Tour de West Coast Finland - 1000+ km road trip on EUCs. Tour blog.

[HelRider]

@Seba you’re genius! That drying system is brilliant  We have used hair driers to dry our clothes, but not like that. 

@UniVehje packed some duct tape, I have self adhesive velcro and safety pins in that orange stuff sack (17 in the packing list pic). We haven’t needed them (yet) but I think they are essential items to pack. 

Edited July 15, 2020 by HelRider

[travsformation]

1 hour ago, Seba said:

I used a strip of duct tape to keep the button constantly pressed and a teabag to get correct air stream direction 

High-tech solutions by no less than the mastermind behind EUC World®  

Bust seriously, good thinking, very clever solution! That's one of the things I love about traveling, it's "the great equalizer", forcing us to get creative with a very limited amount of resources. I love that sense of pride that you get when you find a clever solution for something that, taken out of context, sounds ridiculous; it brings me back to me childhood, when I'd build forts and treehouses in the forest. 

1 hour ago, Seba said:

Duct tape and zip ties are essential, just like first aid kit, spare tube and multitool.

I was about to say "you forgot zip ties" before I saw this at the end of your post. Yeah, those are a must!

I also tend to take a few meters of paracord with me. It weighs next to nothing, takes up very little space, and I can use it either to hang my clothes on to dry, tie things down, hold things together, etc. 

[HelRider]

34 minutes ago, travsformation said:

 

I also tend to take a few meters of paracord with me. It weighs next to nothing, takes up very little space, and I can use it either to hang my clothes on to dry, tie things down, hold things together, etc. 

Paracord was in my packing list before packing, but I forgot to buy some. 

[Seba]

11 minutes ago, travsformation said:

Bust seriously, good thinking, very clever solution! That's one of the things I love about traveling, it's "the great equalizer", forcing us to get creative with a very limited amount of resources. I love that sense of pride that you get when you find a clever solution for something that, taken out of context, sounds ridiculous; it brings me back to me childhood, when I'd build forts and treehouses in the forest. 

Yeah, and this is probably what makes a long-distance, multi day EUC riding such an unique experience. It's not just about the ride. It's a whole lot of related things. Planning a route may be a great challenge. Dealing with fatigue. Planning a charge stops to get to your destination. Dealing with changing weather. Solving problems that arise on the route. All of this is a much bigger challenge than just riding  And I love it!

It's similar to a long-distance sport shooting. It's not about just making a shoot. It's about reading the wind that may be different over entire range. It's about selecting right corrections to apply on the rifle scope to make a perfect shot. It's about dealing with mirages that will make your target image blurry. It's about making a shot between your heart beats. It's about carefull selection of ammunition, that will work well with your rifle. Lot of challenges that make this kind of shooting sport very special.

[travsformation]

 

3 hours ago, HelRider said:

Q & A Part I

As much as I'd like to, I can't ride with that kind of shoe 

I own some similar, mesh Merrell shoes that are perfect for Spanish weather (30+º C) because I get some nice airflow on my feet, but the sole is too soft and the mesh makes the shoe too flexible, so my foot moves more than I'm comfortable with and I don't feel like I have the tight control I'd like. So far, what has worked the best for me have been my Timberlands, which I bought specifically for riding:

They have a very rigid sole, which is perfect for toes hanging over the edge of the pedal, and coupled with the hardish leather, which adjusts snugly around my feet with no flex (and offers some degree of weather protection), they provide the fine control I like when riding, and the mid-height ankle support offers a little protection. But they're not ideal for long rides due to comfort (at least not without soft gel inserts) and lack of breathability. And now that summer's here, they aren't even an option for riding at 30+º C. I guess I'll have to invest in something else for summer riding...

I checked out some Gore-Tex hiking shoes, but they have flexible soles for comfort, and I want something more rigid, so it looks like it'll have to be some mountain-biking shoes like the Five Ten Hellcat Pro, but man are they expensive... 

