I think I've decided something today about longer bike tours. When it's on rail trails (which is what I will mostly be riding near me) a regular bike is no issue. The hills or gradient is no issue, but I LOVE pedal assist on my e-bike.

When I'm fitter, I barely use it even on my 75 lbs. cargo bicycle, but here is the thing... fitness fluctuates for me (and most people) so biking can become really unappealing, but with pedal assist, you can get away from biking and come back and and work back up some fitness again in a more enjoyable way.

E-bikes are constantly changing and improving. My ebike was purchased about 7 years ago. That is EONS ago in e-bike years. I wouldn't purchase the same bike that I did back then, but I cannot complain AT ALL because it's still like new - including battery life. I LOVE that thing. LOVE IT... despite it being too heavy to put on nearly any bike rack. I LOVE that it is a cargo bike that can take passengers - helped me with my teen son with autism get used to riding on a bike as a passenger to help ease him into learning to ride on his own. I like that I can carry things - like this spring, We will bike to another nearby lake and I'll take our inflatable kayak. I can DO THAT on this bike!!!

BUT... I want to ride Ragbrai. I want to do a cross country tour (yes, I do). and with the price of good traditional bikes and with the tech changing so much on e-bikes, I think I would rather go that route. Sure, it can be done on a regular bike, but why would I do that? Just to say I can do it?

With these new gravel e-bikes and with them getting lighter and lighter, even when the battery assist has run out, the bikes aren't that heavy to ride as a plain bike and things could be planned to have places to charge and I could (and would) carry a spare battery.

The ONLY downfall is that you can't take these batteries on airplanes yet... (need to check on that) but that is OK. I can take a train to wherever the start or end point is for a cross-country tour. I LOVE riding my bike, but I don't need to kill myself doing it.

And who knows... maybe I'll feel diferently when I can actually do something like that (now I have a teen with autism in community college who needs a lot of support) and I'm full-time caregiving my MIL with dementia with my partner. But as e-bike batteries get better and better, it's beginning to understand who someone would NOT want the pedal assist?

I would love discussion and thought on this - in an open-minded way!