Joined by company in Eskdale
LECCY BIKES
Stan Abbott �inds himself in love with an electric bike , or a power-assisted cycle as he prefers to call The Beast …
Love , if not at �irst sight , can simmer undetected for a while before exploding into the consciousness . So it was with me and electric bikes ( or one such machine in particular ), which I had previously cubbyholed somewhere marked “ only for the older citizen ”. Just one short ride on a track through Norwegian woodland ( now there ’ s one for nostalgic Beatles fans ) sowed the seeds of a change in attitude that would eventually turn to love . It was Spring 2019 and I ’ d been leading a small group of adventure journalists on a press trip to southern Norway , which was mostly focussed around water : white water rafting on the one hand and hopping among the myriad little islands and skerries off the coast on the other . We were offered the chance to try out the electric cycles just to �ill in a spare hour . I suspect I am not alone in having imagined that adding an electric motor to a pedal cycle would give a constant source of supplementary power and , indeed , the primary source of power should you choose to be lazy . That ’ s not the way it works : if you don ’ t make an effort yourself , the cycle will grind to an unceremonious halt , because the power the electric motor puts in is pretty much in
If you don ’ t make an effort yourself , the cycle will grind to an unceremonious halt
proportion to the rider ’ s own exertions .
Rounding a corner in the Norwegian wood , we were confronted by a steep incline , with hairpin bends . This , I imagined , was where we ’ d have to dismount . How wrong I was . I slipped down the gears and pedalled hard , only to �ind that the machine was singing along to the same tune . It wasn ’ t that no effort was required ; more that the machine was quite happy to turn a climb that would at best have set my pulse racing and , at worst , brought me to a juddering halt on a normal human-only cycle , into something quite enjoyable . I quickly realised that , with this kind of helping hand , a pretty lengthy and hilly off-road route would be within easy reach . And then I �iled that realisation away somewhere and scarcely thought more about it . Fast forward two years to a country stumbling out of lockdown . I had a commission to write a book based on a journey around stone circles in Cumbria and my original intention had been to walk between all the sites . Two things had intervened to begin to persuade me of the impracticality of this plan . Firstly , lockdowns had robbed me of the possibility of getting at least some of the route completed in the Autumn of 2020 , as originally planned , and secondly , my research was locating an ever-
14 outdoor focus / summer 2022
Author and The Beast at Long Meg