I’m normally quite mellow, but got really wound up today when 2 e-bike riding people did their best to ruin our ride.

So getting set up in the car park at a trail centre and there are 2 slightly rotund gentlemen getting kitted up in their enduro gear and pulled out a couple of full suss / fat bike ebikes. So far nothing annoying and didn’t think much of it. The place was fairly rammed anyway.

However we set off and it starts fairly twisty and pedally and I could see a bit further back the 2 guys gradually catching us and I wouldn’t say we were hanging about too much. Considering I’m on a 32-33lb enduro bike I was quite pleased with my pace. My other mate is normally much quicker uphill / when tracks are really pedally but I was making a good fist of keeping up as I’ve got a bit fitter this year.

We got to a fire track climb and about halfway up I could hear a whirring behind me and someone commenting it was annoying that their electric assistance cut out at 25km/h and that they actually had to pedal themselves then. The 2 ebikes then went motoring by. Got to the top and they’d stopped to chat. We carried on past them – then about 10 mins later just as we were approaching the top of a downhill they came flying up and passed us, then proceeded to hold us up on the DH we’d worked hard to get to the top of.

This carried on for the whole ride and some of our favourite dh’s got a bit ruined. So annoying.

Perhaps they’re not representative of the average ebiker, but it’s given me a bad / stereotypical image of them.

Chatting to other people, it’s not just me that has experienced something like this.

Grrrr.

The fact they were on ebikes is irrelevant. This scenario has been played out on trails for years.

Did they have beards?

Leave a gap before setting off, same as you would if you were following anyone you knew was slower than you. And breathe?

If this happens, e-bike or not, I just wait and let them go. Have a snack or whatever.

Is it 2009?

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-wGMlSuX_c[/video]

On the other hand you could have caught up some slow coaches who had set off before you. Take some pork pies and have break at the top before the downhill if necessary.

Cool story

I raised my eyebrows at the full suss / fat bike ebike parked up in central London the other day when I was at a works meeting. Talk about over-biked!

HaHa! Had a similar albeit shorter episode heading up to Captain Cooks Monument on the NYM a couple of years ago. I was approaching the nadgery bit just before the top & was passed by some woman on an Ebike who muttered something about it being ‘easier on one of these’ She still had to shove it up the steep part.
She was REALLY unhappy when I pissed her off on the cheeky steppy bit down. Muttered something about ‘being reckless’.
Me, at MY age? 8)

Sounds like a trail center issue nothing to do with E-bikes, that and someone who thinks the trail is just for him and his mate.

I catch people on downhills on my ebike, I apply the brakes and either slow or stop? Soooooo?

Little to do with ebikes, more your inability to share the trails.

How incredibly selfish and inconsiderate of YOU.

Not speaking to other riders on the trail.
and
Setting off too close behind obviously slower riders on every descent rather than leaving a decent gap.

what’s your excuse?

self entitlement?

What a shite rant.

Should of mobbed them like a magpie, giving it a full on RIDER R!/STRAVVVVVA your choice obvs

If you were so much faster downhill just overtake them back? Or perhaps you’re not good/fast enough to overtake?? lol!

I thought it was a fair enough rant. We kept setting off separately from anyone else and they kept throwing themselves into the mix. Didn’t have any issues with anyone but this pair of tools.

I don’t think the comment about pedalling for themselves helped. If they don’t like pedalling they’re in the wrong sport.

In terms of overtaking downhill it was singletrack.

If someone passes me uphill it’s usually because they’re fitter and generally tend to be a more skilled rider with it. In that case I’m good with that and fair play to them.

I hated pedalling uphill too.

You OK hun?

No I’m not hun,my mojo was affected!!

I’ve been riding since 92 in and around south wales and had a heart attack whilst mountain biking at bpw about 2.5 years ago, at the age of 42 due to an undiagnosed genetic condition.

I bought one as I struggled with hills both before and after,how was I to know my liver was slinging loads of rubbish cholesterol into my system furring everything up, since birth I wasn’t overweight and rode regularly. Infact 3 months after my heart attack I was in Morzine smashing runs for 2 weeks I’d happily follow you downhill and see how we get on

I’m good with using an ebike for health / disability reasons and I think my dad should get one. What I’m not ok with is people being inconsiderate with them.