[travsformation]

9 minutes ago, Seba said:

Yeah, and this is probably what makes a long-distance, multi day EUC riding such an unique experience. It's not just about the ride. It's a whole lot of related things. Planning a route may be a great challenge. Dealing with fatigue. Planning a charge stops to get to your destination. Dealing with changing weather. Solving problems that arise on the route. All of this is a much bigger challenge than just riding  And I love it!

Yeah, I love that part of the challenge too! That's why I eventually want to go for a trip with my EUC only, without the motorhome. Because with the motorhome I have plenty of packing space for everything I need (as well as much that I don't need)...

14 minutes ago, Seba said:

It's similar to a long-distance sport shooting. It's not about just making a shoot. It's about reading the wind that may be different over entire range. It's about selecting right corrections to apply on the rifle scope to make a perfect shot. It's about dealing with mirages that will make your target image blurry. It's about making a shot between your heart beats. It's about carefull selection of ammunition, that will work well with your rifle. Lot of challenges that make this kind of shooting sport very special.

I know what you mean, it's similar (but not the same) with photography, especially wildlife: choosing the right lens, adjusting your settings based on highlights or shadows, choosing the right shutter speed depending on whether you want more, less or no motion blur, playing with aperture and ISO to get the right lighting and depth of field and prevent image grain, holding your breath and shooting between heartbeats when you have no tripod and have gone for a low shutter speed, etc. It's the challenges like that (and patient adjustments they require) that make it fun. 

Also, note to self: Don't f*** with Seba 

[HelRider]

On 7/7/2020 at 5:24 PM, Mr A.A said:

anything you miss having on the trip

I forgot to mention this earlier. We have spent most of the nights in small cabins at camping sites. They tend to have very few power outlets. Usually there are three: one for fridge, one for radiator (you really need it in chilly nights) and one for your devices. That’s not enough for two wheels, two phones, an iPad and a smart watch.  One or two of these would help a lot:

[Mr A.A]

1 hour ago, HelRider said:

That’s not enough for two wheels, two phones, an iPad and a smart watch.  One or two of these would help a lot

Something like this could be very useful while travelling, where you have to charge multiple Items.

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-travel-power-strip-with-usb/

 

ps: Amazing pics, Beautiful Places. Thanks a lot for taking the time to share your journey with us.

 

[HelRider]

8 minutes ago, Mr A.A said:

Something like this could be very useful while travelling, where you have to charge multiple Items.

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-travel-power-strip-with-usb/

 

ps: Amazing pics, Beautiful Places. Thanks a lot for taking the time to share your journey with us.

 

Yeah, that kind would also work. 👍🏻

And thanks. ❤️

[Mr A.A]

A question regarding EUC's

From your long distance travel experience, what features do you miss in an EUC ? 

From the current available EUC's which do you think would be perfect for the long distance scenario ? A wheel like Sherman with long range, or the suspensions wheels S18 and V11 with more comfort, (you guys have already placed order for the suspension wheels)

Is charge time a bother ? Fast charger necessary ? 

Would you prefer a small wheel like Mten3 ? which would be easier to carry on trains or buses, and upon reaching someplace interesting you can go sightseeing on the wheel.

 

 

[HelRider]

Day 17, July 14: Kempele — Hailuoto

 

So, today’s the day: we will arrive at our destination! We left the hotel at 10 AM. Migraine attacked me once again, so it was pretty awful to ride. Luckily the painkiller kicked in soon. We had 20 kms to ride to the ferry. The weather forecast said it would rain soon, so we put on our rain gear. But this time the forecast was wrong and we had only sunshine!  

 

We arrived at the ferry at 10.50 and the ferry would leave at 11. There were already four cyclists and a long queue of cars waiting to get in.

 

The ferry ride took 25 mins. We took our rain gear off and enjoyed the scenery. A couple of cyclists and drivers asked us about the wheels and our journey. As always, they were amazed about the wheels and the distance we were riding. It’s nice that people are very positive about wheels.  

 

Soon we were in Hailuoto. We still had 30 kms to ride to the other side of the island, Marjaniemi. It felt that it lasted for hours. I guess it was because we had waited for this for a long time and we just wanted to get to our destination. The weather and scenery were beautiful, though. 

