This morning, I ascended a two-mile climb on my favourite 20-mile route. My heart rate peaked at 159bpm – just over three times its resting rate.
I was riding an electric bike, using a moderate power setting; not long ago, I’d have completed the route in full-power mode with a similar heart rate. Later, I nipped to Asda for some groceries, adding to my riding today.
Though I have been riding some sort of bike or e-bike for almost all my adult life, this year something bit me. I’ve upped my mileage from around 150 miles a year to 800 in the last six months; a third of this has been popping to the shops. Over that period, my Garmin smartwatch has recorded my resting heart rate falling from 61 to 51bpm. I have also lost 5kg, and my shrinking waistline means I increasingly need a new wardrobe.
Latest Videos FromCycling Weekly
Many inspirational writers say that they get up at 5:30 to work out as part of their journey to corporate success. For my part, a week after moving in with my wife in Weymouth (Dorset, UK) in November 2024, I found that I needed exercise to be easier to get along with. Initially I started going for a walk at 6am to prolong the marriage – a far more valuable result than any corporate success. However, more recently, the bike has taken over.
Nipping to the shop
Trips to and from Asda add up
(Image credit: Getty Images)
1,100 miles of morning walks later, in late April this year, I found a way to secure my bike so it is as easy to use as getting in my car. This seems to have unleashed my riding in a big way. The supermarket Asda is 1.5 miles from me – a 10-minute ride down a shared-use cycling and walking path (the Rodwell Trail), that is just as quick as getting in the car and sitting in a traffic jam.
Ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games, my local Weymouth and Portland council created a fantastic cycling network around the town. As a result, around a third of my riding hasn’t been about marital harmony but instead getting a couple of days’ worth of groceries or nipping to town. At around 12p per mile in petrol, those avoided journeys would have cost approximately £32 in fuel. Charging the bike costs roughly 12p for every 60 miles, bringing the net saving to about £31.50 (just over $42 for our US readers).
A capable tank of a bike
Living in rural Dorset (Southwest England), with plentiful off-road opportunities including the beautiful Wessex Ridgeway Trail, I particularly liked the idea of a trekking e-bike.
I went for a Giant Talon E+ EX 29er that has a 250W Yamaha crank motor with 50Nm of torque, full mudguards and a rear pannier rack for around £2,500 (around $3,400). Honestly, though I sometimes used to brag I had it imported from Germany, it’s more like saying the same about a VW Golf rather than a Bugatti Veyron.
Over time, I replaced the saddle with a very comfortable one and swapped the coil-sprung fork for an air fork. Together, they have made off-road riding considerably more comfortable. I also use Maxxis Minion tyres for those moments when I need additional grip in thick mud.
Fitness measures
A smartwatch can track your exercise intensity, and e-bike rides have seen Richard increase his activity
(Image credit: Charlotte Broughton)
Though not clinical-grade measuring tools, the best smartwatches can give a rough indication of exercise intensity. My Garmin awards one intensity minute when my heart rate exceeds roughly 100bpm and two for each minute above 125bpm. These thresholds are personal to my device and settings. I aim for 70 intensity minutes a day, giving me a simple way to measure how hard I’m working rather than merely how far I’m riding.
Where I live now, I have miles of relatively safe and flat riding routes, and my morning blast is typically 7 miles with a modest climb midway. This is one of the keys to effective training – you push yourself a little harder after a period of comfort. When I’m feeling particularly hateful of my legs, I’ll do a nasty steep climb as part of the morning blast. That has brought me to a level of fitness where a 30-40-mile Saturday morning ride is now within reach.
From marital harmony to prosaic shopping trips, the bike has more than justified itself in my life. Though I still need the car, it has significantly reduced how much I use it, and in turn that has given me a new lease of life in terms of health, weight loss and general fitness.
Can you really get fit on an e-bike?
Electric bikes offer support they don’t do the work for you
(Image credit: Future)
Electric assistance generally reduces the effort required compared with riding an unassisted bike, but that doesn’t mean e-cycling provides little exercise.
A 2022 meta-analysis of 14 studies found that e-cycling typically produced physiological responses equivalent to moderate-intensity physical activity. Although the responses were lower than during conventional cycling, they were generally higher than when walking.
Moderate exercise is not an upper limit. The intensity depends on the terrain, assistance setting and how hard the rider pedals. I use my e-bike as a tool for having more fun while exercising hard: on my latest Ridgeway climb, using assistance level 2/5, my heart rate peaked at 159bpm.
What Makes An E-Bike Road Legal?
In the EU and UK, an electrically assisted pedal cycle must have pedals capable of propelling it and a motor with a maximum continuous rated power of 250W. Electrical assistance must cut out at 15.5mph, although the rider can continue faster under leg power. Walk-assist throttles are permitted up to 6km/h.
Confusion persists even among police. West Midlands Police recently admitted that flawed testing led officers to seize and destroy a road-legal £6,500 cargo bike. The force dropped the case, apologised and agreed to pay compensation.
US regulations vary by state. Most use a three-class system: Classes 1 and 2 provide assistance up to 20mph, while Class 3 pedal-assist e-bikes can assist up to 28mph. Access to roads, cycle lanes and trails differs between states.
