sydney to the gold coast by e-trike

[Diamondback]

hi all.

thought i would start a thread for my tour from sydney to the gold coast.

there are 4 riders, im the only one with e-assist. i will be riding my Scorpion FS recumbent trike with Ezee motor.
i will be pulling a Radical Design Cyclone iv trailer loaded up with about 30kg of camping gear.

i have about 900wh useable, in 2 battery packs. one 12s2p 16,000mah and one 12s2p 10,000mah.
when pulling the trailer i can usually get 6wh per km. most days we hope to cover about 80km.

we have estimated the trip to take 18-19 days, and we will not be riding every day.
here's a pic and short video showing the touring setup im using....



[youtube]12NpVFXBkBU[/youtube]


we are leaving sydney on the 4th of may. i will post reports and pictures as often as i can.
3g and wifi coverage may be limited, so i can't guarantee that i will be able to update daily.

the trip is about 1,200km, with the route that we have loosely planned.

also, i have 2x9 watt solar panels on top of the trailer that are charging 2 usb battery packs. 1x 5000mah and 1x 6600mah.
these will be used to keep bike computers and phones etc charged each night.

this is my first attempt at a long distance tour, and im hoping it won't be the last.....
i have done a few 200km weekend rides with camping overnight to test the gear.

i will post updates when we get going and then i will try to have an update each night once we have camp set up.

Jason.

 

[voicecoils]

You look well prepared!

Will you be carrying all the pedal-only cyclists stuff too? :lol:

Good luck, we'll be looking forward to your trip log.

 

[Diamondback]

everyone has to carry their own gear. i can just barely get my own stuff in the trailer.

here's a breakdown of what i have in the trailer.

1x jumbo size sleeping bag rated to -5c
1x self inflating mattress
1x self inflating pillow
1x gas cooker
4x gas cans
1x led lantern
1 meanwell 24v PSU
2x Turnigy Fatboy 8 chargers
cutlery and cooking supplies
spare tube for the trailer

and on top of the trailer i have a 2 man tent and the two solar panels plus the 2x usb batteries.

the panniers have the batteries for the trike, and a couple days of camp food, plus 3 days of clothes. and some tools and spare tubes for the trike.
the tailrider bag will carry my wallet, phone and a few other items that need to be accessed more often then the panniers.

jason

 

[t3sla]

Sounds like an awesome adventure, may your travels be puncture free

Maybe a multi-tool would be handy and don't forget to GPS log, always fun reflecting on a long trips data points

 

[bowlofsalad]

Very awesome. I hope you are well prepared for the trip. What sort of tire setup do you have? Meaning outer tube, liner, inner tube and so on.
Do you feel that 'long vehicle' sign is really necessary? I am not saying it hurts anything, of course.

Have you ever tried http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001VTQNVO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001VTQNVO&linkCode=as2&tag=almar01-20 one of these? I've got one, it's great, absolutely zero blind spot and the view is perfect. Personally I don't know how people live with a handlebar mounted mirror. The ability to swivel and change what you see with the slightest turn of your head makes a big difference for myself. I recommend them.

It was very wise of you to take a few weekend test trips before a really long trip. I am sure you learned a lot.

 

[Diamondback]

The long vehicle flag was more of an in joke among friends.
It is reflective however. So it may well add a little to the visibility.

For tyres, I'm running schwalbe marathon plus in 20x1.75
With mr tuffy tyre liners inside. Schwalbe tubes all round.

The trike has standard marathon tyres.
They don't make the plus in the right size for the trailer.

I used to have a helmet mounted mirror when I had a regular
DF bike. It was indeed great, but now that I have the recumbent
I find that the mirrycycle mirrors are more than adequate.

Jason.

 

[DAND214]

the tailrider bag will carry my wallet, phone and a few other items that need to be accessed more often then the panniers.

Smart move on the phone. NO TEXTING WHILE DRIVING!

Have a great adventure.

Dan

 

[bowlofsalad]

Strange, I found it totally opposite with the mirrors. I really can't see myself using anything other than helmet/glasses mounted on recumbent, to each their own I suppose.

