smug
- Thread starter avronb
- Start date
I tend to feel a little sheepish reeling in unpowered cyclists. I cant decide whether to look like I'm making a big effort, and pass slowly, or to just nail it on max assist, and blow them into the weeds, desperately trying not smirk as you pass.
All very childish really, but I think that's why it's so much fun!
All very childish really, but I think that's why it's so much fun!
You see, I don't really get this, we're all cyclists are we not, we just happen to have a little battery powered helper ... and let's face it, if the guys in lycra had batteries on their bikes you wouldn't see them for dust. So I say 2 wheels good, powered or un-powered, and god forbid the unpowered boys should catch up with you when your battery has conked out a little further up the road and you're struggling to drag your 23kg monster up a slight incline as they sail past on their featherweight racing machines ...
This is what I find a little embarassing. I don't want to show off, but when you have someone pedalling hard, yet you have to slow down so as not to pass them.
As I am enthusiastic about e-bikes and take the view the more the merrier, perhaps I should just sail past. Once you have begun to use an e-bike daily rather than just a test ride, you realise how much further range you have than an ordinary cycle.
It's fine for the athletes to work themselves up into a lather, but for those who just want to get from A to B, an e-bike is a revelation.
Oh, I agree, I hadn't cycled for several years for various reasons, but since I got my e-bike I'm out most days, and living where I do it is ideal as you can't go more than 100 yards without a change of gradient. It's strange, you can almost guarantee that when you tell someone (anyone) that you have an electric bike they will to a man (or woman) say "but that's cheating", I guess it's in the British psyche to promote suffering over ease and comfort. It's strange that a motorcycle or indeed a car is not regarded as cheating but a bit of assistance pedalling a push-bike is .... who writes these rules?
I go past and then usually they tuck behind me and use my draft to help cut some of the wind. I don't mind that. After all I'm cheating lol.
Still it's nice to know you can have a bit of assistance and decrease my travel time.
I enjoy unpowered riding too. But the powered assistance just makes it a bit more fun once yove tired yourself out.
I find on an ebike I tend to ride it quite hard as if it's a sprint, rest legs a little still pedalling and he sprint again. Where as when I'm unpowered I'm thinking how I can conserve energy and how much I try to avoid the brakes. It becomes a stamina game then.
Most cyclists I've come across have been really interested it, as well as car drivers. None have said I was cheating. Be good to use the bike to drag others up hills when there struggling.
just nice to commute without my legs feeling like jelly for 2hours
Still it's nice to know you can have a bit of assistance and decrease my travel time.
I enjoy unpowered riding too. But the powered assistance just makes it a bit more fun once yove tired yourself out.
I find on an ebike I tend to ride it quite hard as if it's a sprint, rest legs a little still pedalling and he sprint again. Where as when I'm unpowered I'm thinking how I can conserve energy and how much I try to avoid the brakes. It becomes a stamina game then.
Most cyclists I've come across have been really interested it, as well as car drivers. None have said I was cheating. Be good to use the bike to drag others up hills when there struggling.
just nice to commute without my legs feeling like jelly for 2hours
When I ride into Salisbury on my Eddy Merckx I do the 12 miles of somewhat hilly B3089 in around 45 minutes. Granted I'm pretty sweaty but that's give or take around 16 mph average. My little Panasonic can't average that speed... It's assistance runs out by then and it's a 40 lb heavyweight without the motor....Do youi guys have illegally powerful ebikes or am I missing something!
Jon
Well, first of all most people don't ride at 16 mph, most do between 8 and 12 mph.
Secondly, where I ride, most of the Lycra's are older men fighting the flab etc. and I doubt that they really enjoy their rides, to them it's just another work out. So, yes it is possible to pass them.
My point is that I am either going somewhere or am just following my nose enjoying the ride. At no point do I wish to pedal hard, but inevitably, I come across the lycras. Generally it is on an uphill part, they are working hard, I am just pootling along and feel embarassed to pass them.
My Alu-carbon Bianchi would nudge 45 mph downhill on it's tallest gear. The Eddy isn't quite that fast but it'll hold 20 on the flat without killing me....In fact I used to have a Sturmey Archer three speed Raleigh Shopper with some decent Shwalbe tyres on it's stock rims that would go over 20 quite happily... and this three speed would cruise easily at 20 and hit 35 (accordingly to my Garmin Etrex) so I don't feel all superior on my Pedelec. I do however feel hugely smug on my Honda C90 when I catch up with queue-bound traffic and re-take them as they fume impotently!
Jon
Indeed it's possible to be quicker unassisted. However doing it everyday is a chore. Cycling if a much nicer ordeal when you know it's ok to get tired and still get home.
