The e-bike under exercising myth.

[AzDave]

I never road 200+ miles a week every week before I had a ebike.

Good for you!

My gf never liked to work out before I get her an ebike (Como 3)...Now she's a biking addict and dropping all kinds of weight

 

[Sparky731]

Ebiking motto: No hill is too high, no road is too long, no wind is too strong! Bike on!
Also, noticing bikers as we meet on trails: If they are smiling there is a very good chance they are on an ebike!
Or maybe they are just smiling back at me because I am always smiling on my ebike.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Good for you!

My gf never liked to work out before I get her an ebike (Como 3)...Now she's a biking addict and dropping all kinds of weight

the only thing is if I do more then 200 I wear myself out. I did 230 and have two weeks of hard work at my shop moving a lot of plywood and I was shot for a whole week and had to use max assist to even ride and could not ride the tandem at all in the evening.

 

[AzDave]

the only thing is if I do more then 200 I wear myself out. I did 230 and have two weeks of hard work at my shop moving a lot of plywood and I was shot for a whole week and had to use max assist to even ride and could not ride the tandem at all in the evening.

Yeah but you are pushing yourself regardless...to the max...either max human power or electric power

 

[Art Deco]

the only thing is if I do more then 200 I wear myself out. I did 230 and have two weeks of hard work at my shop moving a lot of plywood and I was shot for a whole week and had to use max assist to even ride and could not ride the tandem at all in the evening.

Pat yourself on the back. If I had to do 200 miles in a week I'd be hospitalized (or dead).

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Also, noticing bikers as we meet on trails: If they are smiling there is a very good chance they are on an ebike!

I'm just on my way back from Trutnov in the Czech Republic, a mountainous country. We lived with my brother in a penzion there, and the street that ran along the hotel had 7% incline.

One afternoon, I went on a stroll downwards to see a couple of Czech people climbing the street on their MTBs. "What a nation!" – I thought with envy – "they learn riding bikes in the mountains since the age of three and later can climb their hills so fast!"

It was a senior couple on mid-drive e-bikes

 

[AkJSH3]

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.

 

[AzDave]

The biggest misconception is ebikers aren't trying that hard or getting quality exercise. These generally are people that have never tried an ebike. The truth is with an ebike you can not only customize your workout but your biking experience in general. People that want cardio will get it...people that want a leisurely experience will get that as well. Then on top of it there are people that who wouldn't otherwise be getting exercise at all the door is open for them too. They don't have to be left behind. The ebike is maligned by misconceptions from many and its kind of sad really...Dont limit your horizons...consider an ebike!

 

[Jay M]

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.

Great analogy! I will have to remember to use this. Thanks!

 

[john peck]

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.

I think age can factor in oneś preferred cadence. When I was young, I was a power rider with mighty bulging
thighs, but age has stolen that muscle mass. I now ride a higher cadence in a lower gear. I´m still
propelling the bike, & much of the time my power bar show no juice in use.

 

[Goodleg]

This thread is a good read.
I bought my ebike this summer after riding a trike for years.
Not only do I ride more but also in places I couldn’t go before.
And I lost 39 pounds doing it.

 

[Jason Knight]

Ebiking motto: No hill is too high, no road is too long, no wind is too strong! Bike on!
Also, noticing bikers as we meet on trails: If they are smiling there is a very good chance they are on an ebike!
Or maybe they are just smiling back at me because I am always smiling on my ebike.

Now that I'm FINALLY riding after six months of broken bikes and garbage support, I've been grinning ear to ear. I've not had this kind of fun riding a bike in a decade.

I've already gotten a lot of "oh that's cheating" slack from locals, and a LOT of people asking where they can get one too. It takes time to explain to them that for the most part it's pedal assist, meaning in normal riding on the flats all it does is extend your range and let you ride for longer. I just put 34 miles (down to 12% battery) on my Aventon, and that's three times further than I've biked in 4 years. I used to do 20 miles a day on a 3 speed cruiser like it was nothing, but my knees and back slowly started to rebel every time I came to a hill. Now I'm doing 30+ miles, going over hills like they were nothing, having far more comfortable rides, and it's not like I'm riding around "throttle only". Hell I rarely go past PAS3 (out of 5) unless it's a big wide open paved area and nobody else is around.

