The e-bike under exercising myth.

[Sparky731]

Cheating is when you drive a car when you could be biking!

 

[fooferdoggie]

Cheating is when you drive a car when you could be biking!

or drive to a place so you can ride

 

[Stefan Mikes]

or drive to a place so you can ride

Ya, ride all the way up from Oregon to be able to ride by the Niagara Falls.

 

[BEC111]

Ya, ride all the way up from Oregon to be able to ride by the Niagara Falls.

The Niagara Falls with which I am familiar is in the border between Canada and the US. Didn’t know there was one in Oregon.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The Niagara Falls with which I am familiar is in the border between Canada and the US. Didn’t know there was one in Oregon.

I suggested that foofer could ride his e-bike all way from Portland OR to the Niagara Falls if he really thinks transporting an e-bike in a car is cheating

 

[BEC111]

Sounds like a great ride. Technically, I could do it from here in Virginia. There are almost connecting trails fro here to there. If I were 50 years younger I might even try it.

Now, not 50 years ago. It wouldn’t have been possible trail-wise back then.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Unfortunately, some of us have only short holiday and cannot waste their precious time for riding boring plains to get to magnificent mountains

 

[BigNerd]

So I'm going to refute this but not because I don't think you get good exercise with an ebike, but if you are riding the same rides (distance, elevation, etc) with people who don't have ebikes, it's definitely less effort vs a non ebike.

Recently, I've had my ebike in the shop so I've had to use my normie... and even though the rides are mainly flat and average around 15 to 20 miles, it's definitely more of a workout than with my ebike. Especially if you basically go the same speeds because you don't want to abandon the non ebikers. And that's the tough part, the guys in my group all weigh much less than I do... so for them, biking without power is easy... so an ebike evens the field for me... actually puts it in my favor so if I put reasonable effort with assist, I go too fast, if I turn off assist, I'm slower than on my regular bike which I was already lagging behind on.

But... the one advantage of my ebike is I am able to ride hillier rides that I would not be able to without it... but again... without much effort if I want to go the same pace as the non ebikers (several times I've gone full speed up the hills just because I could... to their chagrin).

So that's why I'm looking at a lower power hub bike... something that will give me more balance between ebike and regular bike.

To E or not to E... that is the conundrum.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Ya, ride all the way up from Oregon to be able to ride by the Niagara Falls.

well ya what's the problem???

 

[Stefan Mikes]

well ya what's the problem???

Ride

 

[Stefan Mikes]

So I'm going to refute this but not because I don't think you get good exercise with an ebike, but if you are riding the same rides (distance, elevation, etc) with people who don't have ebikes, it's definitely less effort vs a non ebike.

Recently, I've had my ebike in the shop so I've had to use my normie... and even though the rides are mainly flat and average around 15 to 20 miles, it's definitely more of a workout than with my ebike. Especially if you basically go the same speeds because you don't want to abandon the non ebikers. And that's the tough part, the guys in my group all weigh much less than I do... so for them, biking without power is easy... so an ebike evens the field for me... actually puts it in my favor so if I put reasonable effort with assist, I go too fast, if I turn off assist, I'm slower than on my regular bike which I was already lagging behind on.

But... the one advantage of my ebike is I am able to ride hillier rides that I would not be able to without it... but again... without much effort if I want to go the same pace as the non ebikers (several times I've gone full speed up the hills just because I could... to their chagrin).

So that's why I'm looking at a lower power hub bike... something that will give me more balance between ebike and regular bike.

To E or not to E... that is the conundrum.

Buy yourself a 250 W mid-drive that allows tuning the assistance levels. Vado SL comes to one's mind.

 

[BEC111]

So I'm going to refute this but not because I don't think you get good exercise with an ebike, but if you are riding the same rides (distance, elevation, etc) with people who don't have ebikes, it's definitely less effort vs a non ebike.

Recently, I've had my ebike in the shop so I've had to use my normie... and even though the rides are mainly flat and average around 15 to 20 miles, it's definitely more of a workout than with my ebike. Especially if you basically go the same speeds because you don't want to abandon the non ebikers. And that's the tough part, the guys in my group all weigh much less than I do... so for them, biking without power is easy... so an ebike evens the field for me... actually puts it in my favor so if I put reasonable effort with assist, I go too fast, if I turn off assist, I'm slower than on my regular bike which I was already lagging behind on.

But... the one advantage of my ebike is I am able to ride hillier rides that I would not be able to without it... but again... without much effort if I want to go the same pace as the non ebikers (several times I've gone full speed up the hills just because I could... to their chagrin).

So that's why I'm looking at a lower power hub bike... something that will give me more balance between ebike and regular bike.

To E or not to E... that is the conundrum.

Your experience is why I have my Vado SL. It’s a slightly heavy hybrid bike with an assist that allows me to ride a bit faster and a lot further than on my analog bike.

I’ve ridden it 20+ miles at zero assist at speeds similar to Eco assisted rides, but it’s much more fun with assist.

I had a bad crash about a month ago and have just started riding 20-30 mile rides again. While I’ve been healing I’ve used more assist and less effort than usual, but I’ve still been hitting my cardio targets. I do this by using less assist, lower gears and higher cadence.

I couldn’t ride at all without the assist, but don’t need the extra power, non the weight, of the full power Vado. Ask me again in a couple of years, though.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Ride

three days of riding in the rain in a week I have seen enough falling water.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

three days of riding in the rain in a week I have seen enough falling water.

Making it six days for the round trip.

Taken into account my entire 2021 holidays were 14 days, I could spend as many as 11 riding days in the mountains, 2 days were for transporting, and 1 day was a technical one (washing clothes, repacking). I wouldn't like to waste most of the holiday for as uninteresting ride as you have described yourself.

