investment. Are you guys going there to try for the win or are you going there to feel out an event like this and try to have fun? If it's the win then you need to break out the credit cards and prepare to spend some serious coin to get the best lights you can. If you're there to maximize fun and get an idea what night racing/riding is about I would suggest LED options from companies like Trail Tech, Cyclops, Nite Rider, ect. Still I recommend 2 lights run on 2 seperate power sources but this can be accomplished without breaking the bank really.
My bet is once you get done with the event (if all goes smoothly) you'll realize just how much fun night racing/riding is and you'll be hooked. That's what happened to me hence the $1k I dropped the next year for killer lights. It's a disease! You've been forwarned now.
Cheers,
Ryno
One thing to keep in mind, if all your lights are powered by the bike and you carthweel the bike and it dies...how do you find your bike?
Good idea to always have one light powered by batteries.
You shouldn't necessarily need super bright HID lights, Starvation Ridge is pretty fast terrain so it demands brighter lights, from what I've seen of Perry Mountain it's in the woods so less light will be fine.
If your savvy you can make a headlight out of an old car HID headlight, this seems to be about the ultimate set up for riding in the woods at night. I had a friend build one for me so I'm no expert, but I think you might have to rewind your stator or something to run HID lights....
Also make sure you have your light install process down perfect, the last thing you want to have happen is lose a bunch of time because you can't get your light set up working properly.
If you plan on doing laps the whole 24hrs (which you should) then you need to have someone in your pit comitted to being there and awake the whole time to make sure everything goes smoothly.
Anything you are running off batteries, get as many spare batteries as possible, most chargers don't charge super fast.
LIke somebody else said, take twice as much food and drinks as you think you'll need, running out at 3am would really suck!
Other than that, have fun! Riding at night is a blast!
Bakken helmet cam
Not sure what they have for 110v power out there available but at the SR 24 there is no power available for light in your pits. We have a 6000w generator for all the lights, battery chargers, ect. An enclosed trailer with a cot in it is nice for changing into fresh gear and taking naps during the event. An EZ up with a flourescent light hung in it is good.
Pit help IS A MUST!!! Just someone to look after the bike and help out. Heck, just to make sure you leave with goggles on in the middle of the night too. Cuz you'll be delerious at some point and you'll appreciate the help in the pits.
Speaking of gear, bring at least 4 complete sets of gear and baby wipes to clean the downstairs in between rides! Having fresh gear and a clean basement does wonders for you at 3 am!!!!!
Like MtnBoy said, Riding at night is a blast. 100% true statement. Keep us posted on what you guys come up with.
Ryno
It was a blast.
1. Tape your hands or wear hand liners. Once you get a blister or rub your hands raw it won't heal.
2. Do the same for your butt. I use vaseline but you can also use some of the powders.
3. Bring a couple sets of gear. Also AT LEAST two helmets. Nothing worse than putting on a sweaty heavy helmet.
4. Some type of dual-pane lenses for your goggles at night. THEY WILL FOG UP in the valleys. Especially if it is humid.
5. Bring a generator to run a fan in your pits. It will be a lifesaver guaranteed.
6. Don't just bring riding buddies to help you. I know they can help with the bike but your body will need more help. Sandwiches and drinks handed to you are like a god send.
7. No matter what it will be hot. Never overextend yourself past the breaking point because you won't recover and you will be done for the rest of the race.
8. If possible bring a friend who knows how to administer an iv. The pros typically will use this method if possible because it is MUCH more effective at rehydrating.
I'll think of more later but yall are getting me too excited already and it's still 6 months away!
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