Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I photograph bicycle race. It might be overcast, dark and raining, so I need to use a fill flash. The courses often go through streams, mud, deep woods and steep hills. I need to be able to shoot 50 or more pictures as fast as I click the shutter, Pick up my gear and walk to another spot on the course and do it again. I use a Canon 7D and remote 430EX. This works well because it's portable and I can use the 7D's wireless capability, however, I have the following problems:
The 430EX has to rest after a certain number of flashes - at that point I am locked up and have to wait or shoot without a flash.
The battery life is not too good.
Since I'm shooting fast moving subjects and using fill, I would like to use a shutter speed faster than 250. I would normally use 1000 or 1250.
I would also like to consider a diffuser or multiple units to get away from the spotlight look.

None of our lights will allow sync that high if the camera does not support it (no current DSLR does). You may want to consider multiple speedlites, as it requires less power per unit, thus increases the number of shots you would get before shut down. Given the rapid changing conditions, rapid setup break down, and the other stipulations mentioned, I think the TTL speedlite route is the way to go.