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I'm on my 2nd ebike. I sold my first (Scott eGenius) to my friend who left mtb a loooong time ago for moto. Long story short he sold his moto and loves the ebike, and now we are riding together quite often. Where we hadn't ridden together in like 10 years.
I still have a regular mtb. Depends on the terrain, zone, legality, I ride both. I recently had a neck injury thing and couldn't do much, so I'm REALLY out of shape. The ebike makes me actually want to go out and ride. And to get back to the gym so I can ride it fast. Uphills are now fun. "Uphill berms? Yes Please!" Downhills are still fun, but I'll admit not quite as fun as my regular mtb. Weight and my lack of strength/fitness plays mostly into that factor. But it's better than nothing!
Someone posted about CO trails being a lot of fireroad ups, with sweet singletrack down. Yes. That is us. ebikes are perfect here. Heck, I even take the ebike to lift resorts (they are not allowed on the lift) but I can get a workout up and have fun on the way down. Meet the wife and kid for lunch and hit the hot tub time machine after. Such a great way to spend your day!
edit: If you're riding with friends on regular mtb's, I'd suggest you do your best to just slow down to keep it real. Eco mode, turning off the motor, etc. I rode with a buddy who absolutely kept up with me. But he's in good shape, and I'm in bad. We both had fun! Also taking time to session sections helps keep up the fun factor and let your bros keep up. Happy trails!
Probably as close as you can get to the experience of ebiking without actually having to buy one.
It's perfect shuttle rig out here since all the DNR roads have been gated in the last decade, little bike goes right under.
Our Governor spends no political capital on improving our state, it's safety, it's commerce, or the well being of it's citizens but instead all political capital is expended providing red meat for an ultraconservative base that will donate and get his party reelected.
However, even a broken clock is right 2x/ day and the Legislature (not our idiot governor) in fact got the ban on e-bikes correct.
The very real reality is that my wife is MUCH more fearful of the nearly inevitable head on collision from an illegally ridden e-bike, than an errant hand gun killing effecting her or our kid while out on the trails, or anywhere else for that matter. I'm not scared of either, but recognize that the danger to me personally and to my family from e-bikes is higher for certain, at least being a MTBer as I am.
Thankfully, I see lots of barely ridden e-bikes for sale locally and suspect that most reasonable people ride them a few times and recognize that they are a very poor fit for the majority of our terrain.
It's not that we don't have very chunky, very steep terrain if you know where to look. It's just that we don't have mountains and it's not sustained. And for that matter those trails are simply too challenging for the vast majority of riders anyways, on any bike and most end up riding the truly green trails which are crowded, slow with hikers/ children & dogs. Our trails are also covered in trees and even fast sections can have very short sight distances.
There is a photo of a trail that E-bikers have been working on in a MTBR thread and frankly, I could ride my quad down this thing at 30 mph. You can literally see 50 yards down the trail and it's 8' wide easily. So we all have to recognize that trails vary from region to region so none of us can speak so broadly.
You know of course that it is FAR more dangerous to drive to the trails than ride on the trails, right? Life is fragile, living in fear is just wasting life. Myself, and on my local trails (over 100mi of single track and tight blind corners). I am no more afraid of an eBike than I am of one of our wicked fast XC guys on a blind corner. Heck, or a family on kids bikes when I am 20+ mph on the blind corners.
I do have to laugh at the term "illegally ridden ebike". Ever stop to consider how many people you drive near day to day who are intoxicated, incapacitated, mentally deficient, uninsured, and on and on and on? Heck, I feel more at risk at Walmart than I do on the trails....but, that is just me (and I know that easily 70% of the people in my local Walmart are legally armed).
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