How to use an e-bike to improve your fitness

I'm a member of a large cycling club and lead a weekly ride myself and participate in a couple of other rides totalling around 200+ km per week (in non Covid lock-down times) - social rides, and we are mostly 65 to 85 y.o.  Several members have high-end e-bikes e.g. Focus Paralane2. The main e-bike issue we find is the different ride characteristics - e.g. stopping distance, manoeuverability, acceleration, gravel handling, etc all seem different. A complicating factor is that at our age, our reaction times are slower and eyesight/hearing reduced.

We have instituted a few rules, such as:-

1.  we do NOT do bunch riding - ride close with a friend or two, but no large groupings.
2.  if there is a mechanical issue the e-riders have to sort it out themselves,
    or in conjunction with other e-riders in the group. It is unreasonable to expect non e-riders to know the ramifications of fiddling with e-bikes. This gets tricky in areas with patchy or no phone reception.
3. don’t “FLAUNT” your e-bike power, e.g. do not power up a climb leaving your human-powered ride partners in the dust. We recognise that not all e-bikes can easily go slowly up a hill - if this is the case, have a breather at the bottom then power up so we all arrive at the top around the same time.

By and large, these work out well,. A problem we encounter is how to slot a newcomer on an e-bike into the right group (we have around 6 groups based on average speed) - normally this would be done on fitness and ability to keep up with the group - i.e. start in a slow group and move up 'til you find your niche. But, now we can get a complete newbie, who hasn't ridden since his/her school days, who has an e-bike and cruises comfortably at 25km/h, who looks and says all the right things, but half way through a ride it turns out their riding skills are largely non-existent. e.g. descending steep hills, riding in traffic.

Cheers

Adrian

I'm always amazed at some comments about e-bikes and how people see them. Some kind of advantage or cheating. Only for a certain type of person etc etc.

I'm 61 and stared cycling at 54, I've cycled Lejog , Wales in a day (180) miles. Chase the sun 206 miles , several 150 and 100 mile rides mainly on S-Works Tarmac.in December 2020 I was diagnosed with stage 4 lung and bone cancer. Bit of a shock and a kick in the teeth because I'd been struggling with my general cycling and training before hand , but now I knew why. I had been cycling 50 mile ride locally her in Wales , but close to chester so could go flat , but always a climb home. Now I've managed a few turbo rides since December , it's now august 2021. My tumour has shrunk twice , but the chemotherapy absolutely hits me. I'm on it for life once every 3 weeks , in between i have blood transfusions. 
in January 2021 weeks after my diagnosis I purchased an S-Works creo E-bike with my critical illness payout, it's still sat there but I know I'll need it to stand a chance of starting to cycle again. I keep my fingers crossed on this. I've read here e-bikes will die out , 🤣🤣, what a ridiculous statement, if anything they will take a bigger slice of the market than normal bikes , because they have the ability to be both. They will get lighter , more aero etc etc. The CREO looks like a road bike. It's reasonable light. 
So an e-bike is for anyone and everyone. 
feel free to add to this list.

people with a handicap, people who arnt as fast as friends but want to cycle with them. People with illness, people coming back from injury, people who live in areas with hills they find too hard, people who want to push further, generally getting older , I cycle with a few younger than I am and it can be hard to keep up ,It's a big list, one guy said "I can do 100k I don't need one" maybe try 100 miles or even 206 miles. I'm sure some also think that with an E-Bike you don't need to pedal, you do pedal you only get back what you put in, it cuts out at 15mph, so going up a decent hill from 6% to 20% let's say you'll get some help, it's like having a couple of extra gears , in fact that's what it is , put a race set up on your bike and it's going to be harder up hill than a compact system, that's not considered cheating or an advantage. It's setting it up for the individual. An E-Bike is a way to maybe start out and train to get fit enough to get on a no assisted bike, or maybe get the assisted bike and simply turn off the assist if not needed. They should be called pedal assist and not E-Bikes because it makes them sound they are electric and people just sit and go. I've actually had people say to me bet you'll love just being able to sit there and do nothing.. Now as my treatment continues I'm still working towards using this beautiful machine.. Rog 👍

Having an e-bike doesn't necessarily help just the rider, it can also be beneficial to any companions. My riding buddy has been getting slower and slower due to recent (successful ) cancer treatement and this has left him frustrated and very apologetic to me as he thinks he's slowing me down too much (not that I'm that bothered!). However he recently bought a Boardman e-road bike and not only has this given him a new lease of life but has also benefitted me as when he goes flying off in front I really have to up my game to keep up with him, which I'm sure is making me fitter! He's really useful in a headwind as well as he goes in front and lets me draft him ... I of course take my turn (when there's a tailwind ).

