Are Friends Electric?

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On my Sunday ride yesterday I passed an elderly man on a heavy sit-up and beg bike.  Nothing unusual about that, except that it had taken me a full quarter of an hour to reel him in because he was cutting along at 17mph.  It was with considerable relief that, as I finally caught him, I realised that he was riding an electric bike.

Over the last year or so I have noticed a dramatic increase in the popularity of so-called 'e-bikes' and an explosion in the number of shops specialising in the sale or rental of the things.  I have mixed feelings about them.  On the one hand, for those who are infirm or have a disability and who can continue to cycle when they would otherwise have to retire, I think they are an absolute boon.  On the other hand, they seem to open the door for people with absolutely right to the name to call themselves 'cyclists'.

This is clearly an area where the government could usefully legislate and I offer the following rough template for said legislation: 

1.       If you are simply too lazy to pedal a proper bike then stay at home and watch cycling on the telly.  Sitting on an e-bike is NOT a form of exercise and you are fooling nobody.

2.       If you are too fat or too unfit to pedal a proper bike then that is precisely what you need to start doing. 

3.       If you are riding an e-bike because you want to extend your cycling life and this would otherwise be impossible due to a physical impairment then fill your boots.   HOWEVER, you should then comply with some further regulations:

a.       Do NOT try to claim that it is the same as riding a proper bike.  It just isn't.

b.      On hills do not whir past your able bodied cycling colleagues as they slog their guts out.  It is tactless and likely to get right up the noses of the very people you got the e-bike to stay involved with.

c.       Without wishing to stigmatise e-bike riders, they need to wear some sort of huge illuminated sign that allows following riders to know that they needn't put the hammer down.

 Once this has been enacted we can all get along just fine!

 

Comments

  1. Anonymous18 November 2014 at 19:26

    Oh Steve....how you do like to be controversial. I had the very same experience today....and it was a rather younger guy thane me on the bike, who should have known 'better'.
    But I reckon you need to be a tad more sanguine about the whole debate.....power to them, I say (literally).

    ReplyDelete

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