E-Bike Your Way to Fitness

Electric Biking Your Way to Fitness

By Kirsty Murfitt

Dog lover, all-round office hero for Glenmore Lodge and now E-Bike Revolutionist

I’ve just been out on my new bike and now my cheeks are aching.

“Get a better saddle” I hear you say.

Good advice but that won’t fix these cheeks!

My aching cheeks come from the great big grin I have on my face, I’m in love with biking again and it feels great.

I’ve loved biking since I was kid but as I’ve got older I’ve lost fitness, put on weight and have been diagnosed with chronic fatigue, so biking is no longer the fun activity it used to be. I’ve struggled to keep up with friends, ending up pushing my bike up the hills, returning home exhausted and unable to do anything else, so my poor bike spends most of its time sat in the shed and I stick to activities that leave me with some energy to allow me to continue to function.

So what has ignited my love of biking again and revolutionised my biking experience? It’s my recently purchased e-bike.

I purchased the Scott E Spark 720, but there are other brands available. This is a full suspension pedal assist bike which uses a motor to assist you as you pedal and multiplies the effort you put into it. There are 4 riding modes you can choose (Eco, Tour, Sport, and Turbo) giving you a boost of anywhere from 50 to 250 percent of the power you put into the pedals, up to a maximum speed of 15 mph. You can pedal with it switched off but this is much harder work than a conventional bike due to the weight.

Mounted in the centre of your handlebars is the console, which is pretty much like your bike computer. You also have a thumb controller on your left side of the handle bar (where you’d normally find your gear shifter), which allows you to select your riding mode and go through the options. The console tracks your speed, trip distance, max speed, trip time and allows you to see how many miles you have left in each mode before the battery runs out!

The bike is driven by the Bosch system which is mounted right in the middle of the frame, around the crank, giving the bike a balanced feel for the rider. Yes, the bike is heavy but I’ve so far not found it much different from riding my non electric bike. Just choose your routes wisely so you don’t have to lift it over any gates!

I’ve now been to 2 trail centres, Glenlivet & Learnie Red Rock, and absolutely loved the experience. I wasn’t super fast (or very elegant) but I rode sections of Green, Blue, Red and Orange trails. Second time round the trails I was faster and much more confident as the e-bike and I hit the bumps and rollers, swept round the berms and reverse cambers and cruised almost effortlessly up the uphill sections. All that holds the performance up in this bike is the rider!

So how fast can you actually go? The law only allows these bikes to go to a max of 15 mph in pedal assist mode, go over this speed and it’s down to you. On the road I’ve been able to get up to 30 mph on a relatively flat section but it is hard work to maintain. Many people seem disappointed in the speed but remember the true benefit of the pedal assist system is not to go super fast, it is to go fast in more places, more of the time, and at that, it absolutely excels, as I’ve cruised up hills I’d normally be walking up!

A full charge of the battery takes around 3 hours. You can either take the battery off the bike and charge it or charge it whilst still on the bike. This particular bike can’t recharge the battery by pedaling. You can however expect to get between 50 – 120 miles depending on mode used and style of riding, more than enough for me.

Electric bikes don’t come cheap but for me the incentive was to get back out on a bike, get fitter and lose weight. This has already been achieved, as in 8 weeks, I’ve lost a stone in weight, I’m fitter and stronger and mentally I’m feeling great. To me it’s been worth every pound. If you are in a similar position to me I’d encourage you to find a bike shop that hires electric bikes and give one a go.

I’ve heard some people comment that electric bikes are cheating and sometimes I do feel guilty but then I remember I wouldn’t otherwise be out on a bike, I wouldn’t be out exploring new trails, I wouldn’t be getting fitter and losing weight, if I weren’t out on my e-bike.

“When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.”

Sherlock Holmes author, Arthur Conan Doyle, Scientific American, 1896