Ride the Future Tour

jkbrigman

10 kW
Joined
Oct 27, 2011
Messages
794
Location
North Carolina, Southeast US
I am JONESING for this something bad. And I put it in the ebike section because ebikes are participating:

http://ridethefuturetour.com/

I'm thinking a few more Ah of LiPo and I'm there....

(Moderators - modify or move the thread as you see fit. I did a quick search of E-S and didn't find the story cited elsewhere...)
 
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=49501 This thread is about promoting ebike culture, you might help this if you ride that distance. Go for it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvum8AK2pjE
 
I'll move this to E-vents, but leave it mirrored here.

Thanks for the heads up, if possible, I will join the EV parade when they pass through Albuquerque. It's not clear when this will happen. Presumably this summer.
 
Thanks dogman for the mirror and admin help on this.

My initial enthusiasm has dampened. The first story I saw on the ride misstated the origin point: they said "North Carolina". It made sense to me it would be Kitty Hawk, NC. on the Outer Banks of NC. (There's a sign there that tells the distance to Barstow, California.)

But instead, it's Charleston, South Carolina. Probably saves 'em a couple hundred miles (Charleston is "west" of NC's Outer Banks) but that time of year, Charleston will be hot as hell and humid as a sauna.

I still have intense curiosity about the ride. Thinking now about how I might satisfy said-curiosity.

JKB
 
I got to thinking about the fact that they are including ebikes: that might be a little problematic....we're talking about traversing the US on an ebike in 43 days, EAST to WEST (INTO the prevailing wind), through all types of weather in July in the US. Hrm.
 
I thought it was going to be a parade of local EV's in each city they stop at along the way. So I thought it would be fun to ride with them on the longtail. But instead, you pay $75 for the privilege of riding an A2B bike. I don't mind the fee, but it would be silly for me to ride their stock bike when I have one with 30 mph speed and 50 mile range.

I could just wait at the highway and ambush em, but that would require knowing just what time they start from where.
 
dogman said:
I thought it was going to be a parade of local EV's in each city they stop at along the way. So I thought it would be fun to ride with them on the longtail. But instead, you pay $75 for the privilege of riding an A2B bike. I don't mind the fee, but it would be silly for me to ride their stock bike when I have one with 30 mph speed and 50 mile range.

I could just wait at the highway and ambush em, but that would require knowing just what time they start from where.

I like your thinking dogman. I'd get a huge kick pitting my homebuilt machine against the A2B bikes and 85 mile segments would be a fun challenge. This seems like the perfect job for a longtail or extracycle carrying 30Ah or more. Wonder what they'd do if anyone with an ebike showed up and just "rode along". It's a public highway, not like they can run you off.

I went back and looked at their website and you're right: $75 to ride an A2B ebike over one of the segments plus they want $1/mile for the charity they've chosen. To keep those 15 A2B bikes busy, they will need 660 total riders over the 3000 mile trip. Looks like they're getting the cyclists to fund the whole trip: that turns out to be $49,500 in entry fees alone to ride the A2B bikes if they get all 660 riders.

I'm surprised: they are going through the southern US during the hottest part of the year, July and August. Everyone in the electric vehicles will ride in cool comfort while the cyclists paying for the privilege are hoofing it out in the heat, humidity, sun and rain. There are some serious storms that blow southwest to northeast through the south during the summer, storms I'd definitely not want to be out in on an ebike.

Wow...the more I think about this, the clearer the difficulties of the task become.
 
It will be an epic ride that's for sure. The Santa Fe to Albuquerque segment has only a few roads they could take, and it should be easy to spot them.

I don't have 85 mile range, but I do have about 50 at 17 mph.

Sounds like they plan on leaving the A2B's in the dust each day. nice. Bet the van carries a few of them the final miles. About 50 miles in one day is when my ass starts to say, get off. Or maybe the A2B's wont try to do all 85 miles each day. Whoever is their mechanic, they'll be busy every day.

In summer, some kind of "charity mega ride" thingy passes through on the I 10 route every week or two. I don't know, it just seems to smack of pay for my vacation to me. Some surely do cover the motels and support vehicles out of pocket. Some surely don't.
 
dogman said:
It will be an epic ride that's for sure. The Santa Fe to Albuquerque segment has only a few roads they could take, and it should be easy to spot them.

I don't have 85 mile range, but I do have about 50 at 17 mph.

Sounds like they plan on leaving the A2B's in the dust each day. nice. Bet the van carries a few of them the final miles. About 50 miles in one day is when my ass starts to say, get off. Or maybe the A2B's wont try to do all 85 miles each day. Whoever is their mechanic, they'll be busy every day.

