'Granny Bought an eBike' - Episode 6

 

Episode 6

"Old age is an excellent time for outrage. My goal is to 

say or do at least one outrageous thing every week."

-  Maggie Kuhn

December to April - snow, snow and more snow.

My eBike lived indoors throughout December and January, 

within reach, but unused.

I occasionally turned it on for old time's sake, gripped the handlebars, sat on the seat, and once (just once) took it for a short indoor ride through the living room. 

 I told it that we would be out on the land again.

Soon.

February.

There were a few sunny days when it seemed like a good idea to go for 

a gentle spin to the gate and back, and as long as I stayed in the car wheel tracks, 

(which provided a bit of texture),

this was largely successful.

It was in late Winter/early Spring that I was fooled.

Our laneway looked benign enough,

just like it had earlier in the Winter.

(Just like the above photo, the one with granddog Sully.)

Yes, it looked safe, and I was SO eager to resume my daily cycling routine.

However, it was what lurked below the inch of compacted textured snow that was 

the problem.

A skating rink.

All went well for half of the outbound trip to the gate. 

At the halfway point, (where our little cabin still stands), is a curve in the laneway.

Perhaps it was the slight change in direction.

Perhaps it was due to that area being a bit more open,  

and the sun hitting the ground there, causing the laneway to thaw slightly,

then freeze, then thaw, then freeze........

Perhaps I momentarily lost my concentration.

No permanent damage. 

A couple of bruises, and a resolve to 

WAIT.

  

March and April = maple syruping in this neck of the woods.

All-consuming.

I would have loved to spin over to the sugarhouse on the eBike, but the snow there was dense and deep.

The trails were cleared, but not fit for any vehicle other than 

'sled' (snowmobile) or 'bike' (four-wheeler).

More waiting.

But the proverbial light 

was just beginning to glimmer at the end of the 

long, long, LONG Winter 

tunnel.

Stay tuned for Episode 7....

'Granny Bought an eBike' - Episode 5

 

Episode 5

"Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional."

- Chili Davis

Cycling on the Trans Canada Trail (cttrail.ca) has made me more adventurous. 

We have a network of trails on our ninety acres, some pretty rough and narrow, but the main 'roads' well worn and in pretty decent shape for biking.

I spent the first go-round cycling slowly, 

stopping every so often to pick up sticks and small branches 

and to throw them off the trail. 

This took a while, and quite a few passes,

and of course there were obstacles that I had to just learn to 

weave a route around.

 

The above photo, (taken last Fall), gives a pretty good idea of our main trail network. 

Doug was working in a part of the woods ten minutes from the house 

throughout the Fall, 

so it became my habit to spin over at least once a day to drop by with

a bevy, 

or a forgotten tool,

 or a phone...

etc., etc.

I'd also try to extend the cleared trail a little bit further each visit.

He was working in the sugarhouse area.

That's it above - sugarhouse and woodshed on the left. 

The main trails to this point are well-established, 

being driven over by the four-wheeler 

(zillions of times) 

throughout the maple syruping season - end of February to mid-April.

But beyond that,

from a bike riding perspective,

 we are on 

"the road less travelled."

Fine for hiking; fine for clambering through and under and over.

On foot.

But for bike-riding for 'granny', there is too much uncertainty underfoot,

(or rather under-wheel),

for my comfort level at this point -

rocks, roots, mud, swamp.

I avoid the road less travelled for now.

We had early season snow at the end of November,

 snow that never really goes away until Spring. I'm curious to see how the eBike handles a bit of snow, (on the main trails), and it does beautifully....

that is, it does beautifully in a cm or two of fluffy snow with firm trail underneath.

Later in the season, it's a different story.

Stay tuned for Episode 6....

'Granny Bought an eBike' - Episode 4

 

Episode 4

"Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it,

you've got to start young."

- Theodore Roosevelt

Onward!

We are lucky enough to live within a few klicks of our local stretch of the 

Trans Canada Trail,

tctrail.ca

and on a gorgeous day last Fall, we thought we'd try a section of it.

It is, (so I read), the longest multi-use trail system in the world, 

connecting all three of Canada's coastlines.

