Jeff's Bike and random bike related stuff from NZ

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Garry Humpherson: World Champ

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Monday, January 26, 2009

Tour de Vineyards Nelson 2009

TDV 2009, Stage1. Masters 3 plus+.
A typically sunny Nelson day on the 35km Hope Circuit just out of Richmond. Its a 7km rectangular circuit among the vineyards with a tiny riser (KOM points) on the furthermost corner. The plan was to keep my nose clean and keep an eye on any breakaways. Brian Fowler wasnt there so that left Hawkes Bay's Kerry Harford as the obvious rider to watch. Having not done the TDV for quite a few years I didnt know a lot of the names, except for Brent Harris who had won the tour on a previous year on the Takaka Hill stage.

Brent was one of the Warmup team that seemed to be everywhere all the time. Sprint points, KOM points, stage wins, they were going for everything. I had all my eggs in the Takaka Hill basket so was going to keep my powder dry until then. History shows that the final General classification pretty much echoes the finishing order up the Takaka Hill stage. I was well short on racing but had hoped that I'd done enough hard yards in the hills.

After a largely uneventual race, the bunch thinned in the dying moments of the sprint for the finish line, and a gap opened up on the inside. Wahoo! I was through and crossed the line in 3rd place with a good gap to the bunch. Its a pretty rare occurance that I would feature in a sprint, but I guess that shows what you can do when youv'e been hiding in the bunch the whole time.

Kerry Harford seemed to have employed his usual tactic of riding off the front so hard that no-one could come around him and effectively leading himself out for the sprint! It was close though as he barely pipped Greg Atkins.


Day 2 was the 90km St Arnaud stage which took in the Spooners range. A few of the non-climbers were worried about it, but once again history shows that the bunch usually regroups on the other side of the hill. I positioned myself in the front couple of riders and was pleased to see a few of them gasping as we got to the brow of the hill which had some KOM (king of the mountains points). I was feeling pretty damn good so thought I might have a crack at them just for a laugh. No sooner had I launched a bit of an attack and who should leap out of the bunch in exactly the right gear but Greg Atkins! I got 2nd in the KOM sprint and we kept our heads down to see who we could drop down the other side. I think about 8 of us got away, and we started to really hammer downhill and onto the flat at over 50kmh. Kerry Harford was driving it hard and I have to say I was hoping the chasing bunch would catch us in a hurry, as I didnt have enough racing in my legs to be able to ride at that speed for the next 70 odd kms!

Luckily the bunch, hauled along mostly by my buddy Paul Lewin and at least 1 other guy managed to catch us. God knows how, but I was happy when we stopped trying to gap them.

The pace settled down after that and it was only really the odd rolling hill that was there to test us. Unfortunately the next feedzone coincided with the next KOM points, so if youv'e seen the opening few minutes of the movie "Saving Private Ryan" it was a bit like that.
People sprinting.... spouses thrusting their water-bottled fulled hands in front of your face, trying to reach a husband foolishly stuck in the middle of the bunch... What a mess. It was also the point where I noticed my legs were AWOL! Aaagh... I mangaged to get entrenched back into the bunch and started to worry about where my legs had gone... I dont think we had even been riding for 2 hours.

At some point on the outskirts of St Arnaud on a slight roller someone threw in a small attack. I felt the lights go out compeltely in my legs like someone had pulled a fuse, and I started to panic. I chopped down a couple of cogs and managed to hang in by the skin of my teeth. Before long we were approaching the township of St Arnaud and I would guess half of us had no idea where the finish was.

A sign with 'Sprint 1km" appeared on the side of the road and people started to wind up. Way to early. It was downhill and around a corner and there were people all over the road. Scary as.

Once again Kerry Harford took out the sprint from local rider Richie Howes and Warmup's Brent Harris who always seemed to be up the front.

I was pretty disappointed. My legs were completely blown. What chance did I have for the 130km stage the next day that was to finish with the infamous 50 minute Takaka hill climb? An estimated 4 hours, and my legs had crapped out at 2 hours today.

The answer came to me while at a friends BBQ that night. Gazza had one of those foam massage rolls. By using it I found that my quads were fully cooked, but my glutes were fresh as..... Why was it that I could ride for 4 hours on the gnarliest hills in Wellington and have no problems, but as soon as I did a race, my legs were cooked at 2 hours?
As a time triallist I have a tendency to creep forward on the bike seat... and I had already made some positional adjustments and moved my seat forward substantially earlier in the year. I think I had overdone this repositioning of my seat. My position was too forward and was overloading my quads. I needed to start using my glutes if I was going to get get through the next days stage. It was a big risk, but I whacked my seat back 2 cms and hit the sack, full of doubt for the next days 130km stage.


