Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Tues Night Ride and a little tech

Last year was the first year I attended a group road ride of any type and at first it was a bit intimidating but I got more comfortable as the season went on. I seemed to frequently end up in "no man's land" in between the lead pack the chase group. My main goal was always to ride smoothe and not cause anyone else to wreck.

The Tues Night Ride kicked off the 07 season last night at 6pm and was well attended despite the cool temps. It felt good to be cruising along in the pack at 24-28 mph on the flats and I was able to hold my position all night. Sweet! In a few weeks when the group decides it is time to get serious I am sure I am in for a world of hurt but last night was good for the confidence and good interval training. Piker even talked me into attacking on the last hill which resulted in the highest heart rate I have seen since last summer.

The upgrade kit for my Lupine Wilma LED light showed up yesterday. I give Lupine two thumbs up for allowing customers to perform this upgrade at home. The instructions were simple and it took me all of 5 minutes to do it. Holy Flamethrower Batman! This upgrade increases the lumens from 420 to 750. I suck at photgraphy so there will be no before and after beam shots but the difference is very noticeable in the daylight.

I am looking forward to riding the Mary's/Lions/Troy's singletrack at night to see how much, or how little, light I can get away with for KTR. Even with no moon, I am betting that I can run this light at 50% brightness most of the ride and supplement it with a 3W on the helmet. That will give me plenty of runtime.
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3 comments:

  1. Dave HarrisApril 4, 2007 at 4:56 PM

    That Wilma sounds sweet. Not sure what LEDs they are using for the upgrade, but I've been using P4 binned Cree XR-Es, running 3 on my helmet and 4 on the bars. If the optics are good (and I'm sure they must be), you'll be fine for much of KTR at half power. Those carsonite posts actually show up pretty well at night - they are reflective and catch your light.

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  2. DaveApril 4, 2007 at 5:08 PM

    Dave, from what I pieced together on the Lupine forum the new Wilma (15W) and the upgrade kit (12W) use the Seoul P4. Evidentally the lens is the most expensive piece of the kit.

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  3. Dave HarrisApril 5, 2007 at 8:07 AM

    Nice. The Seoul P4 is very similar to the Cree - I believe the Seoul uses the Cree LED as a starting point, actually. From what I've seen, there are pros and cons for both in the DIY setups so far, but performance is similar.

    So now you've got more than HID light with all the benefits of LED. That is super cool!

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