Hannah explains why she thinks an eMTB should be your next gift to yourself if you want to add a little joy to your life.
I have never really ‘had money’. For a brief period in my twenties I had a disposable income, and I bought cheese, wine and whisky and paid off my student loans. And then I had kids, worked part time, got divorced, and generally did the kinds of things that puts ones finances somewhere between comfortable and careful. Consequently it can often be hard for me to review products on these pages through anything other than the lens of the saved up for, forever purchase. The bike I would ride until every standard was obsolete and parts non replaceable. Kit I’d wear until it can’t be put back together with glue or safety pins.
That said, I am aware that not everyone approaches shopping and purchases like I do. If everyone took the same ‘as infrequently as possible’ approach to spending any money as I do, we’d need a complete rethink of our global economic structure. I know that some people buy things because they can, and because they bring them joy. I’m trying to practice purchasing for joy a little bit more, because paying off your student loans is all very well but mightn’t there not just have been a little more joy in my twenties if I’d spent a bit of it traveling? Maybe learning to snowboard? 2020 has brought the purchasing of joyful things into closer focus: yes I can cook a roast Sunday dinner at home, but there is much greater joy to be had in tramping over the moors to a pub to pay and have one served up to you on plate, accompanied by a pint and a jug of extra gravy, then waddling home leaving all thoughts of the washing up behind.
Sunday lunch out once in a while is a fairly small joyful purchase in the scheme of things. But what of bigger purchases? These remain mostly out of my reach, but I don’t resent them being in yours – I’d just like to help you choose wisely. I wonder what ‘joy toys’ (no sniggering) you have? A motorbike maybe? A hot tub? Maybe a downhill bike that only gets used a few weekends a year on a day trip to an uplift. Perhaps you have a kayak that you take out for a paddle a handful of times a year. Do you own a snowboard or two, and skis, and all the paraphernalia that goes with it and gets taken out to somewhere snowy once a year or so?
For those of you with a few thousand pounds to spend on something just because you want it, and because it will be fun, I think I have found an item which should definitely be at the top of your list: an eMTB. Now, if you’re going to head straight to the comments section and mutter something about you not being old enough, or lazy enough, or weak enough, or whatever, then you’re missing the point. Please put those thoughts aside and read on while I explain why I think an eMTB is the toy you should be eying up next.
The single most joy giving reason for buying an eMTB is, in my view, snow. Riding an eMTB in the snow is a slithery bar wrestling exercise in giggling. The e-assist means you can keep pedalling and making progress through the snow without constant dismounting and pushing. This means you can get further, which means you can get beyond the slushy trampled routes where everyone else has been and out into a crisp white arctic tundra. Smooth drifted waves of snow sculpted by the wind, frosted tufts of grass and extraordinary icicles will reveal themselves as you climb higher into the colder air where weather is left to do its thing away from gritters and snow shovels.
Here in the UK there aren’t that many great outdoor activity options for snow. You could sledge, but the attractions of that are limited – invariably you’ll be sharing the prime sledging spot with dozen of children. Skiing and snowboarding are all very well, but in the UK there’s rarely a sufficiently even covering of snow to let you do that from your door. A ski bike, though a lot of fun, is limited by the lack of even covering too – you need snow just to push it along to wherever you’re going to play. Riding a bike however is possible whether you have powder or wet snow, patchy or a full and even covering – though it’s not without its challenges.
Routes you might normally ride in an hour or two can be epic four hour slogs in the snow without an eMTB – and for sure that kind of adventure has its place. But what are the chances of the snow covering aligning with the weekend when you have a four hour window of time to go and play out? With an eMTB there is time to get out there and play every day until the snow melts. Remember when you were a child and you’d be desperate to get out on the sledge at first light, or in the front garden in wellies and pyjamas building a snowman? An eMTB lets you recapture that excitement, and once you’ve been out once and seen the scenery in this new light, you’ll be fired up and ready to go the next day, and the next – what wonders will present themselves on your next adventure into the alien frozen world? The beauty and strangeness of it, the constant source of wonders and surprises, is addictive. Photographs rarely capture the scale, or the sparkle, or the physical presence of the shapes formed by snow, ice and wind – and you can be sure that those magical wildlife encounters won’t wait for your camera. You need to be there, to feel it, see it, and squint into the dazzling cold.
I suspect there is someone, maybe you, thinking this all sounds a little dangerous, and isn’t there a time to just stay home by the fire. But I’d argue that there’s too much delight to be had in the snowy uplands to ignore it, and on an eMTB you can more easily add a little extra safety to your ride. I’ve been out in the same level of body armour as I would if I were going for an uplift day at the bike park – on an eMTB you barely notice it. Over the top of all that padding, I’ve added substantial snow boots, waterproof trousers and upper body layers of merino, fleece and Goretex. It’s like riding in my own personal tent, wrapped up warm with the whipping winds kept at bay. A pack on my back with emergency supplies for if the worst does happen is no encumbrance. I’d be hard pushed to be so prepared on a standard bike, or even a fat bike, and retain any element of joy.
Are you tempted yet? Maybe you need a few practical arguments too.
Winter is mostly pretty horrible in the UK, so anything that brings us joy in those long dark months is surely all the more precious. Whatever the time of year, an eMTB will allow you to squeeze more fun into less time, but in the midst of winter when daylight is scarce, that’s extra valuable. You could ride half way up and do half the descent, sure. Or just not ride as far. But surely the whole descent, or getting beyond the hill you can see from your house, would be more fun? An eMTB might just let you fit in a ride that you really enjoy into the last gasp of daylight between work and nightfall, or dawn and work.
Even when there’s no snow, just standard UK grim wet, on an eMTB you can layer up in as many warm or waterproof layers as you want and know that there’s no need for you to end up being a sweaty potato half way up the first climb or a cold and drowned rat half way down the first descent. It’s possible to make the riding more comfortable, which makes it altogether more attractive, which will help you ride more. More riding, more joy.
Of course, an eMTB can be used all year round if you want to – unlike some of those other toys you might have. The stand up paddle board in the summer, the skis in the winter. An eMTB can bring you joy any day of the year, and needn’t detract from any of the other riding you do. It’s just another option for bringing a little happiness into your life.
I’m not going to pretend that an eMTB is cheap, but if you’re living in that world of buying a car with some added extra features, or a new sofa because you want it to match your new curtains, then the cost probably doesn’t matter. And anyway, you don’t need to go all singing all dancing full suspension and carbon fibre to experience this joy. I’d suggest for maximum fun in the snow you go for something with 2.6in or plus tyres, but beyond that I think you’ll get joy out of practically anything you might choose.
They say money can’t buy you happiness. Can I dare to suggest that in the case of an eMTB, that might not be true?
I am very much live and let live about E bikes in general but riding in the snow is a poor pretext for buying one. I have ridden in the snow for years and I don’t think an E bike makes any difference to the issues you encounter, the main one being cold feet and hands.
You might have hit on an idea there – Heated gloves and socks that draw power from an e bike.
Please don’t use the term ‘acoustic’ when talking about bikes ever again.