In summer, some kind of "charity mega ride" thingy passes through on the I 10 route every week or two. I don't know, it just seems to smack of pay for my vacation to me. Some surely do cover the motels and support vehicles out of pocket. Some surely don't.

I think you hit it with the "Pay for my vacation" theory. Yes, what you're thinking about the A2B's and their riders is exactly what I was thinking: not so sure the ebike riders are getting a fair shake compared to Management, who will get to tool along in enclosed electric vehicles with at least a little bit of A/C.

A2B ebike support is going to be immense, and going 85 miles on an ebike is challenging for someone like me, much less for Joe Blow on the street who's never ridden an electric bike before. Surely, surely these A2B bikes will be heavily modded with more battery?

So, wait: you've got about 50 mile range on your bike at 17mph - and I see your point about being ready to "get off the bike" at that distance. But you've got me to thinking about that 85 mile range....I've often dreamed of 100 mile electric range with moderate pedal effort. Seems to me a bike with that kind of range at, say, 20-25 mph might stand a chance of kicking some A2B ass.

Don't our ebike brothers who ride the longtails have no problem reaching that kind of range and speed????

JKB
 
100 mile range is just a matter of forking up the $$ with a cargo bike, or a trailer. My problem at the moment is I have only 48v 15 ah of new battery. All the rest is so old it's dishing out only half capacity. Just to get to 50 mile range, I have to carry 20 more ah, at twice the weight.

Sick as I am, I doubt I could do 85 miles anyway.
 
dogman said:
100 mile range is just a matter of forking up the $$ with a cargo bike, or a trailer. My problem at the moment is I have only 48v 15 ah of new battery. All the rest is so old it's dishing out only half capacity. Just to get to 50 mile range, I have to carry 20 more ah, at twice the weight.

Sick as I am, I doubt I could do 85 miles anyway.

Sending positive vibes your way.

I'm curious to see how A2B supports the event - so many A2B's in one place would be pretty unusual. I wonder what mods (more battery?) they do to the A2B to enable it to make that 85 miles in less than 4 recharges.

Hrm. July 4 in Charleston, SC is going to be hot and humid. Believe me, the humidity is as bad as people say it is. I can take 113F in Tucson in a white long-sleeved shirt (I have) but a short sleeve tee shirt in Charleston at 85F on July 4 is just a sweaty-wet mess.

And unfortunately, the summer weather pattern has already set in: lines of severe thunderstorms and pounding rain roughly parallel to I-95, moving west-to-east across the south make for incredibly dangerous travel. We had one of those systems come through the southeast yesterday at 5:30pm local time. Somebody, somewhere, sometime, is gonna have to ride through one of those storms on an A2B. I hope the people who are organizing the ride will avail themselves of the services of the local Ham Radio clubs in all the towns they go through to help with communications and coordination. They are going to want Skywarn help during some of these storms.

Still not sure if I want to go. (Yes, it's exactly 30 days from today). There's a lot of places to go in the southeast on July 4. Time to order some more LiPo anyway....

Lordy, I don't mean to be a naysayer. It's just my nature to plan for the worst and be happy when it's easier. I love the idea of an across-America trip on EV's and ebikes. (Frankly, I'm jealous.) But I think I would have chosen a cooler location for a departure point.

Are there any other E-S'ers in the southeast reading this who would want to meet in Charleston on July 4?
 
We hit 100F here in North Carolina last week. South Carolina on July 4 week is going to be bad, bad hot....
 
It seems like a nice idea, group of people, and promo. But yea, they're riding into hell. See this and this about the drought forecast through the southwest and concomitant fires. I'm rooting for them but expect they'll be ruing the day they dreamt up the route.

I, like a lot of es'ers in America, have thought about a cross country trip. Routes and planning would be essential to success. Me, I'd do a North to South trip along the East Coast Greenway., also about 3,000 miles:
east-coast-greenway-map.jpg

... to garner support for this amazing transportation alternative, and its part in reducing carbs. I'd do it in the Fall during prime foliage season in a relaxed way, allowing for spontaneity, stop-overs, excursions, etc. Visit every college campus along the way to talk about the future. :mrgreen:
 
jkbrigman said:
We hit 100F here in North Carolina last week. South Carolina on July 4 week is going to be bad, bad hot....

Man up. Old people and babies lived in the American South for a long time before air conditioning.

A/C is like heroin; if you use it, you need it. If you don't use it, you don't need it.
 
