As the E-Bike Cycle Tourists have clearly discovered over the past few months, it is amazing what can happen if you persevere at a passion in life for long enough.
Take our ongoing world e-bike long distance ride as a classic case in point.
Not even in our wildest dreams did we ever expect to be still pedaling our Haibike xDuro Trekking e-bikes 15 months and 25,700 kilometres after setting out from London in April, 2015.
Basically the goal was to better the existing world e-bike long distance record of 16,047kms, have a great time exploring mainland Europe and the UK and then head back to Australia after 12 or so months.
But clearly that isn’t how things have panned out.
Not only are we still cycling, but as things stand at the present time we have no intention of stopping any time soon.
So what happened to change our plans so drastically?
E-Bike Tour Has a ‘Life of its Own’ – Haibike Heroes
Basically our e-bike adventure gained a life of its own, with the key being that word ‘perseverance’.
As we persevered day after day and month after month to clock up more and more kilometres, ever-increasing numbers of people from around the world started to sit up and take notice of what we were doing.
Slowly at first, but in ever increasing numbers, emails started to appear in our inbox from people around the world – mostly in the 40-plus age group – telling us how our e-bike adventure had “inspired” them to purchase their own e-bike so they could complete their own e-bike adventure of days, weeks and, in at least one case, a three month journey on route 66 across the USA.
It was fantastic, we thought, that our journey could have such a positive effect on so many people … in a way it made us feel like e-bike industry pioneers.
But then something even more unimaginable happened – emails and Facebook messages from people firmly entrenched in the e-bike industry.
Sure, we are cycling our ever-reliable Haibike xDuro Trekking e-bikes, but that hasn’t stopped people involved with just about every other brand of e-bike in the world from either following our progress through our regular Facebook updates or by contacting us directly.
And then something happened that clearly proved the worth of our perseverance to pedal our Haibikes so far – Haibike, the leading e-bike manufacturer in the world, agreed to sponsor us.
So, as our regular Facebook followers already know, that is how we came to be in Schweinfurt in Germany at the annual Haibike dealers’ conference over the past week.
E-Bike Cycle Tourists Named as ‘Haibike Heroes’
In recognition of our ongoing efforts we were officially named as “Haibike Heroes” along with fellow e-bike adventurers Maximilian Semsch, Susanne Brüsch and renowned mountain bike racer Guido Tschugg.
How good is that!!
Collectively we all represent different segments of the Haibike e-bike product range.
It was Maximilian Semsch’s record of 16,047 kms that was set in Australia in 2012 that we broke to claim the world e-bike long distance record as our own, Susanne Brusch, through her company Pedelec Adventures, pushes herself and her Haibike e-mountain bikes to the extreme on adventure e-bike tours and Guido Tschugg is well known worldwide as a legend on the mountain bike racing circuit.
For our part we represent Haibike’s xDuro Trekking range of e-bikes that are ideal for touring, commuting, hybrid, trekking and road riding styles. In the main people who purchase these bikes are in the 40-plus age group, so as luck would have it given our ages in our early 60s and late 50s we perfectly fit the demographic of the Haibike xDuro Trekking e-bikes.
So there you have it, who would have thought when we set out 15 months ago to enjoy a trip of a lifetime on e-bikes that we would not only end up sponsored Haibike riders, but ‘Haibike Heroes’.
Amazing!!
You are amazing!!!
I just bought my new e bike sduro full nine rc.
I’m on late 50 and enjoy so much!!!
I follow you on the blog and Facebook and you are giving me motivation to do a long trip
with my son.
Keep on doing the good work!!
Thanks for your support. E-bike touring is an amazing way to do a long trip. You will have an amazing time with your son. Stay in touch.
To our ‘Haikbike Heroes’ congratulations on an amazing achievment you
both certainly deserve, having traveled along with you both, worried at
times about your safety and well being, looked forward to your most
interesting blogs and phone calls and now looking forward to seeing you
in Sept. You might be ‘Haikbike Heroes’ but you are most certainly ours!!!
Love to you both Mum & Dadxxxxxxx
Gee, thanks mum. Likewise we are looking forward to seeing all the family in September.
Good work guys! We are from QLD, we bought ebikes in Bordeaux a few weeks ago. So far we have clocked up 600 km of touring through France on everything from cobbles to mud tracks and suburban streets. Heading to Provence tomorrow to check out the lavender then up to Lyon and onto Devon in the UK before heading back to AU in October.
Well done, you are now officially e-bike cycle touring addicts. Continue to have a great time touring with you e-bikes in France. It is an amazing country with so much to see, we can’t get enough of it. Keep in touch and let us know how the rest of your trip goes.