Any one else have a little training course ?

[mak]

Since buying the bike from day one I have been very conscious of not sitting on the thing and letting it take me for a ride, years ago I persevered with my old mtb and became the fittest I have ever been, unachievable climbs became achievable and nothing got easier I just pushed on further, I think eventually that novelty and pain wore off.
Fast forward 15 years from 35 to 50 years young the e mtb bug has bitten. I have to confess with the crap weather and not being well over the last two weeks has seen the bike sat in the garage unused ,I can feel my fitness level going down the pan already

I totally get why some people don't wont to even sit on an e mtb encase they discover that all that pain and effort they have endured disappears in the push of a button but the reality is they could have both with a little self restraint .
One day I will go out on the bike and just have a laugh and do the hole ride in turbo mode but for now I'm just glad to be out and getting fit .
Which leads me to my thread title, I have a small park route I do every other evening just for fitness, its painful but I guess eventually I might be able to get round the hole route with the bike turned off . Does anybody body else use there e mtb for fitness or am I missing out on all the fun

 

[Frankieboy]

As a rule I try to ride on the lowest setting possible to sustain / improve fitness. My guess is that eco mode on my Bosch more or less offsets the additional weight of the bike, so probably in that 80% of the time. occasionally I’ll use turbo on really steep hills and for a bit of a blast if I’ve still got plenty in the tank towards the end of a ride. All that said I’m sure I’d be much fitter if I gave up the fags and booze?

 

[ImSundee]

This is part of why I wanted an SL, I'm unfit and tbh I just wanted that little helping hand, If it never comes out of eco or hardly comes out, its still a great purchase to me, as I dont need the full support just a little will do for me to help my fitness.

I have a route, I was doing on my analogue, now I have the SL, I'll make it a little longer as I'll be able to do more Will see how I progress on this loop over the summer.

 

[GrahamPaul]

Like much in life: it depends...

I do a night ride once a week with a local club. Most of the riders are not on e-bikes. I do pretty much everything in eco and share their pain on all the hills.

I ride out at least once a week with my missus. She rarely gets above 10kph. (She's the only person I know who rides uphill ready to pull the brakes on just in cast the bike rolls backwards!). I do most of the ride with the motor switched off. She, meanwhile, is usually in Tour mode .

Once a week I go out with a bunch of 70 year olds for a coffee run. They soft pedal in Turbo at 30rpm. I can usually keep up in either Eco or with the motor off. Anything else and I freeze to death!

Out on my own, I'm straight into a hill from cold so will often use Tour mode until my knees warm up. Then I'll switch to Eco for the time it takes me to get out of town into the trails (2 to 4km). I then vary the power mode (or switch off) to keep my heart rate in zones 2 and 3. On trails with lots of walkers I'll turn the motor off. For some reason hikers get a bit shitty with motor whine.

Coming home there's always a climb into the town of 200m. I have done this hundreds and hundreds of times using the half dozen different available routes. It's just plain boring now. It's the end of the ride and that's what Turbo is for.

So, in answer to your question, yes, in the 4 weeks I've had the bike I've tried to maintain my fitness. I bought the bike because I was hitting 180bpm too often - I'm antique enough for this to be a problem. Next week I'll put the pedals and saddle back on my old bio-bike and see how much my fitness has suffered...

 

[NULevo]

I bet theres a few members in the same situation, I got my Levo to help me get fit and back into mtb since I tried getting back into it using the Orange I bought years ago when I was a lot fitter. Since getting mine, I started with the route of my old bike, about 8 miles, now I'm doing 15-25, going further each time or 2-3 circuits. It also gets easier the more you ride.

The motor and suspension make it so much fun you don't notice the time and miles adding up. Can't wait for the weather to improve

 

[Pdoz]

I only use full boost for the training route when I'm feeling 100% , the rest of the time I wander around in eco mode spinning cranks.

Find a challenging training route and use your whole body.

 

[steve_sordy]

Just get out and ride!
If you want to get fit then don't turn the motor on!
But where is the fun in that? I just ride the trails I want to ride and I use whatever mode I need to do it. I am definitely not a "Boost-all-the-time" rider; more of a "mostly-Eco,-occasionally-off,-regularly-Trail,-now-and-then-Boost" rider. I still get sweaty, still get out of breath, but I'm having a load more fun and can keep going for longer.
And my knees don't hurt any more!

 

[iXi]

I use mine to maintain a level of fitness and weight. Most is in eco except single tracks which I ride in trail to maintain a decent level of speed. Boost on the shimano is stupid so I only ever use it on the massive hills when I couldn't be arsed on trail mode and just want to spin my legs and let the bike do everything. My heart rate is always in the 150-160 average range for the entire ride and most rides are 1hr+ to get the maximum benefit.

 

[Akiwi]

I am a shit load fitter now I have an Emtb than I was with my BioBike just because I ride about 10 times more. I ride a lot of the time with the motor off, or in Eco to build up the muscles. Turbo is only for Extreme hills or emergencies. I ride a lot with my wife. She is normally in Turbo and a cadence of about 30, and I amd easily keeping up with the motor off, or in Eco.

 

[paquo]

I put on the pandemic 10 despite riding the cheater ff and half cheater sl reigously. Now back to reality and i recognize there is no free lunch and unless it's a recovery ride a bit of pain must ensue. A nice feature in the ap measures rider output (cal) so i try to break a thousand each ride and hopefully 1500 won't be a big deal soon enough.

 

[GrahamPaul]

I ride a lot of the time with the motor off, or in Eco to build up the muscles. Turbo is only for Extreme hills or emergencies. I ride a lot with my wife. She is normally in Turbo and a cadence of about 30, and I amd easily keeping up with the motor off, or in Eco.

I've got one of those too!

She also rides uphill covering the brakes just in case she rolls back...

 

[miPbiP]

Now I've had my Levo 11 months the initial buzz has worn off.

So I'm back on my lung bike with my crew, and I get fit.

Early morning lockdown rides, I take the Levo. I unashamedly whack it into Turbo for all the climbs, and I work as hard as I can too. I still get fit!

 

[urastus]

shimano eco on med level, and trail on low for the technical steep climbs. Only used boost out of curiosity. My attitude is kind of like steve_sordy's. I'm keeping fit, and doing more. If it's raining, I resort to some weights.

 

[maynard]

De restricted turbo blasts are a good workout . If you wanna go fast you gotta go hard . I really feel bad for everyone doing the ?right thing

 

[DrStupid]

The link above is my daily loop around the farm. Added about 2 miles during the covid19 downtime. I ride it with the boost assist usually on high, and can still average no better than 8 or 9 miles an hour. Running this loop twice draines the battery about 50%.

The riding is for the pure sport of it, the excercise is excellent though unavoidable.

 

[flash]

I have one of those fancy smart bikes at home to keep fit. It hurts a lot. But it's good for me.

My eMTB isn't supposed to be good for me (although it is). It's supposed to be fun. I don't want to be in the hurt locker. I want to be outside grinning from ear to ear.

Gordon