1 day, 2 kWh, 288 km Sydney loop ride on 1 charge

[voicecoils]

Last month, Maurice (bossman at Glow Worm) set out to try to ride from Sydney to Canberra in one day, a distance of almost 300 km. After a late start, headwinds and eventually draining all batteries completely, he stopped short after a still impressive 220 km. Read about the ride here.

He's back for a second attempt to hit the 300 km mark on a new route and this time I'll be joining him for the ride.

[EDIT] We did the loop, but covered just 288 km! Skip to our post-ride report here.

Our plan is to do a large loop ride 2nd November 2011, starting at our shop and heading south. Here's our draft route plan:



I plan to ride an eZee Torq and Maurice will ride a rear-motor converted Avanti hybrid using the eZee conversion kit.

Taking on some suggestions from the last attempt:

* I will try to run mapmytracks for live position updates from my phone.
* We will carry more batteries! 2 kWh per rider this time (four of our 36v14Ah eZee LiMn packs which weigh 4 kg each).
* We will try to start super early in the morning.

We'll have a energy budget of 6.6 Wh/km and if we can average 30 km/h, the ride will take 10 hours in the saddle. An average speed of 25 km/h will push it out to 12 hrs. Any slower and it's just not practical in a sensible day!

Anyone have other suggestions or comments before we head out?

Cheers, Abraham (aka voicecoils)

[edited to add mapmytracks link to glowworm account above]

 

[John in CR]

Anyone have other suggestions or comments before we head out?

Yes, make it about the machines and take the chains off, but even if you guys do cheat and help the motor by pedaling too, have a great ride!

I'm preparing a bike for a similar distance ride, but the 1650 meter hill in the middle of the route is the kicker.

 

[SamTexas]

If you are equipped with the Cycle Analyst, do make sure it's accurately calibrated.

6.6Wh at 30km/h AVERAGE is definitely doable if you pedal a lot (10.6wh @ 18.8mph). Still pedaling a lot for 10hrs in one day is going to be challenging and fun. Good luck. Will you guys be updating this page during or after the ride?

 

[voicecoils]

Thanks guys.

@John in CR

Motor only would provide a clearer picture of energy usage by eliminating the human variable, but the bikes are built to be pedaled and would be designed a lot differently if we wanted to ride with the motor only.

The best opportunity to try something like that would be the Darwin to Adelaide world solar challenge where no human power input is allowed but of course the use of the sun in encouraged! Hopefully we can participate one day!

@SamTexas

I will check CA calibration today, it was already on my list :lol:

We do think the ride is do-able but a big stretch from what we've done so far. In addition to the distance, and number of hours in the saddle, it looks like there's about 3,000 meters of climbing in total.

In terms of updating, we will try to send tweets at rest points and some quick photos along with mapmyride stats. Will try to line someone up to update the thread during the day as we progress.

Cheers, Abraham

 

[Hillhater]

Wow ! ..Voicecoils !
are you seriously planning the return from the gong via Mount Ousley/Southern freeway ??
That is one long hill at the best of times..but after 200k already ridden that will be a killer.
And the traffic up there is also very nasty :?
why dont you come back on the coast road, through the Park..at least its a scenic & relatively safe ride !
...( and a great cafe at Otford )

 

[Joseph C.]

Make sure you have a good, comfortable saddle and a chamois. This is the most important thing.

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

Very exciting!!

I envy you, the weather has already turned here, it's the rainy season (usually is late fall through late spring) and I got a nice dose of it today on my way back from church!

How will you be doing the 10+ hours of riding?

I would have to take regular breaks, and split the trip into two smaller rides (ride 2-3 hours at a time, take short 10 min breaks, and one large one in mid-day) to keep from burning myself out.

It's going to be a challenge for sure, glad to see you take it up and show off some advantages of E-Bikes to the public!

 

[voicecoils]

Step 1 of pre-ride prep, find some lithium! :lol:

So far I've found 3 kWh, need to found and charge another 2 packs to round out the 4 kWh we'll split between us.



@Hillhater

That map has markers backwards, we'll ride down via the coast then west to Moss Vale before heading north and NE back towards Sydney. What's the cafe at Otford? Maurice has promised not to have a tiny salad for lunch like last time and he's studied your photo of the meat pie for ride-fuel. That and your map of all the McDonalds!

@Joseph C

Yes, I will use my comfortable Italian SMP saddle and swiss-made Assos cycling knicks. Maurice will probably use the stock Velo saddle and ordinary shorts, gangsta!

@LI-ghtcycle

Weather's good at the moment, coming into summer so it's a good time for a long ride before the mid days get too hot.

Haven't decided how to split up breaks yet. My preference is to try to push for 10 hrs of riding, 2 hrs of total breaks, start at 5AM, finish at 5PM.
Possibly a 40min mid-day break, two morning 20min breaks and two afternoon 20min breaks. However, often things don't go according to plan!

Cheers, Abraham

 

[Kurt]

I lived in Wollongong for a 12 months about 13years ago and I can still remember the killer climbs around that area heading to work in Sydney and the crazy driver's Kiama is a nice little town with a blow hole were the water shoots out of the rocks and into the sky.Could make a good spot for lunch. Keen to see the pics and see how the area has changed over the years. Good luck with it all. I like the adventure spirit off it and Wish it was me out there. It will be something you always remember.

