My electric-assist xtracycle had already proven that it was good for commuting, grocery shopping and running errands around town, but I was a little hesitant to use it for long distance travel. The motor and battery add an extra 30 lbs (14kg) - a lot of dead weight when your battery runs out at the base of a hill. When I set out to ride the 70 miles from Davis to Vallejo, I knew I would have to pace myself and use the throttle wisely.

• Riding time: 5 hours, 15 minutes
• Average Speed: 13.2 mph (21.4 km/h)
• Electricity usage: 12.32 Ah or 456.94 Wh
• Distance: 70 mi (113 km)
• "Fuel Economy": 6.5 Wh/mi (4 Wh/km)
• Cost of electricity: $0.07 @ California's rate of $0.15/kWh

I left at 5 a.m. to beat the heat, headwinds, and traffic, and the five hour ride went quite well. I arrived tired, hungry, and with the aches one might expect from a long ride, but I recovered within a couple of hours and went on with my day.

I would compare the difficulty of this trip to riding a lightly loaded touring bicycle the same distance. The electric-assist simply allowed me to carry the second bicycle and an additional 25lbs (11kg) of gear.

My friend Søren and I made the return trip three days later and with two bicycles, we rode faster and I found it to be more enjoyable. Things went smoothly until the rear wheel of the xtracycle blew out with five miles to go. Of the four tires that could have blown, that I would rather change the three other tires before messing with the electric rear wheel of a fully loaded xtracycle.

Being too stubborn to flag down a truck, my solution was to borrow the larger 700c wheel from the second bike, pile everything from both bikes onto the Xtracycle, and hobble/run home.

[Additional photos in the gallery]