Several months have passed since the end of the ‘09 outdoor skating season (at least for us Northerners.) I’ve been happily going in circles at the local indoor roller rink, even though it has been warm enough to skate outdoors on occasion. My garage sits quiet, a couple of projects half finished on the shelves. Training has been going slow with a few injuries keeping me from anything too long or to intense (it’s that damned back again.)
This summer, like the last one, ended up being about injuries. I spent most of the time in recovery mode and very little time actually training or racing. The one highlight of the season, had to be the last month or so before Duluth. I somehow managed to start running again, and that helped my fitness immensely. Technically, I wasn’t strong enough to keep up with the Master’s pack, but it wasn’t my cardiovascular fitness which contributed to my falling off the back, it was my shins not being able to stablize my skate. It didn’t help that I upgraded my frames and wheels to 110mm a few days before the race.
Earlier in the season, I had raced in Montreal. That same morning, it felt like zero degrees celcius. Nearly dropping out of that race wasn’t a good way to start off the season. It really affected my confidence and I never regained my momentum for racing until Duluth came around. It was unfortunate that the spring and summer were so late. The time I spent indoors and the early season Florida training was lost in all the snow and cold rains of spring.
2009 was also a bad year for my projects. I spent most of the summer building and then re-building my electric bike project. Skates on hold, shirts on hold and shoes on hold. An e-bike obsession had taken over.
My first attempt at the ebike had to be scrapped due to the positioning of the load. The battery was causing the frame to flex from side to side when going over bumps and when cornering. It just didn’t feel right. I had used a road bike frame which simply wasn’t strong or stiff enough. I converted that back to a regular bicycle.
My second attempt required a lot of time preparing the wheel hub motor. It had to be dismantled (700c) and rebuilt to MTB size (26″). The shop did a nice job of assembling the wheel with custom cut spokes. I spent a good part of the summer building the battery box and wiring up the MTB frame. A test ride brought out additional problems, now with pedalling clearances. It was important that I could pedal the bike as well as use the electric power. Back to the drawing board.
The final attempt required a re-design of the battery box and included a heavier duty rear rack and seatpost suspension for the rear end. The summer was almost over and I finally had something that worked! After resolving a few wiring and bike security issues, the test ride was successful. The bike uses an “always engaged” hub motor. Unlike some geared freewheeling motors on the market, this was reported to be a more powerful, faster and more reliable design. At first I was concerned about the resistance from the motor magnets (commonly referred to as the back-emf.) But after riding it extensively without power, I’m convinced that it’s not so bad that I can’t move the bike at a reasonable speed over flat terrain. As reported by some of the more experienced riders on the electric bike forums, “it’s like riding a fully loaded touring bike.”
Anyway, thanks to the visitors for following my blog this season. I appologize for not updating with more useful information this year, but as my schedule settles down a bit, I’m hoping to get back into the various projects I have sitting around. These days, we’re in the middle of a deep freeze and my focus for 2010 is back to skating. That likely means no boots in 2010 (perhaps with one exception and a few more articles.)
Besides…my skating boots are getting old and it’s time to replace them! I smell a new project coming on…
