Electric bike may be good fit for middle-aged wannabe cyclists
By Michael Dresser Baltimore Sun reporterIf you're a 30-year-old athlete with rippling muscles and less fat than your typical flounder, a hybrid electric bicycle is not for you. By all means, be proud you can take the steepest hills with nary a huff nor a puff.
You should be a purist. Feel free to stick your nose in the air when you pass some weenie pedaling by while getting an assist from an electric motor.
But if you're a few years over that age (or in my case decades), a few lamb chops over the ideal weight and nobody's mistaken you for Lance Armstrong or a female counterpart lately, it may not be such an abomination.
Maybe you've passed a group of bicyclists looking all sleek and Spandex-y and thought you'd like to do that if all the roads were flat or downhill. If so, you really owe it to yourself to try one of these electric hybrid bikes.
I did and it was way cool.
My test run on a hybrid electric bicycle resulted from a decision to drop in at the organizational meeting of the Baltimore Bicycle Alliance, an offshoot of the group One Less Car.
Among those attending was Ray Carrier, who operates a business in Fells Point called Green Rider that specializes in gasoline-free scooters and electric motor-assisted bicycles. He invited me to stop by his shop on Broadway and try out a hybrid-electric bike. (For more information on Carrier's business, go to <a href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/features/green/2010/04/electric_bikes_have_arrived_in.html">http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/features/green/2010/04/electric_bikes_have_arrived_in.html</a>;.)
For some time I'd been curious about these vehicles, which have been growing in popularity in Europe but only slowly catching on in the United States.
At one time, there was a bicycle in my life. It was fun to ride. It was good exercise. But as an only occasional rider, the hills near my then-home in western Howard County were murder. Riding is no fun when you have to dismount halfway up a hill and walk the bike to the crest. Riding on trails was OK, but that involved strapping it to the car and hauling it to a local park. The bicycle fell into disuse, and eventually it wasn't worth the space it took up in a small condo.
But the idea of riding something you could pedal most of the time, but with a motor for extra power when needed, was appealing. So there I was at Carrier's shop.
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Not only was it this writer's first time aboard an electric bike, but the first time aboard any type of bicycle in Baltimore. If you've never tried it, let's just say you gain a new appreciation of the perils bicyclists face in city traffic.
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<a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/commuting/bs-md-dresser-getting-there-0524-20100524,0,3729617.story">http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/commuting/bs-md-dresser-getting-there-0524-20100524,0,3729617.story</a>;
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