- Here were my misconceptions.
If you asked me about e-bikes in the near past, I would have told you the bikes are people powered, period. My perceptions of e-bike rides were as follows:
• E-bike riding is cheating. More cheating myself than others, but cheating regardless.
• The bike would do all the work and I would get no appreciable training load from the ride.
• I would instantly become Richie Rude and start setting speed records on every trail.
But, after a lifetime of accumulated injuries from bike and car crashes, weight gains from not modifying my diet as I aged, knee and connective tissue issues from having legs of different lengths, I found myself unable to enjoy riding the trails as I had in years past.
So, I hit up my regular e-bike punching bag Jim Clark (OMBA Treasurer) and asked to borrow one of his bikes. The reality of the e-bike ride could not have been more different than my expectations.
I was able to double my ride mileage on day one, yet I arrived back at the parking lot completely spent. When my knee or back pain flared up on a climb, I just upped the assist to trail mode until the offending body part complied. Simply returning to eco mode put my legs back in charge of most of my progress. My overall heart rate was higher on the e-bike than the same ride on my trusty human powered Yeti from the week before. In the end, I got a longer, more intense workout, but more importantly, I got more trail time to enjoy the sport I love.
Am I planning on selling my analog Yeti now? No way! But I did decide to buy Jim’s bike and add yet another way to enjoy riding? Yes I did!
Tony Sikes, OMBA President and e-bike owner
PS. Sorry for all the grief I gave you over the years Jim, I love the bike!
For the Strava faithful, yes, my Garmin automatically logs my ride as e-bike when it uploads at the end of the ride 😊
Comments