On the strongest setting, you can fly up a hill like Marco Pantani in his pomp. On the lightest setting, you still put out the work that you do on your road bike, it\u2019s just that you\u2019re now up front chatting with your friends and in fine spirits, not out at the back, spluttering expletives under your breath.<\/p>\n
Recently, Cycling Plus magazine<\/a> put out a call to hear our readers\u2019 experiences of using e-road bikes.<\/p>\n Several told us their stories of how the new electric bikes<\/a> have renewed motivation to ride in later years, kept crucial riding friendships alive, fought back against the tide of ill health and, ultimately, restored the fun that should be at the heart of riding a bike once age has begun to take its toll.<\/p>\n Mike Baczkowski has ridden bikes seriously, and ridden serious bikes, since his late 20s. Now 80, he recalls over the phone from his winter home in Florida of his penchant for fixing up old and abandoned bikes.<\/p>\n Forgotten treasures, such as a 1986 Raleigh Touring 14 bike that he rescued from the garbage, restored and took over to Italy to ride the original L\u2019Eroica vintage bike event in Tuscany.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a 1980 Colnago Super that he\u2019d put in the miles around his home in Hamburg, New York, close to Niagara Falls and the Canadian border; and the steel Bianchi that he was on in 2005 when he got wiped out by a motorist at an intersection on, ironically, Cycle to Work day, an incident that left him with a broken neck vertebra and a long convalescence.<\/p>\n He later become a belated, but ultimately enthusiastic, adopter of carbon, buying a 2014 Guerciotti Eureka in the bright orange stylings of the CCC pro team at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cMy friends kept insisting I get a carbon bike,\u201d he says. \u201cThey were faster up the hills on their carbon racers \u2013 that was partly a weight thing, but also an age thing, they\u2019re all at least 10 years younger than me.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Guerciotti I loved. It looked great in the orange and black, it had [Shimano] Di2 gearing, the whole bit\u2026 Now I could keep up, for a few years at least. Then age started taking its toll.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not that I couldn\u2019t make it up the hills, I just couldn\u2019t make it up at their speed. Of course, they\u2019re good friends so they\u2019d patiently wait at the top, which only annoyed me even more. You see them ahead, drinking out of their bottles, munching on energy bars\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Much like the way his friends had persuaded him to go carbon in 2014, those same friends were now talking him into buying an ebike.<\/p>\n Not the cumbersome, tank-like ebikes that are only viable with the power turned on, but the new-fangled, svelte race bike-shaped creations that were making an impression on an increasing number of people buying a bike<\/a>.<\/p>\n Before Mike eventually bought a carbon Specialized Creo<\/a>, he rented the aluminium version from his local dealer for a couple of days for rides with friends.<\/p>\n He reacted in a way that surprised even himself, having been around the block many times when it comes to bikes.<\/p>\n \u201cYou couldn\u2019t wipe the smile off my face with a power sander!\u201d<\/p>\n The benefits of riding an electric bike<\/a> also rang true in our chat with Brian Frith, a South Yorkshire-born Jersey resident of 74 whose passion for cycling, in particular for cycling with his tight group of riding friends, has been dented somewhat following a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation (AF). It\u2019s a heart condition that causes an irregular and abnormally fast heart rate.<\/p>\n While he still rides his non-powered Parlee road bike<\/a> for solo rides when he can ride at his own speed, his 2020 purchase of the carbon Specialized Creo SL Expert e-road bike has been his saviour for the continuation of his cherished group rides.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have got such a lovely group of cyclists,\u201d says Brian.<\/p>\n \u201cOnly a few of them have been in a club before, and most have started cycling somewhat later in life, just as I did. The guy who leads our rides, he\u2019s the slowest in the group but he\u2019s got the most extraordinary knowledge of Jersey lanes. We have 700 miles of road here in Jersey and we seem to find new ones on every ride.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the clubs here will stick to the bigger roads, we wander around the countryside, but always on the hills. And it was the hills where I was getting into bother with the AF, which is why I got the ebike.\u201d<\/p>\n Though the bike hasn\u2019t fixed his health problem (he says an operation called an ablation could do that), the bike can dig him out of a hole when his AF flares up.<\/p>\n \u201cIt kicks in without warning,\u201d he says. \u201cI can have rides where it\u2019s absolutely fine and the AF starts and I suddenly lose all power. It manifests, usually, with the first hill I come to.