This Bike is a miracle!

When i got the electric bike i wanted somthing that:

1. Would be a good baby transporter.
2. Would let me do our hilly local journeys of 4.5 miles to the station and 6 miles to either of our nearest market towns, without sweating.
3. Would let me cycle when poorly.
4. Would let me cycle when injured.

Well now my knee is playing up and i cant get to work on my Dawes Sardar or Birdy , so i'm using the Kalkhoff to get to the station. So thats point4 answered. My knee still hurts a bit by Saturday but its not getting any worse.

The thing is while taking it easy to rest my knee i'm equalling my best journey times on the Sardar! Now its very rolling hilly, so i go slow up, but on the sardar, with the drop handlbars and lycra i'm like a rocket on the downs and one long flat stretch, so i was shocked to see the Agattu match these speeds while taking it easy and wearing office clothes.

When my knees better will i get back on the Dawes?

Family Ride

The whole family went out for a small ride at the weekend. We rode to a duck pond which is 6 miles away. Its quite flat but has a couple of ups and downs. This was our first 'true' family ride (as opposed to few test runs). It was a lovely day and Mike wore his Sunglasses for the whole journey which was a first (normally he always pulls them off). Unfortunately in training for this I'd been letting him wear 'Daddys' shades. This worked only too well, now if i pick him up and I'm wearing shades he grabs them of my face. I have little baby scars on my nose!

A few notes on from my wife's perspective. It was my wife's 3rd ride since she'd had Michael and it was also her first ride on the Agattu. She's lost the 'habit' (in the drug dependency meaning of the word) of cycling.Her first challenge was what to wear (I'll refrain from the obvious comments here as a) I'm just as vain and image conscious and b) she'll hit me). When i pointed out that the bike had power, rubber pedals and a skirt guard and that she wasn't going to get sweaty and that she could wear what she liked, she instantly thought great! and went off to change. Of course she was back 5 minutes later moaning her nice summer skirt was in the wash.....

The other things she liked were:

• She instantly liked the smooth ride which was reminiscent of an old dutch style bike she used to have.
• She loved the power when we hit our first hill. I told her to wait for me at the top:-)
• She loved the way having Michael on the back had no effect on the ride.
• She liked the new basket on the front. Great for throwing stuff into

All in all a convertee. I just need her to use it more now so that she can get her own!

Found a Good Family Forum

I've normally used the CTC forum for cycling advice and ideas. Its great , but when i became a parent i found there wasn't a specific place for parents to talk about kids and bikes.

I recently found Bike Radar which has a specific Family and Kids forum. Its not quite as intimate as the CTC forum, but its great to have a dedicated place to go for family cycling discussions.

And the new bike does babycare as well!

I've not posted for a while as my wife and i have had stinking colds all week, caught from mini Mike. Last Tuesday , i was at home with Mike all day along with my stinking cold. This was my first time looking after him while feeling poorly. Mums of the world you have my admiration!

Anyway by the time he woke up from his post lunch sleep i was exhausted and couldn't face 4 hours of entertaining him. Bring on the bike! I took him straight out in the garden and pointed at the shed. Mike started his mini fit of excitement that he gets when he realises he's going out on the bike.

We went for a 4o minute ride to a nearby play park. Then he ran round the park screaming for half an hour. Then we picked up some food and headed back home. He fell asleep again after 20 minutes and then once i got home he stayed asleep in the bike for another 40 minutes, while i kicked back and dozed in the sun. With 3 hours killed my wife came home early and the afternoon had passed!

So the parenting moral of this tale is: When the kids are driving you to your wits end get on the bike!

The biking moral of this tale is: A good pedelec will carry you on a nice gentle ride when your too poorly to ride normally. Fantastic!