E-Bike Cycle Tourists Set New World E-Bike Long Distance Record

A kiss on the road to celebrate infront of road mirror
A celebratory kiss after setting a new e-bike long distance world record

We did it!! After 901 hours of cycling over 220 days at an average of 75 kilometres per day through 12 countries in Europe and the United Kingdom, the e-Bike Cycle Tourists have finally set a new world e-bike long distance record.

The old mark of 16,047kms (9971 miles) – which was set by German Maximilian Semsch who circumnavigated Australia in 2012 – was finally passed on a sunny winter’s day in the Algarve region of Portugal much to our collective delight.

The achievement was celebrated with high fives, hugs and kisses, lunch at a restaurant, a photo session and, of course, a celebratory bottle of wine.

To have finally claimed the world record after six months of planning and nine months of almost continuous unsupported e-biking – that has seen us pedal through England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Holland, Spain and Portugal – was, to be honest, a huge relief.

16,050 kms - a new record
16,050 kms – a new record

But far from being the end of the story, the achievement has not only spurred us on to continue cycling, but to set a much, much higher world record mark before we eventually call it quits.

The Next Goal is 25,000kms by August,2016

As such we now plan to continue cycling in Europe through until August 2016 before returning to home soil in Australia to regroup before heading off overseas once again – possibly to the USA – to hopefully continue our amazing e-bike adventure. By the time we return to Australia, if we can maintain our current daily kilometre average, we should have clocked up at least 25,000 kilometres. And the final target? Who knows!

So how does it feel to have finally broken the world e-bike long distance record? One word succinctly sums it up – unbelievable – with the underlying emotion one of satisfaction.

Winners are grinners
Smiles all around after setting a new world e-bike long distance record.

Satisfaction that we have proven conclusively that it IS possible for anyone of any age – including us at 60 and 57 years respectively – to go long distance cycle touring on an electric bike. Satisfaction that we have proven the nay-sayers wrong who said we would not achieve our goal. Satisfaction that we have achieved something that no-one else has and, more than anything, satisfaction that we have a world record next to our names.

Not a bad situation at all for two people who had never ridden an e-bike before setting out on the record attempt!

Now, nine months almost to the day since we set out from London, you could say we are roving e-bike ambassadors keen to continue promoting everything that is good about e-bike commuting.

Our Haibike Trekking xDuro E-Bikes Have Nor Missed a Beat

With our Haibike xDuro Trekking RX e-bikes – in combination with the Bosch Performance crank drive motor and 400wh battery system – having not missed a beat on either of our two e-bikes while towing our fully laden Tout Terrain Mule single wheel trailers, we have continued to rack up the kilometres on a daily basis.

But just as importantly the reliability of our Haibikes has given us the confidence to not only promote e-bikes as a fun, healthy and environmentally friendly form of transport, but as a feasible form of transport for people interested in embarking on a long distance cycle tour – something we were told could not be achieved because of the daily drama involved with charging our bikes’ batteries without the help of solar power.

A new world record celebrated with a glass of wine and a meal of fresh seafood
A new world record celebrated with a glass of wine and a meal of fresh seafood

While it is true that we did have reservations before setting out about how easy it would be to find mains electricity outlets on a daily basis to charge our Bosch batteries, the truth of the matter is that we should never have worried.

Why? Because there are just so many options available. Campgrounds, cafes, friendly farmers, e-bike charging stations, some of the many people we have met along the way and, when really pressed, people whose doors we have knocked on have all been the source of all important electrical charge on a daily basis.

Along the way we have met many, many wonderful people who have helped us in so many ways beyond just supplying an electrical outlet.

Complete strangers have offered us accommodation, have gone out of their way to ride with us to get us on the right track after finding us hopelessly lost, people have offered us free ferry rides, coffees, maps, bike servicing and in Ireland a call out was put out via Facebook for the e-bike community to show us a “real” Irish welcome.

