Surprisingly, I get more questions about E-Bikes being for the lazy than “will they be powerful enough?”….and statements like “ I don’t need one, I need an ordinary bike to pedal and lose some weight”
Well here’s something that will surprise you….
A recent study was carried out by Adam Alter, a cycling coach in the USA:
He rode over 5000 miles on the same route using a conventional and an electric bike, using a power meter and heart rate monitor.
I have the full study if anyone is interested but here is a summary of his conclusions.
• Heart rate and average watts (from his pedal power) is consistent across all of the bikes, yet with the eBikes he is traveling faster and cuts his commute time down.
• “I took a sample of 2,000 miles over 11 weeks, where I was riding my Sirrus commuter as well as my Focus eBike commuter. I used the same power meter pedals, same heart rate monitor, used the same commute route.”
• Then, a discovery. “I basically had the same intensity regardless of the bike I was on, as reflected in my heart rate average and max nearly matching perfectly.” Simply put, he could ride the eBike as hard as he wished.
• “My average power input was actually higher on the eBike because it cut my commute time down so much I wasn’t destroying my body with over training.” Alter felt the shorter commute times on the eBike resulted in higher output, more intense workouts.
• “Moving to the eBike added almost 7 mph to my ride. My body worked the exact same but for a shorter duration
• Experienced riders know it’s easily possible to ride as hard as they want on an eBike. Equally as hard as they can on any other form of bicycle.
• “On my eBike I can always do intervals, sustained efforts, and hammer until I’m ready to pass out, as if I’m on my regular road bike!”
• Then if necessary I can just cruise home on max assist, dropping my own power and still easily do 18mph+ and not take much longer.”
Paul
