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| Jonathan with his newly converted e-bike |
As a parent of three active young kids, a blogger, leader at our church, tinkerer, volunteer and being employed full time, my life is too packed to add new things without dropping something else. However, getting more exercise is something I’ve needed to do for some time (I know it and so do my doctors and family members), but I’ve never been able to make it work.
Then it occurred to me, I should bike to work at least a couple times a week. Work is 8 miles from home and with the amount of rush hour traffic here, it takes me 40-45 minutes by car during rush hour. Public transportation from our home would take over an hour, but friends who bike said I could bike it in about 30-40 minutes. I could save time and get exercise AND it would be good for the planet!
That was two years ago and I have finally achieved that goal. The first challenge came when I bruised my knee playing softball. Nothing so bad as to require surgery, but the Orthopedist said that it is going to hurt for a few months and that I shouldn’t ride my bike. Then came the New England winter.
Spring rolled around and I got my bike tuned up (I hadn’t ridden it much since my kids had been born and an annual tune-up is recommended for all bikes). I did a few rides with a friend who commutes on his bike regularly and even rode down and up the hill I live at the top of to make sure I could do it. The ride up was hard, but I managed. I staged clothes at work, got everything ready to be able to shower and change and finally rode my bike to work.
That ride was a lot harder than I had imagined. Part of the challenge came from carrying my backpack on my back since I didn’t have a rack on my bike. Another part was that I was out of shape. And the biggest challenges were the two big hills on my way home. I had to walk up the shorter steeper hill and stopped and walked part of the mile climb (144 foot elevation change) before getting back on and pushing to the top. Clearly I needed to re-evaluate my plans as I wasn’t ready for this on a regular basis.
Perhaps getting in regular bike rides would get me into shape for the hilly 8 mile ride to work, but finding time to bike just for exercise was not something that Alicia and I could imagine.
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| E-BikeKit 500W Direct Drive Rear Wheel in the box |
Then I discovered an affordable electric-assist bike conversion kit. I purchased an E-BikeKit from Electric Bikes of New England in Derry, NH and am so glad I did. Stay tuned for more of my adventure as e-bike commuter.
Happy Greening!
Jon
Do you bike to work/school? If not, what’s stopping you? If you do, what is the best thing about it?
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