Day 3. 130kms. The Takaka Hill day.
The next day was like any other. The legs didnt seem to be particularly tired. I seemed to have more than my usual toilet breaks before the start but it was all to no avail. Sometime after the first sprint I had a real bad urge to take a leak. Bugger. Marco had been telling me about the new Steve Gurney book, and how he describes learning to relieve himself on the bike. I was getting desperate and it was playing on my mind. There was a hill coming up. If I stopped now I might not get back on the bunch?

All of a sudden I saw a guy pull over for a comfort stop. I did the same! At least I'd have someone to work with to catch the bunch again. As I stopped I was comforted to see half the bunch pull over! Was it Takaka Hill nerves or what?

Anyway. After a lengthy stop we took off again and regrouped. Not much happened after that. A gradual climb up the Rae Saddle and some gradual downhill with tailwind. People just seemed to be tootling along. There was the odd breakaway here and there that didn't amount to much.

The feed station/KOM points at Stanley Brook was the usual chaos. It was a sad sight when the guys going for points expired halfway up the hill as the sign saying "KOM 100 meters" was a bit premature to say the least. I accidently rolled over Brent and Greg who were both after points. They were gasping. A small breakaway started over the top but was soon brought back to the following bunch.

Some time later Brent Harris rode off the front as nobody was coming though to take a turn. No one was keen to chase either so I ended up chasing him down and of course dragging the whole bunch up to him. It was at about this point, over 2 and half hours into the race that Kerry Harford mentioned the 2 guys who were up the road and had 7 minutes on us! What?

Apparently two guys from the Thule team in Christchurch had ridden off after the first sprint just out of town, and had 7 minutes on us! At least 2 minutes of that was our rather relaxed toilet break! This was a big news to me.

The stage, and indeed the whole race was effectively over if we didn't bring them back. Nobody was interested.

There is a big disparity in the level of training people do in Vets racing. There are guys who would be close to 20 hours a week training, and others lucky to be doing 8 hours. Most of us wouldn't be able to lap it out hard enough to pull back that deficit. We continued tootling, along saving ourselves for the Takaka Hill and at very best, 3rd place in the stage, and 3rd place overall on General Classification (unless the breakaway guys exploded spectacularly). The only good news was that my legs felt mint. I had been making a concious effort to sit back on the seat more to try to take the load off my quads.

We got to the bottom of the Takaka hill at around 2 and 3/4 hours give or take. Kay and Iva had water bottles for us and we grabbed them and hit the gas. Bang. The bunch was dropped. Myself, Greg Atkin and local ex-pat englishman Rob Searle had made a break. We quickly put time on the rest and spun up the steepest part of the hill with relative ease. It became obvious to me pretty quickly that Rob knew this hill like the back of his hand, as he threw in little surges at certain locations. I was able to respond and catch on to each one, and then come through for a turn. Greg was taking turns too, but was letting me do the main bridging. I figured that maybe he was more tired than I was, or maybe he was just riding clever. Rob was definitely the strongest rider and he was setting the pace. I think we were still together with 5kms to go, but my memory is clouded. A friend had given me a gel to take so I thought I better take it before it was too late. I reached into my pocket and fumbled for it just in time for Rob to throw in another of his well timed surges. Stuff it. Greg could chase that one down.
Bugger... he didnt.

We were now dropped from Robs wheel. While you may not think there is much drafting while riding up a hill like Takaka, the truth is, the pychological draft is immense. You lock onto that rear wheel in front like a heat seeking missile.

Greg and I were offically dropped. We had to share the load between two now, and I was starting to flag. Rob was just up the road, at times he seemed close, at others he seemed to be moving away.

Some time later we hit the short downhill part of the hill but we couldnt catch Rob. Greg was now doing more than his fair share and I was just hanging on. Not long after that, the red and yellow apparition that was Brent Harris loomed up from behind in true "terminator" style. Standing up and swinging on the bars in a crazily tall gear, he was eating back into our lead. We were less than 2 kms from the top. Brent eventually accelerated past us and Greg managed to latch on. I didnt. I was fading fast. 1km to go and who should come up behind me but the other half of Brents Team, Mark Forsey and my buddy (and sworn enemy; ) Marco Renall. Marco and Mark sprinted for the line and beat me by 12 seconds.