Have a safe trip.

Kurt

 

[Sunder]

I'd love to do a ride like that once day.

Both me and the bikes would need some serious upgrading before that happens though!

 

[DrkAngel]

2 bikes - use 2 different type saddles.
Swap saddles when your butt gets worn out ... a change of scenery can do wonders!

Wear pasties!
Sore nipples might not show up, till the next day ... but damn ...

Wind resistance is the enemy @ 20mph and up.
Draft off eachother - except with a strong tailwind.
Slower than 20mph into a headwind.
Faster than 20mph with a tailwind.

 

[Hillhater]

That map has markers backwards, we'll ride down via the coast then west to Moss Vale before heading north and NE back towards Sydney. What's the cafe at Otford? Maurice has promised not to have a tiny salad for lunch like last time and he's studied your photo of the meat pie for ride-fuel. That and your map of all the McDonalds!
Cheers, Abraham

Oh boy ! , now you are going to have to go up Jambaroo Mountain !
so, are you going down the Princes Highway & Southern Freeway, or through the Park ?
The Cafe /PIE SHOP is on the coast road ( Lady Wakehurst Drive ) at the junction with Domville road ( Otford). Its practically the first building you see as you come out of the Park.
As well as charging those batteries, remember to charge yourselves up with PIES ! :lol:
Seriously, Eat and Drink frequently, and take breaks to recharge yourselves.
Another good Pie shop in Robertson ! :wink:
Good luck guys, I would come and ride with you for a while ( downhill ),... but i will be in NZ tomorrow.

 

[voicecoils]

We're busily preparing in spare moments between shop duties.

All batteries have been located and charged.

Maurice's & his bike are ready, pictured below:

View attachment 2



I'm still busily working on mine!

We're both using the EAF (eZee Assist Factor) dial instead of the throttle. Weird name but basically it's just a pot that matches hall throttle voltage window and doesn't spring back like a throttle. Combined with a pedal sensor, it's a handy way to finely adjust speed and leaves your hands free to grab food or rest on ergo grips.

I'll try to post a bit more tonight before we start off tomorrow!

Cheers, Abraham

 

[voicecoils]

Bike 2 is finally ready! eZee Torq with hydraulic brakes, Alfine 8sp hub and 3 bags from eZee hanging off the back.






Also tested GoPro's time lapse option at 30sec intervals. With a 32gb SD card, there's more then enough room! Not sure how long the double battery GoPro pack will last over the day however.




Now we're off to fuel up on pasta, gather food to eat during the day tomorrow and try to get some sleep!

Cheers & thanks for reading, Abraham

 

[adrian_sm]

Good luck, and safe riding.

- Adrian

 

[voicecoils]

Thanks adrian_sm.

Pasta has been eaten, food & water's packed away. We are ready to roll in the morning.

I've tried Mapmytracks Endurance on my iPhone and it seems to freeze on iOS5. I will start it tomorrow (set to update every 2 minutes) and check on it during our first stop, it may not work though.

The quickest way for us to send updates during the ride will be twitter so if anyone is able to relay our tweets to this thread, that would be awesome.

I'm off to bed!

Cheers, Abraham

 

[Kurt]

Bikemate gps works well on the iphone. never had a problem with it.

Kurt

http://bikemate.01mia.com/wp/?page_id=11

 

[theRealFury]

Wow, sounds like a really challenging ride, i did a 50miles ride in the summer here using 15ah of batteries and i know how tired i was after that trip, i dont think i could manage 200 miles to be honest. Good look to you both and look forward to seeing some pics / footage of the trip.

Ride safe.

 

[voicecoils]

33km (20mi) done so far.

Under 200wh used.

We are in good spirits for now

Cheers, Abraham

 

[voicecoils]

60km down, 1/5 done

370 Wh used.

Brief stop by Austinmere Beach

average speed a bit slow bit under energy budget too.

Cheers, Abraham

 

[adrian_sm]

Hope the traffic clears up soon, so you can get the pace up.

Here is a link to the live tracking for those intrerested.
http://www.mapmytracks.com/explore/activity/307082

And the twitter feed.
http://twitter.com/#!/GlowWormBicycle

And a few pics so far

 

[SamTexas]

Speed up a little more guys. At the current speed you might not make it in one day. How's the weather?

Here is a link to the live tracking for those intrerested.
http://www.mapmytracks.com/explore/activity/307082

Is it really live? It does not look so to me.

 

[adrian_sm]

Its live as long as the app is running and they have a ignal on the phone.

Abraham mention the app was flaky on ios5 I assume it is playing up.

 

[voicecoils]

Mapmytracks failed but we have not！
，
100km done 10AM now.

650Wh used so far.

Gettting a little saddle sore as expected.

1/3rd done! Trying to bring average speed up a bit.

Thanks for the photo updates Adrian

cheers, Abraham

 

[gm6046]

Thanks for the updates. Hope the weather is ok!