Chalo said:
jkbrigman said:
We hit 100F here in North Carolina last week. South Carolina on July 4 week is going to be bad, bad hot....

Man up. Old people and babies lived in the American South for a long time before air conditioning.
A/C is like heroin; if you use it, you need it. If you don't use it, you don't need it.

Well the every-day afternoon storms have started here in the southeast and they are strong. We've had three trees come down on the lots around us and we had large parts of a dead tree come down in our yard. Very high winds, torrential rains, etc. Lightning has been bad too. Tonight we had a strike less than 500 feet from the house that rattled the windows.

So it's not JUST the heat (although that's bad enough). We all turn into meaty little lighting rods out on our bikes in storms like this. Air Conditioning is the least of your concerns when your body gets shattered by a lighting strike or a tree falls on you.
 
I got caught out in one of these storms last Wednesday on the ebike on the 30 mile ride home. I nearly got blown over by the wind at one point. For the last 20 miles, I rode in soaking rains without rain gear. After the first five miles, it didn't matter how wet I got any more, so I just rode the entire way at WOT.

The bike turned in the best performance ever, 9.5Ah used over the 30 miles, 21.5mph average. I think it was the rain hitting the motor and keeping it cool that helped the most....

I'd still like to go to Charleston, but I'm not going to make it, the RtF folks will have to start without me. :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
It rained here today, like its been doing every day and will for the next week. Too much rain here in the NE if you ask me. Its daylight, then the wind picks up and it gets cool and the clouds roll over, often with thunder and then it lets loose with buckets of rain. As quickly as it comes, its gone, and daylight again. Today was a special day, as I completed the solar part of my ebike. I liked how I was getting a solar charge even with the cloud cover. I'd heard about that, how the light spectrum photovoltaics are sensitive to pierce the clouds. So I was at 15 volts with the clouds, to 20 volts in direct sun, a mere 25% decrease. It'll be raining I'm sure next week when I take my 100 mile solar ebike camping trip to Petersham. We'll see how well she does, whether my 20 amp-hours of initial charge plus the solar charge on the way gets me the 32 miles I hope for per leg before I can plug in again. Expect so, but having it done will feel good, like that rain today. Just keep working on the porch, with rain coming down and the lightening in the distance. Trip is a warmup exercise to the East Coast Greenway. :mrgreen:
 
arkmundi!

We'll see how well she does, whether my 20 amp-hours of initial charge plus the solar charge on the way gets me the 32 miles I hope for per leg before I can plug in again. Expect so, but having it done will feel good, like that rain today. Just keep working on the porch, with rain coming down and the lightening in the distance. Trip is a warmup exercise to the East Coast Greenway. :mrgreen:

dude, that's FANTASTIC information! PLEASE update us on how your 199 mile ride goes and how the solar panel performs!

BTW: unless you have some terrible hills on the way to Petersham, your 20Ah is going to get you that 32 miles. My commute to work is 30 miles each way of rolling hills and I make it each way on less than 10 Ah with really fat tires and a riding posture (very upright) that's terrible for efficiency.

Now: my drivetrain IS modded: I have 52T up front and 11T in back, so I can provide useful pedal assistance to the motor as fast as 30mph. To make that 30 miles on less than 10Ah, I do pedal quite a bit.

Your suggestion about the East Coast Greenway ride is a fantastic idea, particularly if done during a temperate time of year - spring or early fall. Seems like it might allow us to connect up face-to-face with lots of our east-coast E-S brothers.

I have several "marginal situations" I'm fixing on my main ebike, but I would be interested in just such a ride someday. If not the whole thing, at least a goodly chunk of it!
 
Well, I've been casting around looking for any press coverage I can find about the start of the Ride the Future Tour and haven't found anything yet. I'm hoping to see something on the internet or print media tomorrow sometime. (As I planned, I didn't make it down to witness the start of the world record EV event.)

The RFT folks had miraculously great weather to start out with for July 4 due to a strong high pressure system off the coast. It pushed all the heavy rains to the west and everyone on the tour should have had a tailwind as they made their way from Charleston up to Columbia, SC.

Today was a very long ride leg: a little over 100 miles and tomorrow's leg will be 100 miles also. At the end of the day tomorrow, the RFT folks will have traversed South Carolina diagonally along it's longest axis. They are riding northwest into a much higher probability (80%) of running into some heavy thunderstorms. There's been seriously strong storms in that region this week and very heavy rainfall resulting in flash flooding that may be a problem for the ride. The sooner they turn west and put distance between the tour and the southeast, the better off they will be. (there's an areal flood advisory and flash flood warning in effect for Greenville, SC right now and into tomorrow.)