It was a bittersweet finish.
We had let two guys steal the march on us without even knowing it. They hadnt featured in any other part of the race, but then again, thats probably a good strategy, the same one that Rob Searle used. They probably werent hill climbers so they took their chances on a crazy breakaway. It had been done before, and this time it paid off for them. I had attacked the hill hard at the bottom and backed myself but blown short of the summit. Marco had spanked me in the dying moments, but the good news was, my legs had lasted the distance (mostly). My seat stayed where it was.


Stage 4. 35kms. The Hill St Circuit.
Based in the small hills above Richmond this is a torturous little rectangular circuit bisected with a couple of grunty little climbs and a series of 90 degree corners. The last time I did this tour I actually snuck away un-noticed for the win on this stage. There was only one person here who was present last time (Kerry Harford) so I figured he would have forgotten and I might try it again? It wasnt to be. A very strong (for Nelson) southerly came up and any attempts at getting away would have been shut down immediately. So it was a bit of a procession. I had a stab at a couple of the sprints and think I got a 2nd and a 3rd in the last two.

No major changes to GC. Kerry won all the sprints and the final dash across the line to wrap up the Sprint competition and win 3 of the four stages in the tour. Its not for nothing that he has been the National road champ in Masters 2 the last 2 years. The Thule guys (Barry Tinker and Richard Naylor) kept their 1st and 2nd postions overall and Rob Searle came 3rd. Like me, Rob had put his eggs in the Takaka Hill basket, but unlike me, he held it together to the top and would have easily had the fastest ascent.

The Tour de Vineyards is a great tour to do, with a relaxed atmosphere and always good weather. Its especially good if you like hills, but even if you dont, the bunch usually regroups on the other side, so even the Clydesdales are there to have a crack at the sprints.
Check out some of David Letsche's photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/making-websites-work/
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Monday, November 17, 2008

12hr Wild Wellington Relay swap-meet!

I thought it was time I finished my 12 hour teams relay report.
As in last years event, testing new bikes was what it was all about for the Jville Crew.
The course was massively improved on last years so generally the vibe was heaps better. I started out on my trusty 93 Litespeed hardtail and straight away dropped my chain on the first climb. DOH!
I couldnt match the adrenaline charge pace of that first lap, but after another lap I jumped on Francis's new rig, a Commencal meta-666. This baby had 6 inches at both ends, and was like riding a comfy armchair, and in with the rear shock on "pro-pedal" mode, it was just "point and shoot". Bliss, and easily the most popular bike on loan!
Francis also had an extremely old Scott singlespeed sporting a 32-20 gear set. Apparently too low for this course. Being a singlespeed virgin I was none the wiser and had one of the most enjoyable laps of the race. If you a relative newcomer to the sport, you will not recognise the fork it was equiped with. The ubiquitous AMP fork!!! A whole 57 mms of travel, and half of that was probably pivot slop!! Actually it was surprisingly good.... and check this.... I did EXACTLY the same time as I did on the 28 pound fully.
One of the other guys had a pretty interesting rig which I grabbed next. It was a Jefson 29er. Chrome - moly frame, with Cyclo-cross wheels on it!! I felt like I was flying on this but in actual fact it was a good 20 seconds slower than the previous two bikes. I didnt really notice the larger wheels but did notice the smaller tread on a couple of occasions. So heres the finer detail of some of these laps:
Commencal 28 pound 6 inch fully: 18.48
Retro Scott 32-20 singlespeed with relic amp fork: 18.48
Jefson custom 29er with discs and cross wheels: 19.13
Litespeed Hardtail: 19.00
Commencal 28 pound 6 inch fully: 19.02
Litespeed Hardtail in the dark : 20.30
Does anyone recognise these characters? They were there... Geoff Knotman, these days riding a singlespeed, Jonty Ritchie, riding a Cross bike on the day, and Simon Kennet who with his brother Jonathon was on a tandem. I think these pix are from a North Island Cup round at Dry Creek (Belmont) in around 1992.

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Thursday, October 16, 2008

Garry Humpherson smashes world record again.


Wellington cyclist Garry Humpherson has just won his 2nd 70+ world pursuit title and smashed the world record in the process by over 8 seconds.

