Nick Sanders: The man (and the e-bike) that rode the world CyclistNick Sanders: The man (and the e-bike) that rode the worldIf Nick Sanders is not a name familiar to you by now then youre either brand new to all things two-wheel, or youve not got a copy of the Guinness Book of Records; his latest entry a first global circumnavigation on his Yamaha Wabash electric bike is 11th of all of his round-the-world tours. Here, he recounts a unique journeyAs Im welcomed into the home of Nick Sanders mere weeks after the completion of the worlds first-ever round-the-world circumnavigation by electric bike hes out and about running errands, grabbing a spot of breakfast for us, perhaps again on his trusty Yamaha Wabash. I dont know what Id expected, but youd think that somebody who had only recently completed such an epic feat would be laying in a dark room with their feet up for a while. Not Nick, not ever. He says the return to normal this time around is no different to any of his other ten global circumnavigations; some of which were by bicycle, but more often still by motorcycle.Clearly still fizzing with energy, despite rides that in the end began to average in the 150 to 170-mile-a-day range, he begins the interview with a new pitch, almost before I can get a question in. In front of me are plans for the next nine months, at least. Theyre detailed too. Im pinned to the spot in awe that Nicks energy has only snowballed further since I first met him, pre-world tour, in a London caf.He tells me theres something quite energising about his lifestyle and that very often having that time away from any rigid routine will do wonders for your clarity of mind. He starts I feel at the moment that all I want to do is pass on the good, so I ask myself how can I make the world a better place, based on my learnings from this experience. Im always thinking about the next project. Ive done who knows how many of these projects now where I have time on my hands to think in detail about the next journey. I come back and hit the ground running, energised and inspired to use my gained wisdom for the greater good.This ride, inspire, repeat loop began over 40 years ago. Nick is, in fact, in his mid-60s. Yes, you read that right. In his younger days, from school age to early 20s, he was a relatively successful cycle racer, or at least thats how he sells it to me. I find it hard to tell whether hes being modest. Nonetheless, he tells me he lived off the earnings won from racing for a while up to semi-pro level, but ultimately decided that a leap to Pro Tour level would be a step too far. Its at this junction he says he made a very deliberate decision, around 1981, to become an ultra-long distance cyclist. He spent the next 12 years regularly totting up 100-mile plus day rides, very often as part of long stints traveling.Back then it was your standard steel-framed road bike. Nowadays the basic bike is far more efficient and that takes a step further when you factor in modern e-bike technology. From my perspective, fresh off my ride, I can only ask that the manufacturers really start to think about the carriage of extra batteries as Yamaha has with the mount that can attach to the front fork, says Nick, all the while conceding that to do something like his journey you number one priority is to carry only the essentials. Every gram counts when you are crossing continents.Its here he reveals something about his journey that somewhat explains his energy. The truth of the matter is that the lighter you are and that your bike is, the easier the ride is; youll get far less aches and pains if everything is appropriately weighted.He means it too. Nick says he only took one pair of socks and one jersey. Where there were no guesthouses available mornings were spent down by the river washing kit and enjoying the sunshine while his clothes dried enough to resume.Nick Sanders philosophy: Little gear, lots of ideasAs the hours tick by chatting with Nick one thing becomes clear, to most of us he might appear either reckless or wildly underprepared, but experience has taught him valuable lessons about enduring a challenge with the bare minimum of resources. He says I want for nothing. Its very easy to let your wants define you and if you can get used to living as basically as possible you learn its not the kit that defines you. Besides, riding from country to country is so experiential you soon forget about the luxuries. I wear my kit into the ground and am grateful for what I have.Evidently, Nicks is a mindset that is alien to any bike rider who has been brought up on the N+1 idea that is the formula that says youll always need one more bike for a marginally different purpose each time. When recounting his gear list he says he picks the best he can get his hands on and tends to find that products endure more than well enough for his expeditions. He chooses gear like a lock from the UKs oldest security brand Squire having long held a relationship with them, but if youve come here looking for a guide to ultra-endurance cycling gear according to Nick all he says of his formula is give me a bag of chips and Ill go 400 miles. If you ask me, thats as inspirational a quote as weve published. If were being honest, you dont need any special kit to go cycling, you just need to get out there and give it a go, because anybody can. Refining the process can follow.All the same, Im shocked at this point to learn that Nick did not even have a bike fit before undertaking his epic journey, despite