Adventure Racing Lights: One Fenix Setup From 24-Hour To Expedition

Lighting is one of those bits of adventure racing gear that's easy to overcomplicate.

You don't necessarily need the brightest light on the market. You need a lighting system that works across trekking, mountain biking and paddling, lasts through the night, takes a beating and doesn't lock you into expensive proprietary batteries.

For most adventure racers, I'd start with:

• Fenix HM65R V2.0 headlamp

• Fenix BC21R V3.0 1200-lumen bike light

• Fenix helmet mount

• Fenix BC05R V2.0 rear light

• Fenix HL12R V2.0 lightweight backup headlamp

• A few spare 18650 batteries

The really clever bit is how it all works together.

Your Bike Needs Two Lights

For adventure racing at night, I strongly recommend two front lights on the bike: one on the handlebars and one on your helmet.

They do different jobs.

The handlebar light illuminates where the bike is pointing.

The helmet light illuminates where you're looking.

That makes a huge difference on technical trails, looking around corners, reading signs and navigating.

It's even more important when you're looking for checkpoints.

Ride into the CP area, dump the bike and run into the bush. If your only decent light is attached to the handlebars, you've got a problem.

With a helmet light, your light comes with you.

Jump off. Find the CP. Punch. Jump back on.

Simple.

The Helmet Mount Is A Game Changer

This might actually be my favourite part of the whole system.

With the inexpensive Fenix helmet mount, the same HM65R you use for trekking and running becomes your helmet light on the bike.

At a bike transition, move the headlamp onto your helmet, add the BC21R on the handlebars and you've got a proper two-light MTB setup.

At the next trek, move the HM65R back onto its head strap.

One high-quality headlamp. Two disciplines. One battery system.

Or, if you race regularly, buy two HM65Rs.

Leave one permanently mounted to your bike helmet and one on its head strap for trekking and running. Transitions are faster and you've also got excellent redundancy if something happens to one of your lights.

Shared Batteries Are A Huge Advantage

This is one of the biggest reasons I like this setup.

The HM65R V2.0 and BC21R V3.0 both use standard replaceable 18650 batteries.

If you're running two HM65Rs plus the BC21R, you've potentially got three major lights using the same battery format.

You're not carrying a headlamp battery, a bike-light battery and a collection of expensive proprietary battery packs.

You're carrying a pool of 18650 batteries.

Put a fresh battery into whichever compatible light needs one.

18650 batteries are widely available and relatively inexpensive. You can buy genuine Fenix batteries or quality compatible cells from other reputable manufacturers.

Start with a couple of spares for a 24-hour race. If you move into expedition racing, buy some more.

It's a much cheaper and simpler system to expand.

From 24-Hour To Expedition

And that's the beauty of it.

The same basic lighting system works from a 24-hour race right through to a multi-day expedition.

For a 24-hour race, start everything fully charged and carry enough spare batteries to comfortably cover the night.

For an expedition race, carry more and put additional charged batteries into transition boxes or resupply gear.

Same lights. Same mounts. Same batteries. Same system — for bike, kayak, run and whatever else the race throws at you.

For expedition racing, I'd number the batteries and have a really simple way of separating:

CHARGED / USED

At 4am on day three, you don't want to be trying to remember which battery you changed six hours ago.

Tested At Expedition Length

We've actually tested versions of this system at the ARWS World Championships in Canada.

Sam, Christine and I all used versions of the Fenix setup during the nine-day expedition race, and it worked brilliantly.

By the final day I'd managed to run out of charged headlamp batteries.

Rather than it becoming a major problem, I simply took the Fenix bike light off the bike and used it as a handheld torch.

It worked perfectly and got me through.

That's one of the things I really like about building a lighting system rather than relying on highly specialised lights and proprietary battery packs.

The headlamp can become your helmet light.

The bike light can become a handheld torch.

The batteries can move between compatible lights.

In a 24-hour race, that flexibility is convenient.

By day nine of an expedition race, it can be incredibly useful.

