Hi everyone,
I'm back. My eyes were blur after riding in the rain with intermittent strong headwind for over 7 hours on the race day without wearing any eye protection. Some debris was still in my left eye until now.
Here is the whole story:
Who were there (ebikers):
SoSauty
Zach (MrBill's friend)
MrBill (not riding this time due to recovery mode from the last incident while he was riding his electric recumbent to meet up with me due to strong wind)
Me
What were the ebikes setup?
SoSauty:
Folding bike aluminum frame
BaFang rear geared hub motor
48V > tons of Turnigy Lipo batteries
Cycle Analyst (Large Screen)
Lyen 6 FET 3077 MarkII sensorless controller
Wheel size: 24"
MrBill's (Zach was the rider):
Custom Aluminum Recumbent
Super Kids "can type" BMC geared motor drive rear wheel
24V > LifePO4 battery from Valence Technology
Cycle Analyst (Large Screen)
Lyen 12 FET 3077 MarkII sensored controller
Wheel size: 20" front, 26" rear
Lyen (me):
Litespeed Vortex with titanium frame & carbon fiber fork
Adrian_SM Alpha Commuter Booster Kit
Turnigy 6374 200Kv RC motor
25.9V > 7S24P Panasonic NCR18650A 3100mah cells (1927 watt hours at 17 LBS or 7.75 Kg) > I have just finished assemble it the day before the race. See
here.
Speedict bluetooth via HTC Touch Pro 2 (hacked and converted from Windows Mobile to Android 2.x, also modded the battery terminal for extended use)
Lyen 6 FET 3077 MarkII sensorless controller
GoPro Hero2 with LCD BacPac added (also modded the battery terminal for extended use)
DC-DC multi-purpose voltage converter
Multi-function switch
Wheel and tire size: 700/20c (pumped at 140 PSI)
Race result:
Zach > Completed
Lyen > Completed
SoSauty > needed more battery
How was the weather condition?
It was pouring pretty bad with headwind (at least more than half the time). The rain was unexpected at least on my side. I have noticed there were a few riders have backed out for safety reason.
What happened to SoSauty?
He was actually doing pretty good. He was at least 30 minutes quicker than me during the beginning of the race. Unfortunately, he has forgotten to bring the proper harness to attach with the extra lipo batteries. So he managed to finish about three quarter (75%) of the race before his battery setup was fully depleted. His total watt hour was around 1650 watt hours. He then had someone brought his ebike back.
What happened to Zach on MrBill's ebike?
I met him yesterday and had a chance to speak with Zach and MrBill for about an hour at the Grocery store from the starting line. While I was having a burrito at the grocery store, they told me Zach ran out of battery at around 1250 watt hours. The last 9 miles Zach had to pedal his way back to the finish line. MrBill actually brought the same battery as last time (which was supposed to be at least 1500 watt hours) but was assumed the LifePO4 was weaken a little with multiple uses from the past 5 year. I think for 5 years of use it is really good for the LifePO4 pack.
What happened to Lyen (me)?
I have decided to convert myself from
racing mode to
safety mode after I have noticed the following:
1. The 15 LBS bicycle with 17 LBS mounted at the rear rack (using a laptop side pannier) was very imbalance. It was causing a lot of twist left and right when I leave or even partially leave my hands off the handlebar. I was supposed to fabricate or have someone fabricate a custom aluminum enclosure to mount the battery pack with a more naturally balanced position but did not have enough time.
2. The rain was causing the pavement quite slippery. I had two incidents that I almost crashed. One was going too fast at around 20-25mph because of the skinny tires, another was because of the unforeseeable side wind.
3. The tires are not suitable for wet road condition at high speed (above 20mph)
4. My body temperature was dropped dramatically after the first two hours of continuous rain and wind. I was soaked and wet and was very worry I could not made it back. I mentally managed to force my body to function until the finish line was reached.
5. I was fully equipped with Lycras
6. I could not clip in with the Shimano SPD cleat between the shoes and the pedals because it is very dangerous in the rain. Fortunately, my pedals have SPD on one side and platform on the other side.
7. The genuine GoPro Hero2 handlebar bracket cracked and got separated at around 50miles due to excessive vibration from the skinny tires. Luckily the modded terminal wires kept the GoPro Hero2 hanging after the mount broke off.
In
safety mode, I rode slowly and my intend was to just make it back to the finish line. So I took my time, ate a few brownies at the checkpoints, chitchat with people and racers at checkpoints, and take leaks at a few trees. There was also a racer (named Alec if I remember correct) asked me for help to have someone pick him up at around 59 miles. He got a neck pain so he could not continue. I stopped for about half hour to accompany with him. I tried to call Bill for help but there was no cell sites for both Sprint (my phone) and Verizon (his phone). So I took his number down and also gave him Bill's mobile number. I then continue to reach the third check point and told one of the volunteer there to pick him up.
The setup for the ebike was energy efficient. The first half (first 51 miles) the Speedict indicated total watt hours used was 455Wh. I believe part of the reason was I coasted a lot and the advantage of the skinny low rolling resistance tires. I was very surprised I could coast at above 20mph for a very long duration (like miles after miles). I do not have the data recorded on my way back because the Speedict Android app caused the phone to crash (twice during the race). I am in the process of recharging the pack with the iCharger 3010b and I will report back the total capacity was used.
Since this is a role call thread. I will made another post about my electric bike setup. I have a lot to talk about my setup especially the Adrian_SM Commuter Booster Alpha kit was awesome. The friction drive did not let me down for the whole race even in the rain. I have inspected and confirmed there was zero mechanical failure or near zero degradation for the friction drive except the attached "3M Outdoor Thread" was partially degraded due to the wet tire had sands and small rocks stick to it during the tire rotation. I will have a long positive commentary/observation on the friction drive soon.
All in all, a mountain bike frame with wider tires is more suitable for racing in the rain. I will setup a backup ebike for the unforeseeable situation like this just in case next time.
Here are photos taken:
Prior the race:
MrBill and SoSauty:
SoSauty and Lyen (me) > notice my bike on the right with the tires that were way too skinny for use in the rain:
Registration Desk:
Starting Line:
I got passed by SoSauty:
SoSauty finished his second checkpoint returning at around 52 miles:
The fun factor to me was to let the roadies pass me on flat and catch up with them when going uphill with surprise.
See below:
I want a set of those wheels :wink: :
I almost crash here (notice I went to the opposite lane trying to maneuver the bike back to a controllable situation):
First Checkpoint at around 34 miles:
MrBill's Recumbent Ebike with Zach riding:
Other interesting race bikes:
After the race:
MrBill and Lyen (me):
The friction drive unit, controller, and battery survived and got the job done after the 102 miles race even in the rain:
Video is being uploaded on Youtube. It may takes a while since the whole thing recorded was over 21GB on the GoPro Hero2 at 1080P.
SoSauty, thanks for the beef jerky! Chewing it while riding really helped pushing the man power to the extreme.
). E-bikers are as tough as the 100 bike purist that pedalled the distant.