 

We stopped at Sale Hailuoto to buy some snacks and groceries and to recharge my wheel. We had about 10 kms to ride and we had three bags full of groceries. It was pretty hard to ride with them. Not because of the weight, but the wind!  

 

And then we were there.  We have a nice cabin next to the sea. We can almost see all the way to Sweden from the windows and terrace.  Such a beautiful place! We left our stuff in the cabin and went to sightsee a little bit. And of course we had prosecco to celebrate.  

(By the way, those are the shoes @UniVehje bought in Kokkola.)

 

We’ll spend 4 days here before taking a train back home. We’re going to do some hiking, sightseeing and beer tasting, at least. I hope the weather forecast is right: it says we’re gonna have warm, sunny days.  

 

• Kilometers ridden today: 50
• Kilometers ridden in total: 982
• Hours ridden today: 2
• Hours ridden in total: 51,5

Edited July 15, 2020 by HelRider
Added kms and hours

[FinRider]

You guys should have taken an 18 km detour to make it an even 1000 km to your destination!

honestly, I dont know how you guys have the endurance to do this. I did 50 km yesterday and I was pretty done by the end of the day... 

congrats on reaching your destination!

[Zwheeler]

Great

Just an awesome achievement! Way to go! A great inspiration for the rest of us!

-Z-

[HelRider]

49 minutes ago, FinRider said:

You guys should have taken an 18 km detour to make it an even 1000 km to your destination!

We would have reached 1000 km already without the wheel malfunction in Pietarsaari. Pietarsaari — Kokkola is about 35 km.
 

51 minutes ago, FinRider said:

honestly, I dont know how you guys have the endurance to do this. I did 50 km yesterday and I was pretty done by the end of the day... 

We did several training trips before this journey. It’s very important to test yourself and the gear before starting a roadtrip like this.

In May we rode from Helsinki to Hyvinkää and took a train back home. I only had a small backpack but my back was killing me after that. Two weeks later we had a mini holiday in Inkoo. I was pretty much dead after 70 km ride.  Slowly but steady it got better. The next two trips were much easier.  

 

56 minutes ago, FinRider said:

congrats on reaching your destination!

Thanks!  

[HelRider]

59 minutes ago, Zwheeler said:

Great

Just an awesome achievement! Way to go! A great inspiration for the rest of us!

-Z-

Thanks!  I’d like to see your travel blog here someday.  

[rolekl]

Cool trip, thanx for sharing!!

How are the Finnish drivers towards wheelers on the roads? I've done a few short road bike (bicycle) trips in Finland and been somewhat unimpressed by a few drivers' ability to keep a safe distance when overtaking... I can imagine that a wheeler will get a better safety distance just because most drivers haven't got a clue what that strange thing is...?

[UniVehje]

6 minutes ago, rolekl said:

Cool trip, thanx for sharing!!

How are the Finnish drivers towards wheelers on the roads? I've done a few short road bike (bicycle) trips in Finland and been somewhat unimpressed by a few drivers' ability to keep a safe distance when overtaking... I can imagine that a wheeler will get a better safety distance just because most drivers haven't got a clue what that strange thing is...?

I think we only had one car passing us a bit too close. Everyone else have given plenty of space. A few have been hanging behind and looking at us before overtaking and that’s a bit annoying. The roads we’ve been using have been very quiet. 

[HelRider]

5 minutes ago, rolekl said:

Cool trip, thanx for sharing!!

How are the Finnish drivers towards wheelers on the roads? I've done a few short road bike (bicycle) trips in Finland and been somewhat unimpressed by a few drivers' ability to keep a safe distance when overtaking... I can imagine that a wheeler will get a better safety distance just because most drivers haven't got a clue what that strange thing is...?

Thanks!
For some reason some drivers seem to hate (male) road cyclists. I really don’t understand it.

We’ve had zero problems with drivers. Except that one time a driver didn’t see @UniVehje and drove too close. I think that was because his clothing and backpack are so dark and the road was next to a forest on a cloudy day. The driver drove past me very safely, but my clothes and gear are colourful. @UniVehje was riding ahead of me and I guess the driver wasn’t expecting him. Otherwise we’ve been safe. 

