E-Bike Days

My Fountain of Youth is Here

I finally retired my 42-year old Romic road bike (right) this Christmas and bought an e-bike.

The brand is Edison. They’re the local heroes, based on the east side of Atlanta.

It’s a miracle.

I’m 69. Been riding bikes all my life. But age means my back hurts. It can take a half-hour to prepare for even a short bike ride, and I’m in pain inside another half-hour.

The Edison e-bike is my fountain of youth. No special shoes. The helmet is optional. I can be out and riding in minutes.

E-bikes today are like cars were 120 years ago. There are dozens of brands, intense competition, all sorts of styles available. You can get an e-bike that folds up and fits in a car trunk. You can buy e-bikes that are more like mopeds.

Among the most popular models in my neighborhood are cargo e-bikes, which can hold a day’s shopping, even a kid or two. I tried to turn the Romic into one 35 years ago. I slapped a car seat in a trailer and towed a baby in it for a few hours. It didn’t go well. But with a cargo bike that’s no problem, thanks to pedal assist, the electric motor humming whenever its power is needed. I frequently see e-bikes with trailers attached. Inside I spy a toddler on a game machine with a baby on its shoulder.

My E-Bike Experience

The Edison is a very bikey e-bike. It has the fit and handling of a standard upright bike. Thanks to its wide tires, Atlanta roads no longer threaten me with flats and falls as they did. I can glide down a hill at 25-30 mph (40-50 kph). There are 5 levels of power and 7 gears. No hill has scared me yet. Since I’m upright and my feet aren’t in toe clips, I can stop on a dime and maneuver easily. This is true even on the east side of the Atlanta Beltline, which is less a bike trail than a promenade.

My e-bike has forced me to recalibrate what I’m capable of. I found an interesting route to Atlanta’s Airport 15 years ago and dreamed of having the energy to try it again. Took me less than an hour and a half on the Edison.

Instead of the speedometer I used on the Romic, I wear a FitBit and keep an Android app that measures my route. At 69, a heart rate of 100 is considered exercise. (It was 120 when I was just middle-aged.) Over the weekend I did 7 miles to the start of a ride, then another 7 miles through downtown to the new Westside park. I stayed inside 100 bpm the whole way.

For 40 years I dreamed of shopping or pharmacy trips on my bike. I can finally do them, and take the long way home, too. An Abus folding lock sits under the seat, which can secure me around any pole or post the store may have.

E-Bikes Changing the World

E-bikes are changing the world. They’re changing the traffic mix, creating a demand for more bike lanes and other safety features.  We get a lot of political push back, but politicians respond to numbers more than activism, and e-bikes are creating numbers. Families and even commuters are on the road, on two wheels. Bike trails have become drivers of density and development. That’s going to have a huge effect over the next decade.

Will I stay upright to see all that? I hope so. For the first time in a long time, my e-bike has me looking forward again, instead of where my 69-year old body should be looking, which is toward the past.

I have no idea how long this will last. I’ve got arthritis in my left hip. I grow older, slightly frailer, with every passing day, after every long ride. A single crash, even at low speed, will end my biking life in a heartbeat.

These are my Indian summer days.

But for now, a white-bearded old man is a kid again, and I can tell from the looks of people I pass that I’m giving a little joy to my neighbors, too.

Onward.