Garry beat his own personal best of 2:40:892 in qualifying on wednesday morning with a time of 2:36:85 .

Later that evening he won the all kiwi final against ex-Olympian Warick Dalton by five seconds to win in a time of 2:42:983

It would have been a very emotional ride for Garry whose mother passed away a few days before he left to go to Aussie.

Last year Garry was unable to claim world-record holder status for his time, because he was unable to afford the drugs test. This year Garry has been helped out with financial assistance from the PNP Cycling Club and John Wilson from NZline who subsidised Garry's trip to Aussie and also set him up with a very flash new Alan track bike and skinsuit.

Another link to some of Garry's TT palmares.

A link to the TV3 article on Garry before he left to go to Australia.

Archival video links to Garry's race from the Masters World Champs track racing website.

Results from Masters World Champs track racing website.


World Masters track Champs
Sydney Bankstown Australia
Wednesday, 15 October 2008 7:30 PM
Mens 70+ 2000m Individual Pursuit Final

Place Rider Name Speed Time

Gold & Silver Medals
1 Garry HUMPHERSON NZL 44.20 2:42.893
2 Warwick DALTON NZL 43.04 2:47.284

Bronze Medal
3 Denis ROBINSON AUS 41.97 2:51.542
4 Mark NICHOLLS AUS 41.16 2:54.912


============================================
World Masters track Champs
Sydney Bankstown Australia
Wednesday, 15 October 2008 9:00 AM.
Mens 70+ 2000m Individual Pursuit Qualification

Rank Rider Name Affiliation Speed Time
1 Garry HUMPHERSON NZL 45.90 2:36.854
2 Warwick DALTON NZL 43.19 2:46.704
3 Denis ROBINSON AUS 42.35 2:50.005
4 Mark NICHOLLS AUS 41.76 2:52.400

5 Gordon DUFF NZL 41.06 2:55.355
6 Barry ROBERTS AUS 40.06 2:59.751
7 Andre JOUBERT RSA 39.15 3:03.922
8 Brian KENNEDY AUS 37.17 3:13.725
9 Owen DUFFY NZL 36.38 3:17.897
10 Peter HULL AUS 34.68 3:27.594

Fastest 2 race for Gold, 3rd & 4th race for Bronze
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Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Paula Tesoriero takes home three medals


Its been a very successful campaign for Wellington Paralympian Vegan cyclist Paula Tesoriero at the recent Paralympics. Her plan to concentrate on her specialty event paid off with the gold in the 500 metres time trial, a new world record (43.3 secs) and she also come away with the bronze in the 3000 metres pursuit, and completely unexpectedly, the road time trial !


It wasnt all beer and skittles though as a crash on her gold medal warm down lap could have scuttled the rest of her campaign. Her helmet did its job and Paula lived to go on and get the two bronzes.

Paula's coach Simon Crumpton was trying to keep us in the loop with updates to his his blog, but struck problems when he tried to log on and found the interface all in chinese!
http://simonscrumpets.blogspot.com/

A few people have asked when Paula is returning to New Zealand after her triple medal success at the Paralympics. There is an open invitation to all family, friends, and colleagues to see her at the airport when she lands on Friday 19 September.

Paula lands in Auckland at 08:45 am (Flight NZ 38) and in Wellington at 11:30 am (Flight NZ421).

A final reminder - friends and fans can vote for Paula on the TVNZ site http://olympicoutlander.tvnz.co.nz/ You’ll go in for a chance to win an Mitsubishi Outlander, and the top scoring competitor gets one also.

Women's 500M Time Trial Finals (Lc3-4/Cp 3)

1 Paula Tesoriero (New Zealand) 0.43.3
2 Natalie Simanowski (Germany) 0.00.5
3 Jayme Paris (Australia) 0.01.2
4 Jane Armstrong (Australia) 0.02.1
5 Qi Tang (China) 0.02.6
6 Allison Jones (USA) 0.03.1
7 Susan Van Staden (South Africa) 0.03.8
8 Barbara Buchan (USA) 0.03.8
9 Raquel Acinas (Spain) 0.05.4
10 Zhifeng Niu (China) 0.05.7


300 metres pursuit

1 Barbara Buchan (United States of America) CP3 4.33.46 93.560 4.15.848
2 Natalie Simanowski (Germany) LC3 4.19.40 100.00 4.19.396
3 Paula Tesoriero (New Zealand) LC3 4.26.08 100.00 4.26.080
4 Jayme Paris (Australia) CP3 4.44.94 93.560 4.26.587


