I've updated my bottom self inflicting weight loss timeline. Measured myself this morning and I am down again. I've hit the 300lbs mark. I still have much to go but so far my plan is working.
Just watched "That Sugar Movie." and I have to agree with a few things however the person doing the experiment just kept on referring to his previous diet as "Avocados and Nuts", which I would think be the most boring diet ever.
However, cutting out sugar drinks and over all invisible sugar in foods needs to be a bit more of an effort on my behalf.
I'm talking about how to put metrics into my own riding for my self. Not for anyone else.
 |
| Power reading at Start |
I've been trying to figure out how I can measure if I am doing better. It's a bit of a challange since normal measurements of TIME or AvgSpeed can be changed on the amount of "power" I add when I drive.
 |
| Power reading at End |
So with out doing any crazy charts with TIME x SPEED x POWER, I've been using two points of measurements. Since my bike is a 48v 12ah system, I've noticed that my battery power remaining has been a simple and easy measurement of how much "effort" I've been putting into riding.
My bike starts at 54.6/54.4 at full charge and then drops quickly at the slightest addition at the start, just as any other Lithuium Ion battery does. Then it holds at 80% for a long time and then drops out to almost no output around 30% remaining. So at the start of this adventure my power at the end would read 48.2 or 49.0ish and that is when the battery was new and fresh and all power cells were at 100%. Over time the power cells aren't as good as they could be and some simply die.
So with a 50.3 after over 300 charges (maybe more) at the end of a ride, I can say that I feel happy about that.
But my best measurement is how I feel and at this time, I feel this is all taking me in the right direction and I guess that's what really counts. That and my belt size has shrunk down a belt notch.
While I was biking back home from work, Going East to West, Along the Ottawa River, I seem to always be heading in the direction of the wind.
The other day, the wind was pretty high and someone pulled up behind me and yelled "Mind if I draft?" which I replied, "sure, what ever." I'm on an electric bike, so when the wind is high, just means I have to engage my electric assist motor a little more often.
Prior to this, I've only read about Drafting on a friends blog where he was talking about drafting on a road bike.
After 10km, I had to make my turn where the person behind me yells "THANKS, that helped out a lot!"
This maybe the first time someone on a road bike thanked me for being on the path.
So this happened last week and I'm still kind of surprised by the whole thing. While doing my normal bike commute, I saw another fat bike coming down the road. I've seen this bike before and it was driven by a younger man/teen that was going full tilt and cutting people off on the bike path (basically being an idiot).
But a few moments later an older person pulled past me with a "Hi!" and kept on going. No helmet and going full blast on there "Electric Fat Bike". Little later on the ride in, I found him pulled over to the side waiting for me. Asking if everything was okay and if he needed help, he informed me his name is Bob and this was his first time biking / commuting to work on his bike and wanted to know which way to go.
After discussing with him about his lack of helmet, informing him that google maps can help plan your biking path pretty good, we took off and began to talk about the bikes. Found out his bike an "E-Ranger" doesn't have a trottle and only does PAS. Which explains why he was moving like a bat out of hell... and killing his battery quickly. According to him, he will void his warranty if he adds a trottle to his bike. Seemed like an odd restriction.
While biking he then told me that he saw me last winter on my bike and said "YES, that's what I want to do and how I get around. No spandex, No traffic, big tires.." so at his age of nearly 60, he said I inspired him to bike to work on an electric fat bike.
Who knew??
 |
| No battery |
 |
| With Battery |
Putting the battery somewhere on the bike has been a bit of a challenge on this bike frame. With it just sitting out on the back by itself, I lost some storage for stuff like "spare shirt, cell phone, etc.." So I came up with the idea to combined them together, which seems to be working just fine. It's reduced any "clanking" sound from the battery holder at the same time. With a bonus that my battery will have protection from the winter cold this year! I can't believe I've already started thinking about winter riding. Esh!
I was really hesitant about doing this, as I had to poke holes and cut into my bag to achieve this but with the rule of measure twice and cut once, I think all will be well.
Side note: with this new frame I am holding the bike at 22km with no battery required. Legs are feeling much stronger than before and I am finally starting to see and feel some weight coming off. Some shirts that use to be a bit tight are starting to look loose. Just a side effect of biking.
Leaving to work, it was raining and I didn't think twice about not biking in.
So I attempt to make a few support bars out of some spare metal that I had laying around. But it became way to weak and snapped with in 24hrs (2hrs of biking) which led me to re-thinking the entire concept. Talking to a few bike shops, they have some rear streamlines for $75.00 which seemed a bit steep for what I was looking to use it for. I still might do it but I am going to attempt a few concepts first.
After wondering around home depot, going down the isles slowly, looking for ideas on how to fix this. I mean, I'm just looking to make a few support rods, how difficult could that possibly be?! I couldn't find any aluminum poles, other than curtain rods. Which if, I pounded down the ends, drills some holes, might work. But on the very last isle, tucked away in a corner with no labels of what they are to be used for, I found some black carbon fiber rods. Picked up 3 of them for $5 and started to attempt to drill, cut, bend them into submission for what I wanted to use them for. After three attempts, I finally got what I was looking for.
Now, time to go for a bike ride and see if I hear anything rattle, break or fall off.
So this happened last week and I'm still kind of surprised by the whole thing. While doing my normal bike commute, I saw another fat bike coming down the road. I've seen this bike before and it was driven by a younger man/teen that was going full tilt and cutting people off on the bike path (basically being an idiot). 
So I attempt to make a few support bars out of some spare metal that I had laying around. But it became way to weak and snapped with in 24hrs (2hrs of biking) which led me to re-thinking the entire concept. Talking to a few bike shops, they have some rear streamlines for $75.00 which seemed a bit steep for what I was looking to use it for. I still might do it but I am going to attempt a few concepts first.
After wondering around home depot, going down the isles slowly, looking for ideas on how to fix this. I mean, I'm just looking to make a few support rods, how difficult could that possibly be?! I couldn't find any aluminum poles, other than curtain rods. Which if, I pounded down the ends, drills some holes, might work. But on the very last isle, tucked away in a corner with no labels of what they are to be used for, I found some black carbon fiber rods. Picked up 3 of them for $5 and started to attempt to drill, cut, bend them into submission for what I wanted to use them for. After three attempts, I finally got what I was looking for. 