When I got an email from the lovely Natalie at Cycling Made Easy asking me to pop down to try out one of their electric bikes I have to admit a little bit of fear set in!
I love to ride but only in the confines of somewhere like Center Parcs where it is traffic free and lots of wide open space. Cycling Made Easy is in the middle of town so I having a few palpitations about riding on the road.
The trial day was to raise money for the very worth while charity The Children’s Trust who do a fantastic job of caring for children with brain injury. Every trial that took place would mean the charity would gain £5 towards their hard work.
I bit the bullet and was put at ease by the super friendly staff in store who put my mind at ease and made number five more than welcome. We were infact going to be sticking to quiet roads and cycle paths which was a great weight off my shoulders.
I had no preconceived ideas as to how the bikes were going to work. I couldn’t really imagine a push bike bike with added power to it. The only way I could describe it was like your legs being given an extra boost.
We started off riding the bike as you usually would then picking up speed and ramping up the assistance. I was really surprised at how much easier you could climb a hill. I felt supercharged!
It would be the perfect bike to use for your commute to work or for getting the shopping as you can use the assistance to get you where you need to be without the usual strenuous ride.
I have always fancied having a bike with a trailer which is really hard going to get around with. With the electric power you would be able to get along with much greater ease.
If you are thinking of trying out a healthier lifestyle with the addition of some cycling I would really suggest popping in and giving them a try. I was very plesently with my ride and would defiantly consider investing when my little ones are older.
In our house there is always a big dilemma about costume choice in the weeks leading up to World book week. It’s not unusual for around twenty characters to be considered and rejected before we finally choose. Thankfully this year I only had one to dress and we finally came up with Wanda ( Where’s Wally’s girlfriend) without to many problems.
This got me thinking about the whole concept of World Book Day and reflecting on a family holiday in The Gambia when I was a child. I remember being astounded that the children there could not go to school unless they had their own pens and paper. Being a fairly typical ten year old child who’d moan and groan every morning about getting up for school, I remember being shocked by the Gambian children’s hunger for learning.
I’m not sure how much they understood but from now on we will donate to The Book Bus each World Book Day as a reminder of just how privileged we are and that we mustn’t take our access to education and a good book for granted.