My Old Riding Buddies Won't Ride With me Anymore

[Dave G]

We have a saying in Yorkshire regarding these types, "When it comes from nowt, it means nowt" it's their loss, move on.

 

[Natch]

So far I'm the only one from the group of people I ride with who has an e-MTB. When I ride with them I take my regular bike so that our pace and distance is more alike. If I were to take the e-bike I could ride 2-3 times further and at a faster clip, so on e-bike days I typically go solo. Most of the guys I ride with want an e-bike too but it isn't in their budget yet. One guy is still having a really hard time accepting e-bikes as a concept (plus, he's kind of an a-hole when he gets on the trail) so I don't see riding with him much in the future.

 

[Binhill1]

I just turn my Levo down to 10%, and all is even and fair. On down hills I turn it off.
No one notices, and no one complains.

If it's your own bike you just do what you got to do. Too many trying to reinvent the wheel on here. Happy cycling.

 

[Stihldog]

I started off on this mountain as a hiker after a 6 month stay in the hospital. It became part of my daily hike and dog walk to further my recovery. The occasional MTB would race down the trail we were hiking on. That gave me an idea .

I received my 2020 Rail 9.7 in late 2019. The weather wasn’t that great so I added a new wardrobe to ride in the winter. . I even shocked a few skidoo’ers when I huffed and puffed by them on their snow tracks. . Then spring arrived.

That was my first name-calling incident;”CHEATER”! I slowed to his speed and asked; “Is there a MTB race going on?”, he mumbled something and I rode further uphill.

Within a year there were 6 eMTB’s in my street. Today, almost half the bikes on this mountain are eMTB's.

I have a different level of riding. I like to climb. The faster the better. Any hight, any trail, any weather. Dismounting and hike-a-bike are a part of that. But it’s not for everyone. So I ride solo most of the time.…and I stop for some trail maintenance whenever I want to.

My level of riding and my daily schedule is not the same as others. My commitments and world are small …I like it that way. But I can still be a social butterfly …for a few minutes.

 

[Seraye]

Yes, I also lost some riding "friends" when I switched to emtb. One of these was particularly nasty about it, leaving snide comments about ebikers in local forums and on strava, but I have since made new friends who are much more fun to ride with!

 

[Macejowski]

I bought a Trek Rail in the summer of 2023. I had previously been pretty active in the local riding community, but had been missing a lot of rides due to a hip injury. I bought a new eMTB and started trail riding again. I'm one of the few eMTB riders in my group. I've noticed since buying the Rail that none of the folks that I used to ride with will ride with me anymore. When I do bump into other riders or when I show up for organized group rides I usually get chirped about the eMTB. I don't really care because I'm more than happy to ride by myself. But I do find it a little odd that I'm being ghosted by the folks I used to ride with. Has anyone else had the same experience?

All my analog, acoustic, "real" MTB friends talked a big game about how much they ride which equated to just that, a lot of talking and not much riding. I get it non-assist rides are a much slower, shorter, and intermittent (many breaks) ride. When they chirped I would always offer to switch bikes. Of course, I was trying to enlist them in the ever-growing e-army, and to an extent It worked. They loved it and continued to chirp. "if I had this I could, would," blah, blah, blah... No converts. I did "trade with" (ahem, gift) an old friend from many moons ago my old Trance cheater and he's a believer, but not the MTB kook I was hoping for that had to ride at least once a week. I definitely feel you on the bike ghost buddies and the benefits of riding solo. I'm lucky to live and ride in Southern Utah, USA and at a loss for my lack of co-EMTB conspirators. It couldn't possibly be my nearly perfect personality.....

 

[Macejowski]

Go out to your trail of choice, feel the all the good reasons why you are their..... confidence will have you back on up into boost!.... soon to be passing the puffin pushy's.... as the trail opens up, your now rolling upon an ebike crew thats gonna be on point of view..... why hold back mate when your going forward......

puffin pushy's....

 

[Binhill1]

I started off on this mountain as a hiker after a 6 month stay in the hospital. It became part of my daily hike and dog walk to further my recovery. The occasional MTB would race down the trail we were hiking on. That gave me an idea .

I received my 2020 Rail 9.7 in late 2019. The weather wasn’t that great so I added a new wardrobe to ride in the winter. . I even shocked a few skidoo’ers when I huffed and puffed by them on their snow tracks. . Then spring arrived.

