Angela's Ride: Pedal Bike vs. Electric

Angela’s Ride: Pedal Bike vs. Electric

This weekend, Mother Nature was kind enough to give us a reprieve from the otherwise rainy weekend to let the sun shine. As soon as I saw those drops of water pass and sun rays shine through the gray, I turned to my husband and said, “let’s ride!” But he was not to ride an electric bike. Instead, this was to be a test to see if I could really “catch up” with my husband’s riding.

Backstory, I have had a rather significant ankle injury that has made any sort of cardio unbearable. It seems that no matter the activity, whether it be frisbee golf, running, or biking, I always manage to be immobile the following day due to intense pain (don’t worry, I’m getting it looked at soon). When it came to biking, my husband always seemed to ride circles around me. In some ways, I felt ashamed and self conscious of him surpassing me all of the time. Just once, I wanted to see if I could be able to catch up with him and have an enjoyable day out.

So, I wanted to test two things: 1) how well I could keep up with my husband on an electric bike with him on a pedal bike, and 2) how well my ankle felt during the ride and the following day.

After making a brief stop at the shop to pick up the necessary materials (pannier bags and such), we were off. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Would I be too fast for him? Would I still be in too much pain to ride? The thoughts were crossing my mind when we first rode.

But, then something strange happened. I stopped worrying about surpassing my husband or not being able to keep up. My ankle felt great with the assistance, and I didn’t feel too awful with the hills we encountered. My ride was actually enjoyable, and I wanted to continue much longer than I would have with a non-electric bicycle. I kept his pace, which seemed to shift between 12 and 14 miles per hour.

We traveled 7 miles, which may not seem like much to some, but to me it was a glorious feat of athleticism. After stopping for a lovely brunch, we traveled back home. (By the way, if you’re ever in the Grand Haven area, Morning Star Cafe is the place to go for brunch. They make a mean Eggs Benedict. Poached eggs, avocado, bacon, smoked turkey, all on a toasted English muffin. Talk about Heaven.)

I reflected on my bike trip on the way home as well as afterwards. I definitely felt like I had gone on a bike ride, the slight drained feeling after being in the sun. To be honest, my booty was feeling it too. I wasn’t winded or felt like I had done too much exercise, but I was pedaling the whole time (hopefully there’s some credit for that). My husband seemed a lot more worn out, and he could definitely feel as if he had worked out significantly. I was ready to go back out, and he was ready to take an afternoon nap.

And how did my ankle feel? Pretty great. Now, it was feeling some pain having worked a couple of events before the weekend, but it wasn’t terrible. The fact that I was ready to go back out is a good sign.

Would I go on another bike ride with him? Of course! Not only is he fun to bike around with, but I was actually able to enjoy the scenery and our little West Michigan town rather than pedaling two miles and wanting to turn around.