- Basic Blog Info
- What E-Bikes Mean For Your Hard-Won Fitness.
- E-Bikers Get as Much xercise as Regular Bikers
As a start one can read this magazine article I prepared last year.
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Analysis of the survey results indicate the primary reasons individuals purchase an e-bike tend to be related to various barriers which deter individuals from riding a standard bicycle; reducing physical exertion, challenging topography and replacing car trips reign as a few of the most important reasons for buying an e-bike.
Through analysis it became evident that e-bikes are making it possible for more people to ride a bicycle, many of whom are incapable of riding a standard bicycle or don’t feel safe doing so. Additionally, e-bike helps to generate more trips, longer trips and different types of bicycle trips.
https://ppms.trec.pdx.edu/media/project_files/NITC_RR_1041_North_American_Survey_Electric_Bicycle_Owners.pdf
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For many e-bike owners, their e-bike doesn't replace their traditional bike; it replaces their car. That same e-bike survey found that owners replaced 46 percent of their car commutes and 30 percent of their driving errands with e-bike rides. All you need is a great commuter bag to carry your stuff, and you’re set. Nobody’s fitness is devalued by that.
E-bike riding delivers health benefits.
If you’re straight off the couch, the health gains of e-biking are significant. In one study, when Colorado University researchers gave otherwise inactive people e-bikes and told them to to ride a minimum of 40 minutes a day, three days a week, the volunteers willingly rode beyond the minimum, boosted their fitness, improved their blood sugar levels, and trimmed some fat in just one month.
Low-intensity rides are really fun.
You can ride on recovery days.
Knackered from yesterday’s hammerfest? You don’t have to ride the couch to let your crushed quads properly recover, even if you live on the streets of San Francisco. You can just cruise on your e-bike, racking up #happinesswatts while you get the circulation moving. Doing so will flush out the metabolic waste and bring in healing, nutrient-rich blood so you’re good to go on your next hard ride.
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BASIC BLOG INFO
How to Become a FOG-e-Biker
Got a Favorite Ride?
Send us the details or POST them to share.
Value of an eBike
e-Bike use is a rising phenomenon in North America. With the growth of the e-bike industry, e-bike users are an increasingly integral part of both the transportation network and recreational trail system. This study seeks to understand the issues. Analysis of the survey results indicate the primary reasons individuals purchase an e-bike tend to be related to various barriers which deter individuals from riding a standard bicycle; reducing physical exertion, challenging topography and replacing car trips reign as a few of the most important reasons for buying an e-bike.
Through analysis it became evident that e-bikes are making it possible for more people to ride a bicycle, many of whom are incapable of riding a standard bicycle or don’t feel safe doing so. Additionally, e-bike helps to generate more trips, longer trips and different types of bicycle trips.
https://ppms.trec.pdx.edu/media/project_files/NITC_RR_1041_North_American_Survey_Electric_Bicycle_Owners.pdf
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What E-Bikes Mean For Your Hard-Won Fitness
(2018)
E-Bikes are here to stay. Not everyone is happy about that. I used to be one of those people. Why? Because of a nagging, if not irrational, concern that e-bikes somehow diminish the currency of my fitness and hard work as a trainer,
coach, and athlete.
For those who have yet to hop aboard an electric motor-assisted bicycle, e-bikes are regular bicycles with a battery-powered “pedal assist.” When you saddle up and push the pedals, a small motor engages and gives you a boost, so you can whiz up hills with a loaded backpack and cruise over challenging terrain without gassing yourself. Most e-bikes come with a power switch that lets you adjust the boost setting from “eco” (low) to “turbo” (high). These e-bikes are technically called “pedalecs,” and they feel just like riding a bike, except you feel bionic because the motor assist lets you achieve a far faster pace with far less fitness and hard work.
It’s that last part that has raised the hackles among those who like to “earn their turns,” so to speak. Because gaining the kind of wattage e-bikes give you with a push of a button takes weeks, months, even years to develop through training alone.
