I'm not one of those cyclists you see wearing spandex, passing cars while zooming up hills and never breaking a sweat. But I do like to use my bike to get around whenever possible.
So I jumped at the chance when offered a test ride on a new electric assist bicycle at Evolution Bikes on Forester Street in North Vancouver.
I assumed I would be hopping on one of those bulky electric scooters with a 60-pound battery and a pair of useless pedals needed to make it street legal without a licence.
But that's old technology, owner Mark Ergetowski says. What he sells is something a little more sophisticated (and fun).
Ergetowski deals BH Emotion bikes, a company with roots selling in bicycle-keen Europe dating back more than 100 years. Unlike scooters with a throttle, the BH Emotion bikes are essentially high-end mountain, hybrid or road bikes with the battery attached to the frame. When the rider puts pressure on the pedals, sensors feed information to the motor and the bike gives you a boost of up to 300 per cent of your own pedal power.
Weighing about 20 kilograms, they're certainly heavier than a typical bike but you don't feel it when you're riding. They handle smoothly, and the models I tried had nice shocks and saddles, plus all the other add-ons you want in a bike.
I doubt I had made half a revolution of the crank before the electric assist kicked in and the bike zipped forward. Maybe a little too much, or at least more than I was expecting, but I suspect that is the norm for first-timers.
Once the shock wore off, it was just plain fun. The bike seemed more eager to get to the other side of the parking lot than I was.
Making twice the distance at half the effort gives your mind a bit of a chance to wander and soon I was thinking things along the lines of: "This must be what it's like to really be in shape," or "Why didn't Lance Armstrong just get one of these?"
There are no hills in the Evolution Bikes parking lot so I'm going to have to extrapolate for this next part.
I can see how these things would demolish the long steep hills that would be enough to put some beginners (or later returners) off cycling entirely.
Heading up Lonsdale Avenue or Keith Road's hilliest spots would no longer need an "I think I can, I think I can" mantra, allowing the rider to focus on more important things like "What should I cook for dinner tonight?"
"The ability to climb hills is a major factor," Ergetowski says. "Also, a lot of people used to bike and they can't anymore because of health issues and aging and such. They really appreciate a little push coming from the electric motor. People select their own assist level according to their own ability and comfort. The funny thing is, they find themselves reducing the level of assistance as they build stamina."
At 30 years old and in not-entirely-awful shape, it did occur to me that me riding an electric assist bike might be the equivalent of cheating at solitaire. I am something of a glutton for punishment. My bicycle is mainly for fun and Se exercise (and avoiding public transit).
But then, I don't rely on my bike to get me to work every day, and I remember what it was like when I quit smoking and pulled my bike out of storage a little over a year ago. Having an electric assist bike would have made me more inclined to ride every day, rather than just a couple times a week.
A few hours plugged into a regular socket will give you a charge strong enough to assist you for up to 100 kilometres, if the rider is willing to put some "umph" into it. In our hilly terrain with the bike's motor doing its fair share of the work, 40 to 60 kilometres is more realistic. The batteries will last for "thousands of cycles," Ergetowski said.
After I'd had my fun in the name of research, Ergetowski let me take the luxury $33,000 M55 bike which looks and handles like a slimmed down motocross bike. All I'll say about that is that for that kind of money, it could stand to have a more comfortable seat.
