Readytoride
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Virginia
My neighbor, with her bike on the carrier on the back of her car and the 14 year old daughter of a visiting friend in the passenger seat, dropped over to my farm yesterday for an e-bike ride. I already had my two ebikes - the LaFree and the Vado - out of the garage and standing ready to ride with tires pumped, water bottles in the panniers, extra riding helmet, gloves, and sports sun glasses sitting next to the LaFree, and blinkie lights on both bikes ready to be activated.
The young visitor was eagerly looking forward to the ride and, at the request of my neighbor who wanted to show her young friend the beauty of the countryside but wanted to avoid the dusty gravel roads which have become increasingly worse in the last few weeks from lack of rain and high heat, I had selected my favorite scenic paved road route south into the lower county.
After unloading neighbor's bike from her car carrier, putting on gloves, strapping on helmets, settling sunglasses into place, turning on the blinkies, and posing for a few grinning pre-ride photos, we set off - my neighbor and I both on our Vados, and our youngest rider mounted on the LaFree which was, happy to say, already set up for her height as being identical to mine. She told me her father had an ebike which he rides all the time, but she only gets to ride it now and then, and not very far. Fortunately she was an athlete, and had recently run a half marathon (which she said, quite honestly and with complete candor, that she didn't enjoy one bit) so I felt reasonably certain that she would be comfortable on the carbon belt drive LaFree with the proposed 24 mile ride through the countryside.
Well, not only was she comfortable, claiming at 20 miles that it felt like she'd only ridden 4 miles, but she had a blast. The route views lived up to their stellar reputation, the paved roads lived up to their bragging rights of being both quiet and low traffic, and all three of us enjoyed an endless round of chatter enroute, stopping periodically to hydrate - very important in the building heat of a typical hot and humid Virginia summer day - as well as for me to wax poetic on the history of the lands and views at each of our ride stops. As it was, we had two passing cyclists stop to listen to me describing, with tour guide eloquence and typical overembellishment, of some of the more interesting and unique aspects of one estate encompassing a vast chunk of the view in front of us.
It was all great fun. My neighbor took lots of photos (which I do need to get later), we had some funny moments - like our young rider, much to her surprised chagrin unwittingly opening a ready-to-erupt-like-a-geiser carbonated water bottle that had been bumped around the countryside on a bike and subsequently spraying everything in a 10 foot radius, people and bikes included, in an explosion of multi-berry flavored sparkling water - and we did a great job of keeping up enough pace throughout the ride to provide refreshingly cool air, aptly negating the rising heat of the advancing morning.
All three electric bikes acquitted themselves (not surpringly) with professional aplomb, and our young rider stepped off her borrowed bike at the end of the ride with a huge smile and a very gracious thank you.
I will say that it is, without a doubt, fun to share an ebike, especially since it so perfectly levels the playing field of different risers with different degrees of cycling ability. With little effort on our part we easily stayed together despite the hills and rolling terrain. Even the two gentlemen who had stopped to listen to part of my roadside tour lecture were impressed by our bikes, already aware (and perhaps a bit jealous) of the ebike's well earned reputation for climbing hills. They had just set out on a 50 mile ride which included headed up the Blue Ridge mountain to ride the road along the crest - a rather daunting prospect considering the 90°+F heat expected to envelop the countyside in a few hours. We wished them well as they said their goodbyes and headed off down the road. Even with electrons ready to assist, their route was not one I'd want to ride. Us three ladies were more than happy to stick to the gently traveled valley roads, and admire the mountains from a respectful, relaxing, far less strenuous distance.
It was a lovely morning for three ladies to enjoy a countryside bike ride in a beautiful area of two beautiful counties. I hope my neighbor's young friend comes back to visit and bike ride with us again. She was an absolute delight.
Our stats and a few prior ride photos until I can remember to get a few photos of the day from my neighbor to share.
The young visitor was eagerly looking forward to the ride and, at the request of my neighbor who wanted to show her young friend the beauty of the countryside but wanted to avoid the dusty gravel roads which have become increasingly worse in the last few weeks from lack of rain and high heat, I had selected my favorite scenic paved road route south into the lower county.
After unloading neighbor's bike from her car carrier, putting on gloves, strapping on helmets, settling sunglasses into place, turning on the blinkies, and posing for a few grinning pre-ride photos, we set off - my neighbor and I both on our Vados, and our youngest rider mounted on the LaFree which was, happy to say, already set up for her height as being identical to mine. She told me her father had an ebike which he rides all the time, but she only gets to ride it now and then, and not very far. Fortunately she was an athlete, and had recently run a half marathon (which she said, quite honestly and with complete candor, that she didn't enjoy one bit) so I felt reasonably certain that she would be comfortable on the carbon belt drive LaFree with the proposed 24 mile ride through the countryside.
Well, not only was she comfortable, claiming at 20 miles that it felt like she'd only ridden 4 miles, but she had a blast. The route views lived up to their stellar reputation, the paved roads lived up to their bragging rights of being both quiet and low traffic, and all three of us enjoyed an endless round of chatter enroute, stopping periodically to hydrate - very important in the building heat of a typical hot and humid Virginia summer day - as well as for me to wax poetic on the history of the lands and views at each of our ride stops. As it was, we had two passing cyclists stop to listen to me describing, with tour guide eloquence and typical overembellishment, of some of the more interesting and unique aspects of one estate encompassing a vast chunk of the view in front of us.
It was all great fun. My neighbor took lots of photos (which I do need to get later), we had some funny moments - like our young rider, much to her surprised chagrin unwittingly opening a ready-to-erupt-like-a-geiser carbonated water bottle that had been bumped around the countryside on a bike and subsequently spraying everything in a 10 foot radius, people and bikes included, in an explosion of multi-berry flavored sparkling water - and we did a great job of keeping up enough pace throughout the ride to provide refreshingly cool air, aptly negating the rising heat of the advancing morning.
All three electric bikes acquitted themselves (not surpringly) with professional aplomb, and our young rider stepped off her borrowed bike at the end of the ride with a huge smile and a very gracious thank you.
I will say that it is, without a doubt, fun to share an ebike, especially since it so perfectly levels the playing field of different risers with different degrees of cycling ability. With little effort on our part we easily stayed together despite the hills and rolling terrain. Even the two gentlemen who had stopped to listen to part of my roadside tour lecture were impressed by our bikes, already aware (and perhaps a bit jealous) of the ebike's well earned reputation for climbing hills. They had just set out on a 50 mile ride which included headed up the Blue Ridge mountain to ride the road along the crest - a rather daunting prospect considering the 90°+F heat expected to envelop the countyside in a few hours. We wished them well as they said their goodbyes and headed off down the road. Even with electrons ready to assist, their route was not one I'd want to ride. Us three ladies were more than happy to stick to the gently traveled valley roads, and admire the mountains from a respectful, relaxing, far less strenuous distance.
It was a lovely morning for three ladies to enjoy a countryside bike ride in a beautiful area of two beautiful counties. I hope my neighbor's young friend comes back to visit and bike ride with us again. She was an absolute delight.
Our stats and a few prior ride photos until I can remember to get a few photos of the day from my neighbor to share.