I think your tire setup may be wise. I think if I was going the distance you are, I'd be using tire liners as well. But I also use marathon plus, I don't know if there is a better tire for flat protection, but I am far from an expert in tire stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pSlu2okpqM

 

[Frakentrike]

i have about 900wh useable, in 2 battery packs. one 12s2p 16,000mah and one 12s2p 10,000mah.
when pulling the trailer i can usually get 6wh per km. most days we hope to cover about 80km.

we have estimated the trip to take 18-19 days, and we will not be riding every day.
>snip<
also, i have 2x9 watt solar panels on top of the trailer that are charging 2 usb battery packs. 1x 5000mah and 1x 6600mah.
these will be used to keep bike computers and phones etc charged each night.

I must have missed something, but how are you going to charge the main trike motor batteries?

You mention the solar panels are only for charging bike computers and phones, does that mean you'll be looking for a mains outlet every night for your motor batteries?

 

[Diamondback]

most nights we will be camping at camp grounds where i will have access to power to run the chargers that i mentioned in an earlier post.

i have a MW 24v psu and 2x turnigy fatboy 8 chargers for charging the main trike battery packs.
on the few nights where we will be bush camping, i hope that i have enough power for the 2 days.

i have done rough calculations that say i should have about 150-180km using both packs.
that should get me through those few nights with no power.

Jason

 

[adrian_sm]

Good luck with the trip Jason.

I am jealous.

- Adrian

 

[pdf]

Awesome! Will be riding along vicariously.

 

[Carlos Dewerchin]

Read about your planned trip. It seems quite an expedition to me, with lots of carefull planning. Keep us posted Jason ! Do you carry a locator so that your relatives can follow you in real time at home ?

Have a safe trip !

@+
mooniac

 

[Diamondback]

I have find my friends installed on my phone so friends and family can follow.

Only a few days remaining till I get underway now.
I'm heading to the airport tomorrow morning to pick up a couple that are riding with us.

It's all starting to become real. This is actually going to happen.
Been planning this ride for about a year now.

Jason.

 

[Diamondback]

update:

picked up the couple from the USA that flew in to ride with us on Wednesday morning.

Sharyn and Victor, nice folks.whom im sure ill get to know a lot better over the next 3 weeks or so.
there are 4 of us all together. Myself, a good friend Tony plus Sharyn and Victor.
im the only one on a recumbent trike, and the only one with e-assist.

Tony is riding a Surly long haul disc trucker. Sharyn and Victor are riding bike Friday's

im all packed up and ready for the trip. ready as i could ever be anyway.
the plan is for me to leave my place around 6:30am, ride over to parramatta (about 5-6km away)
to pick up the other 3 riders for this trip. then we all leave there around 7:am.

first night is in wisemans ferry, some 80km away.first half of the ride is fairly flat.
the second 40km is a bit hilly. some decent climbs up to around 11% in places.
there is one section of about 10km with a constant climb, plus a small section of unsealed road also.

all i have to do now is charge the batteries, have a hot shower and get some sleep.

i will try to post a group pic of the 4 of us with the bikes and gear in the morning and post it up here.
getting the pic is the easy part, figuring out how to upload it to photobucket (from the phone) is the part i haven't done yet.
then there's the resizing it so it's not too big for the forum.

the next update will follow sometime tomorrow.

Jason

 

[voicecoils]

Jason, if its easier for you to just email photos from your phone, email them to me and I'll post them up here as you ride.

Have fun! Cheers, Abraham

 

[Diamondback]

awesome offer.

thanks heaps.

Jason.

 

[Lebowski]

wow man 5 tires and all in their own track, you're going to have a lot of flats !

 

[Diamondback]

shouldn't have any flats.

i have marathon plus tyres, with tire liners ontop of that.
just had my first flat in 2200km a few weeks ago.

these tyres are amazing.

Jason

 

[MikeFairbanks]

Wow, so impressive. I'm inspired, excited, and wish you complete and total success. Think of what you could wasted money on. This isn't one of those things. You will remember your adventure for the rest of your life, and in time, even the bad parts will be remembered as good.

