Cypress

Uh. Ok.

Zaskar

So... by your rationale, a 2-mile open-water swim is easy because you're laying down?

I'm beginning to wonder if you actually ride at all.

Seattle Forrest

Exactly!! Glad I could help you see the light.

Seattle Forrest

I'm beginning to wonder why you feel so threatened by all of this.

big john

It wasn't his rationale, he was mocking that kind of rationale.

redlude97

Does no one here ever just ride a bike to breath fresh air and take in the views and not need to brag about the distance or elevation or how hard you worked? Hate to break it to you but no one else really cares.

Sy Reene

Golf is a good walk spoiled. Common.. fess up. who takes a cart?

seypat

Time for me to ask. Do E-bikes have loud, noisy, buzzy rear hubs? If so, that would be a deal breaker for me.

surak

E-bikes have definitely exploded in popularity in the Seattle area, where the appeal is obvious to people who can't or won't push hard up the hilly terrain. I have yet to see a sweating e-biker. I don't even need to look closely at the bike to know when someone is riding an e-bike, I just observe how many extra layers they're wearing than I am regardless of temperature while we're going the same speed. The sub-50 rpm cadence is another standard cue. It's obvious that there is nonexistent intensity in the activity.

Taking an e-bike out for transportation? Better than clogging the roads and polluting the air with a car.

Taking an e-bike on charity rides and not breaking a sweat is what I find off-putting. When I participate in a charity ride, I want to convey to others how worthy the cause is by actually making an effort (i.e., doing a century for the first time or riding in horrible rainy conditions instead of skipping out because I pledged to participate). I don't want to treat the event as just an opportunity to go on a supported leisurely cruise with some buds for a couple hours.

Zaskar

Oh. Whoops. Sorry @Seattle Forrest ;-)

jlaw

I do. But I only use a pedal golf cart because using an electric golf cart is CHEATING!

fly135

Maybe they could change the rules to collect your sweat and weigh it to record the contribution.

seypat

When I was still playing, I didn't on the courses that would allow walking. My misses were to the left. The cart path always rolls down the right side to accommodate the slicers. Usually it was the other person driving the cart with me walking/carrying my bag. It's a lot faster that way.

seypat

After looking at the speeds that E-bikes are hitting now, I won't have to worry about them in charity rides. We might be entered in the same event, but they will be on a different ride than me.

surak

The people who have helped me raise $7,000 for cancer research in the two organized century charity rides I've participated in since starting road cycling last year are smart enough to understand that I'm actually putting in the effort commensurate of their generous donations without the need for direct measurement, which is the point that you conveniently cut off when quoting me. Can't say the same if they thought I was going to let a battery supply the energy to do all the hard work.

Zaskar

@surak, a buddy of mine has done RAGBRAI several times - hundreds of miles across Iowa in 90+ degree heat, camping in fields (in that heat)... I donate every time. He's also done a few charity golf events. I've laughed at those requests (every time). "Nope, sorry buddy. Not shelling out $500 for you to play golf today"

Notso_fastLane

You do you. Let others do what they want.

It's like religion. You can worship jeebus all ya want, leave me to Satan and Cthulhu, and we can all be happy.

And would you really keep people from participating in and donating to a good cause because they don't do it they way you want them to? That's f'd up.

surak

I did not and do not demand a ban on ebikes at charity events, but that doesn't mean I won't ridicule it. The e-bikers can keep enjoying that religious freedom to worship at the alter of La-Z-Boy.

RShantz

Really just don't understand this. Can someone explain this logic? It just looks to me like you're upset that someone doesn't ride as hard as you do. Just don't understand how/why what someone else does bothers you in this instance. I certainly ride as hard as I can at these events, never stop at rest stops and try to finish in the very front if possible. However, I don't get upset by those that don't try as hard as I do regardless of the bike they are on.

Do you get mad at charity 5k events when some folks run it like a race and others simply walk?

Do you get made at folks who take the 50 mile option when you take the 100 mile option bc they didn't try as hard as you?

If it's for charity, I'd say the more money raised the better. Regardless of how hard they ride.

surak

The difference between your examples and using an ebike is that in those examples people are still expending their own energy to make it to the finish line at their chosen level of difficulty, while using an ebike with no physical impairment rationale is basically posing. I'm not "mad," I just think it's a weak look.

fly135

It would be a shame if someone cheated and all that money was wasted on charity.

surak

Yes, we should all endeavor to be as saintly as Lance Armstrong.

Cypress

So if a perfectly-ambulatory person used a road bike to do a charity run/walk, you'd be cool with that?

Seattle Forrest

Ebikes aren't Harleys. The riders still work, just (usually) less hard. Until the battery dies and they're stuck on a 50 pound bike still needing to get home.

Not that people need physical impairments to justify wanting an ebike, or just about anything else, but you can't always see them. I'm getting over a nasty case of tendonitis in my foot and ankle, I can't ride a properly fitting road bike without inflaming it, and you couldn't tell by looking at me. I think more often it's the case (when we're talking about 20 and 30 year olds) that modern life discourages exercise and even going outside, and an ebike is what people are comfortable with for their fitness level. Bikes are fun, whether there's a motor or not, even young people like having fun.

They're not going away, people like them, companies like selling them. It's in all of our best interest to accept that because life is better when you're not angry or annoyed.

Seattle Forrest

A good friend ran a hard trail marathon this spring, while injured. You should have heard her complaining about the people who signed up for 5 and 10 K, and weren't worried about the cutoff time. Normally the sweetest person on earth without a negative thing to say about anybody, but her teeth turned into chainsaws.