Zen and the Art of E-bike Touring

Peak experiences: All of life is a journey, of course, but by living fully in the moment I hope you will have peak experiences on your ebike trip, the kind of moment that impresses itself on your mind, that creates a durable, vivid memory of a fleeting instant of total, unadulterated joy.

I recall thinking as I rode toward a picturesque thatch-roofed Danish farmhouse, situated between a deep blue lake off to my left and on my right a field of rap seed plant blooming a vivid yellow and scenting the soft morning breeze with an almost unbearably sweet scent, that life just doesn't get any better than this. Having such experiences is one compelling reason to travel.

If you are NOT enjoying your journey, you need to stop and carefully consider what is not working for you. Is the pace too hectic? Are you too stiff and sore to enjoy things? Do you need to share experiences with others, or conversely do you really only enjoy things when on your own? Is the weather simply more than you can cope with? Are you being stressed by constantly hearing a foreign language and having all the everyday things be different and strange? Each type of problem requires a different sort of adjustment.

Pace: We settled on a leisurely, almost languid pace, so that we would always feel free to stop and take picture of interesting things, and have the energy to really enjoy each day's ride. While we were usually up at 6 am, breakfast at most B&Bs was offered at 8 am, and then we relaxed with our morning coffee until the usual check-out time of 10 am. We would ride for 2 hours at a 10-18 kilometer per hour pace, then stop to rest and have lunch from 12-1 pm. After lunch we would ride for another hour or two to arrive at our next accommodation by 2-3 pm. After unpacking and resting a bit, we usually walked around to explore the local area before settling in for the evening. This would truly be a "snail's pace" for some folks, but it gave us tremendous flexibility to devote extra time to anything interesting we discovered during the day, and so was right for us.

By keeping our bicycle speeds at 19 kilometers per hour (12 miles an hour) or below, we kept our pedaling effort low by using the maximum motor assistance. That way we never got utterly exhausted although after 4 or more hours in the saddle we did get tired. Due to our slow speeds and frequent stops, we never exceeded 45 kilometers per day and never even came close to exhausting the batteries despite using the motors rather heavily. Such an extremely relaxed riding style would have any serious bicyclist laughing outright, of course, but it allowed us to fully experience our environment during each day's ride, which we felt was the point of the journey.

Soreness: Although our legs held up well, the duration of our daily rides was limited by getting quite saddle sore after 2-3 hours of riding. Having a maximum riding time of 2 hours in the morning and two more in the afternoon kept that soreness bearable. I hurt my right knee going up and down 500 steps at the Cliffs of Mon, and that caused us to ease off even this leisurely pace for the next 2 days, but our "Day by Day" style of planning allowed us to adjust to my physical limitations for that period.

Other People: If you truly need to have other people to enjoy things, consider joining a group of cyclists when making this type of journey. As discussed earlier, some commercial firms offer group bicycle tours which have clear safety advantages and no planning stress, but restrict you to their predetermined schedule of sights and times, thus limiting your flexibility. Conversely, if you prefer solitary traveling, you have the maximal flexibility to do anything you want to, but must do all the planning on your own and carry all you clothes and equipment on one bike.

We were clearly in a middle ground where we traveled together as a dyad. We each had our own ebike, but we could be more efficient by only taking one set of repair tools, one bicycle tire pump, and one first aid kit, which were divided across our two bicycles. If we had been camping overnight, we would have had the additional camping gear and it would have been even more important to spread that load across our two bicycles. We also felt that riding as a dyad was much safer because cars were more likely to see and avoid the two of us, we could both help in repairing the bicycles if necessary, and in case of an emergency or injury the other person could call for help.

Bad weather: Watch out for both hypothermia, on the cold side, and hyperthermia, on the hot side, as bicycling exposes you to the elements far more than an automobile does. We coped with rotten weather en route by shortening our daily rides even more, and spending the rest of the afternoon and evening taking a nap, reading and playing games on the IPad, and listening to the soothing patter of rain drops on the roof. As long as you are not on a set schedule, you should consider just staying put for an extra day when the weather is really miserable rather than forcing your way onwards, especially if you have comfortable accommodations.

Stress: Any travel involves some change in your daily routine and some change in your normal environment, which most people find stressful. Foreign travel adds the stress of hearing a language you cannot understand, being isolated by not being able to comprehend the mass media such as TV, radio, newspapers, and so forth, and having to cope with many aspects of your environment that are new, unfamiliar, functioning in a strange way, or just not working at all.

To minimize stress, consider taking journeys first in your native culture, where everything will be the same as at home and you will swim like a fish in the water. Then branch out to nations and cultures that are most like your own in terms of language, food, drink, accommodations, transportation, and norms for behavior. Only then would it be wise to consider journeying on a bicycle in a completely disparate type of culture where you know nothing and are familiar with nothing, and even then you should carefully consider the safety of such a journey.

We both are fluent in German and feel comfortable in German culture, so for us traveling in Germany or Austria is only slightly different from traveling in the USA. Actually, Germany, Denmark, and Holland are set up for bicycle travel far more than the U.S.A. is, so bicycling in those countries is certainly less dangerous than bicycling in the U.S.A. Although Australia and Ireland are not formally set up for bicycle travel to the same extent as northern Europe and you must get used to driving on the left-hand side of the road, both countries have very friendly, hospitable people who speak versions of English that are comprehensible to us, which would make them low-stress countries.

However, I would be reluctant to attempt a bicycle trip in certain countries. In England, for example, you must drive on the left-hand side of narrow roads that are extremely congested with drivers who are often quite aggressive, a very dangerous mix. In Italy, the "Rules Of The Road" are merely considered to be 'suggestions', with the result that the automobile driving is wildly unpredictable, which also is quite dangerous for bicyclists. So when considering foreign bicycle travel, you should carefully judge the foreign culture with regard to the basic safety of riding a bicycle, the hospitality of the people, and the language, food, and available accomodations.

But I certainly don't want to discourage you from bicycle travel in other cultures! Please consider that your opportunities to learn new things increase to the extent that the culture you are visiting differs from yours. Thus, the increased stress of any foreign culture may be well worthwhile in providing you completely new experiences and viewpoints on life. On our travels, we especially enjoy seeing how other cultures resolve the everyday problems of life such as food, water, shelter, and public transportation, just to name a few areas, and we always try to take the best of what we find in each culture home with us.

In conclusion, we hope this guide has been useful and we wish you safe ebike journeys and many memorable experiences either at home or abroad!