A few weeks ago, I was part of a group of six cyclists on a self-guided cycling trip in Algarve, Southern Portugal. Why Portugal you ask? It’s been touted as a great tourist destination — naval history, Moorish architecture, seafood, wine (including port) and varied natural beauty all condensed into a country that is one-third the size of Italy or one-half the size of Great Britain.
We settled on the touring company, Algarve Bike Holidays and chose a six-day tour of distances ranging from 40 to 70 km and the biggest day of climbing was 970 metres. Our route was a mixture of shoreline and ascents into the hills to Alte and Monchique.
What were the bike options?
My initial thought was to use their front-suspension touring bike option that was recommended for the mixed surfaces, that I was expecting along the shorelines. The injured knee in May and lack of training forced me to reconsider my bike choice as I paid the uninsurable balance of the trip in late July. Luckily, I did do some decent riding (for me) during August and September.
My e-bike experience prior to the trip was a spin around a parking lot on a buddy’s e-bike. Here in Comox, the e-bike has become commonplace, often mostly replacing the car for riders of all ages. Our friends at Comox Bike Company would be happy to sell me an upper mid-range carbon fibre Specialized road bike format, e-bike for about ten thousand dollars.
The tour company provided us with bikes powered by Bosch drivetrains. Of course, it would have been helpful to read some of this material before we went but…
As we travelled along the various routes and surfaces, our group discussed the Pros and Cons of e-bikes from the perspective of a group whose ages ranged from mid-50s to mid-70s and there was a broad set of athletic interests. One of us is committed to indoor spin classes three times a week and only rides outdoors on bike trips. Another was a former triathlete, IronMan (Person). We all have our shopping lists of various chronic ailments that require creative athleticism.
What I learned on the fly:
Our touring e-bikes were heavy, 25 to 30 kg. If you didn’t pay attention and are used to a light road bike, you would find yourself lunging to stop it from crashing onto the pavement as you fiddled about with your Garmin or phone. The kickstand was useful, possibly essential but then you had to remember that you’d deployed the kick-stand before you started off again. On the plus side, when you got the bike rolling, there was an incredible amount of momentum. Thank goodness for disc brakes.
There was a 5-square digital display on the handlebars depicting the amount of battery power remaining. For some of us, an estimated remaining range in kilometres was shown. Presumably, the scale was linear. This was a source of obsession on the first day as I had no idea how much battery power I was using or what distance the remaining four squares of power would support in terms of distance. I couldn’t find the range meter on my device.
The on/off control and power level indicator looked similar to this picture. There are five modes: Off, ECO, Tour, Sport, and Turbo each more powerful and using increasing battery power. Our advice during the orientation session was to leave the bike in ECO mode unless more power is needed. The feel of the bike in ECO mode is similar to a self-propelled touring bike, the power counteracting the heaviness.
By the end of the first day — mixed surface (tarmac/sand/hardpack/gravel) of about 62 km along the southern shore of the Algarve — I learned that I was fine in Off most of the time but ECO or Tour was handy to power through segments of soft sand. And I’ll add here that I was on 38 mm extremely knobby tires. The Ria Formosa nature park had frequent views of the Atlantic, the salt pans and various bird life. We saw white flamingos, storks and many other shore birds.
Another PRO of the e-bike was that you can load up the panniers. My pannier might contain all of the following: backup tool kit including the mysterious 15 mm wrench, the bulky and heavy battery charging pack, the power bar for plugging in all the bikes, the backup Garmin navigation device and a rechargeable AA battery system. Plus, my bathing suit. In addition to the grand hotel fancy pool swims, we had a lovely dip in the Atlantic Ocean at Praia da Rocha, the day of our descent from Alte after three pitchers of sangria (one white, two red if I recall correctly) in the delightful beach resort town.
The Recharging Routine
The routine at the end of each day’s ride was to plug in the bikes in the bike rooms of the various hotels and at Alte in the corridors and hotel rooms. This sometimes required creative bike, extension chord and power bar arrangements. My battery recharged from 4 to 5 bars within an hour. No one ran out of battery power while riding despite the two days that were mainly climbing. Theoretically, for touring trips, this means you can plan longer or more difficult days and see more of the country.
Riding Along
For the remaining 5 days, I toddled along in Off and ECO modes with no concerns about running out of battery power or exhaustion of personal energy should the ride get more difficult. For example, the big headwind we encountered as we turned south toward Sagres and the Southern tip of Portugal or unplanned extra kilometres due to dodgy route-finding. I’m thinking of you Hotel Alte Tradition.
It was comforting to know if my knee acted up, I was covered. I learned to treat myself to a few bursts of Tour or Sport on the steeper grades or soft terrain and on one tricky occasion both.
Everyone in the group was able to ride at their preferred personal energy output and use the battery power to stay with the group. The e-bike is a serious leveller for groups of riders with different experiences, fitness levels, abilities and goals. Everybody gets to go on the trip and everybody gets to have fun without being thrashed at the end of the day. This means more energy for port and wine tasting and eating the amazing Portugese tapas, seafood and salads.
So what’s the verdict?
Definitely consider an e-bike if your group has diverse abilities or your fitness is a bit wobbly for the requirements of the planned trip. By adjusting the level of battery support, each rider can still get the level of workout or assistance they want.
Would I rent an e-bike again?
Depends.
(trip photo credits to Alvin Nirenberg)