Dang, you're tough! 1200 miles, off-road, and going strong. I'm in my 70's with an e-bike, but I don't use it often, certainly not 60 miles at a time. I can get up to 28mph via pedal-assist, but usually don't. Can't get my wife on a bike to join me, she remembers the time she got catapulted off my motorcycle when we were young, on mountain trails when I hit a rut on the trail. She called them coffins on wheels and stopped riding on them.
My wife is still a tad intimidated by it, which I get. I think the fact that it is so much heavier than a bike, and the slow speed handling characteristics are quite different from a standard bicycle. I give her points, but she let me know definitively she didn’t want to do more than a 20 mile ride after that long ride!
She didn’t complain, and I give her props for that, because she knew I was having fun...:)
I like driving on the trails, but I am too hyperaware on the roads to enjoy it nearly as much. But I do it when I want to link two or more bike trails up to cover ground.
I have gone out in cold weather too, but...not my thing. They aren’t safe enough to drive on snow, although if I had to do it, I think I could do it if it were an emergency.
We both agree 100% on the value of the bluetooth helmets where we can easily converse with each other. It makes it safer, you don’t have to ride side by side, and don’t need to shout. I think it was $120 for each helmet, but well worth it.
It is nice to have something we can do together. When we used to ride standard bikes, so often I would have to drive back to the car alone, and come back and get her. I understood. I just have more history riding bikes than she does is all. But these bikes, I can see she enjoys it.
I sure do. I love being able to concentrate on the surroundings rather than retreating inside myself to get up a hill, more interested in my tired legs than the scenery. Now, I just give it a little juice, and cruise right up, still enjoying the sun and scenery.
The other thing I REALLY like is how much easier it is crossing a busy road. On a standard bike, you have one foot on the ground, the other on the pedal, and when a car slows to let you go or you have an opening, you have to stand on the pedal to get going, sometimes wobbling a bit, and it just feels...hazardous. Especially if your foot slips off the pedal in the middle of trying to get up to speed!
With the E-Bike, when ready, you just goose the throttle and...it feels so much more controlled, so much safer crossing a road.