After years of pedaling a person-powered bicycle, and complaining all that time about the physical difficulties of the same, I have relented. I got an electric bike. It’s April in Austin, and the weather is by turns, rainy, cool, hot, humid, or windy. But overall, it’s nice, and spring is in the air, perfect for hopping on a pedal-assisted machine and ambling about town on errands or just for a recreational ride. So has A Dude really gone to the dark side?

Let me tell you, it was not a decision I took lightly. For years, I’ve judgmentally called e-bikes motorcycles. Still do, as a matter of fact, because they are. The old-school mentality is that if you are not moving on 100% of your own power, that’s cheating. Especially on the sports tracker app Strava. Which tracks, because few years back at this time, Strava put out a press release about a new innovation for slow, old, fat, and tired cyclists.

Looked at bikes, from both sides now, and still somehow, it’s bikes’ illusions I recall. I really don’t know bikes at all. (Apologies to Joni Mitchell.) It turns out, a bike is a bike, and no one cares if it has a motor or not. And although yes the batteries are not a good thing environmentally, it’s not a car. They don’t pollute, you still have to pedal it some, and they don’t kill nearly as many people as cars and trucks.

For those who missed it, I wrote a hilarious yet educational post on this subject. OK, maybe it was just amusing and informative. But check it out when you’re done with this post. “Why I Hate E-bikes; E-Bikes Might Also Be OK“. As the proverb goes (French, Spanish, Japanese, Icelandic, or let’s just say unknown origins) goes like this: “A wise man changes his mind, a fool never will.”

Oh, how did this happen, you ask? Well, a combination of kismet, timing, and luck. Pal and friend Rhodney, who’s been on Earth longer than I, bought an e-bike a while back. His intent was to take it on short errands around town, and also on camping trips so he and the missus could shuttle back and forth between their van and campsite. But it turned out that it’s a pretty heavy SOB, and he just prefers to ride sans electricity. And is wanting to get stronger and fitter, and his other bikes aren’t as smooth and sexy as Soqi. I was griping about how my 100-mile weeks were getting pretty bothersome, so on a whim he said, “Wanna switch?” I tried it, was hooked, and never looked back. We basically swapped bikes. So now he has Soqi the Cannondale Quick 4, and I have his Zugo Rhino Step-Through E-bike.

On the other hand, I still have two regular bicycles, Sonnie the GT Arette and Sommar the Fuji Finest. I’m not going to stop riding them. But for when I need to be somewhere fast, maybe don’t want to arrive all sweaty, or haul a heavy backpack full of groceries, the Zugo is how A Dude go.

Look, A Dude is not the only aging cyclist out there. If you’re one of the 10’s of readers of this blog, you’re alive, and thus you’re aging, too. Whether you bike or not, it’s inevitable that we decline. Muscle strength, coordination, good vision, quick reaction time, balance, and much more are all required for cycling. So is it normal to use technology to keep us enjoying the cycling life. And maybe I’m just a late adopter of technology. So what? Sue me. Even Bob Dylan went from acoustic to electric. It was a big deal then, but we moved on. Things change, as I wrote last month in my post about Buddhism, “3/3/2025: When Things Fall Apart, Keep On Biking (Or Like, You Know, Whatever, Man)“.

Serious issues do remain to be resolved, though. Here’s a lengthy article that considers the policy implications for medical professionals, “Electric Bikes Are Emerging as a Safety Hazard”. Although focused on California, the topics are relevant all over. There are injuries and some deaths, including from battery fires. There are many different makers, users, and classes of e-bikes, differing rules about what ages can ride what, helmet laws, and the like. They all factor in to what should be a balanced and nuanced approach that considers all stakeholders. That sounds a little like politician’s doublespeak gobbledygook, but it’s not wrong. Like all bikes, they can be ridden safely and legally or not. It all depends on the cyclist.

Dealing with the safety issues is at the top of my mind. Rhodney once hit the throttle while the front wheel was turned, and the bike took off one way while he went another. He wasn’t badly hurt, but this isi a powerful machine that can get up to 28 miles an hour. It does have fat tires, a wide seat, a turning radius that’s less than a regular bike, and at 65 pounds, is pretty heavy. So I’ll be taking ‘er easy for a while until I get used to it. Any day could be my last, regardless of what bike I’m on. I actually like my odds evading the shitty Austin drivers better while on the Zugo. If need be, I can put it in Rhino mode. (That’s just the model name, I just made that up. Don’t ram cars, please.)

All said and done, I’m still biking. Just saving the legs and rest of my aging bod. “Haters gonna hate. Shake it off,” Taylor Swift commands us.

Yes, you could say that I’ve changed my mind on e-bikes. How it turns out remains to be seen. Wish me luck.

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