The result was a long list of people throughout Ireland who selflessly offered all sorts of assistance from accommodation to actually meeting us at the ferry in Dublin and, four weeks later, picking us up on the west coast to drive us back to the ferry at Rosslare on the east coast to catch the ferry back to Wales.

What we have clearly found along the way is that despite what you hear in the media, the world is full of kind and generous people who are only too happy to offer assistance when it is needed.

Throw the quickly growing appeal of e-bikes into the equation and we feel as though we are riding the crest of a wave that isn’t about the break any time soon.

So continue pedalling we will, with hopefully many more kilometres, adventures and new friends still to be met along the way.

The bottom line is that because we are feeling so fit and healthy – and because we want to continue promoting everything that is fantastic about touring on e-bikes – we don’t want our journey to end.

Hopefully there is a sponsor or two out there who may be interested in coming on board to help us  continue to spread the e-bike gospel!

Yippee we did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yippee we did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

19 thoughts on “E-Bike Cycle Tourists Set New World E-Bike Long Distance Record

  1. Well done to both of you!!!!!
    Amazing achievement, and what a great year ahead for you both to look forward to.
    Hope to see you soon,
    Lots of love,
    Christine & Tony xx

    1. Thanks Christine and thanks for your invaluable help along the way. Look forward to seeing you and Tony soon.

  2. Congratulations! New Zealand salutes you both. What a very special entry in your blog.
    It has been an epic ride and a great blog to follow, which I discovered by pure luck.
    All the best for your continued riding and your new goal.
    I look forward to reading more.
    Regards
    Yvonne McNeil

    1. Thanks for following our e-bike adventures Yvonne. We are constantly amazed by the support we receive from people all around the world.

  3. My wife and I are inspired! We are in our fifties and are ebike enthusiasts. I have a Haibike which I love! We are planning on a trip to Italy this year – must look into taking the bikes 🙂

    1. Thanks for you kind words. We are hoping to be able to continue our e-bike travels in the USA in 2017, stayed tuned!!

  4. WELL DONE you two. Never had any doubt you would do it!
    Salutations from France.
    Hope to see you soon.
    John and Morella
    x

  5. Very substantial achievement !! Congratulations and respect from a fellow e-biker. I own a Bosch powered eMTB and have covered 4000+ km solo since may 2015. If your return trip itinerary passes through SW France (Cahors) I’ll be honored to escort you for a while and offer charging and lodging while you’re in the area.

    1. Thank you Jacques for your generous offer. We will be in south west France in May, but will be e-biking on EuroVelo 1 along the Atlantic coast. That said, maybe we could cycle together at some stage along that route up to the Loire?? Stay in touch.

      1. Fantastic!
        I’ll definitely make a point to join you in May and have the honor of biking on EuroVelo along with you.
        Since I am 72 , camping is probably getting a bit tough for me, but I’m sure I can arrange something along your route.
        BTW, I have made quite some work on stretching the range with the Bosch E-Bike system .
        I use their “all-in-one” Nyon trip computer/GPS/fitness monitor which provides a number of very useful customizable displays that make it possible to carefully monitor both the bike and cyclist abilities.
        (Your bike can be upgraded to Nyon , but you’d need to visit a competent dealer/service station)
        It also let you adjust the assistance level profile as a function of speed.
        That’s a very useful feature for a Mountain bike , where re-starts on steep hills often require max assistance at extremely low speeds.
        It ended up with a 72 km MTB ride on my 72nd birthday on Dec 25.
        I’d love to share this with you both and of course have feedback from your world champions’ perspective.
        Looking forward to more interaction and exchanges with you!

        1. Hi Jacques. It would be a delight to cycle with you along EuroVelo 1 up the Atlantic coast – or even along EuroVelo 6 along the Loire. We are off to Cyprus for 3 months from Thursday and will return in early May, so keep in touch. Unfortunately we do not have the Bosch Nyon system, but after 17,000kms have become experts at judging our daily battery requirements … so far so good, we haven’t run out of battery power once, but have gone close a few times. Cheers.

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