Who bought an e bike for more fitness? More speed?

[JoeBlow]

I can honestly say after my first eride I seriously started looking into pads. In my mtn bike XC racing days it was always “ faster, faster,faster”. I brought that same mentality to my E-bike world and when I started look ing at my stats , 19 mph top speed , 14 mph ave speed ((east coast tight single track))I was like … this is serious hurt if I crash. The thrill is real ; so are the consequences.

I was reluctant to adopt all the protection that is available. I'm not really into hard gnarly trails, I'm too old, but I came to realise that I was descending the blue and single dot trails at FOD at a rate of knots that could cause serious damage if I came off and lets face it, it's very easy to lose concentration just for a moment and come a cropper even on easy trails. I've now started to wear a full face, knee and elbow pads and padded undershorts.

Al

 

[c0stunga]

I can't say yet if it improved my fitness since I got my first ebike only 2 months ago.
But I can say for sure that I hop on the bike way more often than the years before.
Because of lite asthma I was always exhausted pretty fast. I couldn't drive big altitude with higher heart rates without fighting for air.
With my Levo SL I can drive as much as I want, or to be fair as much as the battery allows me. That leads to way more hours on the bike and therefore also riding more trails. I can feel how I'm starting to feel very comfortable on descents I wouldn't have rode some weeks back.
So yeah, it improved my riding and probably my fitness too because of the time I spent doing sport, even if I'm having a lower heartrate than before.

 

[Overkillit]

I know some guys like the pain of earning their downs and maybe many of those have never ridden an emtb. You know right away when you feel the asist for the first time that you may never go back. It's just more fun and keep in mind that you always have control of how much help you get. I like options and having an emtb opens up so many. At 55 I still have trouble recognizing that my adrenaline can override my brains ability to realize that I'm beyond a safe heart rate. With the emtb I don't need to worry nearly as much since I maintain 130 -150 depending on how hard I go at it. I think most would agree that it's not sitting back and letting the motor do all the work and it's great that I don't need to stop nearly as much.

 

[Another One]

So I could ride 2 days in a row, have no more hamstring issues, ride further and longer.

 

[BIG-DUKE-6]

I was reluctant to adopt all the protection that is available. I'm not really into hard gnarly trails, I'm too old, but I came to realise that I was descending the blue and single dot trails at FOD at a rate of knots that could cause serious damage if I came off and lets face it, it's very easy to lose concentration just for a moment and come a cropper even on easy trails. I've now started to wear a full face, knee and elbow pads and padded undershorts.

Al

Old age ain’t for sissies lol You saw the light my friend. Good for you.

 

[CliffP]

I can honestly say after my first eride I seriously started looking into pads. In my mtn bike XC racing days it was always “ faster, faster,faster”. I brought that same mentality to my E-bike world and when I started look ing at my stats , 19 mph top speed , 14 mph ave speed ((east coast tight single track))I was like … this is serious hurt if I crash. The thrill is real ; so are the consequences.

Yes, I was a slow rock garden type rider. Now I am averaging much higher speeds. I still like slow and technical but I ride it more like a trials motorcycle. So much fun…..

 

[CliffP]

I am going to be 70 soon. The hills were starting to take the fun out of biking. Now, I enjoy hills. The bike supplies enough assist that I have enough energy left over to pick a decent line. Before I would be thrashing about just to keep moving I often stalled out.
Do I get more "fitness"? Probably as I generally do 40 km of trails on any days that I can. Any days that are not too smoky from the forest fires or I am not on a motorcycle trip I am on my bike.

EMTB definitely created more riding opportunities and fun. I can at 65 keep up with other riders and that makes it fun for everyone.

 

[Dax]

More laps.

 

[Kingerz]

Definitely for fun, as emtbs are much easier in terms of fitness by far. Riding much mre keeps my fitness up for sure so it roughly equals out.

 

[Paulquattro]

More mileage is why i bought one
Get more done in a day i didnt really buy it for an easier life .

 

[p3eps]

I bought mine to give me a bit of a push up the hills, and also conquer the bits that I didn't have the power / stamina and even technique to get up on my analogue bike.
I run it in an Eco mode giving me approx 30% ontop of my own legs. It means I go further and slightly faster... so can do more in the same time.

