Watts, Volts and Manliness

“Was that a hill”? my wife remarks in response to my comment, between gasps, about the steep grade we just climbed. Her ebike continues to emasculate me as she glides ahead and up hills almost effortlessly, even without a throttle. In fact, she is in the lowest pedal assist mode! Perhaps she is far more fit than I appreciated or – hopefully – the ebike is far more powerful than anticipated.

As you know from the “True Love” blog, my wife is riding a battery powered ebike. My bike will be powered by Snickers, Twinkies and whatever else I can find to eat in the (mostly) small towns along the trail. I’m grateful that the GDMBR only occasionally enters towns and is mostly wilderness. Otherwise, more people would see my wife pulling a BOB trailer and me with only panniers. They likely won’t realize that the majority of weight in the trailer is a large battery. Yes, I’ll throw a few other things in there since there is plenty of space: tent, sleeping bags, water, and food. But, hey! I’m still pedaling my own bike and I’ll probably be loaded down with TONS of clothes, Snickers and Twinkies. Besides, she has the power.

Our training rides have been with a typical factory ebike battery. But with hundred mile or more stretches (without a recharge) along the GDMBR, we’ve been worried about having enough power. Fortunately, Hi-C Battery is located just up the road in Littleton, CO. Patrick Duggan has been extremely helpful in giving us a great deal on a made to order battery. The battery fits right in the bottom of our BOB trailer and has lots of power: good for Gloria, bad for me, good for Snickers and Twinkies sales.

We picked it up last week and didn’t waste anytime in taking it for a test ride. To truly put it to a test, the BOB trailer was loaded almost like it will be on the GDMBR – except I wasn’t laying on top of it. It wasn’t a pretty day with clouds, wind and rain brewing, but I was off work and we had time. After loading up, we headed south and fortuitously the wind followed us.

We took our usual trail through town and then headed across town to the the South where we hopped on a nice, mostly empty, dirt road. With some tail wind we were at mile 25 quickly. I thought turning around would be perfect and allow me to reach my 50 mile goal. Gloria had her mind on a Monte Cristo sandwich at a restaurant in Colorado City still about 13 miles further. The rain had started and it wasn’t just a cloud burst. Many of the remaining miles would be uphill, but I didn’t want to wimp out and Gloria was obviously enjoying the ride. Being from Canada, when the temperature drops below 60, she thinks its wonderful.

The last climb before reaching Colorado City is a steep, not too long, hill. I was in my lowest gears and still standing up to make it. Gloria was gliding ahead. In fact, she couldn’t go slow enough to stay with me. Soon she was gone over the crest of the hill, loaded trailer and all. Sometime later, I crested the hill to find three burly road crewman on the side of the road. They didn’t need to say anything, I knew what they were thinking: “gutless man, you made your wife haul all the gear up the hill and she still smoked you!”.

We enjoyed the Monte Cristo in Colorado City as the rain continued. Rain gear on, we repacked the bikes and started the trip home. Fortunately, the work day was over so this time following Gloria up the other side of the hill wasn’t as embarrassing, but sill slow and tiring. As we pedaled in wet but pleasant conditions back to Pueblo, I secretly hoped the battery might give out. Maybe Gloria would then appreciate how hard I was working! But no, it held up strong right back to the house helping her stay easily well ahead of me for the 75 mile day.

I’m now less concerned about the distances between towns for recharging on the GDMBR, but more concerned about entering towns. My bike has the same BOB trailer connections on the axle as my wife’s. So I could just switch the trailer for a few painful miles every time we enter a town. Alternatively, I’m thinking of posting a simple, but big sign on the back of her bike: “E-BIKE, MY HUSBAND IS NOT AS LAME AS HE LOOKS”.