My Morning Commute

[KelOnWheels]

Today I saw TWO boats!

Also a lot of your faces at Friday Coffee Club!

[Subby]

@dcv 59261 wrote:

Sorry I didn’t recognize you, glad you’re back in the saddle.

Ha no worries! I wasn’t wearing the pumpkin.

[KLizotte]

@Subby 59302 wrote:

Ha no worries! I wasn’t wearing the pumpkin.

Would make for an interesting bike helmet though (and it’s biodegradable!).

[fuzzy]

Yesterday, going up 15th street NW.. I’m trudging along up hill at 13mph…. I hear a bell behind me, i turn around and lady in her skirt & blouse is on my a$$. I move the right of the lane and she passes me ringing the bell annoyingly at me with a stone cold look on her face. She’s barely pedaling but whizzes by… I can hear the witch music in my head from the Wizard of Oz.

I feel 10 inches tall for getting passed by a chick in a business skirt barely pedaling….. Then I noticed as she pulled away, she had a electric motor on the back tire… I tried to catch up so I could yell aloud ‘CHEEAAATTEER’ but she was running red lights….. She looked to be under 35. I hope her battery died on the big 15 street hill.

[consularrider]

No commute again this morning, just driving in and out of the fog between Chillicothe and Cincinnati. It was worth it, rode the Little Miami Scenic Trail from Loveland to just past Morrow (and back). Lots of people out at mid-morning.

[CPTJohnC]

@fuzzy 59332 wrote:

Then I noticed as she pulled away, she had a electric motor on the back tire… I tried to catch up so I could yell aloud ‘CHEEAAATTEER’ but she was running red lights….. She looked to be under 35. I hope her battery died on the big 15 street hill.

I feel you! E-bikes are horrible for my ego, though I did have the joy of watching a guy whose battery must have given up grinding up a hill the other day. I know I’m probably just jealous, truth be told, but it does seem like cheating, esp. if the rider isn’t over 65 or otherwise infirm.

[CPTJohnC]

This morning as I was leaving the house I went to downshift the rear, and nothing happened. Click, click, click went the brifter, and the derailleur just… sat there. I stopped, tugged at it a little, and it moved, seemingly freely, but when I re-started, it would shift up, but not down. So I rode my 19 mile commute on what, in effect, was a 3 speed. (ultimately, I determined that the rear would shift if there was enough pressure on the driveline, so I can downshift going up hills…)

I’m afraid that I bent it yesterday when I loading it on my rack, or getting ready to, after a ride with a friend.

[dasgeh]

@CPTJohnC 59352 wrote:

I know I’m probably just jealous, truth be told, but it does seem like cheating, esp. if the rider isn’t over 65 or otherwise infirm.

1) Some people just use bikes because they’re the best way to get from Point A to Point B. Using an ebike for that isn’t cheating.
2) You have no idea if someone is infirm just by looking at them.

[Steve]

@consularrider 59339 wrote:

No commute again this morning, just driving in and out of the fog between Chillicothe and Cincinnati. It was worth it, rode the Little Miami Scenic Trail from Loveland to just past Morrow (and back). Lots of people out at mid-morning.

I am from Loveland! Glad you were able to enjoy our trail!

[Steve]

@dasgeh 59357 wrote:

1) Some people just use bikes because they’re the best way to get from Point A to Point B. Using an ebike for that isn’t cheating.

When confronted with stairs and an escalator, I almost always choose the escalator. Seems like an ebike is about the same sensible choice.

[runbike]

@fuzzy 59332 wrote:

I tried to catch up so I could yell aloud ‘CHEEAAATTEER’ but she was running red lights….. She looked to be under 35. I hope her battery died on the big 15 street hill.

The attitude she gave you while passing aside, I’m just curious as to why you think she’s a “cheater”? I’m under 35, in good shape, and commute by bike with an electric motor. I could write a much longer post listing out why I go electric, but it basically boils down to: no shower at work and the bike allows me to keep my focus on running competitively and putting in the miles necessary to do so.

In the future instead of thinking (and god-forbid yelling) “cheater”, maybe consider that her fitness goals are different from yours. I’d be pretty ticked off if someone yelled “CHEATER” at me on my commute into work, especially since most days I’ve already wrapped up a running workout before hopping on the bike.

[rcannon100]

@fuzzy 59332 wrote:

I feel 10 inches tall for getting passed by a chick in a business skirt barely pedaling….. Then I noticed as she pulled away, she had a electric motor on the back tire… I tried to catch up so I could yell aloud ‘CHEEAAATTEER’ but she was running red lights….. She looked to be under 35. I hope her battery died on the big 15 street hill.

I hear you! EBikes are just horrible for my ego too. There is this woman…. OH! I cannot tell me how much she drives me crazy. For like 6 months up the Arlington hill, this woman would just fly past me up the hill as I struggle to get my grannygear to work. And I admit, I regularly call her ‘cheater.’ Every time it crushed my sense of man-ness. I have had to go get testosterone therapy. I hate cheaters just as much as I hate priuses.

I saw the cheater woman this weekend. She had her Baskfiet filled with little kids, powered with an ebike! So how are you DASGEH??

Okay, I am goofing. [URL=”xhttp://www.cpsc.gov/PageFiles/93295/low.pdf”]Real ebikes[/URL] – the bikes that are pedal assisted that simply give people a boost (as opposed to mopeds) – I think are fabulous. Certainly in Arlington, some of our hills are just breakers. The idea that ebikes enable cycling and promote this type of transportation I think is wonderful. I kind of assume an ebike will be in my future not too far off – and the idea that I can stay on a bicycle instead of having to give up and get in a car – is grand. The idea that ebikes can help people who want to cycle get on a bike – that’s not cheating and it certainly is not a threat to my ego.

Now the 25 year old turks that fly down the trail 24 mph and make me look like a granny…. yes, I am still in therapy for that.

[CPTJohnC]

@Steve 59361 wrote:

When confronted with stairs and an escalator, I almost always choose the escalator. Seems like an ebike is about the same sensible choice.

And I almost always choose the stairs. I suspect it says something about my lack of sense.

@dasgeh 59357 wrote:

Still, I am a firm believer that if embracing ebikes is key to making cycling a real, normal transportation option for many (most? all?)>

In all seriousness, I don’t disagree; for many people who have modest length commutes, ebikes or similar conveyances make lots of sense (I see a couple of folks who commute by segway, for example). If one is using it for transportation, one certainly isn’t ‘cheating’ from an objective standpoint. But I do think that all e-bikes should be required to display some sort of huge, loud signage, so that my poor, fragile ego isn’t crushed.

As to visibility of infirmity: Yes, you are correct- there are numerous types of health issues that don’t manifest in obvious ways. And no, I don’t think they need to wear large, hideous signs to ‘prove’ their infirmity. But can’t they try to look sick while the pass me on the hills?

I have the same lack of sympathy problem with handicapped parking spaces, and folks who appear to have nothing, whatsoever, wrong with them as they walk the 10 steps into the shop… I’m a bad person.

[mstone]

@Steve 59361 wrote:

When confronted with stairs and an escalator, I almost always choose the escalator. Seems like an ebike is about the same sensible choice.

I choose stairs! (I’ve seen the future, and it is WALL-E.)

[Amalitza]

I walk up the escalator.

Which sounds about like the walking equivalent of e-assist up the hills. Would purchase of an e-bike count towards my new year’s goal of getting better at hills? hmmm….

[Author]

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