The Fringe Benefits of EBiking

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davew
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The Fringe Benefits of EBiking

I started full time ebiking almost two years ago for purely treehugging reasons. Okay, maybe not purely. I do enjoy the simpler lifestyle, getting out into nature a couple of times a day, and the premium parking spaces bikes always get at the grocery store. What it was doing to my body was more subtle and harder to notice. I just happened to have a doctor's appointment right before I sold my car. I compared the results of that to what I measured yesterday and was pleasantly surprised. I have always tended towards the slender side, eat a reasonable diet, and get enough exercise. My doctor never whines at me about the typical middle age sloth and spread and the health problems that go along with them. This is why the change was more unexpected.

BP
Before: 118 / 79
Now: 108 / 75

Resting pulse
Before: 58
Now: 52

Weight
Before: 155 lbs
Now: 148 lbs

I'm not sure I could sell many books with "lose 7 lbs in two years by pedaling your butt off", but it worked for me. I think the big difference is a modest amount of exercise, twice a day, every day. At least now when someone asks if it has improved my health I can answer with an emphatic yes read them the tale of the tape.

reikiman
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Re: The Fringe Benefits of EBiking

Yeah, I tend to agree. I've been riding a non-electric bicycle a lot recently and feel much better just from that. It's been making me think about the tradeoff with the electric scooter I've had, and the electric motorcycle I'm still working on building. It would be a good thing to have an excuse for more exercise, and riding a scooter or motorcycle just doesn't do that.

- David Herron, http://davidherron.com/

MB-1-E
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Re: The Fringe Benefits of EBiking

Then too, there's the instance where the UPS guy drives by your house and waves to you and you suddenly realize how much you've been spending on your new creation ... this actually happened to me today.

I've been finding many ways to get a benefit from EBiking, from the early stages where I went down a long and very steep gravel road, made it half way back up and my controller fried ... I pedaled the rest of the way up and back home ...
... to loading my ebike onto my cargo rack, putting the dogs into the back of the truck and heading for the back roads.

Once to our destination, I unloaded the bike and soon found myself walking my ebike down a very steep grade, crossing a creek and walking my ebike back up the other steep bank. From there on, the dogs and I had a blast dodging branches, following logging roads that had not been traveled for years and exploring places that had only been accessed by trailbikes and ATVs ... but we did it quietly ... and had a blast.

I got another workout going back down the creeks embankment, crossing the creek and walking the ebike back up the other side to get back to the truck. That's defenately more excercise than I would have gotten had I just taken the dogs for a walk.

Dave

MB-1-E
Electric - Bridgestone MB-1 Mountain Bike

Dave B

MB-1-E
<a href="http://visforvoltage.org/book-page/996-mountain-bike-conversion-24v-3-4h... - Bridgestone MB-1 Mountain Bike</a>

reikiman
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Re: The Fringe Benefits of EBiking

Another thought ... it's about living outside the box. This is one of the realizations I had a couple years after regularly riding scooters/etc. I spend a lot of time inside boxes .. my office in an office building - a box - my car - a box - my house - another box. But riding an open-air vehicle like a scooter or motorcycle or bicycle, that's being outside the box.

So there's this meme of thinking outside the box, or living outside the box, but here's a way to make it kind of literally true.

- David Herron, http://davidherron.com/

Russ
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Re: The Fringe Benefits of EBiking

I like that David,

Live outside the box.

MB-1-E
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Re: The Fringe Benefits of EBiking

Ditto ... it's nice to get outside the box when we can.

Dave

MB-1-E
Electric - Bridgestone MB-1 Mountain Bike

Dave B

MB-1-E
<a href="http://visforvoltage.org/book-page/996-mountain-bike-conversion-24v-3-4h... - Bridgestone MB-1 Mountain Bike</a>

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