Well attached are preliminary pictures of the B&M Luxos U setup that my wife plans to use on the Trans Am Bike race.

First picture: Her bike on new fluid trainer for those cold and dark days (like right now!)

Second picture: The Luxos U. We went with a rigid carbon fork since this is a road ride. The Origin 8 Black Ops fork came with removable canti stud. I took one of the studs and reversed it and moved it up as high as possible and then mounted the light to it. Ideally it should be mounted centered on the fork right at the crown. Two reasons I didn't do this. There is no hole to mount the light there and it would probably interfere with a front bag.

Third picture: The switch is mounted on the right hand aero bar. The switch turns the light on and off, and when off if you hit it, it will flash briefly to warn a driver. It has daytime and night time modes and brightness and throw varies according to your speed. The back side of the switch contains a covered USB port so you can charge a USB device such as a GPS or phone. It is suppose to deliver up to 1 amp depending upon speed.

Fourth picture: Our SP PD-8 dynamo hub. I have around 2,000 miles on it and it works great.

The light has a lithium cache battery in it to help smooth out the USB output and to make this a standlight.

How does it work?? Haven't had it out on the road yet!!!

I ordered the B&B Luxos U light with the USB port. Peter White was out of stock on these but I was able to source it from Joe Bike in Oregon: http://www.store.joe-bike.com/products/busch-mueller-dynamo-light-luxos-u-w-usb-port
Peter White should have them in stock in mid December. I found a lower price at Bike24 based out of France. http://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=8;menu=1400%2C1410%2C1411;search=luxos;navigation=1;product=38271 but my friend said I would be disowned if I bought anything from the French! Ha ha!

I read a google review on the setup here: https://groups.google.com/d/topic/randon/Dxr_nrjyfz8

I got this light for my wife who is planning on doing the Trans American Race. We should have plenty of time to shake it out before June of next year. The USB port will put out up to one amp which is pretty good. My lighcharge is only capable of .5 amp and I would like more power than that. We plan to mate it to my SP dynamo hub.

$234 plus shipping is a lot of dough re me but it combines a dynamo light, small cache battery and controller with USB port for charging, so overall it is a good value compared to spending up to $450 or more for a light and controller. It also comes with a handlebar switch for the light and to flash drivers during the day. Hopefully it is all it is cracked up to be! Will give our initial report when it is set up.

Here is an option, and if you have a dynamo hub you could recharge the batteries on the go. http://www.amazon.com/Sanyo-eneloop-Pre-Charged-Rechargeable-Batteries/dp/B004UAG776/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

I am going to go with Billy Rice, although there were many great performances by others this year.

I rode with Billy on the Tour Divide in 2012 and saw his ups and downs. At one point I thought he was going to quit, but then he turned it on towards the last half of the race and pulled away from theisold man and picked off several other riders in front of him.

When I heard about his yoyo TD attempt for 2013 I was skeptical. Of course I was glued to his blue dot for the entire journey. Doing two laps of the TD course is incredible and he was the only racer to do the whole course and he did the whole course in both directions, which essentially makes him the winner twice!

He made a great effort on the return trip to get forest service permission to go through the closed areas.

Although he is not the fastest racer out there he certainly is one of the toughest!

Here is a link to the track downloaded to ridewithgps. http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3725871
They estimate around 200,000 feet of climbing over the entire route.

I believe that the etrex 30 has a barometric altimeter in it which I think is very valuable. Also it has the ability to look ahead at your route from the downloaded GPX file, so you can see the elevation profile that lays ahead of you. Topo fusion software allows you to simplify and split the track so you can download the whole route onto your GPS. Ridewithgps (do a search on the internet) is really cool too. You can load the file into that and look at it with many different views, from satellite to topo. Loads real fast too!

Steve,

I think a rechargeable internal battery GPS is the ticket for a dynamo hub. Also they sell AA battery devices with USB that will charge your device on the go.

I have been messing around with google earth (my new addiction!) and the more I think about it the more I am leaning towards loop rides due to logistics. It is nice to leave a car in one place and be able to come back to it at rides end. I am creating a loop from Cave Creek AZ going north (east of Hwy 17) and then west into Sedona. I don't have the second half mapped out yet but it will follow the route from Sedona south that Tim put together. Attached is the Google file of the part I have mapped out. Any feedback? It looks like google maps took their pictures during the spring when the Verde River was really flowing. Is crossing the Verde River where I have it mapped generally doable?

