It is that time of the year when we all like to spend some time riding our bikes.
But there is a question from e-bike owners: „Can you get fit on an e-bike?“.
Well, many will say that riding e-bikes for recreational purposes is pure cheating. That is what I also thought because I mainly use my e-bike to avoid pedaling and save my energy to my trip to work. Well, pedaling is still a must in order for a motor to work (except some of you who have an e-bike with the accelerator, but you can still pedal if you want to).
Famous Olympian Sir Chris Hoy said: „E-bikes are a nice combination of using our own human power and having a bit of assistance too.“ Sir Chris is right, as soon as you sit on an e-bike, you realize how fun it is. Now let's answer our question here, the answer is quite simple: yes, you can get fit on an e-bike. There are two ways: one is to use it as a regular bike, but that is not fun. The other way is to use less assistance, more leg power. If you encounter a steep hill, just feel free to lessen the impact by increasing the resistance. So, in order to count as a workout, you have to put some effort into pedaling and make it a constant power load, you must feel your legs getting tired over time. Ther is another great plus, when I go for a recreational ride, it is around 40 km long. That seems much but gets boring, with an e-bike I travel around 60-70 km for the same effort and it is more of an adventure. I also tried riding an e-bike as a regular bike and it is quite a workout due to increased weight, it is great for short-distance rides (10-15 km).
This last paragraph is about those of you who have a very poor stamina. You can start with higher assistance level and work your way down over time as you get stronger and gain more stamina. It is that simple and there is no better motivation for starting to work out because you can always get the motor's help when feeling exhausted.