The Long Rides
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Starting a thread to share long rides and the pictures/stories along the way.
What constitutes a long ride? I'm not gatekeeping anyone who feels they did a long ride, but simply put I'd say a long ride is anything at or beyond the max range of a given board.
I'll start it off with my one from earlier today.
Trip starts like any other. Wake up late, have a reasonable breakfast then triple check I have the things I want to bring to make the ride as seamless and easy as possible. Leaving Towcester is simple enough, depending on the time I can almost switch off and "auto-pilot" my way out.
Zoom past Blisworth and through Milton Malsor, Hunsbury and lower Northampton. Getting into an area called "Sixfields" I am met with an unusual amount of traffic which turns out to be because there's a football game going on in the local stadium. I usually use the carpark and ramps to shortcut through the area but it was both packed and dotted with Police that I saw eyeballing me from across the road. Already had 2 police cars drive past me with ample opportunity to pull me over but didn't want to push my luck riding past one that's on foot. I think at this point they all know I exist and choose to leave me be but I'm not taking chances.
After a harrowing float past Sixfields through broken glass, busted paths and congested crossings with no lights to help me cross I made my way to a long cycle route that leads out of Northampton all the way north to Market Harborough.
Totalling 25km in length it's no simple float in the park. Did half of that back in September and thankfully only needed 5km of it to get to a farm road leading to Brixworth. The road is really rough with some chunky gravel mixed with some steep rolling hills. So nasty I overtook a few cyclists that looked ready to give up and walk it.
Entering Brixworth I'm now pretty much on the cusp of reaching the reservoir. Going around it by itself seems daunting but after riding all the way there it's the easiest bit of the ride. That said it's certainly worth the visit.
Legs getting weary quick as the whole path round this place is loose gravel ranging in size whilst some areas are flooded with sloppy mud. Because of that frequent pauses were in order to stop my knee's falling off. Good time for pics too.
Didn't grab any more pics on the rest of the journey as I decided to take almost the same route home. After falling off Tuesday I clipped the corner of my battery so wasn't sure if it was holding up. I built it to take a beating but wasn't sure if any battery welds could have popped. Apparently it was fine as I made it back with the expected range left in the tank so I could have risked a different route home if I wasn't a zombie most of the way home. Groaning from burning calves and my knee's feeling every bump.
Think I'm doing better though. 2 years ago I did my 100km ride and survived yet recently pushing 70+ is a struggle. Collapsed after Tuesdays 80km ride but I think I'm regaining whatever endurance I once had. Something something not early 20s anymore something something D:
Anyway that's my post for this thread. Anyone got a long ride they want to share or tips for everyone else to keep going?
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@lia said in The Long Rides:
didn't want to push my luck riding past one that's on foot
Pretty sure you could've outrun them! HAHAAAAAAA
GT-S > GT > Pint X > XR > +
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@onedangt Aha it was tempting. Trouble is my route was super crowded.
Red line is my desired route
Pink X is where I stopped
Blue X is where the Police were (might have been more)
Yellow is where the crowd was
Black line is where I ended up going
You'd think I could cut across the grass but it's a weird uneven slope. The whole area actually used to be a landfill till they covered it over and built on it.
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@lia Seems the laws are WAY different in Cali, LOL . . . the police pretty much just wave and smile, even if I'm riding through a crowd. Although I'm sure it would be different if I were riding recklessly!
GT-S > GT > Pint X > XR > +
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@onedangt Cali seems much more fun for riding. Not to mention the almost all year round riding weather!
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@onedangt said in The Long Rides:
the police pretty much just wave and smile, even if I'm riding through a crowd.
same here. no problems whatsoever on public roads. its the parks that are fickle! i use the speed trap radar thingy in front of the local police station to check my speed all the time lol...
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@Lia -- Yours is a very nice long ride with great photos!
Sometime last summer or autumn, probably enjoying my then new Kiil Suspension, according to my 64 miles in a day badge, I really Onewheeled 143 miles -- 230km. -- a long day of riding! No photos.
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@s-leon said in The Long Rides:
I really Onewheeled 143 miles -- 230km
O.o what…
That is amazing!!! How do you keep going for that long? -
@lia -- Around the same time as I installed the Kiil Suspension I got an EGO zero turn lawnmower with four 10ah batteries included -- also useable as swappable Onewheel Plus batteries in parallel, two at a time.
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@s-leon Having the ability to hot swap packs sounds like a real advantage. 100km (10+/- depending on terrain) is the max my setup before needing a lengthy charge cycle since I still use the stock 3.5A charger.
What about personal endurance? Recently been incapable of pushing 80km before outright falling apart. I did 100km 2 years ago and not sure how D:
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@lia -- True, I am indeed living the Onewheel hot-swap battery dream, with a whole stable of EGO batteries -- my only Onewheel power source.
Twenty-one thousand Onewheel miles in 44 months have my muscles toned for the job. I think the Hoosier 5.5 treaded is less stressful for going fast and long. And the Kiil Suspension reduces the bumps largely to smiles. Then, too, averaging about 20 mph -- 32kph -- means less time to get more distance. And I know my trail: Every root ridge and crack in the pavement is familiar.
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@s-leon how much do u weigh?
XR's got what plants crave!
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@s-leon I've been slacking then, I need to git gud to build some muscle to keep up :D
Really admire the commitment with your riding. A lot of distance and character built on your board over that time. -
@notsure -- Fair question... 155lbs. or about 70kg -- plus another 20% safety gear.
@Lia -- It is not massive strength, just well used. Boards plural: 10,000+ miles on V1s, 10,000+ on Pluses. Once I joked to Mike Mueller in a Facebook comment that my boards have the "anti-theft" look, well-used and funky. He laughed! (because his Leaderboard #2 Plus is indeed well-used, too).
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@lia -- Shoes and stance impact fatigue. I like my trailing foot near-tight-against-the-fender stance and flat shoes. Riding pushback I like a thick back pad.
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@s-leon Figured shoes would come into it a lot. Thanks for sharing your insight on getting the most out of the day for a ride :)
Kinda impressed with the distance I get with the boots considering all I heard growing up is heeled/wedged shoes aren't practical. Yesterdays ride had my leading big toe all kinds of numb.
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This is my go-to route to drain my CBXR over the Summer. In range tests so far, the GT and CBXR use about the same amount of Ah to get anywhere, so with the GT around 8.5 and the CBXR around 10.5 I won't make this. So, I am going to continue to enjoy my CBXR for a long while.
This ride takes 2 hours with the high elevation 333' and the low 77'. If you follow the green line on the graph at the bottom, it is almost constant elevation change, which is why it drains the CBXR in only 19.2mi at 90°F.
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@biell That's wild to hear you get that much out of the CBXR, pretty impressive elevation change too, think my worn out XR would be nosedragging those inclines!
Looks like a fun route all together. Nice loop through a nature area and around a lake sounds like a good time :)
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@lia Thanks! If you look in the middle of all the green areas, there is a creek. Most of our undeveloped areas are preserved to protect the water, so you are either going up away from the creek, or down towards the creek. And, the CBXR definitely helps me make the climbs. Everything above the reservoir is the best part, it is all packed earth, single track.
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Spent yesterday afternoon in a neighboring town, Ridgway. It’s lower in elevation, more flat and the ground is drier. I wanted to do a full battery drain on the GT. My plan was to stick to the paved bike trail for maximum range but I couldn’t keep myself from hitting some trails. I ran the battery until 2%. I was afraid draining the battery to 1% would potentially self destruct the board (just joking).