Padded lycra for me on my B-17. A good pad and a good saddle are essential in my book. Baggies may look cooler but the additional seams and material bother me on longer rides.

B-17 for me. Awesome saddle. My favorite ever.

My friends did a tour with Ray Molina some years ago. They also mentioned going with a guide name Alturo.

I did a search for these two guys and nothing came up as far as organized tours.

Here are a few links for tour companies:

http://www.katuntours.com/copper.html

http://www.escapeadventures.com/activity/mountain-bike-tours/copper-canyon-singletrack

I am thinking of doing this in April of 2014. Might do it South to North and continue on to the South Rim.

I have the light charge and it has been reliable over a couple of thousand miles BUT my main problem with it is that it outputs a maximum of .5 amps regardless of your speed.
The e-werks intrigues me because you can adjust the voltage and amperage. Too bad they just don't make one without the battery so one could add a battery of choice to their setup.
I think batteries are probably the weak link because they can only recharge so many times and I think heat and vibration affect their life. Anker batteries have some nice ones with 2 USB ports and the ability to charge and recharge at the same time. http://www.amazon.com/10000mAh-Portable-Dual-Port-Thunderbolt-Incredible/dp/B009USAJCC/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1380042563&sr=1-1&keywords=anker

I am using the SP hub and so far it has been dead reliable and at about $135 with shipping it is a great deal.

Also for around $420 you can get the Revo light and SP hub: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Exposure-Revo-Bike-Front-LED-Dynamo-Bike-Light-28-Spoke-Black-Rim-Brake-Hub-SALE-/360511592754?pt=UK_SportGoods_CyclAcces_RL&hash=item53f02a5932

I am using a USB rechargeable Cygolite 700 lumen model for my bike light. I can recharge it off my cache battery and with several brightness levels it gives you more options and I can remove it to use it as a flashlight and it comes with a helmet mount to boot to use around camp.

Tim,

Thanks for the Flagstone route file you sent me!
Really excited about this route.
Do you plan on setting a date for a race?? I and many others would be interested in doing this.

Attached is a file for preview in Google Earth:

Tim, Thanks for the gpx file. I converted it to a KML in Topo Fusion and viewed it in Google Earth. Looks like a great route! I noticed from Phoenix to Tucson the route was a straight line. Still more work to do or was there a file problem??

That looks like a great product. My present converter maxis out at .5 amp output. The one you mentioned will triple this!

Tim,

Let me know when you have some stuff together. Do you plan on a Superior to Black Canyon connecting section?? I do want to do a border to border probably next April but I want a little "easier" route.
I think ending in Kanab Utah would be a nice thing since there are some services there.
The AZT 750 is a little too manly for me!

Following is a reply I got from pedalpower.com

Thank you for your email. The only thing that would increase the output from your dynamo is in fact to ride faster, the cables will only transmit what the dynamo will put out.
 
So if we say at a speed of 12kph you can product 200mA per hour output from your dynamo, you may produce 350mA per hour at 18kph. Cables themselves do nothing to influence the output from the dynamo.
If your present speed puts out (let’s just pick a figure) the 350mA per hour and you want to charge your cache battery, let’s say the 10,000mAh version, you simply divide the 10,000 by the 350 to see how many hours it would take to charge the cache battery, so in this scenario you have a time of 28.5 hours approximately. (of continuous riding with no devices attached).
 
With the variation in speeds, the amount of time you ride, whether you have other devices running from the cache at the same time, the results can be quite different, but the energy from the dynamo is being used.
 
If for instance you have an iPhone attached to the cache as you ride at again say 18kph and 350mA ouput. Let’s say that the iphone has an internal battery of 1500mAh and without being attached to any charger would last 3 hours on GPS mode or apps, this would say that the internal battery of the iPhone depletes at 500mA per hour (1500/3). From the dynamo you are putting in 350mA so you have a net loss of 150mA per hour when you are riding at that speed and charging the iPhone. So your cache would be depleting at 150mA per hour not charging.
 
Battery management is the best way to go, start with all your devices fully charged and the cache fully charged. Trickle fee the cache continually from your dynamo to collect whatever output you have in the internal battery. With devices like GPS or phone, switch them off when not needed and collect the energy from the dynamo ready to use later.
 
Our most popular cable by far is the Super-i-Cable
 
Hope this info helps, if you have any other questions I will be happy to answer them for you.

Lower price. $85 includes shipping to the continental US.

Sturdy well made rack. Good condition. Brand new they are $139.
PM me if interested. Ship to US only please.