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone else disappears into the distance, but I lose all power. I feel lethargic, without energy. It\u2019s startling, the loss of power in my legs. The top valve and bottom valve of the heart are out of rhythm and it can send my heart rate as low as 39 or as high as 200; when at rest it\u2019s 60.\u201d<\/p>\n Brian is looking forward to a solution to his AF, at which point he\u2019ll see even more benefit from the Creo.<\/p>\n \u201cI live on the east of the island. We can ride for 20 miles to La Corbi\u00e8re on the west, stop and have coffee before we head into the hills and I\u2019ll be sitting there thinking, \u2018Ooh, this [AF] feels dodgy.\u2019 I have an Apple Watch and in the last 18 months it\u2019s had the capability to measure AF.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt can tell me I\u2019m positive, though I can usually feel it if I am. So instead of going with the group into the hills, I can instead use the power on the bike to get home without overstressing things.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWere I on the Parlee, I\u2019ve got an hour\u2019s ride home that\u2019s going to be quite tough, but with the bike\u2019s motor it means I don\u2019t make the problem worse.\u201d<\/p>\n While health has also played a part, it wasn\u2019t keeping up with friends that motivated former firefighter Kevin Roberts, 65, of Rothbury, to buy a Ribble SL e Endurance Enthusiast, but rather to carry on enjoying the magnificent scenery of the Northumberland hills all by himself.<\/p>\n Having supplemental power dulls none of the sensory experience that comes with riding a bike, he believes.<\/p>\n \u201cCycling is not just about fitness,\u201d says Kevin. \u201cNothing beats riding around the countryside. To use that word, \u2018mindfulness\u2019. It\u2019s exhilarating, it\u2019s calming, it\u2019s serene\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very much a solo rider. Group rides become a competition and that no longer interests me. I might now have assistance on the climbs but there\u2019s competition on the descents too, as I\u2019m a scaredy-cat descender!\u201d<\/p>\n Kevin admits to a \u201cstubbornness\u201d in accepting the bike was necessary, but his health has meant the bike became essential if he wanted to continue to ride the hills he loves.<\/p>\n \u201cIn my case, [buying it] is almost an admission that I\u2019m not really fit. I\u2019ve played football all my life and have always been a fit person, but the Parkinson\u2019s [he was diagnosed with the disease in 2012] has progressed and age has crept on.\u201d<\/p>\n Parkinson\u2019s leads to muscle wastage, which Kevin experienced, and hard efforts would bring on a tremble in his arms. The thought of hard efforts put him off going out and it wasn\u2019t until last year, with the enjoyment thoroughly drained from his cycling experience, that he decided to buy the bike.<\/p>\n \u201cThat stubbornness has had to give way to realism,\u201d he says. \u201cThe body just can\u2019t do what the brain wants it to do.\u201d<\/p>\n For Derek Biddle, 73, a Brit living on the island of Crete for the past 20 years, his purchase of Ribble\u2019s CGR AL electric gravel bike<\/a> was motivated partly, like Mike and Brian, by a desire to keep up with faster friends in his White Mountain club, but also by the bike simply offering another kind of riding experience.<\/p>\n He\u2019s now got the full cadre of bikes \u2013 road, mountain, gravel and ebike \u2013 to suit all of his whims.<\/p>\n \u201cMy Bianchi road bike is beautiful to ride but I\u2019m looking to the future,\u201d says Derek. \u201cI live in the foothills of the White Mountains and the ebike has opened doors to places that would before be out of reach. It has a battery extender, which gives me a range of 120km, providing I run the power on the lowest of the three levels.\u201d<\/p>\n How does he know the limit? Because he\u2019s run out of juice. While that might be an unthinkable disaster on a traditional behemoth of an ebike, this new breed is just about light enough to run without the battery switched on. Derek\u2019s Ribble, without the extender is 13.5kg \u2013 lighter than his mountain bike.<\/p>\n Weight, however, shouldn\u2019t be at the top of your agenda as running out of battery won\u2019t be a common event. With Mike\u2019s Creo, he can programme its software to ration the power over his chosen distance.<\/p>\n \u201cI was speaking to my dealer about maybe putting some carbon rims on it, and he was like, \u2018Why bother, Mike?! You have a motor on your bike! You don\u2019t need to concern yourself with weight.\u2019 So I\u2019ve stuck with what I\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n The electric bike motors<\/a> on both the Ribble<\/a> and Specialized<\/a> bikes described in this article work in similar ways, albeit coming from different parts of the bike (the rear wheel hub for Ribble; for Specialized, the bottom bracket). They work by replicating the power you put in so there\u2019s no free ride here.