Sunday 07/12/2009
Doug Canfield's report:
DEBA is for Dallas Electric Bike Association.
Our First ride was down the Katy trail to the West End ( the hip place
in downtown D, well the West end at least, the East side has Deep
Ellum and that is a whole nuther story).
HOT was the word of the day, with temps North of 100 at 9am.
We got a late start at 11 due to everyone running a little late. The
starting point was the Mockingbird lane station of the DART light rail
line. We rode over the freeway (US75) and down to SMU (Southern
Methodist University, home of the under construction Pres. G. Bush
Library) and a short block down Airline Dr. to pick up the trail
head.
The trail is 12ft. wide and, for the most part completed, just a few
construction projects going on along the way. As far as I remember,
there were only two street level crossings, and both were on small two
lane side streets.
We only had four riders, but hey, that was with one day planning.
John was on the stretch with an older BMC w/15A controller at 36V .
The Battery is a very old first gen Point 1 LiPo. As the pictures show
he killed it at about 20 miles and I got to tow him the last four
miles. The only tow strap we could find was my belt, so we made do. I
pulled him at 10 mph with the cruise control set, and it worked out
well. Yes, he "could" have peddled, but that bike has a fixed gear 42t
front, 16t rear and would have been a bear in 105 deg. heat.
The nice part was the battery on the police bike I was on was still
kicking at 24 miles and no low volt light came on under load. Talk
about trail by fire.
Paul was on a Dream-E Day6 bike with the Going Electric brushless DC
geared hub motor (500W I think) and 36-10 LiFePO4 battery. He was out
to make a point, showing up in long pants and long sleeve shirt. He
also did not turn the crank once the whole day. Skinny motorcycle I
guess. Bottom line was he was not all sweaty at the end of the day.
I was on the cop shop special.
Our organizer, Dal, was on a Schwinn somp'n or nuther with a C-lyte
w/48-40 controller and one of our 48V packs at 48V-20Ah split side to
side in rear racks. He says he has been known to pass the lycra crowd
going up hill at 36mph. He has been using the pack for a year now and
just loves it.
The trail ends at the AAC (Mavs and Stars play there) and Victory
plaza. Not much going on there so we headed over to Westend where the
Taste of Dallas was just getting under way. Big doings there with
three or four stages of live entertainment and tons of food and such
from Dallas area restaurants.
From there we headed to the arts district, yes that would be me
violating a water scape in the photos. Fun thing about e-biking an
area you thought you knew. You find all sorts of things you would
never see from a car. The best part is you can leave faster than the
security guards can run when you over stay your welcome.
From there we headed down to the other side of town to the farmers
market, a fun place to go for the fresh produce (and samples! wink
wink nudge nudge).
A quick stop at Dicks Last Resort for a late "hydraulic" lunch, with
seconds!! Then headed out for base. Gotta tell you the jokes and beer
were flowing at Dicks.
We are going to try and do this twice a month to bring e-bikers
together and also raise awareness of e-bikes in general.
Dal Locke's report:
We had a fun ride today from the Mockingbird rail station to downtown Dallas along
the Katy trail. It was a scenic ride downhill to the West End. The taste of Dallas was
going on with rides, food and entertainment. We left there and went over to the Bank
of America's 74 story tall building for a view up the side at the corner. If you never
have done that its quite a sight. We left there and went to the Arts district and looked
around at the new performance theatre under construction.
From there we went to the Farmers Market and had some fresh veggies. Just
kidding. After that we trekked back over to the West End district and had lunch and
some liquid bread at Dick's last resort. Had a good time talking, drinking, eating
and laughing and then went back up the Katy trail back the Mockingbird station.
Nice ride, new friends and good times. It was very hot again today, but on an electric
bike, the wind is always flowing by so its really not bad.
Doug Canfield's report:
DEBA is for Dallas Electric Bike Association.
Our First ride was down the Katy trail to the West End ( the hip place
in downtown D, well the West end at least, the East side has Deep
Ellum and that is a whole nuther story).
HOT was the word of the day, with temps North of 100 at 9am.
We got a late start at 11 due to everyone running a little late. The
starting point was the Mockingbird lane station of the DART light rail
line. We rode over the freeway (US75) and down to SMU (Southern
Methodist University, home of the under construction Pres. G. Bush
Library) and a short block down Airline Dr. to pick up the trail
head.
The trail is 12ft. wide and, for the most part completed, just a few
construction projects going on along the way. As far as I remember,
there were only two street level crossings, and both were on small two
lane side streets.
We only had four riders, but hey, that was with one day planning.
John was on the stretch with an older BMC w/15A controller at 36V .
The Battery is a very old first gen Point 1 LiPo. As the pictures show
he killed it at about 20 miles and I got to tow him the last four
miles. The only tow strap we could find was my belt, so we made do. I
pulled him at 10 mph with the cruise control set, and it worked out
well. Yes, he "could" have peddled, but that bike has a fixed gear 42t
front, 16t rear and would have been a bear in 105 deg. heat.
The nice part was the battery on the police bike I was on was still
kicking at 24 miles and no low volt light came on under load. Talk
about trail by fire.
Paul was on a Dream-E Day6 bike with the Going Electric brushless DC
geared hub motor (500W I think) and 36-10 LiFePO4 battery. He was out
to make a point, showing up in long pants and long sleeve shirt. He
also did not turn the crank once the whole day. Skinny motorcycle I
guess. Bottom line was he was not all sweaty at the end of the day.
I was on the cop shop special.
Our organizer, Dal, was on a Schwinn somp'n or nuther with a C-lyte
w/48-40 controller and one of our 48V packs at 48V-20Ah split side to
side in rear racks. He says he has been known to pass the lycra crowd
going up hill at 36mph. He has been using the pack for a year now and
just loves it.
The trail ends at the AAC (Mavs and Stars play there) and Victory
plaza. Not much going on there so we headed over to Westend where the
Taste of Dallas was just getting under way. Big doings there with
three or four stages of live entertainment and tons of food and such
from Dallas area restaurants.
From there we headed to the arts district, yes that would be me
violating a water scape in the photos. Fun thing about e-biking an
area you thought you knew. You find all sorts of things you would
never see from a car. The best part is you can leave faster than the
security guards can run when you over stay your welcome.
From there we headed down to the other side of town to the farmers
market, a fun place to go for the fresh produce (and samples! wink
wink nudge nudge).
A quick stop at Dicks Last Resort for a late "hydraulic" lunch, with
seconds!! Then headed out for base. Gotta tell you the jokes and beer
were flowing at Dicks.
We are going to try and do this twice a month to bring e-bikers
together and also raise awareness of e-bikes in general.
Dal Locke's report:
We had a fun ride today from the Mockingbird rail station to downtown Dallas along
the Katy trail. It was a scenic ride downhill to the West End. The taste of Dallas was
going on with rides, food and entertainment. We left there and went over to the Bank
of America's 74 story tall building for a view up the side at the corner. If you never
have done that its quite a sight. We left there and went to the Arts district and looked
around at the new performance theatre under construction.
From there we went to the Farmers Market and had some fresh veggies. Just
kidding. After that we trekked back over to the West End district and had lunch and
some liquid bread at Dick's last resort. Had a good time talking, drinking, eating
and laughing and then went back up the Katy trail back the Mockingbird station.
Nice ride, new friends and good times. It was very hot again today, but on an electric
bike, the wind is always flowing by so its really not bad.
Trail logs
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