e-bike power
As well as being ill-prepared for the absolute beasting the IVF would give my body and fitness, I’d never really given much thought to the impact that growing a whole new person from scratch (plus a handy additional organ and all the associated plumbing and cushioning) would have. I’d naïvely thought that I’d be basically the same, just with a big beach-ball-belly to contend with and never really accounted for the fact the extra cargo room has to come from somewhere. As well as having a lot more person to service, my organs were doing all this work with rapidly decreasing operating space. The closest thing I’d experienced was exercising at altitude with a dreadful hangover, when even the simplest tasks require herculean effort and everything slows to a grind. So the e-bike really did feel like a necessity.
As well as the self-indulgent smugness that came from sailing past people churning away up a hideous climb and watching them double-take the enormously preggers lady, a definite e-bike highlight was being able to join in the Hope WMN ambassadors trip to the Lakes at 8 and a bit months pregnant.
I borrowed one of the Hope demo feet of lightweight Specialized Levo SL e-bikes and had an absolute blast. I couldn’t believe how well the bike rode up and down, and how welcome the battery assistance felt. The SL motor and battery was like a gentle tow from a very fit friend rather than the full on motorbike experience of a full-fat e-bike and just about compensated for the 20% extra bodyweight and almost completely overwhelmed metabolism. The Levo SL somewhat levelled the playing field (though I’m definitely being over-generous to myself if I think I can casually trundle up Walna Scar Road unaided, even on a good day). The combination of a Hope-d up e-bike and the very supportive and extremely rad company made for an excellent if incredibly soggy weekend of bikes which I absolutely would never have managed without a battery.
Last year, knowing at some point I was going to embark on IVF which would wreak havoc on my body and my fitness, and keen to continue moving my body in whatever way possible: I maxed out my employer’s cycle to work scheme and bought a commuter / errand runner e-bike.
Despite myself, I was hooked immediately! My e-bike became a bit of a lifeline when I felt too fatigued and rotten to attempt any other sort of exercise. My trusty commuter steed enabled me to get the much-needed headspace that a tootle along the backroads brings without wiping me out completely.
When, against the odds, the IVF worked, I was keen to keep cycling in whatever form that took for as long as I felt comfortable throughout my pregnancy. I didn’t set myself any particular goals or expectations, and I definitely didn’t have any point to prove, but cycling definitely helps me keep my head screwed on and trying to keep vaguely active whilst I grew a human seemed like it was probably a good thing. So I kept tootling to work on errands on the e-bike and managed to keep mountain biking on my analogue HB130 the whole way through which felt like a huge bonus.
Having completed the growing a human bit and mostly recovered from having our lovely daughter surgically hoiked out of an after-market sunroof, it was e-bikes that eased me back into exercise.
Very gentle 10 minute trundles with maximum assistance allowed me to cautiously move my body and get some all important headspace during the chaos of the early months of parenthood. After a good rest and seeking the medical go-ahead, I was thrilled to get back on my mountain bike, but gutted (if unsurprised) to discover that my fitness had pretty much vacated the premises.
When my pal Pete suggested we catch up in the Lakes and attempt a return to mountain bikes in the mountains, I was more than a little trepidatious. Fortunately, Pete happened to be testing a full fat Orbea Wild M10 e-bike in my size which he was willing to let me have a spin on.
We set out on one of our classic loops, taking in Raise and Sticks Pass from Glenridding. This was my first proper ride on a big-boy e-bike, with a walloping massive motor and battery and the enormous quantities of suspension and POWERRRR that comes with it.
I couldn’t believe what it was possible to ride. I’d started off very cautiously, keen not to push myself and set back my recovery or tweak a muscle with the mad old hormones still doing the rounds in my body. But I soon got into the swing of just what 750Wh could really do, and for the first time ever, actually rode my bike all the way to the top of a mountain.
Coming back down the other side was a very different experience to descending on the Levo SL or my HB130; I basically felt like I could have shut my eyes and pointed the bike in a vaguely downwards direction and got to the bottom unscathed. This was probably just what I needed; being able to steamroller everything rather than think about line choice definitely made the descent easier and was probably better for my healing body than popping and picking my way through the gnadge. But the experience of riding bikes in the mountains did feel slightly diminished. I’d never consider myself a purist, but my ride on the full-fat e-bike brought the realisation that perhaps I do have to suffer a bit in order to get the full bike experience.
Although it felt a lot like cheating and was a wholly different experience to the same ride on an analogue bike, I was back in the mountains doing bikes with my pal much sooner than I would otherwise have managed and for that I’ll be ever grateful to whoever first decided to attach a motor and a battery to a bike!
Words: Rosie Holdsworth
Photos: Pete Scullion & Sadie Aldridge