If I wasn’t already beating myself up in the woods for Memorial Day I may be tempted to drag the wifey up to Richmond, VA to witness and photo the North American Cycle Courier Championships. If you are remotely in the area it is worth checking out, even if you aren’t a fixie friend, messengers (and their cult groups) are able to some crazy things on their bikes.

As seen in Liberty Bikes in Asheville

The goal from my coach today was 3.5-4 hours on the bike I’ll be racing next week at Burn 24. Every 30 minutes do 5 minutes of tempo leading into 5 minutes of threshold. My personal goal was to do 45 minute loops on the various trails at Lake Norman. Swinging by the car to dial in my new shoes and test out the 4 different saddles I brought with me.

Probably not the smartest thing to do a week before a 24 hour race, new shoes and new saddle. Yet, I seemed to find a good place for my rear on a Specialized Ruby saddle that I had picked up earlier this week at Motion Makers in Asheville. The new shoes, Specialized MotoDiva, still need dialing but mainly cleat position as the plate underneath is much different than that of my old Bontragers.

The ride was cut short with stomach issues and my legs dying by the 3rd round of threshold. 2.5 hours, one hour short, but I came home. Propping my legs up and getting a good nights rest. Tomorrow is another 4 hours on the mountain bike, planning on hitting up North Meck park for a ton of laps to test out the new lights.

The Santa Claus of shipping brought many goodies last week, the timing is in order to get things sorted and tested for the upcoming Burn 24 Hour race. New parts getting installed, new rear wheel, new Camelbak, new chamois, and now new bright ass lights.

Light & Motion Seca 1400

1400 lumens on a light is completely amazing craziness. I remember when my previous Seca 800 was the brightest thing out there. Cars thought I had high beams on as I commuted on the road and on the trail even my sleep deprived eyes could see well with the high beam on.

I plan on doing a few test rides this weekend to get the helmet and handlebar light figured out. In my arsenal I have the Seca 1400 or 800 and Seca 600 or 300. Write out battery charging and burn time for my pit crew, probably even put the helmet light on my other Lazer helmet so that I can secure it and it ready to rock when the sun goes down Memorial Day weekend during race time.

Do You Ride at Night?

Night riding is one of my favorite things to do in mountain biking. Commuting at night I feel like people can see me better, especially with 1400 lumens shining at them!!

Tell us about your night riding, what lights do you use? Do you have questions for Light & Motion or myself about what lights you need or batteries?

I use a lot of bike gear, I ride about 5-7 days a week depending on work and I use a lot of bike gear. As I abuse and use things I want to start talking about brands or products that I fully support. Don’t think of these as reviews but as manifestos of LOVE.

Let’s take a moment, flip back to Interbike of 2005. Meet Twin Six and fall in love with the styles of Brent Gale and Ryan Carlson. For the next year Brent was a great support role and simply a good person to talk to as I traveled the roads of North Carolina finding my place in life. The Bike Shop Girl “chick” you see is Brent’s vision. We talked for many hours as I drove from building wheels at Cane Creek to home in Charlotte NC as he sat in his basement slaving away creating the company that is Twin Six. (I should mention Ryan was slaving away as well.)

Through the years Twin Six has always been there. If I put on a race, start a team, need new chamois, travel, crash, interview and so on. The guys of Twin Six have always been there. Recently Mark has allowed me to spread Twin Six goodness in shops in the southeast in hopes that my fellow spandex lovers would look better!

Before I talk about product, I want to say this. This company is owned by two very caring guys, that design nice cycling goods. They help out the cycling industry, they understand grassroots, they ride their bikes and to me they are what the industry needs.

See what gets me excited below the break..

A quick run down of  Twin Six current lineup that I literally live in

I have to first mention the Crumpler Team Bag. I’ve had this for many, many, years. Since 2006 maybe? My girlfriend took over ownership in 2008 and it is her “bag”. Work out, travel, fit a small child or animal. It is perfect and beautiful to do all of those things.

Anything Fat Cyclist. I don’t care if you think the guy behind FatCyclist.com is a jack, the cause he started during his families fight against cancer, and then losing his wife to cancer – that is something to support. The people that don’t know Fat Cyclist story love the simple name. When I feel fat I wear it and when I need motivation I wear it in honor of Susan.

The Grand Prix kit is easily the hottest kit out there this season. Sleeveless, short sleeve and matching bibs. Do it.

My latest lust is the Crank kit. Yes it is for “guys” but I swear their bibs are super comfy. Jersey, bibs and socks to match! Show up to your next race wearing logo free awesomeness!

I wasn’t paid or bribed for this ballad of love. I sometimes get free stuff from time to time but I wear it because it’s comfortable!