By Greg Conderacci
Let’s suppose you’re a fat, old guy who doesn’t like doing intervals, but hates getting dropped by the pack. (I’m guilty on all counts.) Is an e-bike the only alternative?
Maybe.
But a counter-intuitive option that’s worked for me is buying a ridiculously heavy set of “training wheels.”
During the week, when I’m not trying to impress anybody, I’m riding beefy 32-spoke wheels with Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires. The set-up is a whopping three pounds heavier than my “good” wheels. When I first mounted them on my bike, riding felt like going uphill on a muddy road into a headwind.
But then I got used to it. And I like the way the wheels don’t go out of true and the tires don’t flat.
And, when I take them off and put on lighter wheels…well, it feels like riding an e-bike!
Greg Conderacci is a marketing consultant and a former Wall Street Journal reporter, non-profit entrepreneur, and investment bank chief marketing officer. In Getting UP!, he brings you the same skills he teaches at a top graduate school and Fortune 500 companies. Lots of people promise better performance … Greg proves it. Using his energy techniques, in 2015 he rode a bicycle across America in just 18 days — averaging 150 miles a day.
So apparently you can easily deceive yourself? Here’s another idea: tie a cinder block on a rope and drag it behind you. When you remove the cinder block you’ll feel so much faster! Alternatively you could push harder on your rides to get in better shape. Just saying..
Cinder blocks crack/crumble and wear out by coming apart. I use 50 pounds worth of old railroad track cut up into 1 foot long sections. Works much better than cinder blocks.
Or shift to a bigger gear …
I also ride my heavy gravel/touring bike often. I try to keep the same speed on my road bike routes. It’s challenging. Whenever I want to feel 10 years younger I ride my titanium road bike.
I get this same experience going from my heavy touring bike to my titanium bike.
Im sure this is not what he meant 🙂 he was looking for a “make me faster without training” solution.
I ride a Specialized Turbo Creo SL Comp E5. I bought it 4 months ago. Training tires? You must be kidding? There is no comparison to riding eBike. NONE! eBikes are the future of cycling.
i would not go that far!! but they do offer an option for some people that otherwise would not consider cycling.
i really dont understand people that are against them. i have more respect for a guy that rides an e-bike every week that the showoff that rides once a month only to take pictures and showoff on social media!
Ebikes are evolving rapidly. Soon a small, insignificant battery will provide subtle pedal assist.
I use a slightly different system, I have a Trek Domane SLR that I use for everything. When I want to train hard, I put the saddlebags on the bike and put 2-liter bottles of water, at least five, so my bike weighs 10 kilos more. If I cannot travel comfortably with all that weight, I water some plants on the road with the water. I lose weight and continue with my training. If I go cycling with camping equipment, I have already trained the weight and if I go to a brevet, my bike feels much lighter, but only for a while, anyway my legs and heart have a greater training than if I did it without weight.