4500+ Miles US Ebike Tour - August 2014

[Warren]

Troy,

"I'll edit it down to a real movie at some point"

The whole time watching it I was thinking, "This is a decent documentary. I'd rent this from Netflix."

"850 miles in 11 days is hauling!"

No. That's 12 mph for 3.5 hours before lunch, and 3.5 hours after lunch, pretty easy. My buddy's retired brother-in-law just did his first brevet, 255.3 miles, 15 hours, 17.8 mph average. That is hauling!

 

[grindz145]

No. That's 12 mph for 3.5 hours before lunch, and 3.5 hours after lunch, pretty easy. My buddy's retired brother-in-law just did his first brevet, 255.3 miles, 15 hours, 17.8 mph average. That is hauling!

OK, now do it for 11 days.

 

[dequinox]

Finally made it through your youtube vlog, well done... what a journey! I loved the editing... there was just the right amount of commentary and highlight scenes. Congrats and let us know when the record sticks.

 

[grindz145]

Finally made it through your youtube vlog, well done... what a journey! I loved the editing... there was just the right amount of commentary and highlight scenes. Congrats and let us know when the record sticks.

Thanks man! The record has stuck my friend, it's up there and official and all that

I feel that my video blogging leaves a lot to be desired, but I'll pick it back up at some point.

Glad you enjoyed them!

 

[worldbicyclist]

Hey Troy,

registered just to say hello and thanks for the details and video log. I might try something similar in future, just found this forum today. I have done a couple of bike tours, but none with ebikes yet. Maybe we can chat one day, sharing experiences.

Cheers,
Patrick from http://www.worldbicyclist.com

 

[arkmundi]

Wow!

 

[grindz145]

Wow!

godspeed brother, that's what I'm talking about

 

[grindz145]

Hey Troy,

registered just to say hello and thanks for the details and video log. I might try something similar in future, just found this forum today. I have done a couple of bike tours, but none with ebikes yet. Maybe we can chat one day, sharing experiences.

Cheers,
Patrick from http://www.worldbicyclist.com

Anytime Patrick. I would love to watch someone elses video blogs from around the world. They would be 100x more interesting to my brief meddling in the midwestern US.

 

[rborger73]

Hey Troy,

registered just to say hello and thanks for the details and video log. I might try something similar in future, just found this forum today. I have done a couple of bike tours, but none with ebikes yet. Maybe we can chat one day, sharing experiences.

Cheers,
Patrick from http://www.worldbicyclist.com

Anytime Patrick. I would love to watch someone elses video blogs from around the world. They would be 100x more interesting to my brief meddling in the midwestern US.

I really think someone needs to do an "Ebike nation" sort of show, or long running docuseries using many people's journey's. Your's was great Troy. I looked forward to each update, and envied you out there doing it. I'm still aiming to do at least a Pittsburgh Pa to Raleigh Durham round trip sometime in the next couple months. If that goes well I want to eventually try to break your record. If not this summer, maybe next. Got 10,000 miles as of next month sometime on the bike since last April. Going to start doing a 100 mile day or two on the weekends soon. I normally do 40 to 50 miles a day commuting anyways.

 

[worldbicyclist]

The problem with doing this in countries outside the first world, or even the more remote parts of industrial nations like the Dempster highway or anything going North in Alaska/Canada, is that power plugs are incredibly hard to find. I recently cycled through Westafrica and for example in Guinea there is no power, unless you go into a larger city. They have about 5 of those. Even in the capital they either have to start a generator or wait till night, when power comes back. Some other countries are on a rotational system, like Zimbabwe or Nepal, with 8h power, 16h blackout, rinse, repeat.

There would be the need to generate the electricity yourself, be it solar panels, portable generators or magic.

 

[veloman]

Troy, were you ever stopped by police on this trip?
Did you pedal the whole time, or was there a lot of coasting while at 25-30mph? Just curious as to the reality of any trouble with decent speeds and not pedaling.

I've been doing some long rides lately outside the city here, and end up coasting a lot, and at 30mph in the shoulder. I save my energy for the hills where the power is needed and aero doesn't matter much. (for me, sitting is much more aero with my low seat, but I can't pedal sitting, though I am working on a new design to allow this - crank forward type).

 

[worldbicyclist]

From his video logs I remember that he said he only pedaled a few miles in total. Rest all done with power.

 

[grindz145]

From his video logs I remember that he said he only pedaled a few miles in total. Rest all done with power.

Only a few miles, with a dead battery

I think I've said this before, but I lost like 10 lbs on that trip, eating constantly. I really didn't pedal on the flats, but the hills and acceleration were still several thousand calories a day (that's what you get when you're on the bike for 15 hours in the day I guess)

Nobody has ever bothered me with respect to the law.

If you don't want to have issues, the key is to just have respect for other road users. At least that's been my experience over the past decade of use, and throughout the 10 states I rode though.

 

[veloman]

Cool, that's what I expected. And that is pretty much my style of ebiking. Which is a nice level of exercise for a 50 mile day. Doing 150, would be a fair workout. But still a LOT easier than traditional biking. I once did 186miles on my road bike when I was 17 (back in my racing days) and I was FRIED!

 

[grindz145]

Cool, that's what I expected. And that is pretty much my style of ebiking. Which is a nice level of exercise for a 50 mile day. Doing 150, would be a fair workout. But still a LOT easier than traditional biking. I once did 186miles on my road bike when I was 17 (back in my racing days) and I was FRIED!

no question.