Good luck.


Hey, if you stop by Wolf Creek, and a guy offers you water and sleep at an obscure camp in the hills, just say "thank you, but no."

He does have a cute little laugh, however, and some cool campfire stories.

 

[voicecoils]

First update from Jason:

Group pic taken this morning just before leaving parramatta. Around 7:30am

Left to right are Tony, Myself, Victor and Sharyn.

Pic taken along Windsor road.

Historic Windsor. We have just arrived and are having a quick bite to eat.

I have covered the 41km using only 3.5ah.

 

[Diamondback]

Thanks to voicecoils for updating pictures.

We left parramatta at around 7:30am. Rode out through parramatta park to westmead,
past the hospital and the coke plant. Then on to Windsor road all the way to Windsor.
That was relatively flat and easy. I used 3.5ah to cover the 41km from my place to Windsor.

After a quick lunch at Windsor, we headed out to lower Portland via wilberforce.
Some very nice scenic country roads. Nice quiet roads too. Not a lot of vehicular traffic to deal with.

Lots of climbing in the second 50km of the day. 14% at one point. Over the lower Portland ferry, then along the hawkesburry river on river road oddly enough then we crossed the river on the webbs creek ferry.
Then another climb to the camp ground about 4km from the webbs creek ferry.

Camp all set up, I've had a shower and dinner (chicken schnitzel with chips and salad)

I have sent Abraham more pictures from today.

Stats from today's ride.

94.6km
9.68ah used
455.30 watt hours
4.8wh/km
494.1 human watt hours
Avg human watts 117
Average speed 15.7 Km/h

Tomorrow we have a full day of climbing. We are hoping to cover about 70km tomorrow.

Updates will follow tomorrow evening.

Jason.

 

[voicecoils]

Congrats on your first big day, lots of human watts used!

Here's the rest of Jason's Day 1 photos, click for a larger view or if your screen is not wide enough and the images are being chopped off:

The first of two ferry crossings for the day.

The ferry approaching. This is the lower Portland ferry

On the ferry !

Some really nice scenery around the hawkers burry river.

Sand stone cliff

The second ferry crossing of the day. This one is the webs creek ferry.

Tony and victor on the ferry. Sharyn is hiding behind tony.

Camp set up. Me on the left. Tony in the middle behind my trailer and sharyn and victor on the right.

Grabbing a sneaky free charge in the men's bathroom. (Shh. Don't tell management !)

It pays to have decent high rate charging equipment. I was able to charge the 9.6ah used today in about 45 minutes

 

[Diamondback]

Left wisemans ferry at around 7am. Rode the 30km to spencer. Used 3.73ah. Arrived at spencer at 10am.
Had a ham and cheese toasted sandwich.

The bridge to bridge boat race is on today. We could hear the boats racing past, but we didn't see any of them.
We did a 197m climb over 6km up and over mangrove mountain.

Covered only 64.4km today. Mainly due to the mountain climb.
11% for most of the climb. At one point I was going so slowly grinding up the mountain that
my garmin decided that I had stopped


Fish and chips for dinner tonight.
And there's no services where we are camped. So no shower tonight

We are camped at Kulnura tonight.

On to cessnock tomorrow. About 70km and mostly down hill !


Here's the stats for today.

64.4km
8.89ah used. (I hit LVC about 1km from our destination tonight)
412 watt hrs
6.4wh/km
433 human watts
117 average human watts.

I used the smaller 10ah pack today. LVC is set at 43.5v
Got 8.89 ah from it. Not bad.


Only took a few pictures today. I was too busy grinding up over the mountain.

I will email the pics to voicecoils shortly.

Jason.

 

[voicecoils]

Day 2 photo wrap up from Jason:

Pic of the 2nd ferry crossing of day 2 (wisemans ferry crossing)

On the ferry

Outside the spencer general store. Lots of Ducati's parked up

The spencer general store

Tony shortly after climbing mangrove mountain.

Mangrove Monday pony club

Glider just landed at upper mangrove soaring center

Campsite for night 2 set up