It’s been a while since I posted. I still follow the site to keep up with the times even if I havent joined a group ride for a few years now. Ebikes are somewhat polarizing, but I came across some unneeded toxicity today and feel this PSA is needed. 99% of people are not the problem, but I’d be shocked if this person isnt on this site.
At a popular spot today, on the climb to the top, I passed by a group of 4 or 5 that were resting part way up. If I passed by anyone today, I greeted most people with a ‘hi’ or a wave. One fellow felt the need to cat call/heckle “You have to earn it”. Apparently I rubbed him the wrong way by not replying as he felt he needed to repeat himself louder. I just kept going. Was it the fact I am husky and I passed you that needed to make me feel unworthy to ride my bike? If I had an honest chance of climbing that hill with my non ebike, I would do such. You dont know that I am recovering from herniated disks and I have scar tissue in my lungs. Instead of sitting on the couch today, I took advantage of the nice weather and burned 1700 calories on my bike. I am sure you burned more calories than me so I will save you the gloat. Having said that, if I only had my non ebike I would have told myself there is no way I am getting up that hill so there is no sense in driving to that location. I keep the assist to the lowest feasible level and it allows me to get out and do the thing I used to love doing. If we knew each other, I probably wouldnt have cared and taken it as a tease, but unless you know why someone is riding an ebike, feel free to keep your trap shut.
Bikes are bikes. Have fun and fuck the haters.
I only tease ebikers I know and I fully expect to be teased when I get one myself. Yay bikes!
Hey @Andre great to hear from you again. Look forward to riding with you again sometime, whatever you might be on!
Only thing I see or hear about anyone ragging on Ebikes are cutting major corners on climb trails.
An Ebike passing anyone is the same as someone faster/fitter passing you IMO. Do it safe and clean and there shouldn’t be any issues at all.
That sounds like a lame thing to say to someone. Maybe it was in jest? Dunno. Just ride and smile.
Hopefully it didnt sound like too much of a pity party. I had a great time yesterday, but I am getting old enough to not have tolerance for shitty behaviour anymore and decided to call him out. It was almost like a ‘no dig, no ride’ mentality (which I can appreciate), but the irony being we were all there under a ‘pay to play’ structure and if there was a working shuttle/chair lift to the top, I’d have a hard time believing most wouldn’t take that option. I know some would like the challenge, but how many of you went to Sugarloaf this summer and opted to pedal up? Not many I suspect.
I am not trying to cheat and claim your KOM or whatever BS on Strava matters most these days. I am just there to have a good time. And the point of posting calories burned is to point out that you can still get something of a workout. Certainly would have burned more on my regular bike, but most quality mid motor ebikes do not come with throttles, so it’s not like you sit on the seat and wait for the battery to do all the work. For the few that I passed going up, I politely hung back until they noticed and waited til they were safe, and on their terms. It was followed by a thanks, there was no blasting by saying ‘so long, suckers’. As I said before, I am all for teasing your mates or someone you know, but fat shaming a stranger/calling them lazy when their back is turned to you is cowardly and does nothing to help the cycling community. I’ll return to that site, but a more sensitive person may not and I hate the idea of people missing out on that level of fun.
Personally, I don’t care as I don’t know enough to have an opinion but if it was at a place like MacIntosh run are they not banned there? I have seen a few on the trail there and some of the guys were really carving up the trail, I assume that is why they are banned?
I heckle e-bikers, and I ride an e-bike. 
I ride loads of places - often.
E-bikes are awesome and often outnumber acoustic.
As a guy that rides around at 230-240lbs dry, I probably do as much or more damage than an e-mtb would do to the average trail. However, I saw three guys come out of the trails on their Sur-Ron e-motos the other, and those are a whole other story.
There’s a couple of kids in my neighbourhood on Sur-Rons and they absolute menaces.
Keep hearing about this. Not sure why this is acceptable.
I really don’t know enough to agree or disagree, I would imagine that not all e-bikes are created equal. I am not for or against it as long as they don’t affect my ride.
Yeah, SurRons aren’t exactly e-bicycles. I think their slowest model gets up to 75kmh with a 100km range, so it’s pretty tough stop them from cruising out from the city, ripping around pretty quietly on the trails for a while, and then heading back out. It’s a tough one to tackle.
These guys I’d heckle for sure. Somebody just out for a ride on an e-mtb? Not so much.
Sounds like a bad accident waiting to happen.
It’s not so much the extra weight of an e-bike but the extra distance that the assist provides. I’ve never ridden one on the trail but let’s say for arguments sake that I could double my ride distance with an e-bike. That would double the damage and erosion. Now someone with mobility challenges who requires the assist just to continue to enjoy mountain biking is fine in my book. Remember that it’s usually the landowners who ultimately decide e-bike use policies, not necessarily the trail organization.
Wut?
I’m not sure that’s the argument and if it is, the same could be said for you being more fit than me and being able to ride more/longer. I always understood that as soon as you allow some type of assisted bike, it becomes very hard to go backwards or clarify it’s only low assist or something.
My own opinion is that if you are on a bike that you have to pedal to get assist, and having fun I am good.