I don't know about you folks, but having a working e-bike has put the fun back into it for me.

I swear some cyclists with their elitist attitude and e-bike bashing must do the torturous self-abuse known as "cross-fit" at home.

Though thinking back... hmm... I had a lot of local bikers ~12 years or so ago giving me crap about riding around on my "heavy' Micargi 3 speed cruiser. The spandex wearing freaks on their 700c skinny tires and lightweight frames always asking "How can you bike around on something so heavy? Those steel frames aren't worth money." -- as if their rickety crap would have held my 280 pound frame at that time, much less the whole point being to exercise, so what's a few more pounds on the bike. The whole concept was to lose weight, adding weight to my means of doing so being no different than upping the weight at the gym.

It's what I often mean when I say it seems like certain communities get insular, and in some ways are the enemy of expanding the sport. Oh you're riding a bike that's too heavy, oh you're riding a bike that's too light, oh you're riding a bike that's too cheap, oh you're wearing too bulky a clothing costing you wind resistance, oh you're cheating by using a motor.

Doesn't matter what you do, there are some folks out there who will find SOMETHING to attack you for. But how DARE you respond in kind. Can't we just all go out there, have fun, and try to help each-other?

 

[AzDave]

Now that I'm FINALLY riding after six months of broken bikes and garbage support, I've been grinning ear to ear. I've not had this kind of fun riding a bike in a decade.

I've already gotten a lot of "oh that's cheating" slack from locals, and a LOT of people asking where they can get one too. It takes time to explain to them that for the most part it's pedal assist, meaning in normal riding on the flats all it does is extend your range and let you ride for longer. I just put 34 miles (down to 12% battery) on my Aventon, and that's three times further than I've biked in 4 years. I used to do 20 miles a day on a 3 speed cruiser like it was nothing, but my knees and back slowly started to rebel every time I came to a hill. Now I'm doing 30+ miles, going over hills like they were nothing, having far more comfortable rides, and it's not like I'm riding around "throttle only". Hell I rarely go past PAS3 (out of 5) unless it's a big wide open paved area and nobody else is around.

I don't know about you folks, but having a working e-bike has put the fun back into it for me.

I swear some cyclists with their elitist attitude and e-bike bashing must do the torturous self-abuse known as "cross-fit" at home.

Though thinking back... hmm... I had a lot of local bikers ~12 years or so ago giving me crap about riding around on my "heavy' Micargi 3 speed cruiser. The spandex wearing freaks on their 700c skinny tires and lightweight frames always asking "How can you bike around on something so heavy? Those steel frames aren't worth money." -- as if their rickety crap would have held my 280 pound frame at that time, much less the whole point being to exercise, so what's a few more pounds on the bike. The whole concept was to lose weight, adding weight to my means of doing so being no different than upping the weight at the gym.

It's what I often mean when I say it seems like certain communities get insular, and in some ways are the enemy of expanding the sport. Oh you're riding a bike that's too heavy, oh you're riding a bike that's too light, oh you're riding a bike that's too cheap, oh you're wearing too bulky a clothing costing you wind resistance, oh you're cheating by using a motor.

Doesn't matter what you do, there are some folks out there who will find SOMETHING to attack you for. But how DARE you respond in kind. Can't we just all go out there, have fun, and try to help each-other?

It's the simple mindedness and judgments that is so irritating! Hey good for you and don't listen to anyone but your own fun. By keeping the fun level high makes you like exercising and little do these naysayers know but they are tying to take the fun out of it for you...which is NOT going to happen. I went from a heavy bike (and body) to a carbon bike now I have a carbon bike with a motor. Each bike fulfilled a purpose for me. And heck if I knew or had the money way back when I probably would have went to my Creo right away but its all good.

