Meet Gudrun
18/3/17 18:46![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darkemeraldsHave you ever had that dream where you're not quite flying, but where every step you take carries you a mile across the landscape? Or where you can descend flights of stairs in a single graceful bound?
Riding an ebike is like that.
This is my new Gazelle Arroyo C8 electric pedal-assist bike. Her name is Gudrun. Her battery is hidden under the rear rack. Her almost-silent electric motor is between the pedals.
There are four power levels: Eco, Tour, Sport, and Turbo. At the bottom of a hill that you wouldn't dream of riding up on a heavy Dutch bike like my Eleanor, you set the motor to turbo, shift down to the lowest gear, and that's when it's like wearing ten-league boots in a dream. You have to pedal, but you're like Wonder Woman when you do.
It's true that you don't get as much exercise on an ebike. I rode Gudrun home across town this afternoon without breaking a sweat, and I want to break a sweat sometimes. That's why I'm keeping Eleanor.
But with Gudrun, I'll be able to do a 20-mile round trip, or pull a trailer of bark dust, or go to the inexpensive acupuncture clinic at the top of the hill--all things that have gradually but inexorably slipped from my grasp in the last three years.
My sister tried Gudrun out this afternoon, and halfway up the street I heard her shout, "This is AWESOME!"
It really is.
*The wonderfullyr, with whom I had a delightful lunch and conversation today, and who is a namer of things, suggested "Gudrun" based on a photograph, and she was right.
Riding an ebike is like that.
This is my new Gazelle Arroyo C8 electric pedal-assist bike. Her name is Gudrun. Her battery is hidden under the rear rack. Her almost-silent electric motor is between the pedals.
There are four power levels: Eco, Tour, Sport, and Turbo. At the bottom of a hill that you wouldn't dream of riding up on a heavy Dutch bike like my Eleanor, you set the motor to turbo, shift down to the lowest gear, and that's when it's like wearing ten-league boots in a dream. You have to pedal, but you're like Wonder Woman when you do.
It's true that you don't get as much exercise on an ebike. I rode Gudrun home across town this afternoon without breaking a sweat, and I want to break a sweat sometimes. That's why I'm keeping Eleanor.
But with Gudrun, I'll be able to do a 20-mile round trip, or pull a trailer of bark dust, or go to the inexpensive acupuncture clinic at the top of the hill--all things that have gradually but inexorably slipped from my grasp in the last three years.
My sister tried Gudrun out this afternoon, and halfway up the street I heard her shout, "This is AWESOME!"
It really is.
*The wonderful
lyr, with whom I had a delightful lunch and conversation today, and who is a namer of things, suggested "Gudrun" based on a photograph, and she was right.