the minimum of 18,000 miles the trip has to measure to count as a circumnavigation. Nick did 19,000 with only around six days of rest, he says.For the uninitiated, we talk about bike fitting elsewhere in this magazine and, in summary, it is the cycling equivalent to a gait analysis; that is it is a biomechanical assessment of your body and how it pairs to the geometry and sizing of a bicycle. It can make or break your riding experience, so goes the conventional knowledge, though as Nick demonstrates, its not essential so long as you have the right frame size and dont overdo it. That said, the general consensus is that its recommended. When youre covering this sort of distance, incremental gains in comfort stack up and can prevent injuries. Nonetheless, Nick says that a more comfortable saddle would be a nice to have, rather than an essential. Having ridden an e-bike across Europe previously, he knew what he was getting himself into before the ride. It was only toward the final days in Asia, knowing that the next continent was the largely barren Australia, that Nick finally decided it was time to buy a further rack and saddlebags in order to equip more camping gear.Nick Sanders crossing a remote bridge on his Yamaha in Laos, a place he says is stunningly beautiful.I wanted to spend every night out in the bush because hotel accommodation costs would ramp up considerably in Australia. I rode 100 miles between old road houses, bouncing from charge point to charge point. I found I could get to around 80% battery within an hour of being plugged in, so that was passable given that I would ride most often in eco mode, or with the motor off on the long stretches of flat road. At a cruising cadence, where you want to ideally be operating above 15.5mph, its better to have the motor turned off both to save the battery and so as not to encounter the small amount of resistance you get when you hit the legal assist limit. As long as I got a nice meal at the end of the day this strategy was fine, despite the up to 48-degree heat at times.As for the calories required to endure a trip like this, Nick estimates most people might want between 4,000 and 5,000 calories a day, but in reality, for me, it was nowhere near that. My body feels quite efficient still on account for the lifestyle Ive lived. Ive always had manual hands-on jobs to keep me fit and mobile, so with that, could any of your readers do this trip? Id say so, but more likely if theyre already somewhat active as part of their lifestyle or work.In undertaking this 11th circumnavigation and encountering such different conditions, Nick mentions an inescapable reality of taking on the world. Its changing and with that comes danger.Youve got big signs selling big cars all over Asia, though they cant afford them, but youre told to aspire to it. As such, theres no less traffic, thats an immediately obvious comparison between my earlier trips and now. In terms of the weather, it has more to do with extreme heat than the rain. Parts of India and Australia now see temperatures towards 50 degrees, in particular in the Northern plateau to Delhi. On the Nullarbor Plain there was rain three days after I left that generated three feet of flooding and washed away part of my route. The truth of the matter, based on what Ive seen year to year when traveling is that climate is happening, its now, were at the beginning of major change. We will have to learn how to manage it. When London floods maybe we will do something more proactive, but the emphasis has to be at Government and corporate level, its not fair to blame individuals.Riding though conflict and climate changeWhat other change did Nick note on the long journey East and to the wannabe electric bike adventurer, where in the world gets his recommendation and why?Laos was fantastically beautiful and next to that it was a pleasure to go through Cambodia, which when I started traveling 40 years ago you could not, says Nick.Its at this point he changes course to say that he was due in Israel when the long-running conflict lit up again on October 7th. It was only a last-minute change of plan to stay in Greece an extra two days to meet Caroline that diverted Nick away from the pinch point where the initial attacks from Hamas began. I would almost certainly have been riding through that area as violence flared, as you go south Israel narrows so I could not be within 20 to 30 miles of what happened, says Nick.In undertaking a world tour of this scale theres a degree of inevitability about riding through some uncertainty here and there, but on balance, Nick would tell others not to be dissuaded. In fact he says that hardship is not uncommon around the world, but that regardless of this he has always felt the warmth of different cultures as a lone traveller. He says, I saw a historic endurance rally, a car convoy, get stoned going through Jordan. This I think is because of course there are places where flaunting wealth is not appreciated. But a bicycle seems to transcend all language barriers. I can ride past on my bike and its just like the bike they have, or in the case of a loaded up e-bike theyre interested in my journey. There is a respect, it seems, of the courage of the lone cyclist. Its a lovely feeling and Ive always felt that people the world over value family and the idea of looking after one another. So more often than not its warmth, not fear of new cultures and people I know I have ahead of me.As for blending in on the roads, Nick says