[Zwheeler]

50 minutes ago, HelRider said:

Thanks!  I’d like to see your travel blog here someday.  

Awww. Me and my big mouth! But just wait.. 

-Z-

[UniVehje]

20 hours ago, Mr A.A said:

A question regarding EUC's

From your long distance travel experience, what features do you miss in an EUC ? 

Thank you for asking. Good questions and I’ve been thinking about this a lot now that I’ve had much time to think while riding. 

It’s funny how you start to feel the wheel so well when riding so much. When touring for a couple of weeks small things start to matter. You will feel if you have wrong tire pressure and 0.2 degrees change in pedal angle is significant. You know exactly how different riding modes feel. You will also have memorized the optimal tightness for your shoe lazes. 

The only missing feature that came to our minds constantly was suspension. Could be because that feature is coming soon and we are reminded of it constantly. (The waiting is killing me.) Suspension would probably make riding more comfortable and easier on knees but the difference will most likely not be huge. I will see soon. 

And maybe a seat would be nice to give our feet some rest from time to time. I actually have a seat but it’s not comfortable to ride with and I didn’t have time to modify it before the trip. A seat would also need to be foldable or easy to attach on the wheel when not in use. It’s not possible to carry a separate seat all the time when using the trolley. 

20 hours ago, Mr A.A said:

From the current available EUC's which do you think would be perfect for the long distance scenario ? A wheel like Sherman with long range, or the suspensions wheels S18 and V11 with more comfort, (you guys have already placed order for the suspension wheels)

From current available models the 18XL is absolutely the best for this kind of touring. If you count V11 being currently available as it’s starting to ship, then I predict it will be even better. I have the V11 coming soon and @HelRider will be getting the S18 in a couple of weeks. The S18 was ordered because it was supposed to be lighter and thus more suitable for her. We will see if it’s a good touring wheel or not. We have already planned to make a week long trip in August with the new wheels!

As for the wheels like Sherman or Monster, I’m not even thinking about them. Especially Sherman would be a horrible touring wheel. It might be surprising, but I’m really not looking for any larger battery. I can already ride up to 100 km on my wheel and we have a fast charger with adapters for both wheels. The battery is not the bottle neck, it’s our feet and backs. Even the V10F is doing fine, although a 1500 Wh battery is definitely the optimal size. Of course it’s possible to ride longer daily distances but the thing is we have to be in condition the very next morning to do another long ride. I would not want to ride 150 km daily even if my battery was bigger. 

During this kind of touring we live on or with our wheels 24/7. We are either riding, trolleying, carrying or charging the wheels. They are in our hotel rooms or cabins, they go with us to the stores and restaurants. They stay on our sides when resting or sightseeing. A good trolley handle and cut-off switch are surprisingly important. When you are doing everything together with the wheel these features matter. Think about having done 100 kilometers, being tired and wet after riding in rain and you have to go to a supermarket to buy food before getting to your destination. You have a heavy backpack on you and you wonder about in the store with the wheel. You have to trolley it with one hand and carry the shoppings in the other. Then you need to rest the wheel somewhere while you’re paying. And all this time everybody is already staring at you because they’ve never seen this kind of device before. You really want the wheel just to be convenient. 

The V11 is probably going to beat 18XL as the best touring wheel because of suspension and comfort. It’ll also have the best features for convenience. It doesn’t matter that the range will be slightly less. The kickstand would have been useful several times a day on this trip.

I think the 18XL is regarded as the best touring wheel for a reason (prior to V11). The perfect wheel for this kind of riding should be pretty good at everything and doesn’t need to have any feature standing out as “best” at anything. It’s always a compromise. What’s most important is ergonomics and comfort. For range 60-100 kilometers is enough. Even the V10F has been enough with fast charging. The cruising speeds have been 30-38 km/h so no need for the fastest wheels. Faster speeds would get uncomfortable and consume too much energy. A thin wheel with good pedals and comfortable contact point to shins is all you need. 