That was my first name-calling incident;”CHEATER”! I slowed to his speed and asked; “Is there a MTB race going on?”, he mumbled something and I rode further uphill.

Within a year there were 6 eMTB’s in my street. Today, almost half the bikes on this mountain are eMTB's.

I have a different level of riding. I like to climb. The faster the better. Any hight, any trail, any weather. Dismounting and hike-a-bike are a part of that. But it’s not for everyone. So I ride solo most of the time.…and I stop for some trail maintenance whenever I want to.

My level of riding and my daily schedule is not the same as others. My commitments and world are small …I like it that way. But I can still be a social butterfly …for a few

puffin pushy's....

Just stay a wee bit behind the puffers let them work a bit more till they are goosed , that's what they say they love . Nobody knows what's behind them so kid on then toast them.

 

[Bender]

You should remind them that they're also cheaters for using gears. After all, any kind of gearing is a way to leverage force, even if there's no electricity involved.

 

[Dax]

I found the opposite happened when I bought an e-bike, I got new e-bike fwiends.

 

[EMTBSEAN]

We have a saying in Yorkshire regarding these types, "When it comes from nowt, it means nowt" it's their loss, move on.

Spoken like a true Sheffielder, love it and totally agree mate

 

[EMTBSEAN]

I found the opposite happened when I bought an e-bike, I got new e-bike fwiends.

Same here, I now have 6 ebike friends but that’s not to say I ride with them every time, In fact quite the opposite, WHEN, I do go out I love to record my rides and put them on YouTube, but I feel a bit of a pain in the arse to them when I have to stop and change batteries etc, riding on my own I feel relaxed and I can do what I want to do and when I want to do it too, don’t get me wrong I do enjoy group rides too but sometimes the solitude and no pier pressure is better

 

[irie]

. At least for the time being, emtb owners must be hyper-aware of how our behavior is setting the stage for the acceptance and integration of emtbs with the traditional cycling community.

Many (most?) of traditional cycling community will not accept that riding eMTBs is as different a way of riding as going from fixxies to gears. Their Luddite attitude to progress is their loss.

Luddite - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Tomash]

My riding buddies are delighted that I bought an eMTB. I'm 61, my knees are arthritic, and I'm overweight. Now I can enjoy rides with them, although, for some reason, I never get to lead....Haha. There have been a couple of times where other people have called me a cheater, but then I tell them "When you're my age, with a debilitating disease, and you're still riding analog, you can call me a cheater. Until then.....", then I flip them the bird. Sometimes I just tell them to FO.

I remember, while soul-searching on whether to buy one or not, I told one of my friends that if I bought an eMTB, I'd never lose another pound. That's not entirely accurate. I've lost 25 in the past couple of years. In fact, I actually bought an analog Stumpjumper just for lighter trails. I will never ditch my Kenevo SL, but it's nice to have a choice.

If your buddies are shunning you, get new buddies. There are plenty of deserving folks out there.

Same here. I am 61 and can't keep up with my groups, all much younger than me (6 to 24 years), including my wife, a MTB maniac (the 100km+ rider over 4 days). All those riders ask where I am if I am not riding. I can now enjoy riding with them, whereas before, they had to wait for me, which is why I rode along for a while and then took a different route until we met up again. Did not want to keep them back. Now, I ride at the back (many meters behind), not because I can't keep up, but because I don't want to pull them. Also, I act as the sweeper. And I do get my heart rate way up there using the gears.

 

[RustyMTB]

We've had a weird inverse version of this. The regular group I ride with is four of us on ebikes, & a couple of analogue guys, one of whom is very fit & treats group rides like a boot camp. He takes every big climb going & every sketchy downhill. We don't mind because ebikes. normally, we just wait for him at the top of every climb but one of the analogue guys has dropped out because frankly, he can't keep up although he never admits this & clearly feels his pleasant social rides have been hijacked by the fit guy.

He was there before the other guy in fairness but it's become quite vitriolic, this chap has expressed hopes the guy's marriage fails and worse. We've told him to buy an ebike & get back into it but in his head, the resentment is too far gone to end up in any kind of reconciliation. Pity really, on the one hand we've lost a rider, on the other, the level of animus makes me glad he's not around to poison the well.

 

[Binhill1]

We've had a weird inverse version of this. The regular group I ride with is four of us on ebikes, & a couple of analogue guys, one of whom is very fit & treats group rides like a boot camp. He takes every big climb going & every sketchy downhill. We don't mind because ebikes. normally, we just wait for him at the top of every climb but one of the analogue guys has dropped out because frankly, he can't keep up although he never admits this & clearly feels his pleasant social rides have been hijacked by the fit guy.

