Met up with six other riders at the Encanto Park in Duarte, at ~9:30 for a 10:00 depart. I didn't arrive until ~9:45 and we didn't roll until ~10:30. Met Peter Ha and Victor for the first time. Victor has an S18 so he was going to join us only for the first ~15-miles (he made it to the Cogswell Dam area before turning around.
I rode my Sherman Max.
At our highest elevation. From left: Dawn, Lydia, Kato, James, and Peter
Midway through the ride. From left: me, Kato, James, Lydia, Dawn, and Peter
For the first time on this long (normal 89-mile loop) ride I rode up to the Mt Wilson Observatory. We all had ~86-volts so I thought it was reasonable to visit the observatory even though it was a decent 4-mile climb. My Max was at ~85.5-volts, resting.
There we took our second long break of the day. Took some video on the journey back down to the Hwy 2 / Mt Wilson Red Box Road junction. My Max was ~85.5-volts at that junction. So it cost ~1-volt to make that roundtrip.
Took a few pictures while we were at the junction before proceeding back to civilization
Peter goofing for the camera
Dawn and Lydia
The day was running long. We didn't leave the junction until ~6pm. I figured that it would be dark by the time we got to the cars, and it was.
I started hearing a few beeps on my Max with a couple of miles from the car. Ended the ride with ~78-volts. Dawn, who was also riding a Max had over 82-volts. For most of the ride our voltages were very close but the difference really showed up at the end.
I had some business near the beach so I brought my Monster Pro for some riding afterwards.
Rode the beach bike path from Playa Del Rey to Torrance County Beach and then back past the marina and up to Pacific Palisades where I ate a burger at the Beach Side Cafe. Then I returned to the start.
48-miles of buttery smooth 24-inch tire riding 😎
Of course I already put about 800-miles on the EUCO Monster Pro, but this was my first break-in ride on my personal copy that I received last week (thanks Ray Rokni).
Chris Chaput joined me with his Monster Pro, received the same day as mine.
We journeyed up to the base of the Mt Baldy ski lifts.
I also used my newly fabricated seat which worked great. I particularly enjoy riding seated while going downhill
The ride was uneventful (a good thing). We are both a bit wary of the Monster Pro since they have an above average failure rate.
Overheating
There is no doubt that the Monster Pro runs hot. And in our particular case, when climbing the last few files where we ascend ~2000-feet, both of our wheels overheated (or would have overheated if we didn't stop) I think 5-times.
So some temperature mods are in the future for my Monster Pro.
Awhile back I had seen a video by Flip where he installed a 2.4 knobby/enduro tire on his Tesla V2. I was intrigued and decided to buy the tire.
I'm not normally into experimenting with different tires, mainly because it's a pain in the butt the change them on an EUC. But I had a flat on the Tesla so now was the time to do it.
My initial impressions were positive, but as I rode the wheel more I began to dislike it. I love the sound of the tire and it rode great in a straight line. But turning and carving was always unsettling. I thought I just needed time to fully adjust to the tire, yet I never adjusted.
I believe the issue is that the outer tread on this tire is sharp so when turning the wheel rides on a narrow ridge of the tread. The affect is that it becomes very unstable in turns. I wanted my original smooth riding experience of the Tesla I love.
Today I took the EX-N, on loan to me from EUCO, for a challenging trail ride in the mountains. I'm trying to explore more of the trails that run through the San Gabriel Mountains adjacent to Glendora Mountain Road.
I mapped out the ride using Google's Mymaps which I often using for ride planning.
This was an ad hoc ride that I planned in the morning and posted to my Telegram group. "William" posted that he'll join me at the start, which was planned for 2pm. Unbeknownst to me, this was Wil who I first met a few years ago in Orange County. A wild Monster rider who was jumping fantastic distances 3+ years ago. He had moved away from California so I lost touch with him.
But he's back in town now so I think we'll be doing a lot more riding in the future.
The trail to be ridden today was the Lower Monroe Trail which is a shortcut from the parking area up to the Glendora Mountain Road (GMR). The first mile or so is brutal in terms of the trail condition and steepness. I was super impressed that Wil tackled this with his Monster Pro (which was only a couple of weeks old, purchased from EUCO).
Here's the video of the ride.
As shown in the video I had a minor fall (a few actually) where the fan was damaged, causing excessive noise that I had to live with for the remainder of the ride.
Here's the video where I open the EX-N to diagnose and fix (ghetto fix) the problem
I remain super impressed with the power and agility of the EX-N and anticipate that one will end up in my collection. I'm hoping to first test the EX more thoroughly so I can decide which of the two I'd prefer.
Here are the stat's from today's ride. And the GPX File
Today I took the EXN (thanks EUCO for the tester wheel) for my first mountain excursion ride on the GMR. I left from the usual parking spot and was planning on riding at least to Horse Canyon Saddle and perhaps further.
I've ridden this so many times now I can just about do it in my sleep. For some reason this time I decided to take a detour. As I was preparing to pass the Asuza Cross Trailhead I decided to take the trail instead of continuing up the road. There continue to be many trails accessible from the GMR that I have yet to explore. Today was an exploration day.
Turns out that this is a very nice trail that follows along the ridge of the mountains with a potential to complete a loop back to civilization. I took the trail all the way to here before I was dissuaded from continuing with signs that said the way forward was a private road that that there were attack guards. Also, it was illegal to take avocados. Later, looking at Google Maps and Street View, I think there's an avocado farm at the base of the mountain.
So that's unfortunate. This would make a very cool loop. In the future I'll continue to ride this bit of trail but will probably now stop at The Cross before returning to the GMR.
EXN Overheats
There were a fair amount of steep sections on this trail which made for a great little test of the EXN. I continue to be struck with how powerful this wheel feels. The pedals are rigid (I like to ride in hard mode) and with the slightest lean the wheel climbs. In this regards it reminds me of the MCM5 and to a slightly lesser extent the MSP. But since the EXN is such a massive wheel this power seems more striking. Going down steep trail declines also feels great - no sense of the wheel wanting to get away from you.
When I had stopped on the trail and decided that I needed to return I had already descending quite a bit down the mountain. So there was a long haul of uphill trail climbing to do. This is where the EXN temps slowly climbed until the magic 79-degrees Celsius was reach and the wheel beeped and tilted back, kicking me off the wheel. I let it cool down to ~75-degrees and proceeded on my way, but the wheel overheated a few more times. BTW, the outside temperature was in the mid-70's (Fahrenheit).
From my years of experience riding and overheating wheels, I'm not concerned about overheating wheels because they always stop before damage can occur. It's nice though when a wheel doesn't overheat. My sense is that the EXN is a hot running wheel. Under nominal riding conditions it's quite often running at 45-degrees. But when you start working it hard the temps increase. The Monster Pro seems the same.
So I do slightly worry how this wheel will behave in the hot temperatures of summer. Since I live where I don't have to worry about rain I may added some filtered holes in the shell to allow more airflow within the shell. I'll wait to see if I have overheat issues during the upcoming summer riding season.
When I returned to the GMR I continued up to the Horse Canyon Saddle and rode down towards the E. Fork Road. While there I paused to shot a video to help promote EUC World
The Route
For those interested, here's the route that I rode today along with the statistics. I ended the ride at 89.2-volts. You can download the GPX file here.
