Do eBikes belong on the mountain?

[Bonus]

Yesterday lunchtime I was coming home to eat and as i came through our village an oldish couple flagged me down to ask me which was the road back to Ainsa. They were a French couple on hols and she was on an ebike whose battery was nearly flat.

I told them the easiest way was back down the road to the river and then along the river to Ainsa. It's all either down or flat. They were very grateful because she wasn't keen to drag a weighty ebike with a dead battery any further than she had to.

Coincidentally, the same couple were leaving the campsite that I'm currently working at this morning on their bikes and they recognised me and gave me a wave.

Edited May 1, 2018 by Bonus

[Robbie Stewart]

Interesting post .....

 

Some may recall my posts about taking our little for skills training.  We have joined his couch on a number of rides since then.  On one particular ride there were a couple of families. 

 

One lady had not ridden a bike in about 20 years and were trying to get into it .... She happens to be a runner and had some seriously powerful legs and powered up the hills !!  Downhil she was super slow .... then the mini-burms from the pumptrack down to start.  She was going at less than walking pace !!!  To the point where she literally fell over in one of the turns.  I helped her up, gave some pointers and then followed her down, and kept on giving her pointers ... half way down she started relaxing a bit and managed to get from a crawling to a slow but steady pace.  A few more slow laps and she will be able to ride with her kids, and enjoy the trails as a family

 

There are MANY new riders at Meerendal !

 

Surely ill advised for a new rider to head on down to the mine-shaft though !  

 

But calling such new riders "posers" ..... maybe rather take a moment and assist them ?

 

 

 

reminds me of Sunday's ride with Maritz .... few months back I had to put my hand on his shoulder and help him up the steep hills.  Now he WANTS to ride up the steep hills, and he wants to do so without me helping him.  He may take a water-break halfway up, but no way may I assist !  And so we go from the pump track towards Dorstberg, up that first steep section, to join the contour line towards Burry Stander.  Obviously the last 40m is too steep for a 6 year old !  He gets off and pushes his bike up .... two riders encourage him ..... another takes a moment to tell me just how heavy a kids bike is and that I really should not let a kid struggle like that ...... meanwhile, Maritz is super stoked about having cycled the "old route" on his own and just how far he got on the new section under his own steam, wanting to go back to cycle even further ...... 

 

interesting how external perceptions often completely miss the reality of the situation.

 

I hear you, Chris, and I agree that one's perceptions are most often very far off the mark. Kudos to you for reminding me again.

 

That said, the dude in reference was more or less 2 / 3 years my junior. Still, we don't all have equal skills, and should be more tolerant of each other.

 

As for me, I generally crawl up Dorstberg, but boy oh boy, do I fly down...

[Robbie Stewart]

Been watching this thread with some amusement...

 

Coming from a totally different sport, It amazes me how critical, judgemental and brassy cylists are compared to some other sports...

 

 

You should see the battle between surfers, door-mats ( I mean body boarders) and egg-beaters (I means paddle skiers). There was even a battle being played out between short boarders and long boarders in my hey days of surfing. After shelving my surfing gear for a bicycle, I guess that now SUP is also being targeted.

 

I guess no matter what sport you are involved in, there will always be a level of prejudice involved.

 

But I still maintain, there is no valid excuse for being a door-mat.

[Shebeen]

coming to a grand tour near you!

 

http://road.cc/content/news/240223-giro-ditalia-launches-giro-e-e-bike-race-run-alongside-main-event

 

 

 

You should see the battle between surfers, door-mats ( I mean body boarders) and egg-beaters (I means paddle skiers). There was even a battle being played out between short boarders and long boarders in my hey days of surfing. After shelving my surfing gear for a bicycle, I guess that now SUP is also being targeted.

I guess no matter what sport you are involved in, there will always be a level of prejudice involved.

But I still maintain, there is no valid excuse for being a door-mat.

that's the funny thing - they're totally accepted for some reason!

[Hackster]

I've been anti-ebikes from the get-go.

 

But I'm seeing more and more of them on the trails and they're behaving just like everyone else.