India was interesting because I went everywhere, from city to the smallest roads and remotest villages. India holds no fear for me, the traffic is very slow as theres simply so much of it, but its oddly predictable in an unpredictable way. You learn to calculate possibilities faster and adapt, so I didnt have a single near miss there. Your spatial awareness tunes up, you get good at judging risk, adapting and eventually relaxing.Nick Sanders Yamaha Wabash coped with high heat and mega mileage on some lonely stretches of road.On the contrary, asked if there are places for a tired traveller to be careful Nick says its anywhere with an ingrained car culture, particularly where the vehicles are large and thus the road space is lesser. The USA, he says, has some on-the-road entitlement that he did not feel anywhere else, yet Upon leaving Los Angeles he says it is possible to find backroads and cycle paths that ensure youre safe for days on end. He recommends in particular the Santa Anna River Trail, which apparently lasted two to three days and headed inland toward the hot dryness of the mid-west. Nonetheless, if youre intending to e-bike across the USA, be prepared to watch your back. Nick says I calculated 36,000 vehicles passing me an hour on some interstates that represent the only viable routes.Closer to home Nick notes the incredible culture shift in Paris in just a few short years, enthusing about how this has become a model city for riding a bike as a transport form. Every country needs a honey pot, he says, alluding to positive change being a contagious factor for countries. If cities change in the way Paris has to become more people friendly everything benefits; people stay longer and will spend more money, youll have no desire to drive and the city will be better for it.In the mix of this comes the popularity gains made by the electric bike. Nick notes that Turkey has started to sell them in a big volume, to name one country where he saw a gradual movement to people-powered vehicles. Reflecting on his own e-bike use he says Truthfully, its almost a different style of vehicle. Its a revolutionary evolution on the bicycle and it surprised me at how much more efficient it is for covering ground. Over a 12-hour day its still hard work, but you feel thankful for the help toward the end. More than my own experience, perhaps its more pertinent that my partner, Caroline, wouldnt ride a bicycle but now she is excited about going on her electric bike. There is a shout to affirm I love my e-bike from Nicks lounge from Caroline.Nick Sanders journey involved minimal flying and plenty of sea on account of the battery in his Yamaha e-bike.Perhaps thats a nice note on which to conclude that, with the right tools and the right attitude, this kind of journey is more accessible to more people than ever. Of course, there is a major caveat that its a lot easier to do a cross-continental journey like this with a sponsor of Yamahas reach trying their best to ensure you can get a battery for your e-bike as you land. It remains the case that you cannot fly with e-bike batteries and so planning ahead here is vital.It would have been 10,000 or so to ship an electric bike battery with a special carrier following my journey over the oceans. It has to be transported in sand and certified safe. This alone may well double your budget to cycle round the world, so its not something many people will plump for, says Nick on costings.So, some parting advice for you, the could-be e-bike tourer?You can make a journey like this as complicated as you like and then you just dont go. We are a migratory species, we walked across tectonic plates; its our natural state to move from place to place and you shouldnt fear it. The fact is nobody will do this for you, so youve just got to get on the road and experiencing the world around you.The Yamaha Wabash: About the world-beating e-bikeThe Yamaha Wabash that Nick Sanders rode is essentially a well-built gravel bike, one that comes powered by Yamahas own sturdy PW-ST motor. Backed up by 70Nm of torque, this mid-motor system is one element of the bike that, in our own review, we found to be a particularly capable component and one that had very little problem punching us up hills in the depth of a wet winter.We recommend the Wabash, as would Nick, for anyone looking to load up and get off grid quickly with plenty of gear in tow; though of course accessories are specced separately to your own preferences and not as seen on Nicks expertly loaded bike seen here.A tough hydroformed chassis is the foundation on which to load up and, beyond the motor, you also have 11 Shimano GRX gears to call upon, not only to help you up the hills, but also to help manage your battery efficiently, as Nick so often had to.Since youre likely to be heading off-road too, the Maxxis Rambler tyres have enough tread to handle the gravel path and even some light woodland work, but as is important over long distances, they have a firm centre to make sure youve a low rolling resistance when covering ground.SpecificationsMotor: Yamaha PW-STBattery:Yamaha 500WhRange:Global (but otherwise variable on use)Frame material: Hydroformed aluminiumBrakes: Shimano GRXGears: Shimano GRX 11-speedWeight: 21.4kgTo browse Yamahas electric bike range, which has recently been updated, head to the brands bike comparison widget.The post Nick Sanders: The man (and the e-bike) that rode the world appeared first on Cyclist.
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