Personally I think e-bikes are a good thing.  I bought one about sixteen months ago to replace a motor vehicle  and its now my main mode of transport, and just clocked up 5k miles.  Yes they are expensive to buy, but cheap enough to run.  Plus the added benefit of being able to exercise as well, even if recovering from an injury, or like me you have a heart condition has to be a bonus.  I survived a heart attack a few years ago, although I have been an acitive road cyclist for over fifty years.  I used to race when I was a young man.  Since getting the e-bike I manage to get out cycling most days and I do not have to worry too much  about my heart rate getting too high, especially coming up the cat 4 hill coming home.  I do still love getting out on my road bike on occasion, but I can only do that now when I have someone riding along with me, and I have to keep an eye on the old ticker to make sure it does not get too high.  So personally if people are using e-bikes or what ever bikes they want to, for whatever purpose they want to, and getting a bit of exercise at the same time to stay fit, happy days, everyone wins.  

Electric bikes have several advantages. Being quite expensive, they do not scream "cheapskate" in quite the same way as my Triban 100 does. (it's a fine bike I enjoy riding btw). They are also quite fashionable and still permit riders to establish their green credentials and be smug as well. In addition they allow hopelessly out of condition riders to maintain a reasonable pace. This last, coupled with the cost, probably means some, who might give up on soon after starting on a conventional bike, will persist, thus gaining fitness and helping reduce car use and raising awareness of cyclists needs and rights. Some may eventually get a normal bike. Others, being old, infirm or just not interested may not. For me, this is irrelevant. If we can encourage more people onto ebikes, because they can wear normal clothes, carry a load of stuff, get to work without sweating, and so on, everybody wins. Whether you or I feel that the e bit is not strictly necessary is also irrelevent.

I've just done 23 miles on fairly hilly roads on holiday.
Carrying a long term injury, there is no way I could have done that on my normal bike, so I'm getting a great benefit from it. On one stretch, I was in bottom gear with 50% assistance and it was still hard work.

On a different note, I only just got back when going downhill at 30 and a driver turning right only just clocked my speed and braked instead of turning right across me.

I got an ebike a few months back as a car replacement for my 8mile each way commute. It's been brilliant. I spend a lot of each journey above 26kph so the motor isn't helping me and I'm cruising in high HR zone 1 or low zone 2. In a headwind or going uphill, I stick to the same effort and the motor kicks in, keeping me at 23-25kph where normally I'd have dropped back to 15-20kph. I have a fit and forget pannier bag on it and can carry my rain gear, lock, coffee, lunch, laptop, easter egg I won in the raffle that time, etc with ease. I'm very pleased with it and think it's doing more for my fitness than I expected.
I use a road bike on Thursdays so I can take the long way home but I have to leave my coffee cup at home and get a sweaty back from carrying a bag. I get in faster on Thursdays but the other days are more comfortable.

I don't think you can comment on eBikes until you've used one - the right one - for your particular use case.

There are so many variables, and types of eBike, and types of rides that one might be better than the other for, etc. etc. It is a minefield (well it seems to be to me!).

It's great to see older people and older couples out on their e-bikes. 
Personally I think that they are the future of cycling and in 10 years or so road bikes as we know them now will be a niche market. Especially as the kids on e-scooters are going to progress to e-motorcycles (I'm sure that they are a thing!) or e-bikes.

In 2031 remind me that I said this…

Even the overpowered ones are better than cars, same for escooters.

I electrified my old MTB more than a decade ago because my knees were knackered. With the assistance, I immediately became much more mobile and able to go far greater distances (within battery limit) than I'd been capable of for a few years. The surprising thing I found was that I was able to put quite an amount of energy into the pedalling, but remain below the pain threshold, which meant my battery lasted far longer than expected.

At the time, in-frame batteries were quite expensive and I molished up a battery pack from 5X 36V power tool packs, giving me a total of 15Ah, which gave me a useful range.

"Riding an electric bike isn’t just a question of sitting there and letting the motor do the work"

It is if you're the bloke who passed me today. I was busting a lung and he came cruising past barely touching the pedals and sitting bolt upright on a nobbly tyred giant MTB doing 26 mph!

Something fishy going on there.

I wonder how hard it is to hack these bikes to overcome the 15 mpg maximum assist speed?

I've got a Swych on order for my wife, so hoping that might get her doing more. 

thats a long artical, does it basically say - "turn the motor off and benefit from all the extra weight when going up hill"?

I converted an old bike to an ebike.  It was a lot of fun but I found I lost my fitness so I went back to my regular bike.  There is a place for ebikes.  They are perfect for commuting.  Car drivers can become ebikers.  Elderly cyclists can become ebikers.  I guess I could ride long distances on the ebike but at the moment all my journeys are too short for it.

The reality is there no basis for these claims other than brand owners fantasies. 
 

Ride your bike up the hill more slowly in a lower gear, or get off and walk up the steepest parts, then get on again. No battery needed. 

Also no matter your fitness level, cross training with other activities is much better for improving your fitness, than electronic training wheels