I ride at night mostly on double centuries. On the recent Mt. Tam double we were in the dark for about an hour and a half in both the morning and the night segments.

I started with a Planet Bike Beemer on the front and Planet Bike flashing light on the back. I had my Princeton Tech Switchback sent to the light drop; so put that on in Petaluma, about 35 miles from the finish. Put the Beemer in my pocket, just in case.

The Beemer is adequate, but no more, whilst the Princeton Tech is quite bright, safe on fast descents and while not quite as bright as my Nite-Rider Blow-Torch, the battery and light on the Princeton Tech are significantly lighter than the Nite-Rider.

Also at the light drop I added another small flashing light (Cat-Eye) to my Camelback (in addiiton to the still-fitted Planet Bike flasher). If there is a light-transfer (usually taking your lights from the first checkpoint to the last), then I'll use the Princeton Tech for both early morning (we started Mt. Tam at 4:00 AM) and night portions (we finished at 9:45 PM).

Back when I used to be a Ranndoneur I used a Sanyo (rear tire drive) generator to power head (Union Halogen) and tail-lights, but that was the late 80's and early 90's. Lights have improved so much since then!

Rick / OCRR