But inevitable, at least eventually. You know I had to see if I could really ride the bike the full round-trip to town, right?
I’ve said it’s a 20-mile round trip from the Lair’s driveway to the county road, and that’s true … with an asterisk. There’s a shorter route. But to use it, you need to a) know where it is, and b) not mind some steep/bumpy bits. Not Bumpy Road bumpy, but kinda bumpy. And also remote, so have your tools, spares and water in hand before the attempt. Seriously, this road doesn’t get much use. But using it, the round-trip to the county road is a little less than 12 miles. Which, since the round trip from the county road to the other side of town where all the stores are is a hair over 9 miles, puts the whole thing easily within the battery’s range even with all the uphill. You want to go easy on the motorcycle throttle, but seriously for most of the trip the pedaling is symbolic, just to keep the motor running. The worst part of the trip is the bumpiness and the tedium – because what with the terrain and the poor road it’s something like 2 hours of symbolic pedaling.
But it is proven not only possible but really no big deal…
I was driven by a need to go to the dollar store for dog food and the nighttime antihistamine that’s been letting me sleep through the night lately – plus the fact that it’s a gloriously beautiful day and I didn’t want to spend it doing useful and necessary things like cutting firewood.
Did you have any bars left?
Yep, I have got to get me one of these…
Ben, I was surprised at how much juice was still indicated. Of course the last bits do seem to disappear quickly so I believe that’s as far as I care to push it. Lest I end up literally pushing it.
Oh come one now, Joel! Surely you could rig a harness for Laddie out of that paracord and turn him into a sled dog!
Where did you put the dog food? Must have been a small bag.
Oh, I have kazoodles of kibble. Mr. Effete Snob refuses to touch it. In fact he eats amazingly little for such a stout little dog. If you starve him till he’s hungry enough (or if another dog threatens to eat it for him) he demonstrates awareness that kibble is in fact food. But short of that he can go weeks and never touch a bowl of kibble.
To get him to eat without hassle I’ve been giving him a little packet of puppy food every morning – and that and some bisquits seems to be all he needs to maintain his impressive weight.
A suggestion, If the bike runs on 12 V, I was wonder if a small bike trailer stout enough to handle one or a couple of say RV batteries say Group 24’s wired in would give you better range and enough torque for your bike and give you some storage space?
Joel,
You could get a bike cam and do travel videos…
Glad you now have a way to town, in case.
Joel, That’s just wonderful! I also wonder about a light weight two wheel trailer. This is good news.
Thanks for reporting it and Thanks to BB, for getting the experiment going. The combination with your solar charging makes this something unique and quite beneficial to a lot of us. Again Thanks!