E-bike rental and good day ride route

[Alcova cyclist]

Hi all,

A friend and I were thinking of doing a day ride somewhere in the greater DC area where we could rent e-bikes for our spouses. The ultimate goal is to see if our non-cycling spouses would enjoy an e-bike as a way to enable them to more easily accompany us on rides in the 20-40 mile range and/or where the terrain is on the hilly side. Both have their own conventional bikes but aren’t really interested/prepared to do rides longer than 5-10 miles. For whatever reasons, they are somewhat resistant to the concept of an e-bike, though I think they’d actually like them if they tried them. If they like it, we’d look to buy e-bikes for them.

The ideal trial run would be someplace with a good 20-30 mile mostly off-street or very quiet route with nearby e-bike rentals that aren’t outrageous (Nice scenery, a decent restaurant/brewpub stop or two a major plus). My friend and I would ride our conventional bikes.

One local option is to rent from Big Wheel and do an out-and-back from Georgetown (C&O) or Alexandria (Maybe Mt. Vernon and back? or the somewhat new loop down MVT to 495 and up through Anacostia and DC?), but $100/day seems steep. We’d be willing to drive further out (say, within 2 hour drive from Vienna, VA) for a more peaceful ride and a cheaper (?) rental. I know the cheapest “try an e-bike” option would be to do a CaBi bike rental for a quick spin, but I’d prefer a longer checkout (and a better e-bike) to really get a good feel for it (and try to maximize the chances our spouses will see the light).

Suggestions? (Also open to perspectives to anyone who’s tried to go a similar route w/ e-bikes and a partner who wouldn’t normally be up for longer rides – did it work?)

Topic

[lordofthemark]

I don’t know much about ebike rental rates. But I do want to warn that the DC side of the ALX – 495 – South Cap Trail loop has a couple of significant gaps where you need to read on street, that might be challenging to a newbie rider

[Sunyata]

The Bike Lane in Reston has a fleet of rental bikes. Their website says that e-bike rentals are coming soon, so hopefully they will have them available shortly (if not already). You may want to check in with them for a timeline on that.

There is also a Pedego shop in Leesburg that has rentals.

Both of those shops give you plenty of options for low stress riding with stops for beer/food along the way.

[Author]

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