More from Bicycling
According to Hunter Allen, CEO of Peaks Coaching Group, who tracks this stuff for a living, if you’re already pretty fit, you have to work extremely hard for at least eight weeks to gain another 15 to 30 watts—about the amount needed to power an oven light. And even then, you can’t hang onto that peak forever. The currency of cycling fitness is hard to earn and easy to lose.
Whether we win a podium position, a KOM crown, or a drag race with friends to the ice-cream store, we cyclists feel extra satisfied—maybe even vindicated—because our result took so much dedication.
For those who have yet to hop aboard an electric motor-assisted bicycle, e-bikes are regular bicycles with a battery-powered “pedal assist.” When you saddle up and push the pedals, a small motor engages and gives you a boost, so you can whiz up hills with a loaded backpack and cruise over challenging terrain without gassing yourself. Most e-bikes come with a power switch that lets you adjust the boost setting from “eco” (low) to “turbo” (high). These e-bikes are technically called “pedalecs,” and they feel just like riding a bike, except you feel bionic because the motor assist lets you achieve a far faster pace with far less fitness and hard work.
It’s that last part that has raised the hackles among those who like to “earn their turns,” so to speak. Because gaining the kind of wattage e-bikes give you with a push of a button takes weeks, months, even years to develop through training alone.
More from Bicycling
According to Hunter Allen, CEO of Peaks Coaching Group, who tracks this stuff for a living, if you’re already pretty fit, you have to work extremely hard for at least eight weeks to gain another 15 to 30 watts—about the amount needed to power an oven light. And even then, you can’t hang onto that peak forever. The currency of cycling fitness is hard to earn and easy to lose.
Whether we win a podium position, a KOM crown, or a drag race with friends to the ice-cream store, we cyclists feel extra satisfied—maybe even vindicated—because our result took so much dedication.
“The currency of cycling fitness is hard to earn and easy to lose.”
So yeah, I can’t lie: If you push a button and drop me like a safe up a 9-percent grade that I put in 12 hours of training a week for 10 years to be able to ride as fast as I do—well, it feels like I scrimped and saved for a dream vacation only to have the dollar plummet in value as soon as I get to the swim-up bar, which is crowded with hedonistic trust funders waving around bills worth more than mine.
I know, this makes little sense. Nothing changes the fact that I sacrificed and worked damn hard for my fitness. There’s an intrinsic value there that has nothing to do with other people. Yet, I can’t help wondering if someday those of us who favor acoustic bikes will be like modern fixie or single-speed riders, always needing to explain (even to ourselves) that we were only beat because the riders around us were using the latest technology.
I know, this makes little sense. Nothing changes the fact that I sacrificed and worked damn hard for my fitness. There’s an intrinsic value there that has nothing to do with other people. Yet, I can’t help wondering if someday those of us who favor acoustic bikes will be like modern fixie or single-speed riders, always needing to explain (even to ourselves) that we were only beat because the riders around us were using the latest technology.
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Will that degrade the sublimity of that 100-percent empty, endorphin-flooded place—a place I’ve tried hard to find on e-bikes—that you get to when your only throttle is internal? I sincerely hope not. But I don’t know. In fact, nobody does. It’s something we’re all trying to figure out as we ride e-bikes and ride among them.
What I do know is that these battery-assisted bicycles are getting more butts on bikes, and that’s a good thing. Electric bike sales jumped by an incredible 95 percent between July 2016 and July 2017 alone, according to the market research firm NPD Group. It’s a nearly $65 million industry, and there’s no sign of a slowdown.
And yes, despite the critics that proclaim e-biking is “cheating,” e-bikes do count as exercise and may help even the fit get fitter. Skeptical? Consider this: Riding an e-bike still gets your heart rate up.
Research comparing the energy used to pedal a plain bicycle versus an e-bike have found that the difference is similar to running versus brisk walking. Riding a regular bike is generally considered vigorous exercise—burning about 430 to 560 calories per hour for a 150-pound person, assuming you’re going at least 10 to 14 mph. Not surprisingly, riding a pedal-assist e-bike, takes about half the amount of energy—about 280 calories an hour for that same 150-pound rider—the equivalent calorie burn of brisk walking. Depending how hard you ride, whether you’re carrying a load, and/or what power setting you use (low or economy settings require more human energy than high or turbo), you could burn up to 390 calories per hour.
