Meet Lucy

The biggest challenge in my move to Tennessee has been the lack of safe cycling. In DC, I could ride 20-30 miles from the door of my condo, mostly on bike paths. There are some greenways in Nashville but they are a 20 minute drive. There is the Natchez Trace, but that is a 45 min drive. While bike lanes are improving, they often don’t connect with anything. And there are always poorly graded hills. I had hoped it would be better in rural Tennessee but not really. There are some areas that have just the right amount of hills, but the low car speed roads don’t often connect to other roads. Shoulders on roads are rare and where we live there are hills too steep for me. The prospect of having to get off of my bike on a hill on a road with no shoulder makes me very uncomfortable.

The only factor I could really change is to make sure I would not have to get off the bike going up the hill. So I got a e-bike, Lucy. I wanted to get a model that only had pedal assist with no throttle, but there were no step-through models. Getting my leg up over the seat is a time when I have come close to falling on occasion. I didn’t figure that would get any better with age. Falling with the heavier e-bike was not appealing so the step-through was a necessity. I wanted to get one a local bike shop so I ended up with this lavender Velotric.

The day after I got it, the heat dome settled in so it sat for 3 weeks. I took it out Monday and today and I am getting used to it. It is much more stable on our gravel drive and the weight of the bike with riding does not seem that different. Of course I am not trying to get any where quickly. I have only used the battery a handful of times on the last part of hills so the battery will likely last me a week or more of riding. Lucy has managed my fear.

Now I need to get a bike rack so I can explore other areas in the country. Here, I am pinned in a bit by high traffic/high speed roads so to get to the desired destination ride where I can have lunch and return, I will need to drive to bike. It doesn’t sit well with me but there is no way around it.