Ebike in hot weather. #ebike #cycling #weatheralert #

5MV-TH – Ebike in hot weather.
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https://www.buymeacoffee.com/fiveminutevelo
In this video I explore what it is like to ride an ebike in hot weather, well hot for the UK (greater than 30C) In particular I experience and conclude if using an ebike can help regulate the rider temperature.

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About the 5MV channel
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My name is Terry and I love cycling. I have named my channel “Five Minute Velo” (5MV). I have called it 5MV because the videos I upload will (mostly) last no longer than five minutes. Each video will cover just one subject that is described in the title. Although the channel is mainly about cycling on the road, I will also cover some light (gravel) off road riding, cycle touring and ebiking. No matter what, much of the advice will be pertinent to many branches of the sport/pastime.

I welcome constructive comments that will help me improve the videos that I produce and upload.

There may be some dry humour in some of the videos, so dry it may not always be obvious :-).

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My Strava profile can be found here:
https://www.strava.com/athletes/7723982

Cambridge Cycling Club website:
http://www.cambridge-cycling-club.org.uk/

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/fiveminutevelo/

Photos of 2019 Tour of low countries:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3ierczDfurM1gTGi7

Random cycling photos (will be updated from time to time):
https://photos.app.goo.gl/VZBhCWcQZtynsJF1A

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Terry

Here’s an ebike like the one behind me. Any use during hot weather. It’s a very hot day today. It’s around about 30° centigrade. So, I’m going to be seeing how much the ebike really helps me in hot weather on the hills. For the last few days, I’ve been not in my normal stomping ground of Cambridge, but I’ve come to this place which is on the border between Heraffordshire, Worcers and Glousters. So, a lot more hilly than I’m used to and indeed I’m going on a ride today that’s about 48 kilometers and it has about 650 m of climbing in it. Now, I know parts of this route and there’s one particular section where the road is probably around 20%. Now, on a road like that, I would normally struggle on an acoustic bike. However, as I’m on my ebike, I want to see how that eases my climb and in particular, how much will or won’t I suffer with the heat going up that hill. Okay, it’s time to get out of this shade now and go out into the sunshine. I was just passing the western cider factory and they happen to have a restaurant and cafe here, so I thought I’d just stop. Might as well give you a quick update on my progress. I’m just about halfway through the ride in terms of distance, but only about a quarter of the climbing. I’ve just finished the first climb. It was around about 80 m total ascent. And now I’m rewarded by this lovely view. This is a beautiful little road running next to the river Y. I’m just about to go up the steepest hill of today. Unfortunately, you can’t see much of it from here and I won’t be able to film going up it because I only have my phone camera and I can’t hold it while I’m riding up such a steep hill. This hill makes me a bit nervous. Not only because it’s quite steep, but the road surface is actually quite rough, too, and therefore it’s going to be quite challenging. I think I’ll turn up the ebike to level three or level four. I’ll see you at the top. Okay, I made it up the hill. It probably doesn’t look too steep on this video. Um, but I recorded a maximum of 18%. It probably averaged about 15% for two or 300 m. Actually, it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting cuz the road surface is not too bad. So, I’ve got just one last large climb to go. It’s about 3 km long and the ascent is about 150 m. So that averages out at about 5%. So not too steep, but it is quite long. Anyway, got a bit of a flat and a downhill section next, so I can recover. Ready for that last climb. This is pretty much the start of the last ascent. So about 3 km and 150 m of total ascent. Let’s go. So let’s answer the original question. Does the ebike help regulate the rider temperature? And the answer is obviously yes, it does. I think you’d be surprised if I said otherwise. However, there are really two reasons behind why it regulates the rider temperature. One of which is obvious and the other less so. The first obvious one is you can let the ebike do a lot of the work up the hills. The rider doesn’t need to put in as much effort and therefore they don’t generate as much heat. However, if you still decide to put in a lot of effort going up the hills and let the ebike supplement your effort, you can still be cooler. And that’s because the ebike helps you go up the hill that much faster and therefore you get the effect of the cooling breeze as you move through the air. So, there are those two reasons why the ebike can help keep you cool. First of all, you don’t have to put in as much effort, but if you do, then you go up the hills faster and you get the effect of the cooling breeze as you move through the air. Therefore, both of those effects can help keep you cooler on an ebike over a regular bike. And indeed, I found that second effect to be actually quite significant. I found it quite useful to go up the hills, putting in quite a lot of effort, and therefore use my movement through the air to help keep me cool. Indeed, some of the hills that I’ve ridden up today, had I been on a fully acoustic bike, I would have been sweating profusely, and that sweat would have been running down my forehead and into my eyes. Not only is that uncomfortable, but it can be quite disconcerting in that it affects my eyesight. Therefore, using the ebike can actually be quite useful even on a hot day, even if you’re putting in the same amount of effort going up the hills as you would on an acoustic bike. Anyway, I hope you found these little insights useful. If you did, please give the video a thumbs up and consider subscribing.