~o~
Sunday 29th 63F/17C. Full sun all day after earlier cloud. Without the heatwave. A high of 20C/68F after lunch. Come to sunny Denmark. 😎 With a pleasant westerly breeze.
Like it hot? Denmark could see 30C/86F on Wednesday. That will make some [Danish] headlines. The media ignores the vast numbers of real people. Who die unpleasantly from heatstroke, every year. Estimated at 175,000, per year on average, for Europe alone. According to $oogle. Thank the assorted 10.000 [current] gods it's only "weather" and nothing to do with "Climate." You can't have climate AND Defense against a handful of tyrants. Does not compute.
Up at 6.30 after several earlier failures to lift off. I ought to have another ride. If I can get past the road closures for the new railway. I haven't been to that big weekend flea market for a while. Gorgeous, undulating countryside. Going both ways. 😊
Whoops! Both batteries are only half charged. I have put the better of the two on charge. Currently 73%. Oh dear. It might be useful by the time I have had a leisurely morning coffee. It would be silly to take two heavy batteries just to get home safely. Bosch claim the 625Wh weighs 3.5kg. It feels like 10!
I can feel my bike wagging its tail sometimes. When I put the spare on the rear rack. It feels too heavy to keep in one of the Ortlieb Classic panniers. Even if I spread the load with padding underneath. As I do with my ABUS Dreadnought U-lock. So I strap the spare battery to the rack inside an Ortlieb top tube bag. Though I never leave it out of my sight.
Bosch keep releasing new motors. Simply because these make the sales headlines for the EMTB crowd. What they really need is new chemistry batteries. With twice the range for half the weight. The 625Wh battery is limited to around 70km in warm weather. That's only 35km each way on an out and back ride.
Barely 44 miles round trip. That's not remotely a serious touring ride! Then what? If you don't carry a spare battery? Do you book into B&B? With the battery on charge overnight! This is not serious cycling by any stretch of the imagination!
This range is using my Bosch Performance Speed motor in Sport Mode on a 40kg bike weight + 70kg rider. I'd like at least 100km range [in Sport Mode] to avoid carrying the spare battery. Tour or Eco Modes would give me more range but then I'd be slower than a manual bike. [Or trike!]
Sport Mode only raises the performance to that of a fit rider on a very ordinary, lightweight bike. The electric motor has to overcome the serious weight disadvantage of dragging a very heavy e-bike uphill. Including the battery! You could only sell a 40kg manual bike to an ignorant fool. Even if it was fully suspended and carrying panniers.
I really think that we are still in the drooling infancy of e-Bike technology. Fancy websites and annual motor cosmetic upgrade marketing. Don't make up for the piss poor, battery capacity! Remember that a noisy IC "moped" can be fully recharged at ANY petrol station. The equivalent of infinite range! More importantly, the noisy IC "moped" doesn't need to be pedaled furiously. Just to keep going forwards! Moreover, you can get a 45kmh IC moped [scooter] for much less than an e-bike.
9.30 68F/20C. The 73% battery is still charging!
10.30 I had better get changed and go. It's 25km each way. I might just make it.
13.30 Back from a 55km ride in the strong wind. The flea market had closed down. I had left at 11am. Stopping for a sub-micro, Corny bar and an apple juice at 12.00 and 1pm. I wore my best bibs. Hardly any saddle discomfort.
Dinner was a salmon pasty, peas, pasta and tinned tomatoes.
~o~
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