Just an odd story related to technology.
Young guy....from Bavaria, had an E-bike and was trying to get from Wolpertshausen to Schwalbisch Hall (13 km away)....in the evening hours.
Focus had the basic story.
At some point, between the two towns....the E-bike ran out of power, and the guy couldn't pedal anymore (you would think it's that big of a deal).
He gets off, has issues....and is found the next day...dead. Frozen by the evening temperatures.
Attire? Unknown, and that would beg for part of the story.
Alcohol part of this story? Unknown. At some point, he drops the bike and just starts walking, and that probably was his undoing.
I sat and thought about the distance......13 km....8 miles. If the temperature was around 10 to 15 C, and dark? Five to ten kilometers would not be a big deal for me. Lowering this to minus-3 degrees and ten kilometers, with minimal clothing....it would be a pain. Toss in three or four gluh wines or a couple of beers? I wouldn't be doing that well.
The one issue no one brings up....these E-bike batteries aren't exactly tested with temperatures in mind. I'd be guessing that a normal battery would give X-charge, and if you were at 0-degrees (winter setting)....you'd probably lose about half of your X-battery charge real quick.
3 comments:
Was this guy intoxicated? Was the road not travelled at all ? No cell phone coverage ? I find this story incredible as i speed walk daily around 5 km in 50 mins in the morning. 13 kms should not be an issue i think.
My impression is that he was drinking prior to the excursion, and the journalists didn't give you an idea of evening temperatures. Over the past week, in Bavaria....temp's have been easily to minus-2 to minus-5. Toss in the darkness, and maybe he took a wrong turn with the bike and wasted power, and walked a bit more to recover from the wrong turn. I looked at the terrain of the area...mostly flat farming land, so no serious hills to handle. Throw in a bit of misty rain, and marginal jacket....I could see how this happened.
These E-bikes have gone through the roof over the past nine months in Germany (because of Covid) and sales are at a fantastic level. Folks are all sold on this battery power stuff and almost no pedaling. If you weren't in decent shape and the battery was zeroed out, I could see you doing 3 km and being a bit exhausted.
Finally, I looked at this route on a map....there is no village in between the two towns....just all farmland.
Added: This morning, N-TV spoke on this episode (https://www.n-tv.de/panorama/20-Jaehriger-erfriert-in-Baden-Wuerttemberg-article22185838.html).
Temp for that night, minus-7 C. That's 19 degrees F. If you were underdressed and had some alcohol consumption, it'd be awful rough on the body.
Post a Comment