I have to take my hat off to the organisers of the New Zealand Wellington to Auckland Bicycle Challenge who embraced the opportunity of including 2 electric bikes along with the 130 other riders in the challenge, here is Guim's report;
The day before the race I still had doubts about my performance. I’m an electric-cyclo-traveller, and do not need to compete with other cyclists while I’m on the road. My Wisper 905 Se World Tourer electric bike performs amazingly up hills, but with a total weight of 22 kg, it is hard to follow these cyclist going down hill or on the flat. So I was trying to get Anthony Clyde (a Wisper dealer) support to get calm.
But anyway I was pretty excited with the idea to be showing the ‘roadie’ cyclist what a Wisper can achieve going up hill, and also to try to break some of the mental wall about e-bikes.
My participation wouldn’t have been possible without Craig Killey, the other electric cyclist on the bike challenge, and also Wisper bikes, who supported my registration fee for the challenge. Craig workd for NZ Standards, and had to be in charge to establish the protocols to standardize them. So dealing with the electric bikes company woke up his interest for them, and though that, why not to use one of them to participate on the bike challenge that starts just next door to his home. Craig is in his forties, and does not practise any regular sport activity, but when he discovered electric bikes, he thought that will be a great opportunity to do some sport and to complete a challenge for 7 days and 700 km.
So on the morning of the 14th of February 2010, Craig and myself head to the starting point. We are electric bikes lovers, so there wasn’t a better date to start the first time ever electric bicycle participation on a bicycle challenge!
The first stage was a memorable one. Rimutaka Hill, 25 km up hill, non stop. Craig quickly jumped ahead and joined the head of the bunch, and a few meters later left them behind and started to have a good gap. I did not feel very comfortable the first day going up hill while watching all the other cyclists struggling. I’m in a foreign country, competing with a Wisper electric bicycle on a bike challenge, and it was just the first day, so I decided to keep at the end of the bunch, and just at the last km, play a bit harder and go ahead. On the front, Craig did an amazing performance and finally finished 3rd with his Electric bike (custom built by The Electric Bicycle Company). The second stage of the day showed me no one of the other cyclists had any consideration with me going down hill or on flat, and that was great, because it then allowed me to perform at full speed on Denisa (the name I give my bike!) as much as I want, specially against the wind and up hill.
The second day was almost flat, and as Craig’s bike performs at 40km/h, there was no way to compete against him or any of the other cyclist with their 7kg bike. I managed to pedal hard on the flat, being able to keep 35km/h for several Km switching off the motor, and also down hill up to 60km/h. But it was impossible to beat these professional cyclists with Denisa. But I was happy, my Denisa performed well and myself too!
I finished 1 hour and something behind the leader on the overall classification, and 42 min behind Craig. But I wasn’t worried, I was having real fun, and with some more big hills stages coming, I had on mind to do my best to keep going up on the classification.
The third day I was pedalling hard in the morning, and doing it well in the afternoon. Denisa performed amazingly up hills, but only human power can bring her up to 35km/h on flat, so even on electric bikes you have to pedal! Riding most of the time alone, the last 20 flat km were the biggest mountain for us. A roller coaster road all day long!
Ohakune, a place I’ll never forget! We won a stage on Electric Bikes for the first time! We’re so happy. Electric Bike Team finished first and second! The morning stage was once again a roller coaster and the weather was that good, and after a lunch break in a lovely school, were the parents had prepared muffins, hot chicken soup and other delicatessen, the first hill was just waiting for us at the start lane. The bunch start struggling quickly on that first hill, and I decided to go. I managed to little by little create a good gap, and start increasing my time difference. The last 20 km where flat and 15km to the finish lane, I got catched by Craig! But we run out of battery on the last 5 km, and pedaling hard I managed to catch him and to cross the finish lane first! We went up a bit on the General Classification and awake e-bike interest among the top cyclists. Good day.
The fifth day, brings me back the lead on electric bike category. Nice stage in the afternoon, but really hard in the morning. Wind, rain, hills, and an amazing downhill, where one of the top cyclist reached 88 km/h! Days 5 and 6 brings us through an amazing scenery, and though the longest stages, 130 km one day and 90 km the following one. The other cyclists said they appreciated our help drafting them against the wind!
After 7 days, we were arriving at the end. And amazingly, I did it again. I cross once again first the finishing lane! I did not plan to attack, as I thought we had already done it great during the challenge. But seeing that the bunch as going slow up hill, I decided to go alone. There were two main hills, one the the beginning and one nearly at the end. The Wisper 905 rode with two fit legs, is unbeatable! I struggle a bit during the 40 km until the last hill arrived, as the bunch was just getting closer. But I pedalled as never before, manage to keep the gap, and climb full of power! The second electric bike win came on the last day, just before the final stage.
A 40km pleasant stage brings us to the final lane in Auckland. 7 days, 700 km, and amazing experience, and the satisfaction to feel that we were just the first ones, but that we had open a new era on the bike challenges. We show that anyone can do it!