Let me tell you one more thing (not related to my vacation). True MTBs (and e-MTBs) are designed for riding off-road only (with a special focus on riding technical singletrack). Any sane MTBer will use some form of lift to get their mountain bike to the beginning of the trail...

I see no cheating in either of the situations described.

 

[Old Fart At Play]

I've been asked by a few people "why ebike", or "what's it like" and generally they're trying to get the answer to how much effort do you have to put in. The easiest explanation for me is that ebikes are like moving sidewalks in airports or escalators. If you walk while on the moving sidewalk you get from point A to point B faster but you're still putting in the same effort as you would walking on a "regular" sidewalk (or escalator). That allows me to extend my workout, or fun, to greater distances. In the past if there was somewhere I wanted to visit 10 miles away, the mental math of biking effort VS car effort usually meant the car won.........now the bike wins MUCH more often.

Hiya...
" If you walk while on the moving sidewalk you get from point A to point B faster but you're still putting in the same effort as you would walking on a "regular" sidewalk (or escalator)." =- sadly this isn't true. When you walk from point A to point B on a moving sidewalk you aren't walking as far as on the normal sidewalk. In fitbit terms, you are taking fewer steps. So to do the same distance on a moving sidewalk takes less effort.

Because it takes less effort, you can go further for the same amount of effort.

I agree with your drift though - I cycle far more often and go further with my ebike than I used to on my old bike, so I end up getting as least as much exercise (and almost certainly more).

 

[BigNerd]

Yep... same distance... less effort... unless you are doing it in much less time.

 

[AzDave]

These are electric ebikes...of course they are less effort if thats your choice. That's the point of them. But they are great exercise if you are looking for that too.

 

[BikingSoCal]

I have been commuting to work on my e bike for the last 12 months.
I would not have done it on a regular bike.
On may way back home I use almost no assist and my heart rate goes into aerobic range, my legs feel it and I breath hard and fast.
Is it a myth that I am exercising less on an e bike versus driving my car to work, which I would be doing if I didn't have one?

 

[Kayakguy]

The e-bike under exercising myth.

Each person’s thighs are made up of a unique combination of type I slow twitch (endurance) and type II fast twitch (fast cadence sprinting) muscle fibers. While it is true that you can do different training exercises to strengthen either fast or slow twitch fibers, you cannot actually change your genetic makeup. Which is why, over time, cyclists either consciously or unconsciously, find their most efficient cycling pace. Cyclists with more slow twitch fibers might settle into a cadence at 68-75 rpm with a 30-40% torque (pushing strength) while other cyclists with more fast twitch fibers find they can ride for miles at a 95 rpm with only 15% torque.

Luckily road bikes have many gears, and so a rider using a slower cadence in a higher gear can be riding just as fast as a rider with a faster cadence in a lower gear. Sprinters and swimmers are not so lucky.

A commonly perceived myth from those who don’t ride e-bikes is that you get less exercise because the electric motor is applying the torque for you. But those who ride e-bikes often refute that concept, commenting that the exercise effort is just the same - which is true.

No matter whether you ride assisted or not, you tend to ride at your individual best riding efficiency, as determined by your genetic makeup. You have trained yourself to ride at your own best mix of cadence and power. It often amazes me that I can ride 20 miles and my times will vary less than a minute, regardless of how I randomly hit the traffic lights. Your body learns how to ride most efficiently for the expended effort. Unless you deliberately change the way you ride, the exercise effort is the same. Calories burned are the same. Aerobic endurance and muscle strengthening is the same.

So, what do you gain from an e-bike then? In a word, speed. You go faster for the same effort exerted. If your ride is hilly and you find yourself bumping up into tour mode (no one admits using sport mode) you can do an unassisted one hour ride in 50 minutes with the same effort on an e-bike. If your ride is flat and you sit in ecco mode, your hour ride will take you 55 minutes with the same effort.

Apple’s new watch has some VO2 estimation, and the new Bosch Nyon display has power and energy displays that will allow quantitative verification of this concept, but enough anecdotal comments from the e-bike community should suffice for now.

Don’t fall for the myth propagated by those who haven’t converted. Its the same ride. But if you ride your e-bike somewhere instead of not riding at all, then your’e 100% better off, and you can’t do better than that.

At my age (85) I find the ebike is the best possible exercise I can do. I ride twice a week to my pole-walking venue (it's a "silver sneakers" type of thing), riding at a good brisk pace (70 rpm cadence for me), and usually arrive huffing and puffing. The distance varies from 3 miles one way to 8 miles, and sometimes involves long and steepish hills. It's a great aerobic workout.

But when I walk with the group, I'm wobbly and slow. A 90 yo woman with a wooden leg can pass me by. I have to work hard to stay with the group. Think of how little exercise I'd be getting without the ebike.

I seem to be strengthening my glutes, but not my knees, from riding. Does nothing for the knees. But I can live with that.

Incidentally, I think ""Caius (Cayuse) Gluteus Maximus" would be a great name for a Roman General. (translates as "Horse's Behind."

 

[GuruUno]

I sometimes find it weird or whacked that weirdos have to make decisions on how I (or you) perform whatever we choose to do to stay fit, exercise, or just plain move and not become a bookend.
Everyone is entitled to express their opinion...after all...that's what a "community" forum is for, right?
So, with that, let me just say, in the overall opinion regarding "cheating"....let me say; my mom told me years ago it was not nice to tell someone to go "F" themselves, but instead, that I should be kinder and tell them, "GO SCUB A RUBBER DUCK!!".

So, being said, Go Scrub that Duck for those who think we cheat on an e-bike.