At Eurobike in Friedrichshafen we successfully launched the short film of our biggest Pedelec Adventure to date – the 5,000 km (3,100 mi) Sand to Snow tour from California to Colorado.
On Wednesday, Aug 31, 2016, the first day of the 25th edition of the bicycle trade fair at Lake Constance, we introduced the project on the show's main stage in the East Foyer. Right after the ExtraEnergy Test Award Ceremony, we screened the tour’s short film for the very first time in public and showed our favorite pictures of the tour while Hannes Neupert guided through the presentation as moderator.
Christina Puello, who heads the USA team of Haibike, joined us on stage and stated that “as a pioneer and market leader in ePerformance bikes in Europe it was a natural for us to help open up the market for electric bikes in the USA. We have come to stay. And we want to give something back that America has given us in Europe, as it brought the mountainbike across the Atlantic Ocean.”
On the third day we were invited onto stage again for another Sand to Snow presentation. This time our team was almost being complete with every team member revealing its motivation for the tour, and the very personal highlights and challenges.
Mikel was blown away by Monument Valley and loved the Chipmunks. He was challenged by the lonely forest roads through Stanislaus forest while we rode a big detour to cross the snow-covered mountains of Sierra Nevada.
Andy loved our wild camps in the middle of nowhere and was most challenged by managing our battery supplies and planning our daily trips ahead making sure we had an opportunity to charge at campsites when our supplies were running low.
Nora was flashed by San Francisco and the comfort that the Yamaha motor provided especially on the amazingly steep hills that characterize the picture of this fascinating city. As our PR and social media coordinator, she experienced connectivity as the biggest challenge. Even while in the Silicon Valley, finding Wi-Fi was not always easy.
Liesa was passionate about being a drone pilot in the spectacular scenery that we encountered in the deserts and mountains of Western USA. As much as she enjoyed the areal shootings they also posed the biggest challenge for her – keeping the drone down while in the no-drone zones in the National Parks.
I was most amazed by discovering so many highlights between the highlights while riding off the beaten track from one National Park to the other. Doing the classic road trip through the USA on electric bikes literally opened new horizons.
What I found most challenging was to find our pace as a team and to fit all our daily tasks in 24 hours – riding, filming, photo shootings, writing, social media, emails, video diary, managing all the data, cameras and batteries, route planning, eat and sleep.
Read more about the team here
More about the Highlights and challenges in this interview with Electric Bike Report:
Sand to Snow all over the Show
Walking around Eurobike, one could not miss Sand to Snow. After the short film was officially launched on Wednesday, it was shown at the Haibike booth on a huge screen as well as in the ExtraEnergy exhibition, where Pedelec Adventures is presented with a poster and screen. This exhibition tours around the world and is displayed at over 15 events per year.
Articles in the Eurobike editions of the leading bike trade magazines Bike Europe and SAZ informed the industry and dealers about the tour’s experiences in English and German. A nicely presented story in the very first edition of the Haibike magazine, a picture story in the trilingual ExtraEnergy test magazine and a report about all our adventures in the Show Daily edition for the Festival Days reached a wide audience.
Our Sand to Snow postcards that came from the printer just on time for Eurobike were all over the place including Eurobike stage, meeting areas, our sponsors’ booths and at the check-in desks for test rides in the Demo Area. Here our blue Iceland truck served as check-in booth and poster pillar with Sand to Snow widely visible.
Meeting our partners and making new contacts
Thank you to our partners and sponsors for the warm welcome at their booths, the good talks and in-depth introductions of new products. Can’t wait to use and test them!
Evening events such as the 20-year anniversary party of Haibike or the official Eurobike party are always great occasions to catch up with friends from the bike world and meet new players such as the editorial team of Bike Bild. The brand new bicycle magazine of the Axel Springer Verlag clearly positions the bicycle as a mainstream lifestyle of the German society.