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Season Finales.

Over the next few weeks I will be competing in my final few races of the 2009 season. Both have an element of night time riding in them, so I will be getting plenty of use out of my Lupine Betty lights which I reviewed recently.

First up is the Maxx Exposure, a new event for me and a different format to what I am used to. It is a 75 mile, point to point event along the South Downs Way. The trail will be well known to many Mountain Bikers, especially those living in the South East, but for me it will be the first time I have ridden in the area. Add to this the fact that I will be riding it largely in the dark and it will certainly be a new challenge for me having to navigate unknown terrain. I have no real expectations, but hope to be one of the first to finish and be close to previous best times for the event. The nature of the event means that it will be mostly unsupported, unlike 24hr races where I have a pit crew able to give me food/drink and deal with any problems that arise.

To deal with the new challenge I have some new kit to help me through, including a new hydration pack and bladder. I needed a lightweight pack which was large enough to carry everything I for the duration of the event. After lots of thought and recommendations I settled on the Salomon XA 10+3, which although is in the Run section on Wiggle suits my needs perfectly for Mountain Biking. It is one of the lightest packs available and has a 10 litre cargo space, but can be reduced to a smaller size if you don’t need all the space. The Salomon pack comes with a 2 litre bladder, but in order to minimise my stops during the event I have a hydrapak 3 litre bladder to fit inside. I will be fueling myself with High5 Isotonic gels and High5 4:1 energy drink.

I won’t have much time to recover after the Maxx Exposure as the following weekend I will be entering Dusk ’til Dawn where I hope to win the solo category for a 3rd time (having won in 2007 and 2008). When I originally entered these events there was a 2 week gap between them, but since then Dusk ’til Dawn has been moved forward a week, which will make things a little more interesting.