 

So I'm no longer against them.

 

Which I'm sure must be a massive relief to everyone who owns one...

[Robbie Stewart]

I've been anti-ebikes from the get-go.

 

But I'm seeing more and more of them on the trails and they're behaving just like everyone else.

 

So I'm no longer against them.

 

Which I'm sure must be a massive relief to everyone who owns one...

 

 

...until you're the one huffing and puffing up some steep ST climb, and some impatient person pulls up behind you on their e-bike screaming traaack...or straaaavaaaa

[rorydewet]

I thought we had solved this. No issues with Emotorbikes on the trails but they're a big no no in races

Before i say anything let me just say I am an e bike rider.

 

I agree E-Bikes dont have the right to compete side by side with normal bikes in a race. Its unfair.

 

That said in the last 94.7 cycle challenge there was an older dude who rode the 94.7 on an e-bike. It was a trial by the race organizers to see if E-Bikes could do a race along side road bikes. All I could assume was that they wanted to see if it was feasible for an e-bike to complete the course.

 

I think common sense will prevail and if they allow e-bikes to compete in the next 94.7 challenge they will keep e-bikes in a separate category and batch  and hopefully start them from the back of the batches to allow for less disruption to normal bikes.

 

Lets wait and see?

[Eldron]

Before i say anything let me just say I am an e bike rider.

 

I agree E-Bikes dont have the right to compete side by side with normal bikes in a race. Its unfair.

 

That said in the last 94.7 cycle challenge there was an older dude who rode the 94.7 on an e-bike. It was a trial by the race organizers to see if E-Bikes could do a race along side road bikes. All I could assume was that they wanted to see if it was feasible for an e-bike to complete the course.

 

I think common sense will prevail and if they allow e-bikes to compete in the next 94.7 challenge they will keep e-bikes in a separate category and batch and hopefully start them from the back of the batches to allow for less disruption to normal bikes.

 

Lets wait and see?

I say if it has a motor you don't get an official finishing time because...well...You haven't actually finished - you only rode a part of the course - the motor did the rest.

 

I'm all for ebike only races where you tune your bike and the best tuner/rider combo wins but to put motors in a human powered sport is just silly.

 

There is no pride in riding half a race.

 

My opinion of course. If they want an eslackers category its their decision. I will still consider all non medical Emotorbikes riders to be sub human:-)

[T-Bob]

the inside line on an bike race... not all vroom vroom and down. 

 

http://www.velonews.com/2018/04/mtb/e-mtb-race-fun-actually-pretty-hard_464311

[Headshot]

Something which may have been mentioned. To make use of all that power you still need to be able to ride your bike properly. Throw in some tech and the unskilled e bike rider is easy meat...

[rorydewet]

I say if it has a motor you don't get an official finishing time because...well...You haven't actually finished - you only rode a part of the course - the motor did the rest.

 

I'm all for ebike only races where you tune your bike and the best tuner/rider combo wins but to put motors in a human powered sport is just silly.

 

There is no pride in riding half a race.

 

My opinion of course. If they want an eslackers category its their decision. I will still consider all non medical Emotorbikes riders to be sub human:-)

 

and your entitled to your opinion

[Patchelicious]

and your entitled to your opinion

As are you, whats your point?

[Bateleur1]

They have been trying for years to sort out the licensed ladies at the big races now they are looking at bringing in an e-bike category?  This is going to be fun to watch.  Good golly. 

[Patchelicious]

They have been trying for years to sort out the licensed ladies at the big races now they are looking at bringing in an e-bike category?  This is going to be fun to watch.  Good golly. 

Separate races might be an answer?

Edited May 3, 2018 by Patchelicious

[Tristand]

Separate races might be an answer?

 

Maybe more of a "non/limited-competitive event" rather than a race, open to all categories. 

Perhaps there is a term for this, gran fondo?

Edited May 3, 2018 by Tristand

[Eldron]

I'm really looking forward to the furor after races when wannabes sit behind their ebike mates for a 100km draft. 

 

Motors and humans in one race is silly.