A lot of these cyclists need to try an electric bike. If it's not for them fine but at least they would be more educated on which they speak and see some of the benefits!

 

[Moonglow]

I'm a big ebike fan. I've ridden our Roadrunner (longtail with rear hub) everywhere for the last 3 years, about 18-20k km. We're just waiting for our new Load 7 to arrive, and totally excited about exploring whole new areas of the city and region. I don't think the maths stacks up though for an ebike riding being the same exercise as a conventional bike. Yes it can be faster, it can be more fun, it can take you further and let you ride more - these in combination can mean you are over a week or set period of time expending more energy than you might if you just owned a conventional bike, but the same ride doesnt expend as much energy.

We're essentially talking a formula something like work = force (speed x time) x distance. Making up some numbers, if your trip is 10km at 20kmph for 30 minutes it equals a set level of work. If you add a motor, speed up the trip (say its now only 15 minutes) even if you put in the exact same energy into the pedals as you normally did, its now only 15 minutes of exercise. As soon as the motor puts energy into the same equation, you're putting less in.

Now usually we add other variables with an ebike and increase these, we increase the distance, we take other routes with more hills we wouln't have otherwise, we do more trips, we carry more stuff... all this changes the formula.

My ebike broke down a month or so ago and I rode my conventional bike into work, same trip I do every day on my eBike, OMG - every muscle hurt the next day. After 3 years riding an ebike my fitness wasn't the same as it was riding a CBike 20km 3 x a week. Its totally better than it would have been if I was just taking the bus though!

Similarly, our motor died one time when we were out with M5 on the back, riding home nearly killed me - I had to get off and walk several times. There is absolutely no way the energy requirements for these trips without a motor was the same as it was with the assist.

Love your bikes, have a lot of fun, ride more, ride further, replace cars, do things you could never have done unassisted and know you're getting health benefits. Don't fool yourself that riding a standard bike doesn't burn more energy on the exact same ride.

 

[Mulezen]

It’s an attitude that’s changing among serious bikers. My Physical Therapist, though 50 is about 140 lbs and looks like the bike racer he once was. He was happy to hear I rode a bike at ‘my age’ and thought ebikes were like eyeglasses.

 

[AzDave]

I'm a big ebike fan. I've ridden our Roadrunner (longtail with rear hub) everywhere for the last 3 years, about 18-20k km. We're just waiting for our new Load 7 to arrive, and totally excited about exploring whole new areas of the city and region. I don't think the maths stacks up though for an ebike riding being the same exercise as a conventional bike. Yes it can be faster, it can be more fun, it can take you further and let you ride more - these in combination can mean you are over a week or set period of time expending more energy than you might if you just owned a conventional bike, but the same ride doesnt expend as much energy.

We're essentially talking a formula something like work = force (speed x time) x distance. Making up some numbers, if your trip is 10km at 20kmph for 30 minutes it equals a set level of work. If you add a motor, speed up the trip (say its now only 15 minutes) even if you put in the exact same energy into the pedals as you normally did, its now only 15 minutes of exercise. As soon as the motor puts energy into the same equation, you're putting less in.

Now usually we add other variables with an ebike and increase these, we increase the distance, we take other routes with more hills we wouln't have otherwise, we do more trips, we carry more stuff... all this changes the formula.

My ebike broke down a month or so ago and I rode my conventional bike into work, same trip I do every day on my eBike, OMG - every muscle hurt the next day. After 3 years riding an ebike my fitness wasn't the same as it was riding a CBike 20km 3 x a week. Its totally better than it would have been if I was just taking the bus though!

Similarly, our motor died one time when we were out with M5 on the back, riding home nearly killed me - I had to get off and walk several times. There is absolutely no way the energy requirements for these trips without a motor was the same as it was with the assist.

Love your bikes, have a lot of fun, ride more, ride further, replace cars, do things you could never have done unassisted and know you're getting health benefits. Don't fool yourself that riding a standard bike doesn't burn more energy on the exact same

Ebikes allow for less recovery time meaning I can ride more consecutive days. If I'm sore after one ride I can still get back out there using more power the next day. It means I'm still getting exercise regardless of the day before.