In this head-to-head comparison of my five-mile roundtrip commute to and from the Bicycling office, my relative effort was much lower on an e-bike ridden in its two highest settings, but the calorie burn was equivalent to walking, definitely higher than driving, and absolutely still exercise. And if I wanted more exercise, I could have set the pedal assist to a lower setting.
E-bike riders ride more.
Getting an e-bike can dramatically increase how often you ride, according to a recent survey of nearly 1,800 e-bike owners in North America. Before owning an e-bike, 55 percent of the respondents said they rode daily or weekly. After getting an e-bike, that number soared to 91 percent riding daily or weekly. More striking, 94 percent of non-cyclists rode daily or weekly after getting an e-bike—nearly every single one of them!Will that degrade the sublimity of that 100-percent empty, endorphin-flooded place—a place I’ve tried hard to find on e-bikes—that you get to when your only throttle is internal? I sincerely hope not. But I don’t know. In fact, nobody does. It’s something we’re all trying to figure out as we ride e-bikes and ride among them.
What I do know is that these battery-assisted bicycles are getting more butts on bikes, and that’s a good thing. Electric bike sales jumped by an incredible 95 percent between July 2016 and July 2017 alone, according to the market research firm NPD Group. It’s a nearly $65 million industry, and there’s no sign of a slowdown.
And yes, despite the critics that proclaim e-biking is “cheating,” e-bikes do count as exercise and may help even the fit get fitter. Skeptical? Consider this: Riding an e-bike still gets your heart rate up.
Research comparing the energy used to pedal a plain bicycle versus an e-bike have found that the difference is similar to running versus brisk walking. Riding a regular bike is generally considered vigorous exercise—burning about 430 to 560 calories per hour for a 150-pound person, assuming you’re going at least 10 to 14 mph. Not surprisingly, riding a pedal-assist e-bike, takes about half the amount of energy—about 280 calories an hour for that same 150-pound rider—the equivalent calorie burn of brisk walking. Depending how hard you ride, whether you’re carrying a load, and/or what power setting you use (low or economy settings require more human energy than high or turbo), you could burn up to 390 calories per hour.
In this head-to-head comparison of my five-mile roundtrip commute to and from the Bicycling office, my relative effort was much lower on an e-bike ridden in its two highest settings, but the calorie burn was equivalent to walking, definitely higher than driving, and absolutely still exercise. And if I wanted more exercise, I could have set the pedal assist to a lower setting.
E-bike riders ride more.
For many e-bike owners, their e-bike doesn't replace their traditional bike; it replaces their car. That same e-bike survey found that owners replaced 46 percent of their car commutes and 30 percent of their driving errands with e-bike rides. All you need is a great commuter bag to carry your stuff, and you’re set. Nobody’s fitness is devalued by that.
E-bike riding delivers health benefits.
If you’re straight off the couch, the health gains of e-biking are significant. In one study, when Colorado University researchers gave otherwise inactive people e-bikes and told them to to ride a minimum of 40 minutes a day, three days a week, the volunteers willingly rode beyond the minimum, boosted their fitness, improved their blood sugar levels, and trimmed some fat in just one month.
Low-intensity rides are really fun.
Building your base has never been such a blast. Riding an e-bike in one of the lower power modes lets you get your heart rate in a steady endurance-building zone while also covering lots more ground than you normally would on an acoustic bike when you’re trying to keep your heart rate low.
[Find 52 weeks of tips and motivation, with space to fill in your mileage and favorite routes, with the Bicycling Training Journal.]
You can ride on recovery days.
Knackered from yesterday’s hammerfest? You don’t have to ride the couch to let your crushed quads properly recover, even if you live on the streets of San Francisco. You can just cruise on your e-bike, racking up #happinesswatts while you get the circulation moving. Doing so will flush out the metabolic waste and bring in healing, nutrient-rich blood so you’re good to go on your next hard ride.
