I don’t want to arrive sweaty at work, or most places. Hence the ebike suits my needs. I get some exercise, but that is secondary to my purpose.

If I want to workout, I go to the track or pool.

It seems I need less food to maintain a weight level – demanding quality not quantity.

The commuter is a Nexus 8 speed, fenders, bags, dyno hub and lights. A slug compared to the carbon fiber road bike for preasure.

Traveling the same route each day at the same time puts me in the same car crowd. Be nice and they will look out for you. Not blocking right turn or Red and waiting at the end of a green for the next righ turn trafic opening goes a long way. The black lady in the cadilac toots each morning, the kids waiting for the bus say hi and Ron in his truck will chat at a red light.

When it storms in the morning, I take the car. Getting wet on the way home dosen’t happen often. Fenders keeps water out of my shoes and internal gearing keeps the moving parts clean.

Work is a rest between bike rides.

And, of course, in Phoenix it doesn’t matter if you’re riding an e-bike or a standard bike, or if it’s winter or summer, you sweat like a pig, so when you get into work it’s time to hit the showers.

I justify it this way …

Commuting by car:
15 minutes – driving time
30 minutes – workout at the gym
15 minutes – shower and dress for the day
Total: 60 minutes between the house and desk.

Commuting by bike:
40 minutes – pedaling time
15 minutes – shower and dress for the day
Total: 55 minutes between the house and desk.

I’m saving 5 minutes because I don’t have to workout at the gym when I ride the bike.

Going home in the car, the commute time is inflated to over 20 minutes, because of the effect of rush hour, plus the aggravation of traffic. Going home is mostly downhill, too, so there are times when I cut the ride time to 35 minutes. Since I’m grinning like a Cheshire Cat when I ride the bike, I figure I’m adding at least 15 minutes to my life by not being an angry motorist!

For instance, on a regular bike I cruise at 15-16 mph, my Bionx, 20 mph. Not a huge difference. Actually trip speed ( lights, etc.) on a typical 10 mile trip is 12-13 unassisted, 17 mph assisted. So travel time is 48 minutes, unassisted, and 35 assisted. A nice savings, but not enough to make a real difference.

But the sweat factor makes a huge difference. On the same trip, during warm weather, I’m going to be a sweaty mess unassisted. If I’m lucky enough to have a shower waiting for me at the end I could have:1) changed before I left ( 5 minutes); 2)shower and cool down a little and then change into work clothes at the other end (15 minutes). Then my total trip time is 68 minutes, or double the assisted trip time.

And, of course, these times are actually doubled for a round trip excursion. So the roundtrup time unassisted is 66 minutes longer. That’s starting to seriously eat into my day. Combine this with, say, my commute trip plus a smaller errand during the day – my typical day – and it makes a HUGE difference.

And, more likely, there is NO shower at the other end so I wouldn’t even consider doing the trip on bike.

So knowing I can do longish trips on my ebike, wearing street or work cloths without changing, is the biggest motivating change, not the greater speed or less effort.

One can thus basically adopt a “Dutch Bicycling” lifestyle, where one goes around in ordinary clothes and stays presentable, but in our environment where trip distances are much longer, often a lot hillier, and our climate much hotter during the warm months ( not to mention colder in the winter – not sure if that impacts the ebike effect).

1. Turn it off. The extra weight will give you more of a workout, and your battery will last longer. Good for short trips.

2. Go faster! Change your gears or learn to spin so you can zip along at 30-40kph instead of 25. Makes long trips shorter. Take the lane!

Well, 3. You can take longer trips or hillier trips which demand more pedalling.

I find exercise pretty boring. But challenging yourself, tracking your times, seeing improvements, can keep you interested and alive.

tOM

  Less effort when cycling
 + More time on the bike
  ————————————–
  = The same or more amount of exercise as before.

In the “Les and Maury” example, I postulated “All other lifestyle factors being equal.” But what I’m hearing from many e-bikers, is that the lifestyle factors don’t remain equal.

While the ebike reduces the effort of a given trip, I am now using the ebike to make long utilitarian trips that, in the past, on a non-ebike, I would use a car for.

Use to be, I’d use a bike for any errand less than 5-7 miles each way. Longer than that, especially if I had a lot of stuff to carry, I’d use the car to reduce the “sweat effect” and/or time. For instance, if I needed to see my doctor, 8 miles away, I’d drive so I wouldn’t be a sweaty mess when my doctor exaimined me. Same for meetings. If I had to leave work to go to another meeting site more than 5 miles away, I’d drive. Otherwise I’d have to take a shower when I got to the new site and I have no time for thatdueing the day.

Now I routinely use the ebike for errands 12 miles in each direction. I’ve essentailly gone “car free” with it. So I’m probably maintaining fitness on my utilitarian commutes due to the increase in mileage on the bike.

I met Keith yesterday: That guy is built like a brick… Visigoth. Any pounds he’s put on since he started cycling are a result of pumping iron, or from invading the Roman Empire.