4500+ Miles US Ebike Tour - August 2014

Sweet VC!

Ill be sure to read through that thread in detail! I love an adventure chronicle :)

The way I figure I can do upwards of 200 miles per day, is simply because of the ~1400W or so of onboard charger I'm going to carry.It's about 8 hours of actual riding and about 4 hours of charging (including some charging which can be performed while while I'm sleeping)
 
Tomorrow is the day. Secondary charger is all setup. Charging at 1200-1400W. Should be interesting... Let's see what kind of failures/adventures will occur.... video updates to follow!
 
Good luck. It will surely be a great experience and a good story to tell.
 
awesome adventure! I wish i could join you....maybe next year....no time off at the new job yet. :(

If you get stuck anywhere east of the Mississipi give me a call. I'll come running with a wheel,controller or anything ya need bud.

Totally defining the word EPIC.
 
Thud said:
awesome adventure! I wish i could join you....maybe next year....no time off at the new job yet. :(

If you get stuck anywhere east of the Mississipi give me a call. I'll come running with a wheel,controller or anything ya need bud.

Totally defining the word EPIC.


Sweet! I hope I don't have to take you up on that, but failures of some kind are certainly to be expected :)
 
In spirit, you aren't riding alone. So many of us have that dream, then work, illness, etc crush it.

I'm champing at the bit for fall to come, It's just not riding season here at all now, unless you have cash for a motel room.
 
dogman said:
In spirit, you aren't riding alone. So many of us have that dream, then work, illness, etc crush it.

I'm champing at the bit for fall to come, It's just not riding season here at all now, unless you have cash for a motel room.


Good to know Dogman, Ill keep that in mind while headed west.

BTW, Here is my intro video, I really just uploaded it for my charity site for the Sierra club, but it is the first official video.

[youtube]MePwX1DW10A[/youtube]

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/troyrank/ebikexc

Please excuse my awkward diction, and ridiculous hair, and laziness for not changing out of my work clothes:)
 
All loaded up and made it out to work today. The GPS logger is officially running. Even though I still have a few more hours of work left. 19 down 4300+ to go....:)
 
Awesome bro, good speed and many a tail wind...
 
I also think 200miles a day is a little high to expect, especially if you don't have another month afterward to recover. :lol:

But if you can really do that much, you might try extending the trip just a little southward in Arizona, and head thru Phoenix. ;)

You'd have a place to stop for the night (or day would probalby be more realistic, and ride at night once you're this far south); I have a presently still-unused bedroom with it's own shower, and a secure place to charge and store bikes. :)

(and depending on the voltage you use, up to 30A+ of charging current, at 66V or less, with the big Sorenson + server PSU).

As long as you're not allergic to dogs, of course. :p
 
I would love to do cross-country tours. I just don't have the money or time. : ( Again the job thing...

But I would do it on a recumbent trike. I would carry at least 5KWh of lithium batteries and have a 1.4KW charger. That would guarantee me the 200 miles a day. Good luck and we all here are looking forward to the updates!
 
We ride 20 miles a day and are whipped. Enjoy your youth while you can grinds145. As a former New Yorker (city) Rochester is nice, now. Not so much in December.
otherDoc
 
I made it to buffalo today, staying at a friends house, in areal bed.

I will hopefully have video updates soon, but I'm slow on editing.

I had to work today but I left officially this morning. I did 97 total miles today with one charge at work and a quick half hour opportunity charge at a 7-1.

Unfortunately my range and efficiency is pretty terrible with all the camping gear. Only getting 30wh per mile hike averaging 24mph. Not good. I have to find a way to lessen the load. The aerodynamicdrag is killing me but uI'll figure something out. If if that. Means ditching some spare clothes and parts. Also my backpack is too heavy. Need to get the weight off of my back and off of my seat....

My brand new phone case broke the zippers off immediately the first time I tried to use it on the handlebars mount. Not happy about this .

100 ish down another 42 more to go
Beautiful scenery and great roads between Rochester and buffalo though. No complaints.
 
