Yesterday was a bit of a mixed (if not downright bad) experience. I went out with the club semi-slow run on the Vitus now fitted with working 600 Tricolour brifters. The reason I hadn't used it for a couple of years was the discomfort of 23mm tyres pumped up to 7bar. But yesterday I took a chance and rediscovered how slick the shifting was (8sp, 11-30 cassette, nothing to get excited about). The bad bit was a crash when I crashed into the bloke in front while discussing stuff with the Pres (he stopped in the road, looking round to see where we were as we were at the back; I was looking the other way and didn't notice that one blue jersey had stopped moving. I may have a problem with peripheral vision in my old age!) I always knew there was a reason I prefer to ride solo! Only damage to me being bars and levers, sorted out with allen keys (mine!) by the side of the road and a front wheel seriously pringled. I sorted that with an application of knee so that it turned and I had an emergency front brake but the rim is dead (old Open Sport rim so not the end of the world changing it). The good side 58kms at 20km/h. I haven't done that for a long while. I really am happier riding alone though, even if it is slower and harder work!
Today was a bit different because I was walking, not riding. The Transmillevache which is an mtb event with distances from 25 to 80kms with a fair bit of climbing. I took my daughter's dog for 10kms in the morning on a walk intended for bored wives and other helpers (and families). We had fun and I took a few photos, most of which are rubbish. The interesting part was looking at the bikes that we crossed. Of course we were only seeing the ones on the shorter circuits, I would guess that battery life would preclude a lot of e-bikes from tackling the 80. Fully 50% of the ones we saw, perhaps more, were electric and a lot of the riders were relatively young (30's and upwards). It was also interesting to see a couple of gravel bikes.
My pessimistic mind has got to thinking that if the majority use motors then organisers are going to design technically harder circuits to accomodate this, to the point that certain circuits and rides are going to become inaccessible to average unmotorised riders. I can't help thinking that in an environment of cycle-tourists this is a bad thing!
Final observation, e-mtb riders in this part of the world depend on big fossil-burners, frequently 4WD, with big platform racks to shift their bikes. E-bike is not necessarily green!
