Vroom vroom
I has spent my half of the gov'ment stimulus check. Well, slightly more than my half (thanks, hon). My electric assist should be in next week. *bounce bounce* 28 mile bike commute, here I come!
And altho most of the people I've mentioned it to have said 'what a great way to lose weight', honestly, that's not my goal. Never was, didn't even think about it until people started mentioning it every time I talked about bike commuting. If it happens to be a side effect, I'll be happy, but truth be told, I think it'll be fun. I'll feel good about myself, it's satisfying from a 'reducing my personal carbon footprint' point of view, and really, if I have to be completely forthright about it... being able to casually say 'yah, too bad it was raining on Thursday, I only managed to bicycle 75 miles this week' will make me feel disgustingly smug. I mean, really, irritatingly, disgustingly smug. Right now I can say 'yah, last month I biked 64 miles while working on getting in shape to bike commute', but it'll be so much cooler when I start biking regularly rather than the occasionally I'm doing now. Of course, once it stops threatening to SNOW, SLEET and HAIL every other day, alternating with 20MPH winds, biking will be much more likely to happen, electric assist or no.
And for those purists out there who say 'why don't you just get a moped, it's the same thing'... umm... no, no it isn't. Electric assist is for leveling out the hills while STILL PEDALING, and providing brief periods of assist when I get winded, not for providing the entire push for the whole trip. The battery just isn't that big. And I can bike to work NOW, it's just not as fun because I'm exhausted when I get there.
I'll post all the details about the company I went with and the installation (which will be performed by Chris) and how I like it and the price and stuff once I get it and test it. Thus far, though, I will state that the company I'm buying from has amazing customer support, and has answered about 50 questions from me by email, responding within 24 hours every time. And this is when I was still in the research phase.
And altho most of the people I've mentioned it to have said 'what a great way to lose weight', honestly, that's not my goal. Never was, didn't even think about it until people started mentioning it every time I talked about bike commuting. If it happens to be a side effect, I'll be happy, but truth be told, I think it'll be fun. I'll feel good about myself, it's satisfying from a 'reducing my personal carbon footprint' point of view, and really, if I have to be completely forthright about it... being able to casually say 'yah, too bad it was raining on Thursday, I only managed to bicycle 75 miles this week' will make me feel disgustingly smug. I mean, really, irritatingly, disgustingly smug. Right now I can say 'yah, last month I biked 64 miles while working on getting in shape to bike commute', but it'll be so much cooler when I start biking regularly rather than the occasionally I'm doing now. Of course, once it stops threatening to SNOW, SLEET and HAIL every other day, alternating with 20MPH winds, biking will be much more likely to happen, electric assist or no.
And for those purists out there who say 'why don't you just get a moped, it's the same thing'... umm... no, no it isn't. Electric assist is for leveling out the hills while STILL PEDALING, and providing brief periods of assist when I get winded, not for providing the entire push for the whole trip. The battery just isn't that big. And I can bike to work NOW, it's just not as fun because I'm exhausted when I get there.
I'll post all the details about the company I went with and the installation (which will be performed by Chris) and how I like it and the price and stuff once I get it and test it. Thus far, though, I will state that the company I'm buying from has amazing customer support, and has answered about 50 questions from me by email, responding within 24 hours every time. And this is when I was still in the research phase.