I have had all of my bikes for over ten years and have never felt the need to replace any of them which must say something about my bike choice in the first place.
Over that period I have made some upgrades to both the Tifosi and the Revolution Touring bike but the bikes have served me well as they still do.
The Felt has never needed any upgrades as it was full Dura-Ace when I bought it and apart from replacing chain and cassette during servicing it is as it was supplied to me.
One interesting fact is that I have never ridden the Felt in the rain and she still looks just like a brand new bike...
So... the bikes are still all good and continue to give good service... What's changed??
Well it's me!
As many of you will be aware a couple of years ago I had a diagnosis of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and up until recently I have been asymptomatic.
My cardiac consultant spelled out for me the dangers of continuing to ride hard and imposed a strict maximum heart rate limit that I must keep below when cycling.
On the flats it doesn't pose a problem and I can manage my heart rate at well under the limit that she set.
However the moment I hit the hills my heart rate obviously starts to increase and it becomes very difficult to keep out of the red zone ...
Being based in Devon as we are now doesn't help matters as there are hills in every direction. Constantly worrying about my heart rate has to some extent taken the joy out of my passion for riding my bike and to ignore my heart rate could (not to put too fine a point on it) kill me...
Recently although only minor I have started to display some symptoms of my condition. The condition is progressive so will not improve.
So that's the reality that I am faced with ....
Do I stop riding altogether and be safe or do I continue to ride and put my life in danger by doing so?
A few weeks ago I read an article about Sean Yates the ex TDF stage winner (amongst many other cycling successes). Apparently he has a similar heart condition as me and although it is not exactly the same he also is limited to a reduced heart rate.
Faced with the same dilemma as myself Sean went down the route of e-Road bikes.
Currently he is an ambassador for Ribble e-Bikes and reading his story got me thinking....
Would this be a route that I could go down, after all if it is good for an ex Tour de France stage winner and has allowed him to continue to follow his cycling passion then it surely must be good for me at my minor level of cycling successes.
I have written about e-Bikes a number of times on this blog mainly because I feel a lot of the people riding them seem to be fit and well enough to manage without the added assistance of an e-bike but I have always said that there is a place for them for people who have a physical or medical reason to have to ride one ...... Never did I ever think that I would find myself falling into that category..... Such is life ...
After reading lots of reviews and magazine articles on the subject.... Looking at the various systems and motors available and the different bike manufacturers producing them the choice of system came down to two...
The Fazua evation system and the Mahle ebikemotion system.
The Mahle ebikemotion system uses a motor in the rear hub and this
is what the Ribble bike ridden by Sean Yates is fitted wirh..... I however decided to go with the Fazua Evation system as used by Focus bikes amongst others such as Lapierre and Pinarello to name just two.
Anyway.... I decided to buy a Focus model from my local bike shop RockinBikes in Yelverton. Focus currently have a 20% discount on the model that I have ordered so that gave me a saving of almost a thousand pounds which made the price a bit more palatable..
So where does 'three becomes four but will become two' come in?
Well the new bike sits in between my Tifosi and Felt in a number of ways which I will go into in my next post so those two bikes I will be selling on at some point...
I currently have three bikes the new bike makes four less the two that I will sell will leave me with two bikes.... my tourer and the new bike.
Currently the new bike is being built up at the bike shop (images below) .
In my next post I will introduce you properly to the new bike..... explain my choice and tell you more about it........
3 comments:
I have an ebike as well as (many) traditional ones. Got it this summer. The thing to get your head around is that they are not necessarily about making the riding easier per se. I get just as good as work out on the bike - but I go further for the same given effort. On the hills in the Alps (where I spend much of the summer) I might typically ride at say 7 MPH - with the ebike on low/eco setting I can ride 12MPH for the same effort. This means in a two-hour ride I can cover much greater ground. The turbo settings are good for 'get out of jail' but most times I ride it on the lowest setting just as an extra boost to speed, but not necessarily to the effort `I am putting in. The really important thing I find is to ride the full range of gears as normal and NOT use the motor in place of changing gear - up or down! Ttry to think of the motor as going up a chainring size but without having to put in the extra effort.
A couple of our club members have similar style of bikes and they are really pleased with them. I know very little about the drive systems but from what they say depending on the level of assist that you use you can still get a lot of exercise. I dont blame you for buying one as anything that keeps you cycling has to be good. I'm sure you'll have great fun with it.
@ The bike shed
Hi Mark.... Thanks for dropping by and the advice regarding riding the e-bike I will keep that in mind. By the way I still have your book and have read it a number of times.....
@Dave
Yes..they do seem to be more and more popular these days. As you say if it keeps me cycling then it has to be good.
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