Trying out non-electric bikes at Clever Cycles. (Shannon Johnson/BikePortland)
“I really want to improve my physical health and cycling stamina. Is the e-assist holding me back?”
I have recently been thinking about returning to an “acoustic” front-box cargo bike. Yes, I might give up my much-loved electric-assist bike.
First, let me praise e-bikes to the sky! I have loved my Bunch e-trike. Having the e-assist has been a game-changer. It is so much fun. My husband says riding with the e-assist feels like riding downhill both ways, even when pedaling uphill with four kids in the front. That’s saying something! The battery power helps eliminate so many excuses and hesitations. With an e-assist I easily doubled, and perhaps quadrupled, the amount of biking I was doing. The e-cargo bike functioned more easily as a car-replacement, as we were happily able to replace most of our nearby car trips with the bike, and it doesn’t feel like a sacrifice. I don’t have to toil and sweat, or worry about running out of steam. The joy of coasting down a hill is the joy of every e-bike trip. I highly recommend an e-bike to everyone, especially bike newbies. An e-bike can really blast through biking barriers and hesitations and turn non-bikers into enthusiasts. And for those with fewer children, or kids young enough to all fit in the e-bike, the battery power can really help you get to your destinations a lot faster. The newer fancy e-bike models really zoom.
But I have been feeling stuck in a biking rut.
That is, I want to move past feeling like a beginner cyclist to feeling like a full-fledged biker. I want to do longer, harder rides. I want to be able to join rides that currently intimidate me. I have dreams of bike-packing and bike-camping. But I don’t have the muscles or fitness for those kinds of rides. In fact, after three years of riding, the last two years primarily on an e-trike, I don’t feel like I have gotten stronger at all. And I don’t have time to sneak away from the kids to do hours of solo training rides on my own bike.
My initial reason for getting a cargo bike was to give me a healthy and enjoyable activity to do with my children, one that could include all of us. Cargo biking allowed me to ride alongside my oldest kid, an energetic boy who wanted to ride his bike, but was previously held back to the stroller pace of his younger siblings. With the cargo bike, my son was challenged, I was challenged, and the little ones were happy to be riding along. I also hoped the cargo bike would provide the means to exercise with my children, instead of seeking opportunities to work out away from the family (which is really hard to manage consistently!)
When I had the chance to buy my current e-trike, it was a great opportunity to try out the e-assist, and I loved it. I grew as a biker, partly because the e-assist gave me a huge confidence boost, making longer and more frequent riding so much easier.
Now however, I have two independent riders, ages 10 and 9. My 9-year-old daughter doesn’t love physical challenges and she is a slower, more tentative rider. She is prone to bursting into tears if my bike pace is too fast for her comfort level. Next, her six-year-old brother is starting to ride his own bike, which dramatically slows our pace. In which case, the speediness of my e-bike is no longer useful. I can’t use the speed power, because I need to ride at the pace of my slowest independent kid riders. Furthermore, the e-assist removes me from the experience my children are having. I don’t feel the hills, or the distances, but they feel them. Giving up the e-assist would give us all a shared experience of the challenges of the ride, as well as put us at a more similar shared pace. We would be riding and sweating together, facing the challenges together.
As to the fitness: I find that although I ride more with the e-assist, I am not gaining strength or fitness and I haven’t even lost the weight I gained with my last pregnancy (baby is now age 2). I really want to improve my physical health and cycling stamina. Is the e-assist holding me back?
Yes, I could ride with “zero assist,” but if you have ever tried an e-bike, you’ll understand that it’s really not fun to ride it without the assist turned on. You can choose “zero assist,” but then you have to ride with the heavier weight of the battery; the e-bike is heavier, so it feels like an added punishment to ride without using the e-assist. And in my case, it’s even worse with a trike. The trike model is fine with the battery power, but without it, it feels especially cumbersome–not exactly agile and aerodynamic. For unassisted rides, I want the feel and maneuverability of a 2-wheeled bicycle. And let’s be real: when the going gets tough, any e-bike provides a strong temptation to push the power button for help. You might have the self-discipline to keep the assist turned off, and to power through a long ride and a grueling hill…but I don’t think I am that tough. If I can push the button for help on the hill, I’m going to push the button for help on the hill.
Here’s the deal: it would be really difficult for me to afford a new cargo bike right now. And since I have a perfectly functional and enjoyable e-trike, it seems rather opulent to purchase an additional front-box cargo bike, not to mention the squeeze on garage space. Also, I recognize that I use a cargo bike like a minivan, which means I keep some supplies permanently in whatever bike I am riding–diaper bag, first aid kit, sweater, sunscreen, etc. I’m not going to hop back and forth. I’m just going to ride my cargo bike, whichever it is. So for a variety of practical reasons, I should settle on one big family cargo bike. If I sell my e-trike, I should have enough money to cover the bulk of a new acoustic cargo bike. But will I regret it? Will it be the dumbest bike sale and purchase I have made so far? Will I bemoan the loss of my e-assist and then poutfully drive my minivan instead of huffing and puffing on an unassisted cargo bike? Can I even do the local rides without the e-assist? Or am I too out-of-shape?
But if I really want those legs of steel, there’s really only one way to get them. It involves actually pedaling with my own muscles!
And, I remind myself, that is what I am asking of my older children. They don’t have a battery option. They ride on their own two legs. Shouldn’t I have the guts to join them?
What do you think? I’m ready to hear your thoughts. Has anyone switched from an e-bike back to an unassisted model? Why? Were you glad? Or did you regret it?
