Ebike tour of Natchez Trace Parkway, April 2021
We hit a weather window between spring storms and had a nice outing. This was touring-lite, we were looking to stop and look around often and have a fun outing rather than put the hammer down. As it turns out, it might have been as easy or easier with our road/hybrid bikes but I am glad we did it on our ebikes as it will lead to more trips together. The only thing that we carried were clothing layers, bike tools, water, and snacks. Most of the way there was a cell signal.
The road is in remarkably good condition, really ideal for road bikes and narrow tires. It has been a long time since I have biked a road in that good condition (we live in a state with beat up roads). There is a point of interest about every 10 miles. We did not stop at them all but I was happy that we stopped at many as I learned a little something at most of them and was not very familiar with that part of the country. Vicksburg was an driving side trip but some people have a bike side trip there. It is a very interesting park.
I am a clydesdale and hoped to get 50+ miles on a charge but we had 6 straight days of headwinds 5-15 mph. The most that I was able to get was 40 miles from a charge and the battery got lower than I normally allow it to go. In the absence of headwinds, I think I could have hit 50 miles. My wife is normal sized had no issues but also rode fewer miles overall. I have a Haibike Trekking and she has a Juiced CrossCurrent.
We had a small RV and took turns riding or driving. Given the rural setting, we charged via the RV, either generator or RV hookup.
I chose not to buy a second battery but bought one as soon as I got back as I hope to do more touring. It will take some of the pressure off range anxiety and allow us to go farther, when desired.
This was our first bike tour together and we considered it a success. No one will make an adventure film about this trip but it was fun and I learned more about the civil war, Kaintucks, Elvis and the Trail of Tears from it. We went south to north like the Kaintucks but I think more riders were going north to south.
With the exception of Jackson and Tupelo, traffic was light and considerate. Looked like a good motorcycle outing as well.
Ebike Likes- fenders (we only had one very short sprinkle but it could have been different), the battery came in handy when the headwinds got stiff, Schwalbe Marathons performed well, neither bike had any issues, ebikes are conversation starters, this would be a great supported trip with lighter road ebikes.
Ebike dislikes- the looks from the partners of hard-core bikers dragging their spouse along on this ride on a regular bike (I wanted to tell them that they were going downwind and it was not really that different but...), range anxiety without second battery, ideally my wife and I would have systems with compatible batteries, between myself and the bike I was pushing a lot of weight into the wind- that is mostly not a bike problem
The bike rack on the RV is fairly high and load/unloading bikes so that we could site-see after riding got a little old. Ebikes and batteries are getting lighter and will get more so but our bikes are older and heavier.
