# The Path Podcast



## sfgiantsfan (Dec 20, 2010)

The Path Podcast on Mountain Bike Radio

Pretty interesting podcast. Talks about how he never uses any setting except turbo, how its not mountain biking and that he can do rides consisting of 3200 ft of climbing in an hour. He also said his heart rate is up but after a ride like that, he compares it to a brisk walk.

Nice to hear some stories from ebike riders without an agenda.


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## life behind bars (May 24, 2014)

The truth will be silenced.


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## BCsaltchucker (Jan 16, 2014)

opinions are like A holes lol


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## J.B. Weld (Aug 13, 2012)

BCsaltchucker said:


> opinions are like A holes lol


Who's? They didn't say anything bad about ebikes, the guy talking about his said he really liked them.

I thought it was pretty interesting, 3,000+ feet in an hour? Holy Moly! I liked his idea about standardizing nica bikes too.


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## Gutch (Dec 17, 2010)

Sounds like fun to me. Better than sitting on the rower for 10.


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## sfgiantsfan (Dec 20, 2010)

Definitely fun


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## smoothmoose (Jun 8, 2008)

I dunno - it's a weird review, with a particular point-of-view and specific use case, i.e. let's squeeze as much riding as quickly as possible in 1hr.

I don't think most eBike users will use it in this way. I think he uses it in this way as he has other bikes for his long rides and group rides.

For most people eBike will be there only MTB and will ride in groups and use lower assists levels so they can get 2-3hr ride in.


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## sfgiantsfan (Dec 20, 2010)

smoothmoose said:


> I dunno - it's a weird review, with a particular point-of-view and specific use case, i.e. let's squeeze as much riding as quickly as possible in 1hr.
> 
> I don't think most eBike users will use it in this way. I think he uses it in this way as he has other bikes for his long rides and group rides.
> 
> For most people eBike will be there only MTB and will ride in groups and use lower assists levels so they can get 2-3hr ride in.


You must not read many posts on here. One of the most common reasons I read on here is that riders don't have the time to do a long ride. Ebike enable a longer ride in a shorter time.


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## Harryman (Jun 14, 2011)

smoothmoose said:


> I dunno - it's a weird review, with a particular point-of-view and specific use case, i.e. let's squeeze as much riding as quickly as possible in 1hr.
> 
> I don't think most eBike users will use it in this way. I think he uses it in this way as he has other bikes for his long rides and group rides.
> 
> For most people eBike will be there only MTB and will ride in groups and use lower assists levels so they can get 2-3hr ride in.


On this side of the atlantic, longer rides at lower levels of assist, by necessity, seem to be the popular way to ride an ebike, on the EU side, lots of rides are shorter in distance and time, and they use higher levels of assist. Some turbo all the time. I see this across ebike forums. It's probably due to the terrain, we've got a lot of longer trail networks, they have ride centres.


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## Klurejr (Oct 13, 2006)

smoothmoose said:


> I dunno - it's a weird review, with a particular point-of-view and specific use case, i.e. let's squeeze as much riding as quickly as possible in 1hr.
> 
> I don't think most eBike users will use it in this way. I think he uses it in this way as he has other bikes for his long rides and group rides.
> 
> For most people eBike will be there only MTB and will ride in groups and use lower assists levels so they can get 2-3hr ride in.


That is quite a prediction based on zero data.


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## smoothmoose (Jun 8, 2008)

sfgiantsfan said:


> You must not read many posts on here. One of the most common reasons I read on here is that riders don't have the time to do a long ride. Ebike enable a longer ride in a shorter time.





Klurejr said:


> That is quite a prediction based on zero data.


No - I haven't conducted any eBike usage studies, but I'm sure MTBR and Pinkbike could do a survey on this.

My comments are based on my own experience, observations, opinions, and anecdotes which is what 97% of the forum posts are anyway (sorry I got no forum research to back up the 97% number either).

I agree eBike is great for squeezing in a ride when you normally can't. However in this podcast - it sounded like his ONLY use case was only using MAX assist and riding for only 1hr. I just see this as one specific use case and not necessarily the primary one. I think if I only owned 1 bike and if that's an eBike - you will go on longer and group rides as well.

But maybe I'm wrong - maybe 80% of eBike users uses MAX assist and ride only for 1hr. 3000ft of ascending and descending is a lot and very fast for 1hr. I doubt most average riders (eBike or acoustic) can complete a 3000ft descent in 30mins - that's a lot of arm pump.


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## Crit Rat (Mar 13, 2008)

I'd say that's only one use case. I have not used mine like that yet but I'm sure I will. I did basically that a few times when demoing. I'm not sure that most 500kwh battery enduro type ebikes can do 3k ft of climbing in boost or turbo either. I'll have to test.

My other use case is long adventure type rides. Ride in trail or eco and really get out and do big rides. That's my favorite type of ebike ride and the assist lets me be much more fresh for the rest of the days rather than wiped out. A key thing with a family and young kids.

Also good Enduro riders can drop 3k ft descending even gnarly terrain in under 15 minutes and that's being conservative. I just looked at a Strava and I did 2976 ft in a descent at Aspen this summer in 13 minutes and I'm a top 5 -10 Masters racer, not a pro. So much more rapid for top flight EWS men.


