Wheels And Electrons

There's reason you don't  find many septuagenarians playing on the same ruggby team as tricenarians. It's  not that they can't play the game, it's just that they have slowed down a bit and can't compete on the same physical level as 30 year olds.

It's not that I can't ride a standard bike, it's just that the inevitable passage of time means the kind of riding I like to do is difficult on a cheap standard bike anymore, to the point of sucking all the joy out of the experiance.

I'm not much of a road biker, nor does slamming around on mountain-bike trails hold much appeal, I'd rather hike those and soak in the experiance at a slower pace, I'm not a loop around and around the city-park affectionato, so that pretty much leaves the many rails-to-trails - well, trails.

Only thing is, those tend to have longer distances between access points and being on my own, all my rides are out-&-backs, so no chance to pick the downhill direction for a ride.

The last time I rode the Quad-B (my $120 Walmart Big Box Beater Bike) on the Tunnel Trail from Viena, over the crest at Tunnel, and down to Burnside (there's a really pretty stream and some beaver dams between Tunnel and Burnside) and back again, I thought I'd never make it back uphill to Tunnel before starting the long glide, or what should have been a long glide, back down to Viena. 

Finally back at Tunnel, while I was flat on my back on the bench of a picnic table trying to recover enough from that last uphill slog to finish the ride, I had to work hard to convince a concerned young woman (more like a child in her form, and what a form, fitting lycra) that she didn't need to call the paramedics for me, even though I wasn't entirely sure she was wrong.

That was the last time I road the Quad-B, which, admittedly, was nearing the end of its useful life with worn wheel, pedal, and head-tube bearings and badly brake-worn rims. (Even going downhill from Tunnel to Viena that bike wouldn't coast anymore and I had to work for every mile!)

But I still like the idea of riding the many rails-to-trails opportunities available today, as well as being able to occasionally scout questionable forest-roads by bike before committing a vehicle.

I could bridge the gap between desire and ability a bit by buying a decent mid-level standard bike to replace my ragged out Quad-B. But for that kind of money, enter the ebike (with conciderable help from Mom's estate). An investment that's more  likely to keep on providing as my physical condition ages out.

Now I know there are those out there that quote - would die before buying an ebike - unquote, but we're all different, and for me the electrons seem to be working.

Most evenings now I end up riding the ebike in (rugged) loops around the property for 30 to 60 minutes before calling it a night, something I haven't done on the Quad-B in years. Something that's good for me both physicly and mentally as I de-stress from the day. Not that you'd think I have all that much stress in my day as it is, but a feature of the end of the spectrum where I apparently dwell is having dificulty shutting the mind down.

There's  a ton of decent e-bike offerings out there and after much research over several months I picked a Lectric XP Stepthrough 3.0.

Stepthrough because there's no reason to make life more difficult than it needs to be. Lectric because they are US based, well known, have good quality and customer service reviews, and at the time were offering a package deal that included the fancy seat, saddle-bags, and two extended range batteries for about the same price ($1500 or so) as some decent standard bikes. XP, not because I was particularly looking for a folding bike, but because that was the only way to get a bike with 20" wheels, shortening the overall length enough

that, without taking anything apart, it would fit between the walls across the rear door of the cargo-trailer (by a half inch!)

while still leaving room to fold the bed down.

I added some low-profile D-rings to the floor and the door/ramp so the bike can be securely strapped down.

I also added a 1up bike rack to my arsenal.

Bike racks are pricey and I've had a Thule swing-away rack for - well, since forever - but it's a frame-hanger which won't work at all for this new bike.

Besides, electric bikes, with thier steel frames with integraded welded-on steel rear rack, 3" tires, fancy shock-post seat, saddle bags, and extended-range battery are heavy! 70 pounds ready-to-ride in my case.

Constantly arm-curling one of those up to hang it on a frame-hanger rack - well that's just not in my vocabulary anymore!

Hence the wheel-suport rack with ramp (30 pounds all together), so I can just roll the bike on and off.

The wheel-support trays of the 1up also fold 90 degrees to end up parrallel with the hitch-tube which streamlines the stored rack so I can slide it into the bed of the Ranger when towing the cargo trailer to a destination, then once there, mount the rack on the back of the Ranger for day-trips.

As you may have already seen in a previous post, I added a reciever-tube to the front of the teardrop so I can mount the rack there too,

then travel with the bike mounted on the trailer, then once there, wherever 'there' is, shift the rack to the Ranger for day-trips.

First impresions are good, but I've only got a couple hundred miles on the bike so far and frankly I'm still learning how to use it, so maybe sometime in the future I'll go into more detail on riding it and how it's doing. (Don't you want to just reach through the screen and grab by the neck those people that leave reviews saying 'arrived on time, packaging in good shape, haven't used it yet, 5 stars!'?)