We have been riding about but I've been absent from the journals because there's been nothing worthy of taking people's time.
Don't dwaddle in your return, please. You're on my "Following" list and it's been too quiet.
Over our Valentine's dinner I broached the idea to my wife of converting either or both of our recumbent tandems to e-assist. Doing so might, I opined, even allow us to do a self-organized tour in Europe without enduring the hardships and privation of camping. (My wife is not an enthusiastic camping woman. Nor does the idea of carrying tent, sleeping bags and pads, cookware, and the like appeal to her- or to me, for that matter- in such a circumstance.)
She didn't immediately warm to the idea but I will let it simmer for a while to see whether it emerges later on.
It could take time for her to come around, but keep trying. For years I would occasionally come home and half-jokingly suggest to Rachael that we should sell our home and hit the road. Then one New Years Day she shocked me by saying OK. We put our apartment on the market a few weeks later and have never looked back.
Thanks for the encouragement, but it's been my experience that the harder I try to convince her of something, the harder and more deeply her heels get dug in in opposition.
It may be that the "plant the seed of the idea then let it lie to see if it germinates and bears fruit" approach is the way forward. If it doesn't, that's not the end of the world, or even really much of a disappointment- unless I get a tremendous itch to cycle in Europe again sometime.
It's unlikely in the extreme that I could do so on my own (i.e. without her along) so we'd need to find and agree on a solution that makes it possible within the parameters that she finds acceptable. Until then, though, there are plenty of other things to do and places to go.
Please Note; this is a reply to all on this thread, and not just to Leo who started it.
I've bit my tongue and stayed out of this thread so far - but maybe this morning's coffee hasn't kicked in yet and I haven't become "nice" yet. I'll probably regret this post, but I'm going to post it anyway cause I know there are some others who share my opinion.
I support the use of e-bikes when they are being used to replace a car. If an e-bike enables you to make a trip to the grocery store instead of driving a car, then that's good. If the convenience of getting there faster or with less physical effort encourages you to e-bike for your daily commutes instead of driving a global-warming-polluting automobile, then that's a good thing. E-bikes have been a good tool to encourage non-cyclists to start riding (and then hopefully they will transition to riding "real" bikes instead).
But touring on an e-bike isn't cycle touring, and it certainly isn't "adventure cycling" - it's something else entirely. Riding a motorized machine is not the same as cycle touring. You may take the same 1,000 mile journey as others who did it on real bikes, but you have not accomplished what they did - not even close.
Yes, I understand that the power output from an e-bike is variable and that you may choose to have none or to have maximum assist. And I know there are 3 different classes of e-bikes and they vary from a small amount of assist to fully motorized travel. But when you complete a coast-to-coast ride on an e-bike, what have you accomplished? You have ridden across the country using variable amounts of assist, mostly at those times that were most challenging to those folks riding real bikes. The mental aspect of long distance cycling is harder than the physical aspect - but on an e-bike you don't have the same concern with an adverse wind day or with the steep climb ahead - and if the weather turns bad you can use the max assist to help you reach safety. So it just isn't the same, not even close. I suppose the accomplishment is somewhere between making the trip on a gas-powered motorcycle and making it on a real bike - it's an accomplishment, but it's not the same as cycle touring.
If you can ride an e-bike and turn the pedals to get the assist when needed, then why can't you ride a real bike? You may not be able to ride a real bike as far each day, you may have to be more cautious when planning for hilly days or headwind days, and it may take you twice as long (or longer) to make the trip, but you could eventually get there. So why not ride a real bike instead?
At this point, I know some of you are ready to tear me a new one because I sound like an elitist snob. OK then, maybe I am. But if you have read my journals, especially the intro to my tour last year, then you know I have plenty of my own physical ailments that make it more challenging for me to cycle tour. One of my ailments is a terminal cancer (it will kill me unless I die of something else first). The day will come within a few years (if the medical experts are correct) when I may not be able to continue cycle touring. That's life (sorry, sometimes I just kill myself with my poor puns). Until that day, I'll continue cycling on real bikes.
Consider this; many parks have no-turn-away policies for cycle tourists needing a place to camp. But that doesn't apply to motorcyclists, of course. Why should they allow e-bikers the same no-turn-away privilege? After all, an e-bike is also a motorized cycle and can more easily travel on down the road to reach alternative lodging. There are many hostels established along ACA routes for cyclists (the Transam has 21 last time I counted). These are hostels for cyclists, not motorcyclists. Why should e-bike riders be allowed to stay in them? Is it fair for a touring cyclist riding a real bike to be displaced from hostel lodging by a cyclist on a motorized bike?
OK, I've said it and I fully expect to be roasted by many of you. E-bikes have their place. I personally don't think they belong in the cycle touring world - I also don't think they belong in the mountain biking world. When you motorize a bike for either of those purposes you have altered the experience so much that it no longer makes sense.
I appreciate the Cycle Blaze community, I love you folks - I respect that your opinion may differ from mine and I expect to take some heat for this post. Best wishes to all... now flame away as you wish.
Buddy, your tenacity is truly inspiring. You eloquently described many pros and cons of e bikes. I don't have a strong opinion for or against, and have never ridden an e bike.
Standing back, it seems to me that e bikes are only one of many possible purity tests that could be applied to bike touring. Is it pure if you don't camp? Is it pure if you ride a car, bus or train during the tour? What about before or after the tour? Is it pure if you fly halfway around the world for the tour? Or is it only pure if you start and finish at your house? Is it pure if your tour isn't self-guided? Is it pure if every night is planned in advance? Is it pure if a motor vehicle hauls your luggage?
I don't claim to know what is the right amount of inclusiveness. but I'm inclined to think that purity tests should be avoided unless necessary to solve a problem.
George... far from flaming you, I agree.
It doesn't strike me as "real touring", either. But if it's that or no touring at all...
I've been cycle-touring for 62 years, since I was 13. Now's not the time to give up, faulty heart valves or no faulty heart valves.
Buddy
When I was at school in South Africa in the late nineteen fifties the sports master used to refer to those who sought exemption from the bi-weekly phys-ed class as the sick, lame and lazy. I tend to use this classification for e-bike riders.
If an e-bike enables persons with cardio, respiratory and knee or hip problems to continue cycle touring this is a good thing.
Mike
The tone of this whole dialog is starting to make me uncomfortable. Regardless of what people’s’ thoughts are on the topic, it feels like it’s taking on a judgmental, almost shaming tone. Isn’t that what many of us came over here to avoid?
That’s all it takes? So easy! Count me in.
2 years ago