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## ron t (Jun 15, 2018)

sfgiantsfan said:


> The Path Podcast on Mountain Bike Radio
> 
> Pretty interesting podcast. Talks about how he never uses any setting except turbo, how its not mountain biking and that he can do rides consisting of 3200 ft of climbing in an hour. He also said his heart rate is up but after a ride like that, he compares it to a brisk walk.
> 
> Nice to hear some stories from ebike riders without an agenda.


I actually don't have a problem with that at all. I'm closing in on 1,000 miles on my eMTB and I've come to realize it's the motorcycle feeling that's what I really like. The feeling of powering uphill and on the flats with a heavy stable bike with fatter tires going way faster than I can on an unpowered bikes is really fun.

I had a ride today through the woods hitting the berms on the mellow uphills that was unreal fun. I use mostly the eMTB level of assist (1 down from Turbo) just because Turbo is not as smooth, but I'll hit Turbo when I have enough spare battery on the steep uphills.

My usual goal is to go as fast as I can but still make the distance I need to go, which requires different power settings depending on the distance and climbing. But I definitely grab more power when I can.


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## 950sm07 (Oct 28, 2011)

sfgiantsfan said:


> The Path Podcast on Mountain Bike Radio
> 
> Pretty interesting podcast. Talks about how he never uses any setting except turbo, how its not mountain biking and that he can do rides consisting of 3200 ft of climbing in an hour. He also said his heart rate is up but after a ride like that, he compares it to a brisk walk.
> 
> Nice to hear some stories from ebike riders without an agenda.


I heard that episode but I never used my ebike - Commencal Meta Power - like that. For me, Boost mode is no fun at all it's just too aggressive. The other thing, I regularly ride my two analog bikes and I want to stay in shape. If I ride on asphalt I use Eco and off-road I use Trail mode (set to middle). Trail is adaptive, it feels very natural and I can climb absolutely ridiculous stuff with it and it's fast. I have an 'enduro' loop which is 40-45 minutes with my Canyon Strive and 20-25 minutes with the Meta Power. With the Canyon, I can do two-three runs in a row and I'm wasted and I don't enjoy the third one, with the Meta I can do 5-6 and I enjoy all ups and all downs. I'm completely spent by the end but it's more muscle tiredness than complete exhaustion. I tested a couple of times and my average heart rate was 3-4bpm higher with the ebike than with my analog but my max was 5 bpm lower. So if someone pushes it, it can be a great workout.

But of course, there is no one right way to use an ebike and that's a great thing.


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## sfgiantsfan (Dec 20, 2010)

Just because your HR is up does not mean you're getting a great workout. You e-bikers need to get over that. Yes, it's better than sitting on your couch but it is like taking a brisk walk. How can you not see that if 3 laps wipes you out but after six you feel great, that you just really didn't do anything more than walking to the store to grab a bag of cheetos


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## Gutch (Dec 17, 2010)

“You” need to understand that ebikers also can know HR and different zones. Just ride one hard and see if you got a workout. If you didn’t, you didn’t push hard enough Dr. Cardio.


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## sfgiantsfan (Dec 20, 2010)

Gutch said:


> "You" need to understand that ebikers also can know HR and different zones. Just ride one hard and see if you got a workout. If you didn't, you didn't push hard enough Dr. Cardio.


Its Mr. Cardio


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## Sanchofula (Dec 30, 2007)

I fail to understand the importance of distance traveled when the rider only has an hour to spare. Quality over quantity is my mantra.

Weirder yet, a guy who maxes out the epower to go further and work less, that’s kinda weird, why not get a moto if you just want to ride and minimize effort?

Whatever floats his boat.


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## mtnbikej (Sep 6, 2001)

Nurse Ben said:


> I fail to understand the importance of distance traveled when the rider only has an hour to spare. Quality over quantity is my mantra.
> 
> Weirder yet, a guy who maxes out the epower to go further and work less, that's kinda weird, why not get a moto if you just want to ride and minimize effort?
> 
> Whatever floats his boat.


Because so often when it comes to ebike peeps, they keep claiming that they aren't going faster than a mtn bike...this is a good example that that is not the case.


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## 950sm07 (Oct 28, 2011)

sfgiantsfan said:


> Just because your HR is up does not mean you're getting a great workout. You e-bikers need to get over that. Yes, it's better than sitting on your couch but it is like taking a brisk walk. How can you not see that if 3 laps wipes you out but after six you feel great, that you just really didn't do anything more than walking to the store to grab a bag of cheetos


I had to ride an ebike once or twice before I was able to form an opinion. I think if you keep your heart rate in the 80-90% zone for a 1,5-2 hours ride you will get a pretty good workout. But you never tried it so you probably know better... same with the 3 vs 6 laps. You seem to have some issues with reading because I wrote "I'm completely spent by the end"(of the 5-6 laps) - which I think is a little bit more than walking to the store to grab a bag of cheetos. But I really don't know because I never go to buy cheetos, I don't like it...


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## 950sm07 (Oct 28, 2011)

Nurse Ben said:


> I fail to understand the importance of distance traveled when the rider only has an hour to spare. Quality over quantity is my mantra.
> 
> Weirder yet, a guy who maxes out the epower to go further and work less, that's kinda weird, why not get a moto if you just want to ride and minimize effort?
> 
> Whatever floats his boat.


I think you can have quality and quantity at the same time...
If there are some awesome trails around you and you can run it twice instead of once when you have just an hour to spare then why not? Or if a trail is out of reach in an hour ride with a regular bike but doable with an ebike?

The other guy who maxes out the epower on the way up probably rides shuttles otherwise. With the ebike he can skip it and he can still have his downhill run...


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