Last week I rode 20 miles soaked to the bone in one of those downpours. I can't imagine how rough it would be to ride most of 100 miles in a downpour as the team traverses tomorrow's 100 mile leg. I hope the entire group has safe passage on through to Chattanooga. They're traversing some pretty hilly routes through the southernmost end of the Appalachians.
 
Still pretty much hell out here. We have been getting some rain, I now have .8 inches for the year. The smoke from the fires is still here, but not so thick, and the fires are not burning 30,000 acres a day anymore. A little town further north got 2 feet of hail on the 3rd though. :shock:

Should be back to just purgatory by the time they pass through. I decided to give a pass on paying a lot of money to ride an ebike.
 
dogman said:
Still pretty much hell out here. We have been getting some rain, I now have .8 inches for the year. The smoke from the fires is still here, but not so thick, and the fires are not burning 30,000 acres a day anymore. A little town further north got 2 feet of hail on the 3rd though. :shock:

Should be back to just purgatory by the time they pass through. I decided to give a pass on paying a lot of money to ride an ebike.

"...back to just purgatory".... Heh heh....

"pass" is right. That would be embarrassing: "well, my own ebike isn't a "real" ebike, so I paid the $$ to use one of the A2B bikes...." Gaaa!

Nothing wrong with A2B bikes - love those guys - but if you've built your own successful steed, no point in dumping your best girl right before the prom!

Strange: there's this total lack of coverage of the event by the mainstream news outlets....I had to go look for an update on Facebook, and it was just a teeny, tiny bit of info....
 
They've made it to Memphis - 2 hours ago they posted from Christian Brothers University. For my money, I'd say they've made it through their difficult start in the southeast US and should have some smooth sailing for a little while on the central US plains.

They've got photos on their facebook page of TV media coverage, but print and internet media coverage seems non-existent.
 
Rain finally came, though not much to my house. Looks like crossing Texas won't be dry at least. The fires are out, so it will only be purgatory crossing the desert. For a time there, the entire state was thick with forest fire smoke. Riding ebikes in the heat is surprisingly comfortable if there is just some humidity. 20% or so, and you are quite comfy. But when it's 105F and less than 5% humidity, the hot wind just turns you into jerky in a very short time.
 
dogman said:
Rain finally came, though not much to my house. Looks like crossing Texas won't be dry at least. The fires are out, so it will only be purgatory crossing the desert. For a time there, the entire state was thick with forest fire smoke. Riding ebikes in the heat is surprisingly comfortable if there is just some humidity. 20% or so, and you are quite comfy. But when it's 105F and less than 5% humidity, the hot wind just turns you into jerky in a very short time.

I LOL'ed about the "turning into jerky" comment. I hope those beautiful people can stay hydrated. :) I love the southwest with it's low humidity, but you've gotta drink more water than you ever thought possible to stay alive.

Talk to me a little more about the weather - aren't they now going to face prevailing westerly winds the entire rest of the route?

I wonder two things, which I wish the media (or at least the RTFT) would report on:

1) How many people do they have taking advantage of the "opportunity" to ride A2B bikes over a 1 day segment, and what do those people have to say about the ebike?

2) How are the A2B bikes holding up? This would have to be some of the most severe duty you can put an ebike through - I'm dying to know how the mechanicals, controllers, chargers and battery packs are holding up.

And of course I'm interested in knowing how the LEAF and the scooters hold up. But the ebikes are both the "weakest link" and the most intriguing component of the whole effort.

In fact, if I could interview anyone on the tour, it would be the A2B guys to see what they've learned. I'm sure they wouldn't disclose if they had some kind of chronic problem (and instead quietly fix it) but I still think they would be willing to share SOME info with the E-S community.

JKB
 
Some interesting and still-odd things happening with the Ride the Future Tour:

- They got washed out by flooding in the venue they chose in Nashville, TN. There was an alternate venue but I hate to think what happened, since there were probably people in Nashville dealing with floodwaters.

- I've seen one A2B bike in most of the updates. Other than that, I think it's been the eScooter and the LEAF. Oh, and yes, the electric motorcycle that's already made the trip across the US once. They show the van and the support truck a few times, and they seem to stop off at public places along the way and participate in charitable functions.

- I think the team is in Arkansas or Oklahoma right now. The updates aren't so descriptive that you can tell exactly where they are and there's no positional information being provided either on facebook or on the website. You get maybe a pic and less than a dozen words about where they are and what's going on.

I'm still sending them the good vibes, but this has to be the oddest public event I've ever seen....
 
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