Thanks for the write up Fetcher, it was great meeting you! I've gone to all four and this one was the best. I was up till 2am the night before trying to finish up my middrive. I hope this chain tensioner works.
. Charging through a phase wire,? My motor is now the charger! This nucular controller is awesome!
Finally here, only two hours later than I wanted. I wanted to get here in time to get some practice laps in.
Pulled up next to Nick Borgstrom, his titanium bbhd is a work of art.
. After a quick talk with Nick I was eager to get a lap in, I hopped on my trusty Vector lite and took an easy lap. I was stoked I swapped out my 2.1 front tire to a 2.8 the night before, very noticeable improvement in handling. After a year on this frame I wasn’t afraid to beat on it a little harder this year. This $300 frame just takes a beating and keeps on going. Hitting 45mph in some sections this course was fast and a little tackier than previous years, I think the big snow events last winter helped. After an easy lap it was time to try out the middrive.
. Nervous about the chains and sprockets, I restricted it to 2kw and off I went. It was running great and at 65 phase amps the qs1000 seemed happy at 8:1 reduction at 60v. One-third into my lap the bicycle chain fell off and a link got crunched and I started my walk of shame back to the car. The sun had set and I wanted one more practice lap so I hustled back, hopped on the hubbie and got one more lap in before dark. When I got back I could see some activity in the HPC tent so I went over to check it out. When I got there I could sense the tension in the air and I could instantly see why. The rear rim on their Revolution was completely destroyed. Pro rider Lance Nelson wasn’t quite sure what he hit, but whatever it was he must have been going really fast when he did. Then I noticed the motor was out of their Typhoon, so both of their fastest bikes were out of commission. I had my own problems with my middrive so I headed back my truck to try and fix it and make dinner. Lucky I brought another chain with master link so I popped it on and I was back in business. The next morning was hectic for me going for another practice lap on the middrive the 8 speed chain just kept popping off. These middrives are a pain in the ass! Lucky my friend Nick, that also lives in Tahoe, showed up and helped me out. With an improved chain line and a zip tied chain guard I was ready to sign up for the races. Cranking up the amps, I’m at 3500 watts and started the single lap throttle amateur race
The bike is running great. At a little more than half the power of my hubbie the bike was lighter, handled better, and took less effort to ride. Everything was going great till around the half way point when my 219 primary chain just flew off. I managed to put it back on and went another half mile before it flew off again. Several more of these moments till a managed to get 100 yards to the finish line and just ran the bike across the finish line. Somehow I managed to get third, good enough for a podium spot so I was happy.
Now it was time for the final race, unlimited throttle open. With HPC's hub motor bike still out of commission they enter two Bafang ultra bike with PAS only.
.I felt great, and after nosing my front wheel into a bush trying pass a rider, the rest of the race went smooth, my second lap was actually the fastest and it was good enough for 3rd, those Bafang Ultra's beat me! Oh well, another podium spot!
. The awards ceremony was fun with a couple kegs after, it was great staying up late and chatting ebikes with like-minded folks
. I got all the racing in I wanted but I decided to race the surron’s on Sunday only because my friend Eli came and was adamant his surron was superior to my hubbie. Well the results speak for themselves, the HPC typhoon took the honors with surron’s taking 2nd-4th, then me. But a least I beat Eli
I had a blast and I can’t thank Chris, Kyle, HPC, and so many others for making this event so awesome.