Road time trial

1 Barbara Buchan (United States Of America) CP3 42.29 94.919 44:45.2
2 Allison Jones (United States Of America) LC3 2.14 100 44:42.9
3 Paula Tesoriero (New Zealand) LC3 2.32 100 45:00.9
4 Natalie Simanowski (Germany) LC3 3.10 100 45:38.2
5 Qi Tang (People's Republic of China) LC3 4.55 100 47:23.6
6 Raquel Acinas (Spain) LC3 5.02 100 47:30.5
7 Zhifeng Niu (People's Republic of China) LC3 6.17 100 48:45.6
8 Jayme Paris (Australia) CP3 7.42 94.919 52:51.8
9 Susan Van Staden (South Africa) LC3 7.47 100 50:15.3
10 Jane Armstrong (Australia) LC3 7.59 100 50:27.7


http://www.stuff.co.nz/4685504a1823.html
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4688258a6033.html

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/sep08/paralympics08/?id=stages
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Monday, September 15, 2008

It's not all flat on the Gold Coast




There were some hills to be found if you ventured north and headed towards the Tamborine Mtns. I didnt see any other cyclists out there.

There are many brash generalizations I can make about riding on the Gold Coast.

1. I was the only person I saw on a bike with a fluro vest and/or a flashing light.
2. The roads in town are great with dedicated cycling lanes.
3. The roads out of town were rough as guts and I felt like I could get bounced off descending down the 12-15% hills.
4. The drivers in the country areas really gas it. Lots of them in those v8 utes. To my surprise there were hardly any SUVs over there, compared to NZ!
5. There is not half as much glass on the roads there as there is in NZ.
6. Roadkill was sparse. One snake and some furry brown unidentified critter. I think NZ must be the road-kill capital of the world.
7. The traffic lights are appalling. Seemed to be every 1km at their peak!

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Friday, September 05, 2008

Ritchey Breakaway

I am going to the gold coast of Australia in a few days. Can you blame me? Cripes. This must be the worst winter on record for rain. Shane Collett from Penny Farthing Cycles has lent me this machine. Its a Ritchey Breakaway and comes apart for stowing in a  bag waaay smaller than your usual bike box.





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Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Doping vet - All power to Garmin!

Wow. Look what happens when you get a life and stop hanging out on the forums. You miss all the news. Like Hilton McMurdo, the guy that smashed us at the 07 Masters World Track champs, getting busted for steroids. Good one Hilton. I kept wondering why I was getting referred hits from google on "Hilton McMurdo" and "positive drugs test". Obviously the info was leaked long before the announcement last week. I feel sorry for the people that travelled further than I did to compete against him. I guess that's good news for Marco Hellman (1st) , Kiwi Ray Dunstan (now 2nd) and Klaus from Denmark who goes up into 3rd. That was an epic pursuit between Ray and Klaus, but then there's another guy who never even made a ride-off because of Hilton. Sad isnt it that you feel you have to cheat, even as a vet. Link to the announcement.

The next thing I missed was the fact that Saris, the guys that make Power Tap are doing a version that is ANT + SPORT compatible with the Garmin GPS' models that read power. You'd have to be thinking along the lines of using a Garmin as it appears they are now compatible with the new Quarq, the Power Tap and the SRM. The Quarq started shipping last week, but I am guessing there will be a big waiting list, and their (Qranium) head unit is still in development.

I guess another thing I missed was that Garmin are now lead sponsors for Garmin/Chipotle. (That's pronounced chip-ote-lay, if you are a kiwi) what is supposedly the cleanest team in the peloton. There are some real nice-guys on this team. Julian Dean from NZ and the big Swede, Magnus Backstead, not to mention the seriously up and coming Tyler Phinney, teenage pursuit phenomenon from the US. The jury is still out on their uniforms tho.... maybe its true, cycling is the new golf, but does that mean we have to dress like them?

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Tuesday, July 01, 2008

NZ Cross champs - Great Divide - Memorial ride

Now here's something worth getting out of bed for!!
The NZ cyclo-cross champs. I just spied the link on VORB, Sept 7th. Not that I have a cross bike, but its always appealed to me for some reason. There are a few guys at work that keeping bringing up the idea (mostly americans), and I have also heard cheap talk about a Welly series, after the fun we had doing the short-course MTB series.

