Christmas Day Ride!

I'm heading out for a day of riding, gonna test out my latest abrasive strip idea (wet/dry sanding mesh about 100 grit I think) since I started wearing through the 80G harbor freight cheap stuff. 700C is a lot more demanding that a nice wide 26 inch I think, and if it were not for the rain, I could just go with a case hardened steel sleeve on the motor, but I will find a happy medium till I get my new tire.

Gonna try a bike path heading towards Gresham Oregon and go about 50 miles today, I promise to take pics!

oh it was so nice and quiet today,actually i still cant hear traffic.i went for a small ride and nothing is open here.my city is quite nice without traffic,i gotta look into moving,going somewhere with little traffic -people.have a good one.

Hmmm...either it was such a good ride that even 10 hours later you're still out there, or it was so bad that you don't want to talk about it? :lol:

I went out for a ride, too, since my crazy sister came back today and the only way to get her to leave is to leave myself (she won't stay in the house without someone else there).

Was around 330-4pm when I left, and 430-5pm when I got back (dont' remember for sure), after around 30-45 minutes of slowly cruising around, typically at 13-14MPH on CrazyBike2.

I meant to take the camera to get pics, since Christmas Day is the only day of the year that most places have empty parking lots, and usually the streets are pretty empty too. But I forgot the camera (and my sunglasses, which made it pretty hard to see going west in the bright afternoon sun).

This year, however, the main streets were just as full of traffic as any typical weekday afternoon of the same time. I did have to ride faster when on the main streets with traffic, but tried not to be on those much because it was not fun like I had hoped.

Side streets and neighborhoods were empty of traffic, though lots of parked cars, some in pretty stupid places, very unsafe if traffic had been anywhere near normal in those areas. Was able to ride pretty slow on all these streets.

Good news is that even though traffic was kind of bad, the actual drivers seemed to be being nice to each other and me, and there were a fair amount of bicycles on the road and sidewalks--mostly kids and teenagers but a few adults (mostly couples or groups). I'd say about 15-20 bikes in view at any given time on main streets (which have a view of at least a mile in each direction the street runs), and one or two on side streets (which don't go nearly as far).

I stopped for discussions about CrazyBike2 with a couple of people, who were interested more in the custom-built recycled aspect of it than the motorization, though they did wait afterward just to see me drive off silently without pedalling. More than a few families that were out in front yards with their kids or having talks by their cars as they prepared to leave (or were arriving) noticed me as I went by them, and since I was going so slow I could hear them talking, with lots of the kids saying things like "that's soo cool!". Hard not to notice me, as I was wearing my tie-dyed sweater and the swirly-colored Nutcase bike helmet, plus being on CrazyBike2 itself. :lol:

Was fun, and a nice day (about 70F or so, nice and sunny, with a breeze but no real wind in most places).


Since I didnt' get any pics, some dry data:
5.154miles
19.7mph max
11.8mph avg
26m 11s riding time

100.6Wh
19.5Wh/mile
1.998Ah
38.44Ap

56.6Vstart
52.7Vrest
43Vmin

(crossposted to CB2 thread for posterity)

Beautifull day here too. Went out for a 15 ah ride in the dirt, about 20 miles of roads and trails.

amberwolf said:

Hmmm...either it was such a good ride that even 10 hours later you're still out there, or it was so bad that you don't want to talk about it? :lol:

I went out for a ride, too, since my crazy sister came back today and the only way to get her to leave is to leave myself (she won't stay in the house without someone else there).

Was around 330-4pm when I left, and 430-5pm when I got back (dont' remember for sure), after around 30-45 minutes of slowly cruising around, typically at 13-14MPH on CrazyBike2.

I meant to take the camera to get pics, since Christmas Day is the only day of the year that most places have empty parking lots, and usually the streets are pretty empty too. But I forgot the camera (and my sunglasses, which made it pretty hard to see going west in the bright afternoon sun).

Click to expand...

Funny you mention forgetting a camera, I went to the trail head of the local bike path, went to take a picture and realized that I didn't even have the fanny pack that has my camera, wallet, KEYS! and other things.

This was about 5 miles into the ride, and involves having gone down the very long and steep hills in town, so I bucked up, went back up the 7 - 9% hill (this is the gradual one that is about 1/2 - 1 mile longer, but gentler than the other main route) and got my back, and started over again, but by this time it was just starting to get a little dark (4 pm). I did take pics, but I am in a time crunch this morning, I had been testing a different abrasive on the motor (Kepler Drive) and it was great, but not long lasting, made it to about 23 miles then it started to wear out, it was the abrasive screen that comes in rolls that plumbers use to scuff up copper pipe before sweating it.

This time around I am going with my original instinct, and using a tire's tread to cover the can. It's a used tire in good shape with lots of rain grooved aggressive street tread, square knobbies, so not a cyclocross tread, but close, so I think it should grip fine, but anything else I have used with this skinny 700c tire has either wore out, or wore down the tire too much.

I will post pics eventually, but I need to get ready for church now.

I rode to the convenience store for some cranberry sauce. It was nice to get out of the house.

Glad to see people getting out and enjoying the holiday E-Bike Style! 8)

Well, there not much to look at as it was early evening by the time I got back on the road, but here ya go:



This is the "trail head" for the bike path just leaving Oregon City, sorry my camera is nothing special to begin with, and in the dusk, about worthless.






Here is where I attempted to give you a look at the river, you can see it through the trees, but just barely.





This is a bridge that used to be for the railroad that is now for bikes and peds only.



Here is the bridge over the highway in Milwaukee (hwy 99, Mc Loughlin Blvd) and now it's REALLY dark, gotta love the Magic Shine! Just wish my camera could show you how much brighter it is!

We did about 10 mi yesterday but had to turn back with the wind chill below 20F. My feet and hands were numb and my wifes hands were numb even with shooters mittens over gloves. This is me getting ready. Way too cold to ride even with the balaklavas over our noses!
otherDoc