{"id":16696,"date":"2021-06-21T18:34:58","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T18:34:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cyclingvideosonline.com\/?p=12745"},"modified":"2024-05-13T04:09:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T04:09:24","slug":"why-i-dont-like-e-bikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybikething.com\/home\/why-i-dont-like-e-bikes\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Don’t Like E-Bikes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Just because it has pedals, doesn’t make it a bike<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been dreading the day that I would come off as sounding old, \u201cYou kids and your new fangled toys!\u201d as I pump my fist in the air and gingerly walk away. And, I know I\u2019m probably going to alienate a few readers. But, I\u2019m not judging you, I\u2019m judging the world we live in, the one that tries to make life easy and keep us lazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When e-bikes were first launched, I thought they could become a great way for people to get around to work or go shopping, to un-encumber the heavy traffic on the road and I thought that this could be a refreshing trend away from large SUV’s and trucks that rumble loudly and pass too close for comfort as they spew toxic fumes while I’m hugging the white line. I thought that e-bikes may encourage new cyclists to ride, or people who would otherwise be too uncomfortable with their fitness to get on a bike. But, this doesn’t appear to be the trend. What I’m seeing are healthy, young people riding e-bikes as a recreation, and doing it poorly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I smelled trouble when my parents bought their first microwave oven. Turns out it was burnt popcorn.I couldn\u2019t believe it could cook something so fast. A complete meal in 4 minutes? One that normally took a half hour minimum, you\u2019ve got to be kidding me? 10 years later, a teen, I shook my head in disbelief, \u201cno way every household will have a computer!\u201d Now, mine has about a dozen computers. And each time we come up with a new technology, we become a little less patient, a little more easily frustrated, and certainly more wasteful. Our hypocrisy is endless. We shop at whole foods, recycle our plastics and we love complaining about how oil companies don\u2019t care about our planet while we simultaneously cycle through a new phone every year or two, sit on our couches and read endless memes on facebook and still feel good about our health choices and environmental consciousness. Technology makes us lazy. Buying a Peloton only makes us feel good for a short time until we realize we’re throwing away money and not working out enough and, what the hell am I gonna do with this expensive ass bike now? Just one more thing to throw away and hurt the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, I digress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now, our new fangled love of the e-bike. I think you may see where I\u2019m going with this. I don\u2019t like them. It\u2019s not just about the environmental concerns. Sure, the lithium battery is just one more battery that we\u2019ll need to find a way to dispose of. But, don\u2019t worry, it goes to and pollutes some underdeveloped country and we don\u2019t care about them, right? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One reviewer of an e-bike complained that when you switch from turbo mode to econ mode, it feels like the bike wants to go backwards. And it\u2019s true! It\u2019s like carrying a child for 10 minutes and when she gets off your shoulders, you feel like you\u2019re floating above the ground, but, the opposite of this feeling. You feel bogged down because the motor is working a little less hard and the illusion is that the bike is trying to go into reverse. And this can be a real problem because once you\u2019ve acclimated to that power assist, you are now hooked on it. If you transition to a regular bike, one that has no motor assistance, you now feel completely encumbered as if the bike is fighting against you. So, if the rationale is to buy an e-bike and only ride it when (your reason here) , the reality will be that you will no longer want to ride your regular bike because your regular bike is now simply a burden and a buzz kill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s this feeling of burden that changes our perspective of what should be. It\u2019s a burden to cook on a regular oven despite the fact that the longer it takes to cook, the healthier it is. Now, it becomes a burden to put in the efforts required to ride a bike. I have a big problem with this. One of the biggest demotivational things that can happen in life, and when you get old, is to suffer an injury or something debilitating that hurts your overall conditioning and lowers your performance. When I had my knee replaced, there was a time when I thought that I would never be able to ride again. When I did ride, my conditioning was so low, I was extremely unmotivated to ride. But, I fought through and trained hard and set different goals and didn’t try to always compare my performances with what I used to do. It was a huge fight to recover a lot of what I lost. Mindset is critical to empowering yourself to succeed especially during bleak times, however, if we\u2019re conditioning ourselves to respect the burden instead of overcoming it, that will lead to significant long term consequences that will negatively encumber our health and our ability to recover from health difficulties.
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I\u2019ll admit, I have an ego. I\u2019ve worked hard for it. I love it when I can keep up with traffic, or even catch up to cars at stop signs. I imagine that the driver does a double take, \u201chow the hell did that guy get here so fast?\u201d Being able to dig in, grit my teeth, and fly with the wind and generate spectators and cheers of \u201cwow!\u201d and \u201cDamn!\u201d really motivates me. I would love it when my driver on a camera ride didn\u2019t have enough time to set up for a passing shot because I was just going to darned fast. And, now, one of my rewards is passing an e-biker. And you know what? I\u2019ve earned that reward. I\u2019m working my ass off to close on that e-bike, just like I work  my ass off to keep up with traffic. I\u2019ve been working my ass off for a long time to be able to go fast. The e-bike rider has earned nothing. They spent the money, charged the battery, but, they don\u2019t deserve the rewards that come from continuous and meticulous training. They aren\u2019t earning anything.
