Originally Posted by jackb

My wife, my son, and I just came back from cycling across Austria to Bratislava, Slovakia. We had miserable weather and strong headwinds almost everyday. Part-way through the trio we called our tour company and made a switch to ebikes. When you are trying to pedal a 40lb cross bike with panniers into a headwind in rain and 50 degree temps, you are not having any fun at all. The ebikes were great. If I ever did a trip like this again where I rented the bikes, I'd go for the ebikes. We still got plenty of exercise while reducing the unpleasantness of the weather. Here in the states I like to ride my road bike, and at 71 I am not yet having trouble getting up hills, but when that time comes, I'd get an ebike in a minute. We salvaged our trip by making the switch.