Well done Guim!
The day before the race I still had doubts about my performance. I’m an electric-cyclo-traveller, and do not need to compete with other cyclists while I’m on the road. My Wisper 905 Se World Tourer electric bike performs amazingly up hills, but with a total weight of 22 kg, it is hard to follow these cyclist going down hill or on the flat. So I was trying to get Anthony Clyde (a Wisper dealer) support to get calm.
But anyway I was pretty excited with the idea to be showing the ‘roadie’ cyclist what a Wisper can achieve going up hill, and also to try to break some of the mental wall about e-bikes.
My participation wouldn’t have been possible without Craig Killey, the other electric cyclist on the bike challenge, and also Wisper bikes, who supported my registration fee for the challenge. Craig workd for NZ Standards, and had to be in charge to establish the protocols to standardize them. So dealing with the electric bikes company woke up his interest for them, and though that, why not to use one of them to participate on the bike challenge that starts just next door to his home. Craig is in his forties, and does not practise any regular sport activity, but when he discovered electric bikes, he thought that will be a great opportunity to do some sport and to complete a challenge for 7 days and 700 km.
So on the morning of the 14th of February 2010, Craig and myself head to the starting point. We are electric bikes lovers, so there wasn’t a better date to start the first time ever electric bicycle participation on a bicycle challenge!
The first stage was a memorable one. Rimutaka Hill, 25 km up hill, non stop. Craig quickly jumped ahead and joined the head of the bunch, and a few meters later left them behind and started to have a good gap. I did not feel very comfortable the first day going up hill while watching all the other cyclists struggling. I’m in a foreign country, competing with a Wisper electric bicycle on a bike challenge, and it was just the first day, so I decided to keep at the end of the bunch, and just at the last km, play a bit harder and go ahead. On the front, Craig did an amazing performance and finally finished 3rd with his Electric bike (custom built by The Electric Bicycle Company). The second stage of the day showed me no one of the other cyclists had any consideration with me going down hill or on flat, and that was great, because it then allowed me to perform at full speed on Denisa (the name I give my bike!) as much as I want, specially against the wind and up hill.
The second day was almost flat, and as Craig’s bike performs at 40km/h, there was no way to compete against him or any of the other cyclist with their 7kg bike. I managed to pedal hard on the flat, being able to keep 35km/h for several Km switching off the motor, and also down hill up to 60km/h. But it was impossible to beat these professional cyclists with Denisa. But I was happy, my Denisa performed well and myself too!
I finished 1 hour and something behind the leader on the overall classification, and 42 min behind Craig. But I wasn’t worried, I was having real fun, and with some more big hills stages coming, I had on mind to do my best to keep going up on the classification.
The third day I was pedalling hard in the morning, and doing it well in the afternoon. Denisa performed amazingly up hills, but only human power can bring her up to 35km/h on flat, so even on electric bikes you have to pedal! Riding most of the time alone, the last 20 flat km were the biggest mountain for us. A roller coaster road all day long!
Ohakune, a place I’ll never forget! We won a stage on Electric Bikes for the first time! We’re so happy. Electric Bike Team finished first and second! The morning stage was once again a roller coaster and the weather was that good, and after a lunch break in a lovely school, were the parents had prepared muffins, hot chicken soup and other delicatessen, the first hill was just waiting for us at the start lane. The bunch start struggling quickly on that first hill, and I decided to go. I managed to little by little create a good gap, and start increasing my time difference. The last 20 km where flat and 15km to the finish lane, I got catched by Craig! But we run out of battery on the last 5 km, and pedaling hard I managed to catch him and to cross the finish lane first! We went up a bit on the General Classification and awake e-bike interest among the top cyclists. Good day.
The fifth day, brings me back the lead on electric bike category. Nice stage in the afternoon, but really hard in the morning. Wind, rain, hills, and an amazing downhill, where one of the top cyclist reached 88 km/h! Days 5 and 6 brings us through an amazing scenery, and though the longest stages, 130 km one day and 90 km the following one. The other cyclists said they appreciated our help drafting them against the wind!
After 7 days, we were arriving at the end. And amazingly, I did it again. I cross once again first the finishing lane! I did not plan to attack, as I thought we had already done it great during the challenge. But seeing that the bunch as going slow up hill, I decided to go alone. There were two main hills, one the the beginning and one nearly at the end. The Wisper 905 rode with two fit legs, is unbeatable! I struggle a bit during the 40 km until the last hill arrived, as the bunch was just getting closer. But I pedalled as never before, manage to keep the gap, and climb full of power! The second electric bike win came on the last day, just before the final stage.
A 40km pleasant stage brings us to the final lane in Auckland. 7 days, 700 km, and amazing experience, and the satisfaction to feel that we were just the first ones, but that we had open a new era on the bike challenges. We show that anyone can do it!
Well done Guim!
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