Originally Posted by
Tundra_Man
I only saw two other people riding on the MUP this morning, both riding e-bikes. With the tail wind I was moving along at a decent clip, between 16 and 17 mph. One guy on one of those little 16" fat tire class 3 e-bikes passed me like I was standing still, and looked like he was exerting hardly any effort. He was moving at least 10 mph faster than me.
I guess it's good that people on e-bikes are removing larger vehicles from the road, but as I pedaled along I couldn't help but wonder if all these e-bikes aren't doing much to combat our country's obesity problem? People used to get exercise riding their bike, and now they're pedaling just hard enough to get the assist to kick in (if their bike even requires pedaling for assist.) I have friends whose kids now refuse to ride their traditional bikes and are asking for e-bikes.
Well, as someone who used to car commute 2 miles, I remember feeling GREAT after getting an eBike and commuting like that for the first winter. It's a lot better than car commuting, even if only a bit of effort is put in. That bike had only a cadence sensor, so would accelerate me to a speed correlating to the PAS setting as soon as it detected pedaling. If I set it high, I would hardly do any work and I'd be going 25 mph. If I set it low, I would do most of the work; it would kick in only in nasty hills or headwinds.I liked to set it at about 13 mph and I would add some of my own juice to go 14 or 15. (no small feat on a folding eFatty with knobbies) Most people do take the lazy way though and just let 'er rip.
When I commented "...but then you don't get any exercise." on Read It eBike sub, a few of them laid into me, reminding me that for many, it is about cheap transportation and getting to work fast, not exercise.
Originally Posted by
Tundra_Man
At the same time when my thoughts start going down this path I need to check my attitude. Thinking of myself as a superior person for riding unassisted is just as reprehensible, if not more so. Riding my bicycle to work gives me a lot of time to think, but sometimes those thoughts are unhealthy.
Make no mistake, you ARE a superior person for riding unassisted, especially 22 miles. Strava even says so!
(you're elibigle for awards and Local Legends for riding unassisted)
On the serious side, we choose to leave earlier and work harder so as to get around by our own power and I think there's a certain elegance and pride that's deserved.
I do eBike commute sometimes and I feel a bit dirty for it. That guilty conscience is what keeps me active, so I'm going to use that, as well as the pride after an un-powered bike commute to keep me fit into my older years.