In what way were they inconsiderate? It’s a trail centre, thete will always be traffic on the trails.

I offer to push knackered rider’s up fire road climbs and often lend it out so people who haven’t tried one know what they are like to ride, I still hit around 170-180bpm on it usually absolutely flying up or down.

They sounded like they inconsiderate arses. They could have been the same on regular bikes.

More the tailgating until you can move out the way to let them past, them slowing down. This wouldn’t be an issue without ebikes in my experience.

Joe ..I had a bit of sympathy for your plight right up to the point where you said “pedalling for themselves “
That to me is a comment borne out of ignorance ..
I don’t own an ebike ( I ride a “normal” bike ) but have hired them on a couple of occasions for riding on the NYM and in the deepest darkest Northumberland ..they don’t move without putting some effort in ..and like it or not you very much can have just as hard a work out as on a normal bike..
They are also a whole lot of fun ..try one if you don’t believe me.
I’m sorry that they held you up but as has already been said ..you could just as easily have been held up by slower riders who had just set off on the descent prior to you seeing them ( on normal bikes )..stay cool man 8)

And these particular riders couldn’t have been inconsiderate arses in the same way without their turbo levos.

Hodgynd – their words not mine. The guy clearly said he hated that over 25kph the assistance stopped and he had to pedal for himself.

I know how legal e bikes work.

Which is different to my ebike experience when commuting along the Bristol to bath cycle track in the week. I’d ‘towed’ another guy on a racer up the gradient from the centre of Bristol before he went to overtake me. An e bike rider then practically elbowed him out the way as he tried to pass through a ridiculously narrow space. Note I was averaging 18mph at the time, the guy being elbowed out the way was going faster, and the guy on the ebike wasn’t pedalling very hard. One of those ebikes with the huge rear hub that presumably isn’t legal at that speed.

The guy clearly said he hated that over 25kph the assistance stopped and he had to pedal for himself.

They were trolling you. In style, I might add!

*nips to garage to check turbo levo is on charge
Opens another pack of Jaffa cakes*

8)

nice rant. Time for some decaf?

I was out with a mate on Thursday night. He’s just bought an ebike. It was like riding in the kirin. Bar Steward made me post my best strava times ever trying to keep up with him. We’re planning our revenge though. Something with a nice hike-a-bike. Black Sail Pass should sort him out.

I think the good captain may be right..25kmph ..is legal on these bikes ( 15.5mph ) ..that is not a de-restricted bike ..
If he was going uphill at 15mph ..believe me that takes some doing on a bike that heavy even with assistance ..
I’m not having a go at you Joe ..and I’m sorry that it spoilt your day ..but there is still a lack of understanding out there as to how these things work .
Just console yourself with the fact that you could have slayed him downhill and write it off as a bad day at the office ..

Happens all the time to me, not so much ebikes, I’ll get spanked by some 8st XC whippet on the climb and then stuck behind them on be downs, I say ‘stuck’ it’s more like they get a headstart and I try to kill myself to catch them on the downs. If I don’t, I even sulk sometimes 😉

If I don’t, I even sulk sometimes

That’s where you’re going wrong. You should be ranting into the void online instead!

I can see that you’ve had a ride a bit ruined. As others have said, it’s not that relevant that they were on E-Bikes – I’ve had group rides where the slower riders sneak into a bit of singletrack or a downhill first and you get held up and don’t have the same buzz…
But, it was just ONE RIDE mate, move on. Next one will be great. You’ve got yourself fitter, as you said, so there are some great rides in store for you.
EBikes are here to stay, so live with em. (Just don’t join em! 😆 )

I’d actually like a go on one to see how much assistance they give. The guys today looked massively unfit and didn’t look like they were having to try that hard.

My mate who is significantly quicker uphill on bigger sustained uphills and I have been toying with me hiring an ebike and him riding his usual bike as an experiment. After today we’ve knocked it on the head pretty much – after seeing the power they had its pointless – even with his better fitness it seems very likely I’d leave him miles behind uphill.

They’re good fun – don’t try riding one on an EBike one not, cos they make a MASSIVE difference on the upills – as you’ve experienced! I thought I’d be able to go for a ride with my son on a demo day – him on an eBike, me on a normal bike. He laughed at me on the climbs. 😆