I averaage 14mph when riding unassisted when commuting. This is on busy roads in burmingham at peak times. Now I'm sure I could get another 1mph out of me if I had a race bike with drop bars. Maybe another 1mph if there was less traffic or stops. However maintaing a 16mph on my commute 5 days a week is a chore. The ebike is not. It's a joy.
I like both types but there only suited for one or the other.
Unassisted riding average
Cycling Activity 10.24 mi | RunKeeper
Vs ebike
Cycling Activity 10.89 mi | RunKeeper
I averaage 14mph when riding unassisted when commuting. This is on busy roads in burmingham at peak times. Now I'm sure I could get another 1mph out of me if I had a race bike with drop bars. Maybe another 1mph if there was less traffic or stops. However maintaing a 16mph on my commute 5 days a week is a chore. The ebike is not. It's a joy.
I like both types but there only suited for one or the other.
Unassisted riding average
Cycling Activity 10.24 mi | RunKeeper
Vs ebike
Cycling Activity 10.89 mi | RunKeeper
This 'cheating' thing is a British response...sit in a pavement cafe in Holland or Germany and watch the electric and non assisted bike riders accepting each other. In the UK most e-bike users are 50 plus but in Holland it is thought of as a means of transport to be used by all-chic girls use the bikes to get to town without sweating,young Mums have the toddler on the back,young and older guys meet at the bar with no worry about drinking and driving,Granny meets her friends at a pavement cafe. With the volume of use the e-bike is not an exceptional item,with it's numbers comes acceptance-but in the UK it is still an unusual item ridden by those who are past Lycra,still thought of a bit geekish-this will change with popularity.
One of my employees went out for a coffee taking the Duke retro style bike....he came back with coffee in one hand,max power on the PAS,2nd gear up Whitstable castle hill effortlessly passing the Lycra clad rider,head down,standing on the pedals....smug amusement!!!!!!!
Dave
KudosCycles
One of my employees went out for a coffee taking the Duke retro style bike....he came back with coffee in one hand,max power on the PAS,2nd gear up Whitstable castle hill effortlessly passing the Lycra clad rider,head down,standing on the pedals....smug amusement!!!!!!!
Dave
KudosCycles
Quite right Jon. As the A t B tests over many years have shown and many of us can confirm, legal e-bikes average around 12 to 15 mph, the precise point depending on the motor capability. On the older Panasonic unit in the hilly North Downs my average during nearly five years was 12.4 mph. On my more powerful but legal hub motored eZee bike it was around 15 mph, and on the illegally fast (assisted to 22 mph) eZee Torq 1 it was around 17 mph.
I don't feel smug or anything else, my Tasman is simply my chosen form of transport when I'm not in my car, on a train, bus, tram, tube or on my Brompton.
The transport I choose and the speed I travel at is a matter for me and I can't see it as competitive. If someone uses a motor-cycle, do they feel smug as they pass me?
In order to feel smug when you pass a stronger cyclist as a result of your electric motor, you need to feel you are putting one over on somebody, cheating in fact. But you're not. You are riding your choice of transport, they theirs. How can it be competitive when all you are doing is cycling to work or the shops?
As Kudoscycles implies, what a luxury it is to ride on the continent and just be part of the scene, rather than a frustrated road racer.
The time I'll feel self-satisfied is when I get on a non-electric bike and pass a 25 year old lycra clad racer up Broomfield Hill in Richmond Park. Somehow, I don't see that happening unless unless CERN's results turn out to be correct and (backwards) time travel is on the cards
The transport I choose and the speed I travel at is a matter for me and I can't see it as competitive. If someone uses a motor-cycle, do they feel smug as they pass me?
In order to feel smug when you pass a stronger cyclist as a result of your electric motor, you need to feel you are putting one over on somebody, cheating in fact. But you're not. You are riding your choice of transport, they theirs. How can it be competitive when all you are doing is cycling to work or the shops?
As Kudoscycles implies, what a luxury it is to ride on the continent and just be part of the scene, rather than a frustrated road racer.
The time I'll feel self-satisfied is when I get on a non-electric bike and pass a 25 year old lycra clad racer up Broomfield Hill in Richmond Park. Somehow, I don't see that happening unless unless CERN's results turn out to be correct and (backwards) time travel is on the cards
Maybe
My commute - and I walked in the back door with nary a drop of sweat on my person:-
Workout Details - SportyPal
Oh, and it was 10mins quicker than it usually takes me in the car at hat time of day.
Yes - I've had a few instances where I've overhauled an unpowered cycle going uphill only for the rider to blast past on the downhill. I did get that slightly smug feeling when I first started riding my leccy bike but that's worn off now.
Amigafan, the trip stats are impressive.
Are you sure you were not holding onto the back of a tram??????
Are you sure you were not holding onto the back of a tram??????
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