(We weren't going that far.)

Our stretch is part of the Lang-Hastings Rail Trail, 

on an abandoned (re-purposed) railway bed, beautifully flat and surfaced in crushed stone.

Peterborough to Hastings on the trail is about 

2.5 hours by bicycle.

(We weren't going that far either.)

We loaded our bikes into the back of the truck

and drove to a parking area and entry point to the trail

about eight kilometres from home.

Our plan was to ride a leg or two, as far as we were comfortable,

then do the return journey.

I'm happy to report that it was a huge success. 

We cycled east for about half an hour on the almost perfectly flat trail, 

with views of farmer's fields, wooded areas,

fall leaves blowing about, 

over creeks, crossing a couple of quiet country roads.

We met two cyclists going the other way, but that was about it,

except for the squirrels and birds. 

It being Autumn, it's too early for snowmobilers and cross-country skiers;

not a sign of runners or hikers.

Then we backtracked,

passing the same cyclists again, where they sat on a bench.

They looked up, and it was clear that they were having a difference of opinion. 

It's mid-afternoon on a school day, 

so perhaps they didn't expect to see another soul.

We hurry past.

On toward the parking area, but before turning in,

we meander north to check out the tunnel, (underpass),

 under a busier county road,

just to see what it was like beyond.

For five minutes or so we cycle on to where the TCT crosses 

another busy county road.

We turn around and head back toward the tunnel.

The lure

of the

tunnel.

We make our way to the parked truck, load the bikes, 

and head for home.

We will do this again, we say, the next section eastward of the TCT.

For sure.

Onward!

"To unpathed waters, undreamed shores."

- William Shakespeare

*Mercifully, we didn't cross paths with the arguing couple again. 

But as I post this, 

I think I see them way off in the distance in the third tunnel photo. 

Unintentional.

Stay tuned for Episode 5....

I Remember Peer Christensen

 

I Remember Peer Christensen

Oct 1953 - May 2026

When I arrived in Peterborough County nearly thirty years ago, one of the first people I met was Peer Christensen. I had come from Toronto, where I was working for a retail art supply company. I was also a struggling visual artist, an emerging one, though older than most emerging artists being in my early forties. I saw in Peterborough a community which I hoped would give me the time and space to produce some new work.

Peer was a central figure in Peterborough's thriving arts community. He had the ideal set-up for a visual artist and business person - a heritage building in downtown Peterborough with a bright open gallery space, framing department, artist's studio space one level up, and living space on the top floor.

I visited the gallery a number of times before mustering the courage to speak to him, but in Peer I found a kindred spirit. After a bit of a chat, he agreed to look at some of my work and offered me a spot in his next group show. He was also a strong advocate for the 'Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour' run by the 

Art Gallery of Peterborough, and convinced me to apply, this being something in which I would go on to participate annually.

For me, Peer was an advisor. If I was unsure of how something worked in the Peterborough arts community, he was the person whose counsel I sought. If I struggled with an artwork, his input was invaluable. Having a conversation with Peer was never anything but uplifting. Over the years I had a number of solo exhibitions in that beautiful gallery space. He and his wife Lori became not only the most trustworthy of associates, but

good friends.

In the pursuit of his own art practice, Peer was a driving force, a tireless seeker.

His works were a common sight at summer outdoor art shows across Southern Ontario, always gathering a crowd. For ten years, I had a tent at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition in Nathan Phillips Square, usually within shouting distance of Peer. When the traffic was quiet, we'd meet in the middle ground and discuss not art, but that which was all-encompassing at these outdoor events -

wind, weather, washrooms,

and also where to get a decent cup of coffee, the people wandering about, and how much we both loved living in Peterborough.

Relentlessly positive and deeply spiritual, his art reflected this. He saw the beauty in what some would find mundane - an industrial warehouse, a Canadian Pacific Railway engine, a city street, a row of leafless trees, the rusted hull of a Great Lakes freighter.

He created a lasting body of work reflecting the world around us in all of its varied tones and textures, its flaws and its elegance. 

An observer, an archivist, a painter, a mentor, and an unfailingly kind human being, he has left a

legacy of enormous worth.