Battery Life Matters More Than Maximum Lumens

Don't get too caught up in maximum lumen numbers.

The HM65R can produce a huge amount of light and the BC21R tops out at 1200 lumens, but you're unlikely to run either at maximum all night.

Run a sensible medium setting for normal racing and turn them up for technical descents, difficult navigation or searching for a CP.

The BC21R, for example, is rated at approximately:

• 400 lumens — 6.5 hours

• 150 lumens — 11 hours

• 50 lumens — 33 hours

That's why the manufacturer's runtime graphs are more useful to an adventure racer than the maximum output printed on the box.

[IMAGE: HM65R V2.0 RUNTIME GRAPH]

[IMAGE: BC21R V3.0 RUNTIME GRAPH]

The question isn't really:

How bright does it go?

It's:

Will I have good usable light from sunset to sunrise?

Adventure Racing Is Hard On Lights

Your lights are going to get abused.

They'll be dropped, knocked against rocks, bounced around on rough MTB trails, thrown into transition boxes, covered in mud and exposed to rain, river crossings, kayaking and wet gear.

So waterproofing and impact resistance matter.

The HM65R V2.0 has an IP68 waterproof rating and a 2-metre impact-resistance rating, while the BC21R V3.0 is also IP68 rated and designed to handle knocks.

Nothing is indestructible, but I want adventure racing lights that I don't have to baby.

Carry A Backup Headlamp

Even with a good primary system, I recommend carrying a small secondary headlamp.

The Fenix HL12R V2.0 is a good option.

It's USB-C rechargeable, weighs only around 72.5 grams and produces up to 500 lumens.

It doesn't need to be your main racing light. Its job is to sit somewhere safe in your pack, fully charged, and hopefully never get used.

But if your primary light is lost, damaged or has a battery problem at 2am, you've still got enough light to keep moving.

Don't Forget The Tail Light

I'd finish the bike setup with the Fenix BC05R V2.0 rechargeable tail light.

It's tiny, around 28 grams, USB-C rechargeable and its flashing modes will comfortably cover a night of racing.

Charge it before the race, switch it on when darkness arrives and basically forget about it.

Want More Light And Battery?

There's also a bigger Fenix setup:

Fenix HM75R headlamp + Fenix BC26R 1600-lumen bike light.

The BC26R uses a larger 5000mAh 21700 battery and is rated for around 9.5 hours at 600 lumens or 18 hours at 200 lumens.

The HM75R combines an 18650 in the headlamp with a separate 21700 battery pack.

It's a more powerful option if you want additional capacity, but for most adventure racing I'd start with the simpler HM65R/BC21R system and add batteries as your races get longer.

[IMAGE: HM75R + BC26R]

[IMAGE: BC26R RUNTIME GRAPH]

My Adventure Racing Lighting Setup

Standard Setup

Headlamp: Fenix HM65R V2.0
Handlebars: Fenix BC21R V3.0 — 1200 lumens
Helmet: HM65R + Fenix helmet mount
Rear: Fenix BC05R V2.0
Backup: Fenix HL12R V2.0
Spares: 18650 batteries

[AMAZON AFFILIATE LINKS]

Bigger Option

Headlamp: Fenix HM75R
Handlebars: Fenix BC26R — 1600 lumens
Rear: Fenix BC05R V2.0
Backup: Fenix HL12R V2.0
Spares: 18650 / 21700 batteries

[AMAZON AFFILIATE LINKS]

The Bottom Line

Don't buy an adventure racing light. Build an adventure racing lighting system.

You need a handlebar light and a helmet light on the bike.

You need enough battery to get through the night.

You need waterproof, impact-resistant gear that can take some punishment.

And ideally, your running headlamp becomes your helmet light, your major lights share inexpensive standard batteries, and adding another night of racing simply means adding more batteries.

That's what I like about this Fenix setup.

We've used versions of it through a nine-day World Championships, but the exact same principles work for a 24-hour race.

Simple, tough, interchangeable and easy to keep running.

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