Bob Sherunkle

Thanks all for your interest and replies. Regarding assisted mileage. I peddled all the time, didn't touch the throttle (turned it off in fact to avoid temptation). Most of the time I had the assistance on level 2 (of 5) due to concern about battery life and treated myself to a bit of level 3 up the hills. Only went above that when tired at the end of the day and knew I was on the home stretch. There was life in the battery at the end of every day. The final day it still seemed half full but this was the shortest distance and I had a cheeky ride in the van with a casualty). The event was really well organised with 3 support vans full of bike spares and tech crew. When the bikes with those silly thin tyres pumped about to a million PSI had punctures (often, and very loudly!) they would swap the wheel and get them going again in a jiffy, then replace their own mended wheel at the next stop. They even managed to mend the bike that hit a van head on going round a bend on the English side of the road but that did take them a few hours and a trip to the local bike shop for new forks. I was paranoid about punctures so had some marathon green guard tyres put on before the trip and was delighted to have no punctures at all. I did have to do a little bit of doctoring but amazingly the girl that hit the van escaped with a grazed knee. When I came across her sitting by the roadside a couple of minutes later, the van driver looked in a worse state than her and she kept apologising to him! She was back on a spare bike about 20 mins later. I was well impressed. Other than that the main problem was they kept falling off. Some could have done with stabilisers. Mostly this was due to the bizarre practice of locking soles of feet to the pedals. Also lots of sore knees by day 3 and 4 so was going round with the anti-inflammatory tablets at the stops. And the hay fever pills. One case of hypothermia also - we had 3 days of glorious weather then day 4 was cold and wet in the morning. A young Welsh boxer (not a dog!) with approximately 1 gram of body fat, not many clothes and a heroic attitude eventually keeled over and couldn't stop shivering. He was well enough to cycle into Paris later in the day tho'. This was the first year the charity have organised this and they are hoping for 300 riders next year if anyone feels the urge. They might ban electric bikes next year however! Some of you may remeber the ex-footballer Geoff Thomas. He was diagnosed with leukaemia a few months after retiring. He had a bone marrow transplant from his sister which saved his life. he is heavily involved with the charity and was on the ride. He looks ridiculously healthy and is very fit. Due to his connections there were a few other ex players on the ride whci was entertaining. D8veh. That sounds good fun turning up the speed limit. But you are correct, I was more interested in distance than speed. Now I am home however... Cheers Bob

Dear pedelec fans So I was asked if I would be the ride doctor (I'm a GP) for the Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research London to Paris. This was a big new fundraising event for 2013. Between 70 and 80 miles a day for 4 days. I don't suppose I had ever cycled more than 15 miles in a day before and that would have been at pottering-along speed. "You'll be fine" said the organiser (by brother-in-law). You can go with the "slow" group at 12mph, you're skinny and fit. Well skinny yes but not fit (and nearly 50) and I knew there was no way I could manage it given the 2 months (ish) notice. So I dithered for a bit. I tried cycling 20 miles in a day on a mountain bike (knackered!) just to prove to myself I was correct about my fitness. But then I had a cunning plan! On a weekend in Alderney (Channel Islands) earlier this year we had hired some electric bikes. A first time for all of us and we had a fantastic day visiting all corners of the island, steaming up the hills with big grins on our faces. I had toyed with the idea of buying an e-bike since then. And here was the perfect excuse. So I took to the internet and many hours later despite finding this site and learning a lot, I was overloaded with information and options, baffled and confused. I had a day off work on a sunny Tuesday so I took a trip to Woosh Bikes in Southend, met Hatti and went for a spin along the seafront on some of her bikes. Before I knew what had happened I was on the train home with a Sirocco CD. My brother-in-law didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he saw it! He had previously organised lots of London to Paris rides for the British Legion and had never seen anything like it before. My Midwife's bike he rather rudely dubbed it. Despite this he got me drunk and I agreed to go, then got lost on the way home and had a puncture. Bad omens perhaps? I did a 42 mile test ride and was so impressed with the bike and had such good fun, I knew we could make it to Paris together. Well. that's not quite true as I had no idea how far it would go on a fully charged battery (especially French electricity). The marketing information said range 60 - 70 miles, so not quite enough. Even Hatti had looked a bit worried when I told her of my plan for the Woosh. I had started checking the weather forecast for wind direction in the week before day 1, which was to be Greenwich to Folkestone. North-easterly wind so not good. At the start there were nearly 200 road bikes which in total weighed about the same as my trusty steed. I wondered why people were looking at me in a funny way but I am used to that and after some words of encouragement from Alistair Cambell amongst others we were off through the South London rush hour (power off, saving battery!). Anyway, to cut an already long story short the bike was a triumph in every way. After completing the almost 80 miles into the wind on day 1 I knew it could easily cope with the rest of the trip (wind generally blowing from Calais to Paris). The best thing on day 1 was that not far from Folkestone was a timed uphill section (bikes were all chipped). It was a pig of a hill (it even had a name, which I forget I'm afraid. Something Hill it was!) but the Bob/Woosh team threw battery caution to the wind, gave it the beans and were the 12th fastest up it, leading to some hilarity and some mild abuse. The general pattern was, overtaking people going up the hills, peddling smoothly, taking some friendly (I think) ribbing. Down the hills a different story. Blimey they go fast and once my motor stopped at 15.5 mph I was on (skinny) leg power only, as I tried to explain to the lycra gang as they flew past me gloating. I had a terrific time and am so glad I did it. I wouldn't have been possible without the Woosh so I am very grateful to Hatti (she is not paying me I promise!) and the Woosh team. The bike attracted lots of attention and interest and I have been spreading the word about how fabulous electric bikes are and demonstrating how they make hills disappear. I was going to post on here before I set off, asking for tips but I thought people would probably say it was a ridiculous thing to attempt and try to dissuade me. So I decided for the head in the sand/what could possibly go wrong approach. So, phew! I hope this may have been of interested to some of you e-bike fans. Have I passed my initiation? Regards Bob endurance e-bike rider