A Vado 6.0 Day
July 27th, 2023
Last Thursday was the day my Vado 6.0 fully proved the real purpose it was designed for: a road e-bike
As A Delivery Courier For Magda
Magda kindly reminded me I had forgotten bringing some snacks for her name-day! Having the products bought the day before, I set off for an afternoon ride to deliver the goods! Recently, Specialized has released a new e-bike app (by the name of
Specialized); the brand has come up with new ideas as to e-bike assistance plans (Universal, Battery Friendly and Racing), so I was eager to test how the Battery Friendly ECO mode (or 20/80% assistance) would work. Just to say it worked very well with 1% of the battery use per a kilometre, good cruising speed, and great responsiveness as to the rider's pedalling leg power. Had a short merry meeting with Magda and then happily pedalled home to prepare for the next ride, and recharge all the batteries (e-bike, Wahoo, smartphone).
The average speed here was just 23.3 km/h (14.5 mph), which is what I expect from that kind of the commute.
The Commute For The Group Ride
It was the same familiar route by which I ride to the cinema. The same assistance as before but I just pedalled harder. 15 km to get to the IKEA Janki area.
The Night Road Racing Workout
Ania has been a cycling friend for more than two years now. We do not ride together often as she cannot be happy with my long stops on the rides!
On last Wednesday, she posted the following announcement on a FB cycling group:
"A Night Radziejowice Ride. [Date, time, the meeting point]. Distance: 65 km and some. GPX provided. Surface: 100% premium asphalt. Cruising speed: 28-32 km/h (the outward leg), 32-34 km/h with possible sprints (return). A single stop at the supermarket in Radziejowice.
It is not a sight-seeing trip as there nothing to see on the service road. We make a fast round trip ride to sleep better. You must wear a helmet, have lighting on your bike, and take two water bottles with you!"
Well, well, well... Interesting. Would I match the group? There were Ania and two men (Krzysztof and Paweł) at the meeting point. Krzysztof felt the natural group leader. He started with adjusting the saddle height for Ania! I expressed my concerns if I could keep up with the road racing group on my e-bike, to which they say they were afraid they might not match
my e-bike I had a big concern as to the assistance plan: fortunately, I set the SPORT assistance to 60/60% and that was OK!
What happened next was just amazing. Ania was not aware who she chose to ride with! The group went on a very fast pace (36-40+ km/h, 22-25+ mph) with elevation gain and against mild headwind! The riders were "drafting" and giving changes in the lead. As my 60% assistance had some power surplus if I pedalled
hard, I was giving the changes too. I was in the lead just before Radziejowice, with two ascents in front of me. I downshifted, went on high cadence with the group tightly following me and so we arrived to the trip midpoint.
(L to R): I, Paweł, Krzysztof. The photo by Ania.
As we stopped by the supermarket, I was sweated and panting. I told the guys: "You've given me a solid workout!" to which one of them said: "No, it was you! You were pulling us at high speed uphill!"
He must have been joking of course! Anyway, I was terribly hungry so I started chewing the energy bars I brought on the ride, and drank almost the full water bottle on the stop. And we rode back.
It was dark. It got cold. I noticed I could not keep up with the group anymore, so I had to help myself with the bursts of Turbo mode. I felt unhappy. Then, the energy bars kicked in... I brightened up and thought: "Why feel miserable? It is a fine ride! My legs work fantastically good, it is a nice night ride, and we are so fast!" I only could not give changes as I did not feel safe riding at night despite my amazing Supernova headlight. We were just eating kilometres with a single short stop for my e-bike battery swap, and then we reached the point to split. I spent some 45 minutes at a service station in Pruszków to eat, drink, and take a rest, then pedalled at high speed home
These are the data for the actual workout as extracted from the Specialized App. Note the average speed of 20.3 mph. I have never been on such a fast ride before!
Ania was the person the most surprised with her own performance! She is a strong rider, and raising the seat was the proper action to improve her performance. She (and Krzysztof) rode on gravel tyres!
Commute + workout. The average speed of 30.8 km/h (19.14 mph). 133% of batteries used. (135 km for the day).
Now, I have fully realised my Vado 6.0 has never been a gravel e-bike: it is purely a road e-bike! (It is Vado SL that is a gravel e-bike)
An E-Bike Anecdote
As we were taking the rest by the supermarket, Paweł asked me: "What is the peak power of your e-bike motor? Because I was watching my power meter on the last ascent and I pedalled at over 500 W to keep up with you!" -- to which I said "It's 520 W if you pedal really hard!" -- and he understood the
Turbo Vado power. Later, I checked my
leg peak power and that was 434 W...
There was a roadie on a solo workout who we had to overtake. I could see him in my rear-view mirror: the man tried to keep up with us but he failed...
.
Full of endorfins!
