Couchy
Well-known member
My ebike journey began last October with the purchase of my Scott e-genius 730 full suspension bike. I'd had a mountain bike years but never used it as I had other hobbies and tbh my fitness wasn't up to going as fast as I wanted, not having the time to improve this I just didn't bother. Fast forward to turning 50 and dropping the expensive hobby (trackdays and racing motorbikes) I needed to replace the adrenalin and get fit to boot. I logged into strava and having a trail centre local I used the red route to measure my progress, tbh just in general fitness and wellbeing the improvements have been huge without having to measure anything buy my mindset is one of liking to dissect a ride after the event.
So October, bike charged and off I go on an unknown route and strava running. I know from years ago it took my 1h12mins on my 2007 Giant XTC, I said I’d had a bike years and 2007 was pretty much when I last used it !, so 57minutes later I had completed a lap and had a base target to chase. I was completely knackered too. I carried on doing this once and sometimes twice a week till mid November I was down to 48 minutes. Knowing I needed some help on how to ride a mtb a friend who does a bit of racing on his normal mtb joined me. For him it was an eye opener as it was only the downhill sections he could pull a small gap, I was happy as it also showed me how to commit a bit more. The week after I dropped my times some more and was now in the 44 minutes. By end of the year my fitness was improved massively I could finish a lap and recover very quickly so much so 2 laps were becoming the norm and 3 occasionally. Even the old ’07 Giant was being bought out on trail rides with my 5 year old daughter who had started riding, she was regularly doing 6 mile rides and I didn’t dare take the ebike ?
Almost up to date now and early January saw a dry day and dry trail so I thought I’d go for a proper run trying 110% and using full assist, something I hadn’t done for a while despite my times dropping. With this in mind I set a time of 38 minutes dead something I was very pleased with, I had during these months enjoyed jumping the bike, remembering I am a new to this 50 year old so when I say big jump I mean a few feet off the deck !, but the day after my quick run I went over a usual jump and with the landing being flat the suspension took a big hit and the forks didn’t enjoy it and lost all damping. So the bike went to the dealers who sent the forks off for a rebuild. I couldn’t be without a bike for 2 weeks or so and I’d been thinking of a hard tail bike for more general trail riding and found a basic spec Cube reaction with the same Bosch system so I could share batteries. Being a hard tail and lower spec I knew it wouldn’t take the same abuse as my other bike but I took it for a few sections just to see and enjoy the ride, apart from the less comfort on the rough sections I was surprised to see I set 4 fastest sector times, 2 downhill and 2 uphill, 1 each of those was much quicker. The bike turned a bit faster and it was easier to pedal and quicker to speed than my FS but even so I was very surprised at the times.
I’m looking forward to getting my FS back and doing some back to back rides, as my fitness is getting better I’m also considering a non ebike !, I can genuinely say the ebike journey so far has given me the incentive(speed) to keep going out and finding time to ride which my normal bike never did, it’s also given me a fitness level that means I am now enjoying some normal bike rides ?
So October, bike charged and off I go on an unknown route and strava running. I know from years ago it took my 1h12mins on my 2007 Giant XTC, I said I’d had a bike years and 2007 was pretty much when I last used it !, so 57minutes later I had completed a lap and had a base target to chase. I was completely knackered too. I carried on doing this once and sometimes twice a week till mid November I was down to 48 minutes. Knowing I needed some help on how to ride a mtb a friend who does a bit of racing on his normal mtb joined me. For him it was an eye opener as it was only the downhill sections he could pull a small gap, I was happy as it also showed me how to commit a bit more. The week after I dropped my times some more and was now in the 44 minutes. By end of the year my fitness was improved massively I could finish a lap and recover very quickly so much so 2 laps were becoming the norm and 3 occasionally. Even the old ’07 Giant was being bought out on trail rides with my 5 year old daughter who had started riding, she was regularly doing 6 mile rides and I didn’t dare take the ebike ?
Almost up to date now and early January saw a dry day and dry trail so I thought I’d go for a proper run trying 110% and using full assist, something I hadn’t done for a while despite my times dropping. With this in mind I set a time of 38 minutes dead something I was very pleased with, I had during these months enjoyed jumping the bike, remembering I am a new to this 50 year old so when I say big jump I mean a few feet off the deck !, but the day after my quick run I went over a usual jump and with the landing being flat the suspension took a big hit and the forks didn’t enjoy it and lost all damping. So the bike went to the dealers who sent the forks off for a rebuild. I couldn’t be without a bike for 2 weeks or so and I’d been thinking of a hard tail bike for more general trail riding and found a basic spec Cube reaction with the same Bosch system so I could share batteries. Being a hard tail and lower spec I knew it wouldn’t take the same abuse as my other bike but I took it for a few sections just to see and enjoy the ride, apart from the less comfort on the rough sections I was surprised to see I set 4 fastest sector times, 2 downhill and 2 uphill, 1 each of those was much quicker. The bike turned a bit faster and it was easier to pedal and quicker to speed than my FS but even so I was very surprised at the times.
I’m looking forward to getting my FS back and doing some back to back rides, as my fitness is getting better I’m also considering a non ebike !, I can genuinely say the ebike journey so far has given me the incentive(speed) to keep going out and finding time to ride which my normal bike never did, it’s also given me a fitness level that means I am now enjoying some normal bike rides ?
