BassPlayer
New Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Eugene
Been riding for about 7 years now, first 4 on a hybrid pedal bike. I was averaging 10-15 miles a ride three days a week. Stymied by hills I kept to the flats along the many waterways in the Pacific Northwest. Life was good but I wanted to explore territories just over the hill, literally.
Test rode an ebike and loved it. While the step through frame seemed ideal for my bad knees I opted for a mountain bike frame ebike from Surface 604 (sounds like a cleaning product but it’s actually a Canadian bike manufacturer) Quad model with a 750 W 14 Ah motor/battery. The hills disappeared and I doubled my ride lengths to 20-30 miles averaging around 50+ miles a week.
Well one day in August 2021 I picked up a bagel with a nice slab of salmon and was set to ride to a park and scarf however no bags were available so I took the bagel in a box, holding it in my right hand so I could access the throttle with my left. I wasn’t going far and not too fast either. Of course, on a downhill segment to the park I picked up speed, perhaps 15+ mph and I hit the brake, left hand hydraulic Front Brake, too hard trying to negotiate a driveway and went End Over the handlebars scraping my nose, lips and chin while landing heavily upon my right shoulder. Managed to ride home but I was as tweaked as my bike.
Eventually I saw a doctor for the continuing shoulder pain and imaging revealed a Rotor Cuff tear and a completely torn away sub-scapular tendon. Surgery in September 2022 to fix it all and it worked! Recovery wasn’t easy but I came to like my physical therapy sessions and really appreciate my Doctors’ skills. A watershed moment for me when I decided that I should have my knees repaired. Had the right Docs and PT team and the time to heal.
So as I returned to my ebike after a three-four month hiatus I felt great until I fishtailed and crashed on a flat straight section of road on a regular route. It had rained, no biggie in Oregon, and mud/silt had built up a bit further from the curb than usual. I rode the frame down to the pavement and held my right recently repaired arm high in the air like some bull rider. Wasn’t injured too much, knee bumped and gloved left hand scraped the pavement but it put the fear of crashing back in me. I’ve kept a record of my crashes and the average on a year over my bike life.
With a total knee replacement on the way, the first of two, I thought long and hard about two wheeled biking. I’ll be 73 in 6 weeks and although I’m in relatively good shape I can’t keep crashing. So I bought a trike, a used ICE Adventure with 20 inch wheels. Very weird to ride at 3 feet off the ground, toddler and small dogs and I see eye to eye, while everyone else looks down on you.
Adding a 750 W motor to the trike and hoping I can get more comfortable with the low and slow approach to biking, or triking to be precise. Went back to my two wheeler the other day and put in 25 miles along rivers and woods, just lovely thinking the whole time ‘now why did I buy that trike’?
I’m in Eugene, home of the University of Oregon’s Ducks and welcome to ride along with y’all. The site looks like a good resource….and yes, I play bass, electric and upright for more than 50 years. Spent ten years after college in the 70’s playing professionally. Retired from LA Times, Marketing and Advertising and enjoying my retired life!
Test rode an ebike and loved it. While the step through frame seemed ideal for my bad knees I opted for a mountain bike frame ebike from Surface 604 (sounds like a cleaning product but it’s actually a Canadian bike manufacturer) Quad model with a 750 W 14 Ah motor/battery. The hills disappeared and I doubled my ride lengths to 20-30 miles averaging around 50+ miles a week.
Well one day in August 2021 I picked up a bagel with a nice slab of salmon and was set to ride to a park and scarf however no bags were available so I took the bagel in a box, holding it in my right hand so I could access the throttle with my left. I wasn’t going far and not too fast either. Of course, on a downhill segment to the park I picked up speed, perhaps 15+ mph and I hit the brake, left hand hydraulic Front Brake, too hard trying to negotiate a driveway and went End Over the handlebars scraping my nose, lips and chin while landing heavily upon my right shoulder. Managed to ride home but I was as tweaked as my bike.
Eventually I saw a doctor for the continuing shoulder pain and imaging revealed a Rotor Cuff tear and a completely torn away sub-scapular tendon. Surgery in September 2022 to fix it all and it worked! Recovery wasn’t easy but I came to like my physical therapy sessions and really appreciate my Doctors’ skills. A watershed moment for me when I decided that I should have my knees repaired. Had the right Docs and PT team and the time to heal.
So as I returned to my ebike after a three-four month hiatus I felt great until I fishtailed and crashed on a flat straight section of road on a regular route. It had rained, no biggie in Oregon, and mud/silt had built up a bit further from the curb than usual. I rode the frame down to the pavement and held my right recently repaired arm high in the air like some bull rider. Wasn’t injured too much, knee bumped and gloved left hand scraped the pavement but it put the fear of crashing back in me. I’ve kept a record of my crashes and the average on a year over my bike life.
With a total knee replacement on the way, the first of two, I thought long and hard about two wheeled biking. I’ll be 73 in 6 weeks and although I’m in relatively good shape I can’t keep crashing. So I bought a trike, a used ICE Adventure with 20 inch wheels. Very weird to ride at 3 feet off the ground, toddler and small dogs and I see eye to eye, while everyone else looks down on you.
Adding a 750 W motor to the trike and hoping I can get more comfortable with the low and slow approach to biking, or triking to be precise. Went back to my two wheeler the other day and put in 25 miles along rivers and woods, just lovely thinking the whole time ‘now why did I buy that trike’?
I’m in Eugene, home of the University of Oregon’s Ducks and welcome to ride along with y’all. The site looks like a good resource….and yes, I play bass, electric and upright for more than 50 years. Spent ten years after college in the 70’s playing professionally. Retired from LA Times, Marketing and Advertising and enjoying my retired life!
