MAMILS - Winter Time is e-MTB Time

So, you’re a Middle Aged Man in Lycra (MAMIL) and proud of it. You’re fighting fit (or getting there) and want to keep up the training intensity as you go into the winter months. You may have spent the sort of cash your partner cursed at so are financially committed to getting your blood pressure, BMI and joie de vivre back. Problem: the gales, rain and ice of winter is coming and that really isn’t fun on your road bike, no matter how streamlined your 100km weekends may have made you over summer… We do however have the solution in the form of a Haibike!

Published: Wednesday 19 September 2018

MAMILS - Winter Time is e-MTB Time

So, you’re a Middle Aged Man in Lycra (MAMIL) and proud of it. You’re fighting fit (or getting there) and want to keep up the training intensity as you go into the winter months. You may have spent the sort of cash your partner cursed at so are financially committed to getting your blood pressure, BMI and joie de vivre back.

Problem: the gales, rain and ice of winter is coming and that really isn’t fun on your road bike, no matter how streamlined your 100km weekends may have made you over summer…

Solution: Commit some more cash to going mountain biking this winter. Buy a cut price electric Haibike from E-Bikes Direct and start thrashing out the miles in good old British mud!

Yes, we are an online retailer of ebikes and have a fair few top end electric bikes to shift but there is a serious point - not long ago British Cycling published an article about why in winter months road cyclists should seriously consider going mountain biking. There’s a lot to be had from it.

British Cycling tells MAMILS to go MTB

British Cycling’s first point was that mountain biking is much more fun than interval training in the gym yet will give great rewards. You will have to go through sudden bursts of high intensity on muddy climbs and through muddy stretches. This is great for fitness and can translate well to a breakaway from the peloton in summer racing.

If you think that electric mountain biking is about switching to a higher power level on those slogs, we will just respond by asking you how disciplined are you? You’re not using a Land Rover to go on those tracks so you can jolly well hit the off switch while on those slogs. Assistance is your choice not the electric mountain bike’s!

The blog also pointed out that MTB riding is about a full body workout. You’re constantly adjusting position on the machine and using your upper body to soak up the bumps - and even bunny hopping to get over things like logs and other obstacles. You will find that you will be more knackered from a shorter ride on the mud than on the road.

You learn better pedaling efficiency on mountain bikes. According to the British Cycling blog, “Riding off-road punishes choppy and heavy footed pedal mashing. Try to muscle up a loose or slippery climb and you will soon spin out, be off your bike and walking. To maintain traction you have to develop an even, circular and smooth pedaling style. You can then transfer this pedaling technique to your road cycling where it will result in far smoother, more economical and faster riding.”

Most of all you will just have piles of fun and be able to explore areas of the countryside that would kill your full carbon Mamil Machine in seconds. It is arguably safer than road riding in the winter months too with no black ice, slippery manholes or cars with drivers full of Christmas Cheer erratically tackling the country lanes in the poor light. From your writer’s perspective, climbing onto a snowcapped ridge he knows well from throughout the year is to arrive at a completely new place.

Oh yes, cheater bikes?

You will hear us yawn when we hear that old chestnut. In a previous blog we showed that research has found, “e-cyclists did bigger climbs, higher speeds and longer distances than traditional cyclists.”

Your writer has just bought a Haibike mountain bike and on his first ride he did a classic ride that is only possible when he is at peak fitness on his 29er with some brutal climbs and great views. A 40 knot gust stopped him in his tracks on the first serious climb some time ago… Now he fears no headwinds…

He came back burned out yet feeling wonderful, even though he was at the worst level of fitness for years. He never used anything above the second lowest setting and pushed himself to crazy levels just because he could. For fitness you ride an electric mountain bike with battery conservation in mind not getting to the top without breaking a sweat! Burned out? He had some work to do on Sunday night subediting a magazine and announcing he’d finished the job to his clients wrote “Finished Sunda work” in the subject line, so fried he couldn’t spell properly!

So, what electric mountain bike should you buy?

This year, here at E-Bikes Direct we have a number of 2018 cut price Haibikes on offer in our Haibike sale.

For cross country riding there is some debate as to whether to buy a hardtail or a full suspension mountain bike. The hardcore XC riders prefer a hardtail like the Haibike SDURO HardSeven 7.0 2018 Electric Mountain Bike. For those who want a little more comfort on the rear you can consider this bike’s full-sus cousin the Haibike SDURO FULLSEVEN 7.0 2018. Better (and slightly pricier) than this is the Haibike SDURO FULLSEVEN 8.0 2018 with its improved drivetrain and shocks.

For hardcore downhilling (and an extra special full body workout) you should consider the Haibike SDURO FULLSEVEN LT 4.0 2018 - LT stands for Long Travel and refers to the massive travel on its shock and forks. You can hit obscene speeds yet won’t have the fillings rattled out of your teeth on this all out downhill monster!

You may be a bit like me with routes that involve some road and some (quite challenging) off road sections in range of your home. That means you want a decent all rounder that doesn’t mind a bit of bog but won’t gobble tyres on the road (as might be the case on a FatSix total off-road electric bike). In that case have a look at the Haibike SDURO Cross 4.0 2018 Mens electric mountain bike.

How to tell your partner

So, we’ve told you what you need to enjoy the winter’s muck and why you need to enjoy it. If we were a marriage counselling website we would advise you how to tell your partner that you’ve raided the kids’ Christmas money to buy yourself something to help you avoid them this winter. Sorry, but we aren’t a marriage counselling site…!