Trek Electric Bicycles-Part 3

usbackroads products--Trek Electric Bicycles--Part 3

Here is a picture of our bicycle ride in Wenatchee.  The view is from our house and that far bridge is the bike path bridge over the Columbia River.   The Wenatchee Valley is fortunately in having a bicycle path the goes along both sides of the Columbia River with two bridge crossings.

The path links Wenatchee with the small town of East Wenatchee on the Douglas County side of the Columbia River.   The Chelan County side is full of developed parks complete with model railroads, ball fields, picnic areas, boat launches, art work, and of course the bike path.  The Douglas County side was left in a more natural state and to lower costs the bike path has steeper grades.  They were much more cost conscious on the east side of the river.

Here is the view from the "new" bridge built in the early 1970's.  Yes, that is the Columbia River flowing through Wenatchee.

Well, the entire trip is almost twenty miles.  But our concern was the steep grade back up to our house on Burch Mountain Rd.

Would we have enough battery reserve to make it home??  

So we took off down the hill with fully charged batteries.

Here is the view on the Wenatchee River entering the Columbia River.  Notice the snow in the Cascade Range and the hills already starting the turn brown in early May!!

We pedaled carefully and used regenerate mode on downhills to get that battery back to fully charged.

The Chelan County side of the trail is flatter and much more highly developed.  They do like lawn in Chelan County.  As always click on picture to enlarge.  That patch of trees above the two women walking across the lawn was our start point.

After about 20 miles our batteries still showed fully charged, but we still had two miles of UP to get back home.

So up we went and fairly soon we were at Level 4 assist.  The good news is that we made it home, with the battery still showing over 70% charge.  So that 40 mile range is probably a good estimate.

In 1976 bicycle touring in Europe a 25 to 30 mile day was about right.  This gave you time for sightseeing, a great lunch, and time to set up camp for the night.  Do not believe those bicycle touring books about averaging 50 miles a day.  That is bicycling, not touring!!  So the Trek Electric Bicycles are perfectly suited for touring.  Though I do have to admit I enjoyed the two 100 mile days in Holland and Finland.  Being 26 and physically fit had a lot to do with that!!

Bike racks.  Most people are not fortunate enough to be able to ride a bicycle trail from their home.
Here is a picture of our Thule bike rack on the back of the RAM Truck.

This bike rack worked fine four regular bikes, but with the two electric bikes it was rather high to lift them onto the rack.  I also suspect that you need a 2inch receiver for two electric bikes.  Four of these bikes would overload the rack.  So we are looking for a new rack that would sit lower to the ground, thereby making it easier to load the bikes.  We are shopping for a front hitch that would put the bikes on the front of the truck and the 5th wheel at the rear.

The bikes are great and will bring back the joy of bicycling without the pain and agony.  So let those years disappear and get a little electric assist into your life.

For those of you that missed Parts One and Two here are the links:

Trek Electric Bicycles--Part One

Trek Electric Bikes--Part Two

Electric bikes......don't leave home without them.