Did my typical Northern California 2-hr loop yesterday which has a few decent short climbs that it's fun to throw down the hammer on.
Yesterday, I got my doors blown off on these climbs by not one, not two, but three e-bikes. It was impressive - I'm fully aware these bikes are now so powerful that over non-sprint distances they can put up pro+ power (Vegancyclist has a youtube video of his wife easily crushing his 350+ watt effort on a climb) but it's still neat to see it in action. For fun I tried to match one of them once they got ahead of me, and I was still getting dropped at 400 watts, which is about as hard as I can go for a minute. Yowzas!
Sure, it takes a little of an ego check when they just go blowing by you and you desperately scan their BB to look for the bulbous apperance of the e-bike (the high pitched whine also gives it away), but it really is great to see folks out there enjoying bikes, and in particular, enjoying the speed and power of going fast, which you can sort of capture with an e-bike.
Am not sure if those same bikes are speed-regulated so they can't put out gobs of power at 25+mph, as I easily caught all of them on the downhill while barely pedaling.
Best part - all 3 guys were by my guess, 65+, and likely 70+, with one guy definitely 75+. I rode along him after catching him on the donwhill-flat and told him his bike rocks, and asked him how he was finding it (as I'll probably get one when I'm his age). He gleefully said it was the most fun he'd ever had, and dared me to try and catch up on the next gradual incline. I said game on!, and he crushed me again - I had literally no chance at 300watts!
Great to see the seniors enjoying the outdoors, and being able to tackle the big hills as well and HAVING FUN doing it. All 3 bikes I saw were very hard to distinguish from regular road bikes, you had to look carefull to tell. And all 3 of them were loaded up with bags, panniers, mirrors, pretty much killing all the aerodynamics and weight - and I couldn't' catch any of them on the climbs.
Yesterday, I got my doors blown off on these climbs by not one, not two, but three e-bikes. It was impressive - I'm fully aware these bikes are now so powerful that over non-sprint distances they can put up pro+ power (Vegancyclist has a youtube video of his wife easily crushing his 350+ watt effort on a climb) but it's still neat to see it in action. For fun I tried to match one of them once they got ahead of me, and I was still getting dropped at 400 watts, which is about as hard as I can go for a minute. Yowzas!
Sure, it takes a little of an ego check when they just go blowing by you and you desperately scan their BB to look for the bulbous apperance of the e-bike (the high pitched whine also gives it away), but it really is great to see folks out there enjoying bikes, and in particular, enjoying the speed and power of going fast, which you can sort of capture with an e-bike.
Am not sure if those same bikes are speed-regulated so they can't put out gobs of power at 25+mph, as I easily caught all of them on the downhill while barely pedaling.
Best part - all 3 guys were by my guess, 65+, and likely 70+, with one guy definitely 75+. I rode along him after catching him on the donwhill-flat and told him his bike rocks, and asked him how he was finding it (as I'll probably get one when I'm his age). He gleefully said it was the most fun he'd ever had, and dared me to try and catch up on the next gradual incline. I said game on!, and he crushed me again - I had literally no chance at 300watts!
Great to see the seniors enjoying the outdoors, and being able to tackle the big hills as well and HAVING FUN doing it. All 3 bikes I saw were very hard to distinguish from regular road bikes, you had to look carefull to tell. And all 3 of them were loaded up with bags, panniers, mirrors, pretty much killing all the aerodynamics and weight - and I couldn't' catch any of them on the climbs.