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Creo adds power to your power,\u201d says Brian. \u201cWhen you stop, it stops. Specialized sells it to you as, \u2018It\u2019s you, only faster\u2019 \u2013 though I\u2019m not looking for additional, excessive speed, I\u2019m just looking for help.<\/p>\n \u201cBut there\u2019s no doubt you can push it if you want. [On level 3] it\u2019ll take out all of the serious pressure on a steep hill. In a group you can\u2019t go mad on the hills. You could fly up and upset everyone but I\u2019ll put the power onto one bar and amble up mid-pack \u2013 I get a workout without winding anyone up!\u201d<\/p>\n All four of our case studies \u2013 Mike, Brian, Kevin and Derek \u2013 had nothing but positive things to say about their power-assisted bikes.<\/p>\n \u201cThe tech is just extraordinary,\u201d says Brian, \u201cin that it [the Creo] allows you to ride exactly how you would your road bike, but with the feeling of someone having a hand on your back.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, I can\u2019t think of a downside,\u201d adds Kevin. \u201cOnce you come to accept your frailties as you get older and are happy to accept the [power] assist, I can\u2019t think of one.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an expensive bike,\u201d says Brian, \u201cbut then I thought that with the first bike I bought, and then I think of the tens of thousands of miles I\u2019ve ridden it. The amount of punishment it takes and the pleasure per pound is incomparable to anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n Mike says the test ride of his Creo was crucial to buying one. He recommends that anyone thinking of purchasing should do exactly the same.<\/p>\n \u201cI resisted and resisted \u2013 \u2018I don\u2019t need an ebike\u2026\u2019 I\u2019d say. In the middle of this whole period I got prostate cancer and I\u2019m on hormone treatment. I know that weakened me. I\u2019m still not back to 100 per cent and in the end it was a question of, \u2018Do I want to ride at 16kph on flat roads, or do I want to have some fun in the hills?\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not in favour of those ebikes that just give you power with a twist of the throttle like one of those scooters. You need to keep your body working and that\u2019s the best thing about these power-assist bikes.<\/p>\n \u201cThey help you, but they don\u2019t take over. You\u2019re working as hard as you ever were, you\u2019re just going faster. What\u2019s not to like about that?\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By John Whitney Published: Saturday, 05 November 2022 at 12:00 am E-road bikes are one of the newest bike genres on the block. Electric road bikes have the geometry of your race or endurance road bikes, they\u2019re light enough to match up well to at least a heavier standard road bike and have power boosts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":43302,"template":"","categories":[1,36],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"11"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/11\/four-riders-whose-lives-have-been-transformed-by-e-road-bikes.jpg",1800,1200,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/11\/four-riders-whose-lives-have-been-transformed-by-e-road-bikes-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/11\/four-riders-whose-lives-have-been-transformed-by-e-road-bikes-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/11\/four-riders-whose-lives-have-been-transformed-by-e-road-bikes-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/11\/four-riders-whose-lives-have-been-transformed-by-e-road-bikes-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/11\/four-riders-whose-lives-have-been-transformed-by-e-road-bikes-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/11\/four-riders-whose-lives-have-been-transformed-by-e-road-bikes.jpg",1800,1200,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By John Whitney Published: Saturday, 05 November 2022 at 12:00 am E-road bikes are one of the newest bike genres on the block. Electric road bikes have the geometry of your race or endurance road bikes, they\u2019re light enough to match up well to at least a heavier standard road bike and have power boosts…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/43301"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Mike Baczkowski \u2013 Florida<\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Brian Frith \u2013 Jersey<\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/21\/2021\/03\/Ribble-electric-bikes_-9-20d241c.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Kevin Roberts \u2013 Northumberland<\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Derek Biddle \u2013 Crete<\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>The only way is up<\/h2>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"