You are finding out exactly what I did. When my finances changed, the dream went from ride motel to motel, to ride and camp. It's not as much the weight that is the problem as the bulk and the wind drag.


The magic number for my battery capacity to make it to the next plug out here is 25 wh/mi. To do that with all the wind drag requires running 15 mph on the flat, maybe 18 if a tailwind. Pedal about 50 watts, or I'll tire out too much.

5 hours of that, and I'm done for the day. But I'm all weak now.

Good luck and godspeed. I'd also love it if you got this way, but in this climate, don't ride here till September. Or at least make it to air conditioning by noon. I remember trying to sleep in the truck one august night near Phoenix. No way I could sleep. Rolling into Blythe at dawn, it was 102 F. That was the low that day!

On the return, I-10 to Las Cruces is a reasonably flat route if you can stand the heat by then. Then turn north past Wineboy's place towards Amarillo. Or from Phoenix through Globe to Lordsburg makes sense too. Or if you ride the I-40 route to Amarillo, I could ride along for a day or so. Got a place to stay in Albuquerque. Might be worth it to avoid the taller mountains on the return leg.

I'm doing a lot of night riding now myself. Walmart is open at 4 am.

If you can't make it to the coast after all, consider a loop down the east side of the rockies. Detour west at Colorado Springs or Pueblo, then south to Alamosa Colorado will be a flat route, but with spectacular mountains in view. Continuing south, you will be on the right road to hit Taos and Santa Fe, then ride home along the Santa Fe trail. Not so south or hot, spectacular scenery and history. And not over the worst passes in Colorado. But if you do have the time, but not enough to do the coast, 50 mile days in those Colorado mountains will be epic.
 
I am a little late seeing this. If you need electricity, food, place to sleep in Buffalo? Let me know. Best way to reach me is telephone. My contact information is on the web site in my signature.

Good luck with the bike ride.
 
marty said:
I am a little late seeing this. If you need electricity, food, place to sleep in Buffalo? Let me know. Best way to reach me is telephone. My contact information is on the web site in my signature.

Good luck with the bike ride.

Thanks Marty! I ended up staying with my childhood friend last night which worked out nicely.

I made it to Ohio today just barely. Tons of rain later in the day sucked. I was stuck in a gas station on the ghetto for like 3 hours. S
Gorgeous absolute perfect beginning to the say. Note made me ridiculously good coffee with this chemex sp? Thing. Riding along new York route 5 along Lake Erie was really nice. So close to home yet a whole new world.

I stopped at a gorgeous little marina and charged in Whitefield NY I believe. It was gorgeous with a waterfall, covered charging area right on the lake and best of all Really nice people. I wish they could all be like that.

I made is 135 miles today, quite a bit short of what I have to maintain, but the pace and efficiency is getting better. Down well into roughly 25 wh per mile, averaging about 20 to 22. Pretty darn good for a 150 lb bicycle and gear and an aerodynamic nightmare of a sleeping bag. Staying at evergreen Lake Park campsite tonight. My tent site is soaked but I have a tarp barrier so hopefully I'll dry out rather than absorb more moisture.
 
If you can ride that far every day, you'll blow away anything I could do. I'm dying by mile 60-70, even before I got sick. Anything over 100 miles a day is balls out.

Go for it. Stickied this thread for now, so all will find it easy each day, and it won't get buried if you are too busy riding to post for a week or so.
 
This is awesome Troy! Keep it up, you can make it!

Perhaps try to get creative one of the next few nights and make yourself a faring out of some plastic/cardboard/garbage etc. It end up giving you another 10-20 miles each day of battery.

What about the GPS, can we track you somewhere?
 
A high bar. Your point of no return is at the 1,175 mark right?. Assess then if you want to give it a shot and if not turn back in order to complete a more leisurely 2,250 mile shakedown tour and try again next year. it sounds like you need to be back for work so no margin if you are running behind schedule?

