1 day, 220 km solo ebike ride, Sydney to Collector report

voicecoils

voicecoils

1 MW
Joined
Sep 16, 2007
Messages
2,173
Location
Sydney, NSW, Australia
Code: 
Update: Maurice finished riding for the day after 220 km from Sydney to Collector, NSW. 80 km short of his 300 km goal. Next time more batteries!

This morning, Maurice (bossman at Glow Worm) set off on the longest single day ride any of us at the shop have attempted.

There's been some recent discussion and interest in long rides so I thought I would start this thread to track his progress throughout the day.

The plan is to start early and arrive before dark riding from Sydney to Canberra about 300 km (186 miles). His goal is to arrive in under 12 hours with an average speed over 25 km/h (15.5 mph).

He's riding a eZee Torq, equipped with Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres, Shimano Deore drivetrain, eZee front motor, two 504 Wh batteries in parallel (one behind the seat and the other in the side pannier bag). The other pannier bag has a spare 370 Wh battery, 160 W charger and puncture repair kit. Besides the extra battery, the only other change from the stock bike is a Cane Creek Thudbuster seatpost to hopefully make the long ride a bit more comfortable! :lol:

Here's how things looked when he started off this morning:
torq deore tour.jpg

I'll keep updating the thread today as he progresses and feel free to jump in with questions or comments.

Cheers, Abraham
 
After starting just after 6AM and passing through Sydney's M5 tolls 23 km later, Maurice is now out on the open road.



Hopefully he's covering some good ground because he has at least 200 km to go still today!

One nice thing he has is a pedal assist cruise control dial. Basically it's like a throttle but doesn't spring back and only works while you're peddling. He needs to pedal the whole way anyways, but this helps hold a constant speed and/or minimise power use to conserve battery.

Cheers, Abraham
 
Cool. Good Luck Maurice. Epic effort.

If he has a smart phone you could get him to have live tracking of his progress with this application. Works on iPhone and android phones.

http://www.mapmytracks.com/

- Adrian
 
adrian_sm said:
Cool. Good Luck Maurice. Epic effort.

If he has a smart phone you could get him to have live tracking of his progress with this application. Works on iPhone and android phones.

http://www.mapmytracks.com/

- Adrian
Click to expand...

Yep, there's much better ways to track a ride! I'll SMS him the mapmytracks link, thanks! Perhaps he can get it fired up at his next rest stop.

Last update puts him on the Hume Highway now but only about 60 km from his starting point. He's worried about headwinds and battery capacity :shock:

I told him to bring 2 kWh ! :evil: He wanted to bring 1 kWh, so we compromised at 1.5 kWh. But, then he secretly took a 370 Wh pack as his third battery instead of the larger 504 Wh pack. He saved 900 grams doing that.

Hope your happy now Maurice, riding into the wind and missing 134 Wh you could have had! :lol:
 
1370wh/300km= 4.57 wh/km
4.57 wh/km x 25kph = 114watts average assist
So if he sticks legal 250w and only uses it half the time bye should be sweet.


Good luck.
 
Good luck to him! Some of those 110 Zones is going to be a bit hairy...

You did tell him that they've shut down Intercity trains from Canberra back to Sydney for the next couple days, and he needs to ride back though, right? :D (Kidding)

My preferred tracking software is "Glympse" The tracking app works on iPhone, Android, and Windows Mobiles, but can also be viewed normal from web browsers.

Finally, not to put a dampner on what is a fairly rigorous endurance trial for both man and machine, I've had friends do similar rides (280km) on pure pedal only in far less than 12 hours. A fit non professional iron man usually does the 180km biking leg in about 5-6 hours - that's after getting off a 4km swim, and knowing they still have another marathon (42km run) after them.
 
good luck guys, the weather looks set to be dry at least , and not too hot.
But damm,... that road is dull & boring even in a fast car, so i hope he has plenty of entertainment on board !

PS,: We bikers could learn from cruising yachties.. who only set off on a trip when the wind is blowing favourably !!
... It makes a BIG difference !

Anyone from ES down in Canberra to meet him ?
 
Isn't Voicecoils from Canberra?

KiM
 
Here's the picture so far:

syd-canberra-10am.jpg

Not looking great :lol: Hurry up Maurice!

