I have also built my own light using a 20W halogen Malibu garden light, a Lithium-Ion battery and a replacement 20W MR-11 mini halogen bulb for better reflection than the stock garden light. I am using this light as my main light system for this 24-hour event. They are the same lights at a fraction of the cost. The lights are adjustable up-down and right-left.

Well, the race run, all contestants seemingly made it home safe from an awesome weekend of hard-core mountain bike racing. This is the largest mountain bike race of its kind in the world. With 2,600 riders registered broken down to 18 solo, 58 5-person teams and 102 corporate teams, our team, Wheels and Boards placed 32 out of 102 in our category completing 22 17-kilometre laps in 24 hours and 10 minutes. One more lap would have taken us up about ten places. All the race results are posted on the Trilife website.

HARDWOOD HILLS (Aug. 19-20, 2000)

What a fantastic weekend of mountain bike racing. The weather was great, although early-on we were threatened with showers. The sky remained clear from the early afternoon on Saturday after a glorious LeMans start that kicked off this mecca. It was truly a pilgrimage that I will not miss from this day forward. I do not know why I have not attended past events at this truly spectacular venue. Although sandy, the course offered something for every level of rider. And if you were not comfortable with an obstacle, there was always an escape lane.

The night lap was interesting to say the least. Try riding through a trail you have only seen once early on in the day (9am) and then take the sun and no moonlight, and then ten minutes into the lap, NO LIGHT!

I spent 1/3 of my lap time waiting for other riders so that I could see the trail while following them. It was the only thing I could have done.

When I got back to my pit area, I discovered that one of the pins on my halogen bulb had broken due to shaking from the trail. Having said that, it was my fault that I did not check to make sure that the bulb was correctly seated before going for my night lap, and my backup light only lasted another ten minutes. Being a race with 2600 riders, I was not worried at all about being left behind in the woods in completely blackness. There was always someone coming up behind me that had lights blazing to light my way.

I would not even consider doing the same thing on my local trails. I would also have a backup light for the backup and always ride with at least one other rider, especially at night! Well, it is back to the regular routine until the next event with, hopefully, regular trail riding and training in the meantime.

My old ride was a Raleigh Tarantula that is now used as a commuter bike. I raced at Kelso with the Raleigh and was surprised at how well it held up to the abuse. The only thing I had a problem with was one of the bearing holders in the bottom bracket got munched (big deal). But weighing in at a hefty 35 lbs., it is not really practical for these endurance races not to mention the energy it takes just to power this tank and that was without front suspension. I now have RockShox Indy C forks on the front that help alot.