Study Finds That E-Bike Riders Get as Much Exercise as Riders of Regular Bikes
August 09, 2019
E-bikers use their bikes more, go longer distances, and often substitute it for driving or transit.
Fans of electric bikes often say they are riding further than they used to on "analog" bikes, to use a retronym coined by Andrea Learned.
I have written about my own Gazelle: "I am using it more often than I used my regular bike, and I am going longer distances. I suspect that, because of that, I am probably getting as much exercise as I did on my bike." But it was all apocryphal, until now.
A new study, with a mouthful of a title, "Physical activity of electric bicycle users compared to conventional bicycle users and non-cyclists: Insights based on health and transport data from an online survey in seven European cities," finds that in fact it is true: e-bikers take longer trips and get pretty much the same physical activity gains as analog cyclists.
Physical activity levels, measured in Metabolic Equivalent Task minutes per week (MET min/wk), were similar among e-bikers and cyclists (4463 vs. 4085). E-bikers reported significantly longer trip distances for both e-bike (9.4 km) and bicycle trips (8.4 km) compared to cyclists for bicycle trips (4.8 km), as well as longer daily travel distances for e-bike than cyclists for bicycle (8.0 vs. 5.3 km per person, per day, respectively).
But perhaps even more significant is the dramatic increase in exercise among people who switch from cars to e-bikes, a much easier transition than from cars to a-bikes. "Those switching from private motorized vehicles and public transport gained around 550 and 800 MET min/wk. respectively." A lot of people were doing this, too. In Denmark, the average user switching to an e-bike reduced driving by 49 percent and transit by 48 percent. In the UK, 36 percent reduced public transit use.
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It should be noted that this study looks at European pedelec e-bikes like my Gazelle, where people have to pedal a bit to get the 250 watt motor to kick in. Results probably don't apply to overpowered throttle-controlled American e-bikes or scooters. Because, as the study authors note, with a pedelec, "using an e-bike requires moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity, depending on topography."
E-bikers in the study tended to be older, had higher car access and higher body mass indexes (BMI,) but they still traveled farther and more often. So please put to bed that idea that e-bikes are somehow "cheating":
This study has found that physical activity from travel-related activities is similar for e-bikers and cyclists... These findings counter the often-raised concern that e-biking may result in a substantial reduction of physical activity for traveling due to the electric assist of e-bikes, which reduces the required physical effort. As this study shows, average trip distance of e-bike and bicycle trips among e-bikers is significantly higher than bicycle trips among cyclists. Equally, e-bikers' daily travel distance by e-bike was also significantly longer than daily cycling distance in cyclists.
What's most intriguing about the study is how many people used their e-bikes as a substitute for cars. We have complained before that governments handing out subsidies for electric cars should be putting that money into e-bikes and infrastructure, and the study concludes with the same point:
In conclusion, this analysis supports the notion to accept, or even promote, e-bikes as a healthy and sustainable transport option based on e-bikers' travel behaviour and self-reported mode substitution. Planers should be aware that e-bikers travel longer distances than cyclists. Thus, e-bikes might be used for longer commuting trips than non-electric bicycles. To accommodate (or promote) this new demand and to avoid conflicts with other road users in urban areas, cycling infrastructure should be expanded and may need to be adapted to accommodate higher speeds and address safety needs. The health benefits in terms of physical activity of using e-bikes, particularly when replacing car trips, should be factored in when considering subsidizing e-biking.There is so much to unpack from this study. It also looks at how e-bikes are easier for older riders, keeping them fitter longer. It also reinforces my opinion that the Europeans got it right by limiting speed and power on e-bikes and mandating that they are all pedelecs rather than throttle operated; you don't get much exercise on a motorcycle. That horse is out of the barn as far as the laws in North America go, but that doesn't mean that just because you can buy 750 watts and a throttle that you should. You want a bike with a boost so that you can still get some exercise, but also go farther, faster and easier for a longer, healthier life.