Check out Simon Kennetts blog for his progress in the 4000km Great Divide race. He had a bad belly for a while, but has recovered enough to keep moving forward. He has been riding with some crazy english single-speed chick!

The last two weeks have been pretty sad for if you were a cyclist in Wellington. Two riders were killed on the one day. One of them a high ranking police officer who had worked his entire life to bring down the road toll. And another a guy who was in the wrong place when someone opened a car door into him, forcing off and into the path of a 4WD.

A memorial ride was organised last week and between 300 and 400 riders rode from parliament buildings to the roundabout in Petone where Steve Fitzgerald was killed. A full police escort meant we were able to ride 3 abreast to keep the delays to the other traffic to a minimum. It was a great turnout for a sad occasion.







Cyclist killed outside Upper Hutt college
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4589468a11.html

Top cop dies in crash (+video)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4589991a6000.html
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Friday, June 13, 2008

Paula Tesoriero

Paula Tesoriero is a name you may not have heard of before and I have to say, I could write all I know about Paula on the back of a postage stamp with a carpenters pencil, but I do know this, shes a lawyer, a vegan and an incredibly focused and professional athlete.

Paula is currently training in the warmer climate of Western Australia for an optimal build-up for her track cycling events at the Paralympics in August 2008.

Paula had some great results at the World Champs last year with silver medals in both the 500m TT and the 3000m Individual Pursuit. She also set a world record in the 500 metres TT at the Oceanias in Sydney in Feb 08. She races in the LC3 category.

Her coach Simon Crumpton has started a blog here so we can hopefully keep up with whats happening in Beijing.

Anyone wanting to support Paula by purchasing a T-shirt should get in touch with her husband Chris on this email address (on the T-shirt graphic).

http://en.beijing2008.cn/
http://www.paralympics.org.nz/
http://www.paralympic.org/release/Main_Sections_Menu/

Paula on the TV 09/07/08


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Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Whats new?

Check out this exciting Paris Roubaix story from Clinton Avery. Clinton started life as a gear breaking MTBer, but his physical attributes scream "Classics rider". I met Clinton's mum at a coaching forum a while back. She wasnt happy that the roadie dogs had stolen her MTBing son away from her, but she must be very proud all the same. This is one hard core biking family. Video of the finish!

Once described as "Crazy Mountain biking hippies" the Kennett bros are always up for a new challenge. Someone planted a crazy idea in Simons brain called the Great Divide. A 4000km journey from Canada to Mexico. Simon has attacked this event with the kind of meticulous planning that surrounds all Kennett bro outings. Follow it on Simons blog here.
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Monday, June 02, 2008

Ayup lights (08 roadie kit)

Here are some first impressions on the new ayup LED lights I got over a month ago. I am ashamed to admit that I have done only one off-road ride with them. The rest of the time they have been gainfully used like this:


  • Hanging out the washing late at night.
  • Blasting the neighbours retinas while he smugly sits in his spa pool late at night while I am out hanging out the damn washing!
  • Blasting the retinas out of anyone silly enough to stick their head over the divider in my office.
  • Using them for illuminating the engine bay in our car while changing the oil.
  • Feeding the chickens late at night
  • Commuting the 2kms back and forward from my work to my house!
So far the tiny 6 hour battery still hasnt run out of its 1st charge.

I have shown my roadie 08 kit (which is effectively just half of the MTB 08 kit), to 3 different guys at work, and they have all been impressed enough to buy kits, one the 08 MTB, one the 08 Enduro, and another guy a headband with a single set for running.

I think its the overall package that sells them. Incredibly light, simple robust construction, with long burn times and cheap pricing. The lithium ion polymer batteries are cheaper than anything I have seen before. All the bits are purchasable separately, but its probably cheaper to get one of their kits that seem to have about 2 spare of everything.

What are they like in the real world? My kit is awesome on the road, and pretty damn good off road, but I think for total confidence a full two-light kit would be the way to go for serious off-roading. Thats 1 set on the helmet, and 1 set on the bars.

I did notice in my only forary in the dirt that the light was very flat with no shadows, I am not sure if this is an LED thing, or because they were mounted on the helmet. I'd like to see how it compares to my workmate's two-light kits or try off -roading with the lights on the bar, its a 10 second job to change from helmet to bar.
More details here: http://www.ayup.com.au

Thinking of building your own LED light set, you could do worse than this link:
http://www.instructables.com/group/danpowerled
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