-Anne Renouf

'Granny Bought an eBike' - Episode 3

 

Episode 3

"As soon as you feel too old to do a thing,

do it."

- Margaret Deland

"Further afield" turned out to be venturing onto our rural road, and not much else. But doing this ride to the railway tracks (north) and/or the mailbox (south)

pretty much tripled my daily cycle.

Ours is a quiet country road,

(unless something is amiss on the highway),

usually seeing only a handful of cars daily.

But car traffic on a rural road is an unpredictable science

and I found myself constantly doing the 'half-turn' to see if 

anything was coming.

So, a rear view mirror.

With my newly installed mirror and a lovely removable front basket,

(in order to have somewhere to put the mail),

I was off and running, (so to speak),

right out there, 

in the world,

where anyone could see me.

*

As I had purchased the bike in the first week of September 2025,

(the week that the kids went back to school), 

it was really beginning to be Fall-like 

by the time I was out 

on the (not very busy) open road.

A month later, we were hosting our annual 

Thanksgiving Fam-jam.

As this involved dinner for eleven

and all available floorspace was needed, the eBike moved

from its usual indoor parking spot to an undercover spot in the canoe shelter

about twenty metres from the house.

Just a bit of its front wheel was visible, 

so

out of sight, out of... 

temptation.

Or so I thought.

*

Drinks in hand,

and a low table full of apps and chips and dips,

the extended fam sat on the patio looking out over garden, pond,

and the changing fall colours across our ninety acre woodland.

All were happy and peaceful as we caught up on news.

It was during a moment's silence, (as everyone sipped and nibbled), that I could see grand-girl-number-one peering directly at the canoe shelter, and then...

"Is...that...an...eBike?"

(Nothing slips past that one.)

*

They all tried the eBike. 

For the next hour, it was a little bit like the circus had come to town. The five kids appeared out of the woods and into the open area in various combinations of riders/passengers. (I was waiting for one of them to try a handstand.) They have all grown up with risky play: tree-climbing, rock-jumping, hiking, canoe trips, wake-boarding, etc., and as their parents were present, we didn't fuss.

One minor spill, but no damage.

(The kids were okay too.)

And loved it.

Stay tuned for Episode 4....

'Granny Bought an eBike' - Episode 2

Episode 2

"The journey of a thousand miles

begins with one step."

- Lao Tzu

So, I bought the eBike.

*

And lucky me, I bought it nearby.

In Peterborough.

I had an excellent sales guy, 

(in our local downtown upscale independent sporting goods shop), 

older and knowledgeable, who listened to me carefully, who remembered the '70's - and halfway through his balanced analysis of this particular eBike,

I said "Yes".

He took it away for a bit of a 'once over', and then told me to bring it in anytime if it needed repairs or adjustments.

I paid, and he helped me roll it to the car, load it,

and then waved me off.

Service.

As soon as I got it home, 

(the twenty minute car trip into the farther reaches of Peterborough County), 

I took it for a spin. 

In truth, I had to think for a minute how to turn it on, 

(not being used to 'turning on' a bike), 

but there, I did it, I was on, in my helmet, with my phone,

(just in case).

I learned how to use it by experimenting - trying out each gear, 

trying out each assist level. 

I rode up our long long laneway through the woods to the gate, got off, turned it around, and rode back to the house, 

a journey of about half a kilometre...

x 2.

Big smile.

Now, just so we're clear, this is not an endorsement for a specific eBike. 

No brands or lists of parts or stats or functions or prices.

Just the simple facts.

          Here's what I like about it....

                              ⇩

1.  It's low to the ground.

2. It's very simple to operate.

3. It's easy to get on/off, (step through).

4. Riding is comfortable and upright.

5. It can go surprisingly fast! :) 

6. It has small 3" wide heavy-duty tires.

7. It's great on dirt roads and trails.

8. It's easy to stop, start, steer.

9. It can carry gear.

10. It is so fun to ride.  

* 

 

   I repeated this easy and predictable cycle to the gate and back quite a few times over the next few days, feeling more and more at ease each time. 

And very soon, I was ready to go further afield.

Stay tuned for Episode 3....