He was there before the other guy in fairness but it's become quite vitriolic, this chap has expressed hopes the guy's marriage fails and worse. We've told him to buy an ebike & get back into it but in his head, the resentment is too far gone to end up in any kind of reconciliation. Pity really, on the one hand we've lost a rider, on the other, the level of animus makes me glad he's not around to poison the well.

Sad that. Someone I know is on about getting one he was out with a few lads on Ebikes a month ago. He commented he's not used to being at the back. Lot of strange people about.

 

[EMTBSEAN]

I’ve said it before that a lot of none bikers are just jealous and can’t afford an ebike but won’t admit that so they have to justify that by saying that we’re cheating or just stop riding with ebikers to save giving us that Green eyed monster look

 

[Binhill1]

I’ve said it before that a lot of none bikers are just jealous and can’t afford an ebike but won’t admit that so they have to justify that by saying that we’re cheating or just stop riding with ebikers to save giving us that Green eyed monster look

I got a shock looking at the price of a non electric bike the other week.

 

[Stihldog]

I got a shock looking at the price of a non electric bike the other week.

I occasionally get asked how much $ I paid for my bike. …now I just quickly change the subject.

 

[rzr]

That's easy, just don't ride with them, find other riding mates
or tell them to buy ebikes.

when I was riding my peasant bike with my buddies, they couldn't keep up with me on climbs and wanted to do half my total elevation anyway..

 

[RickBullotta]

Mixed mode rides generally suck for everyone. You don't get to push your eMTB, they suffer because the pace is usually unnaturally higher. Better not to cross the streams unless you're riding in eco.

 

[Binhill1]

I occasionally get asked how much $ I paid for my bike. …now I just quickly change the subject.

Seen a road S Works £13.000 scary . AMFLOW at £5999 is tempting I paid that for my Levo expert in 2019.

 

[Binhill1]

We did a 2 day ride 20 years ago at the Great Glen , guy with the cheapest rubbish bike whipped everyone. You got to top of hill he was waiting smoking . He used to scrape his shoes on the downhills to stop his brakes were so worn. Old lemonade bottle as a water bottle ,wouldn't spend Xmas this lad . Absolutely loaded as well.

 

[irie]

Seen a road S Works £13.000 scary .

Also saw that No wonder some of the Lycra brigade look down at my mud covered eMTB.

 

[Binhill1]

Also saw that No wonder some of the Lycra brigade look down at my mud covered wheels.

Just show them a mince pie that usually scares them off

 

[EMTBSEAN]

Seen a road S Works £13.000 scary . AMFLOW at £5999 is tempting I paid that for my Levo expert in 2019.

Fucking spiders, £13.000 for a road bike, maybe if it was a mountain bike I’d be more interested but not a road bike

 

[Binhill1]

Fucking spiders, £13.000 for a road bike, maybe if it was a mountain bike I’d be more interested but not a road bike

Probably not have to look that far for a 13 grand mtb .

 

[EMTBSEAN]

Probably not have to look that far for a 13 grand mtb .

Yeah that’s true mate

 

[oldtimerpaddleguy]

The way I look at it is this:

• Just because you have an e-mtb doesn't mean you have to ride your friends into the ground. Ride at whatever their pace is
• For me, I've been on mountain bikes since the commercial dawn of the sport in the early 1980's, so as far as I'm concerned: I've been there, done that, paid my dues, don't need to please anyone. Just have fun and ride my bike, so what that it's got assist
• Do I occasionally need more "gas in the tank (think legs/lungs/ heart)? Sure do. I typically ride with people half my age. I need all the help I can get in that scenario. It just is what it is. Do I ride non-assisted also? Sure do, but not with the kids

Finally, if you're being good to everyone (ride at their pace, not a jerk, not riding the strava god into the dust just because you can, overall being a nice guy/gal) and they don't like it? Then they're not the friends you thought they were. Sad but true. Good luck with your group. Hopefully they'll be more open and welcoming. That said, I've found the first point goes a LONG way in gaining acceptance. Again, good luck......

I am pretty sure " first point" (^) started out to be "first pint" and I agree will go a long long way..

 

[The Hodge]

(the 100km+ rider over 4 days).

Does that need an extra 0 on the end