The main benefit is not being absolutely knackered at the top of the steep climbs, so I still have some energy to enjoy the descent!!

 

[Nicola Edwards]

Hello. I'm new here. It's enough for me to go to the gym.
I would still like to buy it, I would like to train at home.
By the way, I recently saw a heavy mug that Ronnie Coleman recommends

 

[arTNC]

Hello. I'm new here. It's enough for me to go to the gym.
I would still like to buy it, I would like to train at home.

I think a lot of folks who have gotten into the emtb thing in recent years come from past years of pedal-only MTB...but...maybe age has taken its toll on the ability to keep up a fun level of trail speed. Coming from many years MTB and dirt motorcycle, I know the emtb has reenergized my riding due to being able to go at least as fast as I used to.

But don't be fooled. Unless one is just plodding along out on a trail on their emtb, I find basically the same level of effort and aerobic benefit as I got on my MTB. I go further and faster, but I still get a full dose of exercise.

On your gym experience, this has never been my cup-o-tea. I cannot stand to workout on a static piece of equipment period. That's not a bash to those who can have the discipline and maybe even the enjoyment of a gym workout, but I have never had that commitment to it and certainly not the discipline. Now, I have no problem to committing to 4 or even 5 rides a week on my emtb and thoroughly enjoying everyone of them. I live in a region that allows year round riding, so it's fairly easy for me to accomplish all year.

Not sure I fully understand the part of your post about maybe wanting to get an emtb but wanting to train at home...not knowing your distance to trails and such. For me, my closest trail is only about 12 minutes from my home, so it's no burden to go to the trail. Of course, there is always the option of doing both, and if you like gym training there's no need to pass on an emtb. Do your gym workout, and you'll enjoy your fitness level even more when you ride the emtb.

Remember like I said, unless you're just poking along on the trail on an emtb, you will get a real workout. And don't forget that most all emtb's have the option of different levels of rider effort required...not unlike turning up the effort on your individual piece of gym equipment.

 

[Mr-EPIC-3]

I am 62, stilling working, so I need a way to release the stress from work. After work I jump on the eMTB and I lose the stress and focus on the ride As far as getting the workout in, I don't care who you are what shape you are in, if you do 20 miles 2000' or more elevation off-road in a 60mins to 80mins time-frame (Power-Hour) you are getting a work out.

 

[Al-ec]

I think a lot of folks who have gotten into the emtb thing in recent years come from past years of pedal-only MTB...but...maybe age has taken its toll on the ability to keep up a fun level of trail speed. Coming from many years MTB and dirt motorcycle, I know the emtb has reenergized my riding due to being able to go at least as fast as I used to.

But don't be fooled. Unless one is just plodding along out on a trail on their emtb, I find basically the same level of effort and aerobic benefit as I got on my MTB. I go further and faster, but I still get a full dose of exercise.

On your gym experience, this has never been my cup-o-tea. I cannot stand to workout on a static piece of equipment period. That's not a bash to those who can have the discipline and maybe even the enjoyment of a gym workout, but I have never had that commitment to it and certainly not the discipline. Now, I have no problem to committing to 4 or even 5 rides a week on my emtb and thoroughly enjoying everyone of them. I live in a region that allows year round riding, so it's fairly easy for me to accomplish all year.

Not sure I fully understand the part of your post about maybe wanting to get an emtb but wanting to train at home...not knowing your distance to trails and such. For me, my closest trail is only about 12 minutes from my home, so it's no burden to go to the trail. Of course, there is always the option of doing both, and if you like gym training there's no need to pass on an emtb. Do your gym workout, and you'll enjoy your fitness level even more when you ride the emtb.

Remember like I said, unless you're just poking along on the trail on an emtb, you will get a real workout. And don't forget that most all emtb's have the option of different levels of rider effort required...not unlike turning up the effort on your individual piece of gym equipment.

arTNC has it spot on for me (well apart from the year round decent trail conditions..). The motor support is like fitness. It doesn't necessarily make it easier, you just ride harder, faster and further. The effort feels more modulated and consistent though and strain on knees, that did too much single speeding back in the day, feels allot better and pushing HR into the top percentiles gets less sensible with age. Riding more consistently, having more fun, all good medicine.