@adrian_sm

Yes, the ride is truly electric assist, he's got to put in a big effort himself to make it in reasonable time. Even 115W average is a big help into the wind, hills or when you start to lose energy yourself.

@Saunder

I agree this ride would be possible on pedal power alone, especially by athletes. One of the great things about ebikes is that they can make big adventures accessible to ordinary (not super fit) people.

He's riding in normal clothes, on a bike with features for practical riding like lights, mudguards, rack and pannier bag with clothes etc for the next few days in Canberra. About 40kg total plus rider weight. He doesn't have a 7 kg road bike, lycra skin suit, or a support vehicle to hand him food as he rides or swap out to a new bike if he gets a flat :D

Compared to the performance riders put out over races like the paris roubaix, ordinary riders look like weaklings! :lol:

@Hillhater

Wind makes a huge difference. With a little tailwind you can sit on 30 km/h very easily with minimal pedaling.

He doesn't have a E-S welcoming party set up, but I think his mum will have a giant bowl of pasta ready tonight at least :lol:

@Everyone

Thinking about a live tracking app still. Does anyone know which ones might use the least battery power on his iphone 3G?
 
I think the mapmyride is the lowest power one. It is setup for endurance events.
 
AussieJester said:
Isn't Voicecoils from Canberra? KiM
Click to expand...

That's me dude, I'm in Sydney! (from the States originally though)

Voicecoils is my over-volted alter ego. I joined the 'sphere long before I started working at Glow Worm, but for stuff that relates to our shop I post from this account. We all have access to it which is why I sign my name at the bottom so you know who's posting.

Cheers, Abraham
 
Stopping at the golden arches would surely be a bad sign!

He's over 100 km now, making slow progress it seems. :lol:

A couple more photos:

syd-can-truckstop.jpg

15km-to-mittagong.jpg

Update: Now he's stopped for lunch, get back on your bike Maurice otherwise you'll never make it!

lunchstop.jpg
 
Just called Maurice and told him to download mapmytracks and to get his ass back on the bike.

torq-motos.jpg

Barely over 100km and he had lunch at a winery. Not a good sign :lol: :roll:
 
I think there's a quiche behind the garnish... But even so, they don't call 'em quiche eating fairies for nothing!

... That's not a knife to the left of his plate either...

THIS
crocodile-dundee-screenshot-you-call-that-a-knife111.jpg
is a knife

(Gotta keep up the Aussie stereotypes, right?)
 
Love the photos of the ebike against the backdrop of trucks, and motorbikes. :lol:

Keep pedalling Maurice. Gooooooo ! ! !
 
Sorry for the lack of updates everyone. We get waves of customers in the shop so sometimes it's quiet and other times mobbed.

It looks like Maurice is riding a crap pace and running low on batteries :lol:

About 2 hours ago, he'd done 150 km and stopped again to charge a battery for 30 minutes. He wrote on twitter:

Code: 
Lunch crisis meeting. Present: me. Low batteries, 2 hrs behind schedule, worst of all, left knee packing in. Looking at contingencies..

I say, GO MAURICE! and I also am chuckling at his insistence to not pack more batteries.

News of a bad knee is not good, however on the plus side he's had great weather all day.

It's now 5PM and I think he's still done less then 200 km.

I think there's a chance he'll bail unless he's up for another 3-4 hours of solid riding.

Fortunately the eZee Torq comes standard now with a 700 lumen front light powered by the battery, so he should be able to see if he's still riding in the dark!
 
glowwormbicycles said:
Fortunately the eZee Torq comes standard now with a 700 lumen front light powered by the battery, so he should be able to see if he's still riding in the dark!
Click to expand...
As long as he keeps some juice in the batteries for lumens...
 
Should still have light till 6.20 pm? Bugger about the knee - not good. Is he able to charge along the way or is that out of the question?
 
Looks like he's packing it in about 220 km from Sydney.

Code: 
Ebiking away again. 20km more to Collector where world's best dad will meet me to take me home
Posted 30 mins ago.

:roll:

:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

voicecoils
1 day, 2 kWh, 288 km Sydney loop ride on 1 charge
2
Replies
47
Views
5,870
whatever
whatever
voicecoils
Cape York to Sydney ebike ride - events along the way
2
Replies
25
Views
9,012
voicecoils
voicecoils
Back
Top