Ebikes makes riders more adventurous...traveling further than they normally would. More distance, more exercise

Guess what, I just ate a big fat dinner and am feeling sluggish. I could go take a nap or get on my ebike and up the power until my food settles. At least I'm not home sleeping...I'm riding!

Oh oh! That light up ahead is about to turn red. I won't make it unless I up the power and pedal harder. Phew made it! Now I'm still pedaling and keeping my heart rate at a higher level for optimal fat burning.

I'm addicted to the higher speed...Now I'm pedaling harder AND upping the power. Now I'm really into this and my watch heart rate monitor proves it!

There is this town up north I like to ride but the hills are sooo big. Sometimes I'd have to get off my bike and walk it. Not now! Now I can take on them hilly hills...its still a workout but I'm not defeated. I can climb them all. Now I have new challenges with my ebike.

I'm been riding a lot...getting tired. But instead of stopping I just up my power and take a little break...while continuing to ride! Still exercising...again.

So these are just a few examples where having an ebike gives you a better workout...a custom workout. You can be casual or not. YOUR CHOICE.

 

[Jason Knight]

and thought ebikes were like eyeglasses.

As a four-eyed dork, I like that comparison.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Ebikes allow for less recovery time meaning I can ride more consecutive days. If I'm sore after one ride I can still get back out there using more power the next day. It means I'm still getting exercise regardless of the day before.

Ebikes makes riders more adventurous...traveling further than they normally would. More distance, more exercise

Guess what, I just ate a big fat dinner and am feeling sluggish. I could go take a nap or get on my ebike and up the power until my food settles. At least I'm not home sleeping...I'm riding!

Oh oh! That light up ahead is about to turn red. I won't make it unless I up the power and pedal harder. Phew made it! Now I'm still pedaling and keeping my rate rate at a higher level for optimal fat burning.

I'm addicted to the higher speed...Now I'm pedaling harder AND upping the power. Now I'm really into this and my watch heart rate monitor proves it!

There is this town up north I like to ride but the hills are sooo big. Sometimes I'd have to get off my bike and walk it. Not now! Now I can take on them hilly hills...its still a workout but I'm not defeated. I can climb them all. Now I have new challenges with my bike.

I'm been riding a lot...getting tired. But instead of stopping I just up my power and take a little break...while continuing to ride! Still exercising...again.

So these are just a few examples where having an ebike gives you a better workout...a custom workout. You can be casual or not. YOUR CHOICE.

yes good description. I manage to ride every day at least 20 miles a day often more one week about 40 miles a day every day. Like the speed too I notice I can put out the same power on a bit higher assist level because I can go faster. it feels easier even though its to according to my Hr and watt output. no fear of hills at all. 3000 feet of climbing in 40 miles no problem 1000 feet in a mile and a half still doable. I feel tired a lot so that helps I dont have to take the bus.

 

[dodgeman]

To really stay with anything long term, be it exercise, a hobby, whatever, it needs to be fun. If it’s not it will sit in a corner unused. Most people will find e bikes are fun.

I got a little bit of the biking elitists attitude from someone I chatted with on a bike trail last week. He asked how heavy it was. He was 69 years old, about 5’-5” tall and weighed about 140 pounds. I’m 6’1” and weigh close to 250 pounds. I’m not to concerned with the weight of my bike.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I’m not to concerned with the weight of my bike.

Unless there's an obstacle over which your e-bike needs to be carried What humiliation I suffered on my last gravel cycling group ride! My Vado weighs some 53 lb net. Add to it panniers, spare battery, tools, spare clothes, water, etc, and it becomes very heavy, especially at the rear. No issues when we were riding. My Vado could even take very rough terrain.

At some point, we had to cross a newly constructed freeway: It was at the groundwork stage. Fancy all those ditches and buttresses! My buddies just carried their gravel bikes on their shoulders but I could do nothing about that! Eventually, two of the buddies carried my e-bike across the road...