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But, the e-bike is fast, and this presents numerous problems. While I\u2019ve been training my ass off for years to get to the speeds where I\u2019m at, the beginner e-bike rider has not. They are not acclimated to those speeds. I am. I am focused on my surroundings, my environment constantly, I am hyper vigilant because I have learned in my years of training and experience that given an opportunity to become lax, accidents happen. A beginning e-biker going 20mph on a busy trail or bike lane is an accident waiting to happen. \u201cOh, this is so easy!\u201d Pothole! Extendable dog leash! Small child weaving into the other lane! Car door! As a veteran cyclist and a veteran motorcyclist, there are simply so many variables and hazards that they are no longer intellectualized, they are recognized from frequent rote encounters and predicted before they happen. This prediction mechanism comes from years of training. It’s not a 100%, but, it’s saved my butt on a number of occasions. To expect to to hop on a bike that can drive itself at speeds of 20-25mph in along crowded paths and bikeways, and believe you are safe, is na\u00efve at best.
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I was motivated to write this yesterday while riding the Tahoe Rim Trail. After a 6 mile out, I took a break overlooking the lake, when I saw a kid coming up the trail. He was on a really steep climb. I did it a couple of times and when I\u2019m up it, I am worked! But, this kid, maybe 12, was flying up it. I yelled, \u201dgreat job!\u201d Then I saw the battery and I was like, \u201coh!\u201d Then his dad came up on the same bike. I sighed. And I thought, there’s no accomplishment in that, is there? One of my biggest feel good moments is when I\u2019m climbing a steep hill. I\u2019m exhausted, sweaty, and my legs are wobbly. But, I eventually get to the top. Then, I look down the hill that I climbed and I think, \u201cI climbed that! It was all me!\u201d That feels good. Just me and my bike and my legs for an engine. And I feel sorry for the e-biker. They can\u2019t say that about themselves. You know, it\u2019s reminiscent of this phone game my kids like to play. They tap their screens frantically like it\u2019ll explode if they don\u2019t, and thousands upon thousands of chickens are produced and  stream out of the farm and towards a house. I ask them why they\u2019re doing this and they say, \u201cbecause I\u2019m up to a million dollars!\u201d and they keep tapping. That $1,000,000 is the same illusion as a hill climb with an engine driving you up the hill. \u201cI did it!\u201d No, you didn\u2019t
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A 12 year old kid on a busy single track with guys like me. This seems to open another dilemma of inexperienced riders and closing speeds. If behind me, I need to pause from my ride, pull over and let someone pass. I\u2019m in a zone and that\u2019s frustrating. I assume that other problems can occur from a fast closing speed. Impatience, wanting to pass quickly, head ons with other riders, unseen obstacles, a plethora of opportunities to hurt themselves or me or both.
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I started riding a hardtail years ago, now, I\u2019m on a fs 29er. I love both bikes. The hardtail could climb, but the 29er provides better stability and control. They both have their unique challenges and feel. The hardtail, I felt everything, every bump, every pebble. By the time I was at the bottom of a hill, my legs, neck, arms and shoulders were screaming at me. The 29er, my ass and legs are sore from pushing up the hill, but my neck and shoulders have a better break. Riding both bikes has taught me specific techniques to climb steep hills, to descend, to hop rocks or logs and cross water. Having a feel of the trail and its obstacles are part of the fun and are what makes you a better rider ( and a stronger athlete). The e-bike, on the other hand, is much heavier, has plusher suspension, and doesn’t require all of the thought and technique that goes into mountain riding. It\u2019s just, once again, another example of tech creating laziness. We\u2019re not training our minds or our bodies, we\u2019re letting the machine do both for us.
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Isn\u2019t this why we ride? To become better? To be in touch with our minds and our bodies? To love the tailwind, to feel the world around us? Aren’t there enough time saving, energy saving luxuries that keep us inactive? isn’t this why we need to exercise in the first place? Our entire days are spent sitting in our cars, sitting in front of a computer, sitting and socializing on our phones, sitting and watching TV, and our only reprieve from our listless lifestyles is to get out and exercise. Our lives force ourselves to make a conscious effort to get off our butts and do something healthy, go to the gym, hike, run or bike. And, now, were making a recreational component of our lives, cycling, into another idle pastime while simultaneously creating the illusion that it’s actually cycling. There is something very important that I think we are losing as we switch to motor powered bicycles. Something that will create a new culture of dependencies. And I don\u2019t like it.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just because it has pedals, doesn’t make it a bike I\u2019ve been dreading the day that I would come off as sounding old, \u201cYou kids and your new fangled toys!\u201d as I pump my fist in the air and gingerly walk away. And, I know I\u2019m probably going to alienate a few readers. But, I\u2019m […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1178,1],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-16696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cycling-quirks","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mybikething.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/stealth-electric-bike-b-52-hot-spot-photo-1.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybikething.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybikething.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybikething.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybikething.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybikething.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16696"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybikething.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16709,"href":"https:\/\/mybikething.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16696\/revisions\/16709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybikething.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybikething.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybikething.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybikething.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16696"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybikething.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=16696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}