Today I took the RR for a really long ride. I wasn't sure it was up for it, to be honest. Originally I thought about trying riding around the nearby lake, "Jonsvatnet" (translation: "Jon's lake"), which is pretty big and with a lot of hills. With most of the distance around it being a dirt road. All in all it would be a 43 km / 26 miles ride from my home, around the lake and back. Today it also was quite windy, so on my way up (about 10 km / 6 miles) I thought maybe it would be too much for the battery. So I almost changed my plan to just ride along one side of the lake and clock in at 30 km / 18 miles. I was riding along at pas 3 and the battery didn't seem to drop anything at all. When I came to the crossroad, I thought - what the hell. I'll go for it. It was a nice sunny day, with 18C/64F, and I would get the wind in my back on my way home. So I went for it, just using pas 3 and going with only pedal assistance.
Here's from one of the few stops I made:
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Midway around the lake I thought it would be hard to finish within the battery capacity, I have to admit. The hills kept coming, the road was pretty bumpy and the power meter seemed to drop when using the motor up the hills. Luckily the hills came with a lot of downhills too, so I really got to try the bike downhill. Making it up to 56 kph / 35 mph. But the bike really drops in speed fast when a new hill awaits at the bottom! I finally reached around the lake, to the crossroad I would have come to going the short way, after 30 km / 18 miles. The battery still showed about 3-4 bars and I was encouraged to take another sidetrack to another part of town to see if the bike would make it. Well at home, I clocked in at 50,7 km / 31.5 miles and still with 2 bars left on the power meter! And I used the throttle several times on the last stretch too. Color me impressed! Next time I will try it with more power.
But not before a new front fork and backwheel is in place. Kind of nervous still.
Here's the ride mapped in Strava. Average speed 22.2 kph / 13.8 mph, and check out the total elevation:
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