I started this morning’s solo ride in the dark. The previous few times I had ridden at 6am the sun had not come out yet. Being smart I decided to bring along a light. Actually it took me about 4 rides and riding off the trail almost down into a dry creek bed before I finally figured out that I needed some light source to see the singletrack that starts within a mile of the trailhead.
I have not dropped big money on a nice set of lights yet so I ended up using my cheap $10 Princeton Tec light from Walmart. This is the kind of light that uses 3 AAA batteries. I’m not much of a mechanic so I just strapped on the headlamp and put my helmet over it. Add this to my Optic Nerve sun glasses with clear lens and headphones connected to my ipod and I had a very full head.
Here is an after shot of just my cheap light and helmet
From experience I knew I’d only need the light for at most 20 minutes so I was willing to put up with this setup. And since I don’t like to stop I just took a couple of riding pictures to share with you today.
I had already ditched the light by now. If you look closely, you can see more of the trail ahead on the next hill.
Some singletrack that I got to ride. hehe
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Hey, I just asked a friend that rides and he has some Princeton Tec lights that he uses while scuba diving and was telling me how pleased he was with them. I didn’t realize that Walmart carried them. They have a new one (Switchback 3) that’s on sale at Nashbar that has 3 lenses in one assembly that is one of the 2nd or 3rd generation L.E.D’s. Retina destroyer! There won’t be a dark trail in sight.