Regular bike endurance records/attempts do show what can be done, but strong mental and physical effort needed. My 2 cents:

start very early each day.
meticulously check bike each night. you may be able to pre-empt future problems and set up "pit stop" or two at LBS if necessary.
ditch anything you don't need and get to absolute bare bones - now
slow to zen relaxed body 20mph average
stop every 15 to 20 miles for 10 min. stretch and 100 to 150 calories protein snack/fluid intake. protein is your friend. sugar your enemy.
at longer stops, do anything you can to restore body and mind.
wind noise is a big fatigue factor. see what you can do to minimize. 10 decibel sound reduction still gives you traffic awareness.
the further along you go, the more you ratchet up the intensity, peaking the last 7 to 10 days. ie you are still at the early phase so cut yourself some slack.
 
mlt34 said:
This is awesome Troy! Keep it up, you can make it!

Perhaps try to get creative one of the next few nights and make yourself a faring out of some plastic/cardboard/garbage etc. It end up giving you another 10-20 miles each day of battery.

What about the GPS, can we track you somewhere?

Yeah man, friend me on Facebook.com/electricbike. (Troy Rank is my name) and I am posting life GPS plots. I don't want to post them totally publicly but I'd be happy to friend you on there.

I'm in Cleveland now, heading towards Kokomo Indiana, by way of Sandusky. After that I'm headed out towards Iowa/kansas/Denver. If anybody on the forum would like to have my smelly ass for a night (even if it's just a backyard tent spot) let me know, I can use some more defined stops. It is really difficult to plan where I'm going to be at the end of the day, as well as budget time for updates/videos.

[youtube]4KpF4nTaYnY[/youtube]
 
I am in Des Moines Iowa. You are more than welcome to stay the night here. I have half a dozen E-Bikes and would love to swap stories. We also have a very good E-Bike shop if you need any thing repaired.
 
jerrydubois3 said:
I am in Des Moines Iowa. You are more than welcome to stay the night here. I have half a dozen E-Bikes and would love to swap stories. We also have a very good E-Bike shop if you need any thing repaired.

Sweet! I am heading that direction, so I'll keep you posted. I made it 146.6 miles today, a little more than yesterday, and over the average that I need to sustain, but still not as high as I would like to see. I accidentally reset my CA today so I don't have the full efficiency numbers, but I'm still cruising at about 20mph and 25 wh/mile which is damn good. I learned some important lessons though, so I should be a little more efficient. Part of the issue is that I'm always stopping to take videos and stuff. Any time that is stopped and I'm not charging is bad. I have to avoid those situations.

I'm in Sandusky right now. I actually rode my e-bike over this cosway (as they call it) which is like a long pier that goes out to cedar point. I don't know how it happened but apparently you're not supposed to, and there are signs everywhere to this effect. Anyway, it was an adventure and it was amazing to see it right at sunset.

What else? I stopped at the rock and roll hall of fame in Cleveland. that was so nice. I didn't get a full charge though, which didn't turn out to hurt me. It's difficult because I don't trust my end-of-discharge cutoff, because I have mismatched cells (without getting into it too far) so I'm overly cautious and I have a lot of capacity that Im afraid to use.

My main anderson connector block is getting SUPER hot under charge. I'm pushing roughly 17A, which isn't much different than a fairly normal discharge rate, but the air moving over the connector helps cool it down when I'm moving. Worst case Ill just get rid of those bitches. I don't even really need them anymore anyway, I could just solder them solid. It's nice for 4s pack balancing sometimes though.

I need to treat this more like a marathon, I've been going hard (on that tetrameter) and I need to turn it back a little bit, that being said, I want way more miles tomorrow!
 
Awesome, keep it up! I'd say that if you have to choose between updates and making progress on the road, choose the road. We all want to hear how things are going, but we want you to succeed even more! If it takes a couple days between updates, so be it.

I friended you and sent a PM on Facebook, it might be in your 'others' inbox.
 
Just wanted to say that I'm following your trip closely, you're doing something I'd love to do myself.

I really wish you the best of luck, loving all the videos and updates.

I friend requested you on facebook too just in case you post updates there first, keen to know how you're getting on!

You're pioneering long-distance ebiking.

All the best.
Kudos
 
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