20 hours ago, Mr A.A said:

Is charge time a bother ? Fast charger necessary ? 

Not really. The wheels are charged during nights or lunch breaks. The 5A charger we have has been mostly enough to charge the V10F while we eat. A fast charger is not necessary if you have a big battery but it helps a lot and gives more freedom. This trip wouldn’t have been possible to do using a 960 Wh battery without the fast charger. My wheel needed charging only a couple of times during day time and it was mostly enough to just charge with the standard 1.5A charger while the V10F was on fast charger. 

20 hours ago, Mr A.A said:

Would you prefer a small wheel like Mten3 ? which would be easier to carry on trains or buses, and upon reaching someplace interesting you can go sightseeing on the wheel.

 

Nope. The wheels we have now are good compromise of stable ride and portability. I really like the 18” tire for this and even the 2.5” width is very good already. A smaller wheel might get too tiring to ride long distances and a Monster size wheel would be too difficult to carry everywhere and fit in trains or buses. Sightseeing is also easier to do with a relatively compact wheel. 

 

Edited July 16, 2020 by UniVehje

[Daley1]

Great points on portability and weight for touring.Shows the importance of good preparation!.Did u have to stop and charge the v10 often and base ur pitstops around it?

Great job and congrats!

[HelRider]

8 hours ago, Daley1 said:

Great points on portability and weight for touring.Shows the importance of good preparation!.Did u have to stop and charge the v10 often and base ur pitstops around it?

Great job and congrats!

Thanks!  

I charged my V10F usually about halfway when we had a lunch. Our average daily mileage was about 70 km, so one charge (with fast charger) was enough. Some days I charged it twice if we had to ride 90-100 km and/or the weather was very windy. 

[travsformation]

On 7/15/2020 at 10:19 PM, UniVehje said:

Everyone else have given plenty of space. A few have been hanging behind and looking at us before overtaking and that’s a bit annoying.

I get that a lot...I reckon it's down to the novelty factor of staying behind you to check out what this strange device from the future is. But it's annoying, I agree...

On 7/16/2020 at 12:22 PM, UniVehje said:

During this kind of touring we live on or with our wheels 24/7. We are either riding, trolleying, carrying or charging the wheels. They are in our hotel rooms or cabins, they go with us to the stores and restaurants. They stay on our sides when resting or sightseeing. A good trolley handle and cut-off switch are surprisingly important.

+1 

Couldn't agree more, it's (part of) what's kept me away from GWs

On 7/16/2020 at 12:22 PM, UniVehje said:

The V11 is probably going to beat 18XL as the best touring wheel because of suspension and comfort. It’ll also have the best features for convenience.

I'd be willing to include the 16X in that category. I get about the same range as on the 18XL (if I can resist the temptation to use all that available torque), and if not riding fast, the 3" cushy tire makes eating up the bumps pretty comfy too (all though it is a bit bouncy when hitting bumps at higher speeds, not as planted as the 18XL). 

The V11 will probably be the best touring wheel overall though, I agree, Unless they release an S18XL. The only issue I see with it is the lack of a handle on top that you can quickly grab without clicking and pulling up.

[travsformation]

BTW, @UniVehje & @HelRider, how satisfied are you with the routes you planned? I know from experience that on paper (or on screen) they can seem great, but later, once you're on them, they can prove to be different from what you expected, sometimes requiring some improvisation. Did you have any such issues? Is there's anything you'd do differently in future trips? 

And in terms of time organization, pit stops, accounting for the weather, etc., is there anything you'd do differently in future trips?

And about packing...anything you took that you didn't end up needing and wouldn't pack in future trips? 

[travsformation]

On 7/15/2020 at 1:51 PM, HelRider said:

I forgot to mention this earlier. We have spent most of the nights in small cabins at camping sites. They tend to have very few power outlets. Usually there are three: one for fridge, one for radiator (you really need it in chilly nights) and one for your devices. That’s not enough for two wheels, two phones, an iPad and a smart watch.  One or two of these would help a lot:

A powercube is also a good option (although they're a bit bulky):