To E-Bike Or Not To E-bike

Bicycle purists frown on machine-powered help, but the pedal assist has these former cross-country cyclists back in the seat

- Lief Carlsen

Several years ago, my wife, Mary and I were straining to pedal our bicycles up a very steep hill on a bike trail near Lake Mead when several less than-athletic-looking (overweight) people jauntily overtook us, chatting all the while, their breathing no more stressed than if they were strolling down the aisle at the supermarket.

“E-bikes!” Mary muttered, her tone betraying just a trace of disgust.

I knew where she was coming from. Something didn’t seem right about the ease with which they were accomplishing what we were working so hard to attain. It just wasn’t ......, wasn’t.......fair!!!

Jump ahead to the present where Mary and I are the proud owners of two pricey e-mountain bikes, the virtues of which we enthusiastically proclaim to friends, relatives and complete strangers.

I suppose we sound like two former atheists who are now true believers and, having at last seen the light, go about proselytizing among the heathens.

So what happened to change our minds?

To put it succinctly, we rode some e-bikes. And what we discovered is that e-bikes are an impressive synthesis of human power and machine-power.

Most e-bikes, for example, are what is termed “pedal-assist,” meaning that the motor only kicks in when the rider pedals. The result is that you can get as much or as little exercise as you want.

The way I use the pedal assist, typically, is no assist on flat ground, slight assist on modest grades, and more assist the steeper the hill becomes.

And I do need assistance. We live at the top of a mountain, 2,000 feet above Lake Chelan.