Here is a link to information on the route:
http://www.quackcyclists.com/knoxville.cfm . This year a "lowland" version with less climbing was offered for the first time but I did the traditional "highland" version. I was concerned about having enough batteries to do the whole ride as I knew it would likely take somewhat more than the 5 batteries I had. My customer Paul N. wasn't planning on riding his Scorpion fs 26 S-Pedelec that weekend due to the predicted heat wave so he generously loaned me his BMZ 558 watt-hour battery. I carried 2 batteries in the stock under seat battery mounts and the other 4 in a pair of Ortlieb Back-Roller High Visibility panniers.

I started the ride at Pena Adobe Park in Vacaville, California at 05:50. Riders can start anytime between 04:45 and 06:30. Most of the riders had already started but I figured with electric assist I'd catch up and I didn't want to have to wake up too early and be sleep deprived.

It was nice watching the sun rise climbing Mt. George. The first battery became depleted shortly before the first rest stop at 60 km so I stopped next to a vinyard and changed the battery before going on to the rest stop.

Somewhere between the first and second rest stop I noticed the mudflap on the left front mudguard was torn off. These hang down low and aren't as flexible as I'd like so it probably got torn off hitting an unseen road hazard. Many of the roads on this ride are rough.

While on the steep, twisty descent from Howell Mountain down to Pope Valley, a motorist driving up the hill made a slow down hang gesture. I wasn't going that fast as I was using all 3 disc brakes plus regenerative braking to keep the speed down. Sure enough coming around the next corner there was someone standing by the side of the road indicating with his arms to slow down and just beyond him I saw a group of people by the side of the road with a cyclist on the ground. It looked like they had everything under control so I continued on. Hopefully the cyclist wasn't seriously injured.

When I pulled into the second rest stop at Lake Berryessa, I saw Bill Bushnell with his electric assist highly modified Rotator Ti-Pursuit with full length fairing. He wasn't officially on the ride but I knew he was going to try to meet up with me on the course. We ended up riding the rest of the ride together.

Riding on the extremely rough Knoxville-Berryessa Road my GO SwissDrive display went blank and the motor shut down several times when hitting potholes. At the time I thought this was due to slight looseness between the display and display mount and each time stopped and switched the system back on. The motor overheat icon also came on at one point on the long, hot climb but went off after stopping at a water stop part way up the climb. To protect the motor, the system automatically cuts back on power when this happens but I didn't notice any decrease in power as I was only using assist level 2 to conserve battery power.

On section of gently rolling hills shortly before the lunch stop at Lower Lake, I saw a Cruzbike Vendetta rider in my rear view mirror catching up to me. It turned out he was Jason Perez who recently won the California Triple Crown Stage Race on his Cruzbike Vendetta, in the process setting course records on the hilly Central Coast Double Century and White Mountain Double Century. We rode together the rest of the way to the lunch stop and I explained I had electric assist. He figured out that is why it took him so long to catch up to the trike rider.

After lunch I rode with Jason part of the way up Cobb Mountain but my motor overheat icon displayed again and this time it did start scaling back the power and Jason left me behind. I did see him again at the next 2 rest stops.

This was my first time riding up Cobb Mountain since the large "Valley Fire" last year which cancelled the Knoxville Double Century in 2015. It was sad to see a once heavily forested area now mostly tree stumps and many of the trees that were still standing were charred. Many but not all of the buildings were saved. Hoberg's Resort and Spa was completely leveled. All that was left of many of the homes in Middletown their foundations. Some were in the process of being rebuilt.

After the Moore Creek rest stop which is the second to last rest stop, at Bill's suggestion I increased the assist level from 2 to 3. Riding up the final climb called Cardiac Hill, I was still on my 5th battery so I increased the assist to level 5 which is the maximum. Shortly before the last rest stop at Pleasants Valley I tapped into Paul's battery.

Due to the use of electric assist, for the first time ever I finished the Knoxville Double before dark at 18:58 for a total time of 13 hours, 8 minutes. They weren't even serving dinner yet. My rolling time was 10:43. My rolling average speed for the 322.7 km was 30.0 km/h and maximum speed was 78.1 km/h. The total battery power used was approximately 2.7 kilowatt hours.

Here is the album of the photos I took on this ride.