Specialized Turbo Creo SL Comp Carbon EVO - 50 miles to Parkhead and back

What a week of mainly beautiful warm / sunny weather but this has now come to an end. Thursday I managed a 2+ hour walk out. Yesterday when I got finished I washed two bikes, two cars and one van so no time for any exercise as such. I have had a few Fresh Goods deliveries this week so swapped the brake pads on my new bike to finned pads and gave it once over ready for a longer ride today.
I was up out by 7.15 am and it was still dark so had my lights on until sunrise around 8am. I wanted to do a steady away route that was not too hilly or technical but wanted some distance in to check the battery life. So I left home and headed over to Baxter's Farm to pick up the old railway line to Consett. There was quite a few early dog walkers out around Lanchester area and only a couple of cyclists. I stopped at the coal truck for some snaps and a quick drink before tuning left and picking up the Waskerley Way / C2C to Parkhead. I had the bike on setting one for most of that leg apart from a couple of clicks. Once over Hownsgill viaduct and started climbing I could feel the headwind getting stronger. When I come out of the wooded section and past the old building at Waskerley village it was a full on near gale force headwind all the way up. The battery level was dropping fast by now! Once at the café I kept on going through the quarry and stopped opposite the top of Crawleyside bank. Took some more snaps and a very quick drink as it was freezing cold. I have covered just under 25 miles and there was only 3 bars left (70% used) on the battery display! - not enough to get home.
So, I knew I had a massive tailwind for most of the leg back to Consett so turned off the battery to save some juice. I did not turn it back on until after I past Knitsley farm shop where you turn left then up the short sharp climb. From there to Baxters farm I used it three times but used full power on Toll House road and Whitesmocks on the way back. By the time I got home it was down to the last bar which was red in colour. I checked the status on the app on my ipad and was reading 8% left. One thing I did notice that there was too much power in the lowest setting, I had changed it from 35% default to 75% but I have knocked it down to 50% so that should also improve battery life.
All in I covered 50 miles with just over 2000ft of climbing taking 3hrs and 30mins with an ave of 14.3mph and I was mainly freezing for the whole ride. The sun did come out for a very short period on the way back in. Overall the bike rode very well and is comfortable and stable. Should be great fun in the summer when the trails are bone dry and dusty! might have to buy the extender battery if I am planning any longer / more hilly routes. See how it goes over the coming months. Below are a few snaps from the ride and a couple of video clips, enjoy and hopefully more soon -