The 38 km cycle ride this morning was a nice loop to the south and west of Heerlen.
I left home at 08:00 and it was still quite cool from the overnight rain, but soon warmed under the early morning sunshine.
The whole ride was through very familiar countryside and fairly hilly for such a short ride.
Today’s featured image shows countryside near the village of Wahlwiller, about 12 km into the ride.
In other news, my eBike v MeBike experiment has come to an end after covering 3859 km over 13 months.
I learned many lessons about eBikes during this time, mostly positive, but my overwhelming feeling is that I’m not quite ready for an eBike yet.
Two main drawbacks for me were battery range and diminished exercise value.
For me, the projected assistance range on a full battery charge was around 110 km, but in real life cycling it never got close to this, no doubt due to the many hills in this area, the weight of the rider and frequent headwinds.
I found that at the lowest ‘Eco’ power assisted level, the amount of help I received from the motor was 40%, which in turn means I am not working so hard on the inclines, my heart and lungs are not being tested so much, and in turn I gained a few kilos in weight.
Of course ‘exercise’ is only one of the many reasons I ride a bike, but right now I prefer to continue with myself as the sole source of forward motion.
I have no doubt that at some point in the future I will acquire an eBike again, better suited to my particular needs, not least greater battery power for longer assisted range.
