'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....

 

'Granny Bought an eBike' - Episode 1

Episode 1

"The aging process 

is not gradual or gentle. It rushes up, 

pushes you over, and runs off 

laughing."

-John Mortimer

*

This quote could, quite possibly, have deterred me from 

making the purchase I longed to make

three months into my seventy-first year. 

But it didn't. 

I had always had an easy relationship with bikes,

and was comfortable cycling more for pleasure than exercise,

perhaps with more of a casual fondness than an unwavering dedication.

My first bike was this little beauty...

⇩

Anne - 1961

As a kid, if the weather was fit I rode my bike to school, 

a ten minute ride to one long bike rack in the schoolyard - 

(no bike locks in those days).

Hours and hours were spent circling the 'key-hole' on Cassidy Place, 

the street where my siblings and I grew up in Don Mills.

And off and on through high school and uni, 

biking day trips with various friends on my 'Canadian Tire' 10-speed .

For many years, Doug and I travelled to coastal North Carolina 

- Ocracoke Island -

(in our forties, fifties and sixties), 

taking our own bikes or renting a couple while there, as a means of getting around the little village, in fact rarely using the car. 

Ocracoke was (is) relatively flat and easy to navigate on a bike. Cycling was 

the ideal form of transport for us, especially when making our way home from

'Howard's Pub' at the end of the day,

(mobile phone doubling as a headlight.)

More recently,

we have taken our bikes to Grand Manan Island in New Brunswick.

Also a lovely place to cycle, 

but the terrain is somewhat hillier.

It was here that I, 

while on holiday with Doug, his daughter and son, their partners and kids - eleven of us, while climbing a steepish hill, (slowly),

on our way up to 'High Seas Convenience', heard a 'pop' in my right knee,

and felt a stab of pain.

"No", I said, refusing to acknowledge it,

and walked (hobbled) my bike up the hill the rest of the way.

*

It was the gentle meditative fifteen minutes on the stationary bike which concluded each physiotherapy session throughout the following Fall and Winter

that planted the seed of an idea of 

getting an eBike.

The repetitive motion was, (I was told), a low impact rehabilitation 

that helped rebuild muscle strength and improve motion,

without placing heavy stress on recovering joints.

It worked.

I was gifted a turbo trainer, and spent that winter spinning around, indoors,

 on my bike for five minutes at a time, regaining my knee strength. 

The swelling went away.

The dull ache was no more.

I settled into a routine of eBike research over the following months. 

I found some that I knew would do, but weren't quite what I had in mind.

And then, I saw this....

⇩

Stay tuned for Episode 2.....

*I use the term 'Granny', as in 'Granny Bought an eBike', as a synonym 

(according to my thesaurus), for 'Old Woman'.

While no one calls me Granny, (to my face), 

it seemed like a good moniker for an oldie on a bike.

ps - The step-grands call me 'Anne'.