2.04.2023 Which part of "touring" doesn't Bosch understand?

 ~o~

 Sunday 2nd April +1C/34F. Clear and bright after an overnight frost. A cool, sunny day is expected. With lighter winds than yesterday from the chilly NE. A high of 6C after lunch. What lunch?

 Up at 6am. Planning on a ride of about 70-75km. I have researched all the potential routes. There are many and all are thoroughly familiar. By car and by trike. The small difference in distance of the various routes is negligible on an e-bike. Or should be? Choose one.

 Avoiding the most heavily trafficked roads may not be so essential on a Sunday. Though the main roads are poorly served for cycling over considerable stretches. With only a filthy, worn out, white stripe to signify a cost-free, rarely swept nod to the cyclist. More often abused by the farmer for his industrial strength equipment. The shortest route is via empty lanes and prettier, but inevitably hillier. The battery has been on charge since I got up. It won't be long now.

 8.00 2C/36F. Still charging. I left it at 53% after yesterday's ride. I wonder if the silly, Bosch control panel will work with the GripGrab bifurcated mitts? 😂 I had better take them anyway. Just in case. Though I haven't had cold hands in my normal GripGrab gloves recently.

 GripGrab have restyled their gloves. With much less of the grippy stuff on the fingers and palms. I passed them over while window shopping recently. Though my three pairs of their lighter gloves are completely worn out. They used to be so reliable. I'd buy a new pair after thousands of safe and comfortable miles on the trikes had taken their toll. The palms would eventually become too slippery. When the 'snakeskin' wore out. 

 13.30 6C/43F. Full sunshine. I have returned from a four hour ride of 84.5km. [50miles] Averaging 22kmh using 76% Eco at 86rpm average for a total so far of 727km. The battery was depleted to 24%. I suffered from saddle soreness from 30km onwards at intervals. This was despite wearing my best bibs over thin longjohns. Now I need to be thinking about yet another saddle?

I took the scenic route up the west coast. Hoping to avoid the wind. It didn't help. I was leaning on the wind in exposed stretches of road. My legs muscles were frequently burning with pain from the effort involved. I kept the cadence above 90rpm as much as I could. 

 Yet again the estimated range was a complete and utter nonsense. According to the Kiox I should have been able to complete the entire ride in Tour mode alone. Even though I mostly used Eco mode the range was right down to only 20km at the end.

 I felt very tired towards the end of the ride. Eco and a tired rider make a piss very poor combination. It needs larger doses of Tour mode to manage even the smallest rise. Yet that mode rapidly depletes the battery. Just when the battery is already at its lowest ebb.

 The Eco [Economy] mode doesn't increase a weak or tired rider's output enough to matter. It is almost as if Eco is merely compensating for the extra weight of the e-bike. I was climbing hills at only 15kph in Tour mode just to make forward progress! The bike needs a very much larger capacity battery to be useful on longer rides. Yet is sold as a touring bike. False advertising!

 Or buy a second battery? One in the bike going to my target in Tour mode. The other to get me home in Tour mode. Imagine how much petrol you could buy for the price of a spare Bosch 625 Power Tube battery? 7000kr = £825!!! 

 Quote from a Bosch advert: Long range, low weight, easy to charge. As in: Charge a fortune? The damned thing is only good for 50 miles in Eco mode. Half that in Tour mode. Doubling the capacity and range would be a minimum for realistic touring. It weighs 3.6kg or 8lbs! Low weight? Seriously? How, on earth, would you transport that in a pannier? The battery is long and thin and very heavy! It would need to be strapped firmly to a rack.

 Bosch's own E-bike Connect app hasn't paired with my mobile phone for over a week now. So I am relying on another app for route maps. Other Bluetooth apps have no problem connecting instantly. The phone just searches [and searches] for hours. The Kiox was turned on before I set off and it still hadn't connected after four hours. With the phone in my jacket pocket less than a meter from the Kiox on the handlebars. 

 Whoops! I left the bike battery in the hall while I made a late lunch. Where the sun raised the surface temperature from 14C to 45C in five minutes! I have put the battery on a cold, tile floor to cool off. Before I dare to recharge it. It soon cooled off. So I put it back on charge for the next dose of serial masochism.

19.30 38F. It was sunny all afternoon so I warmed the house with the greenhouse. I had Sunday dinner a couple of days ago. So I'm having toast.

~o~