Dr. Zorba Paster: Ride on! An e-bike is still better than nothing – Madison.com
I love biking. I don’t do it enough, now that I’m an adult. Yes, an adult. I used it as my primary form of transportation when I was a kid, just as many of you probably did.
I remember when I first figured out how to swoosh away, going faster than I could walk, moving from one part of my neighborhood in Chicago to another with just a push of the wheel. Chicago had no …….
I love biking. I don’t do it enough, now that I’m an adult. Yes, an adult. I used it as my primary form of transportation when I was a kid, just as many of you probably did.
I remember when I first figured out how to swoosh away, going faster than I could walk, moving from one part of my neighborhood in Chicago to another with just a push of the wheel. Chicago had no hills, so it was easy. Go to Seattle, where two of our kids live, and it’s another story.
When I was a little older, I remember riding to the University of Illinois Medical School in Chicago, going through neighborhoods I wouldn’t walk through because they were dangerous. One day, as I pedaled to school, a group of kids ran after me trying to get my bike — and me. I never flew so fast in my life. And I never went down that road again.
After my wife Penny and I had children, I remember the times when she and I taught our kids to bike. They loved it. We would bike down country roads — including some that are now busier than ever — going hither and yon, feeling the breeze in our hair. Biking brings back good memories.
People are also reading…
- Police cite 137 at Downtown Madison bar
- Tim Michels calls for ‘pitchforks and torches’ after story on his giving to anti-abortion, other groups
- ‘Calculated homicide’ brings life with no possibility of release in killing of UW doctor and husband
- 4 observations after rewatching Wisconsin football’s win over Illinois State
- While Graham Mertz shined in opener, these QBs visited Wisconsin football
- Madison’s Dan Schachte, first American to officiate 2,000 NHL games, dies
- A new pavilion, beer and a blowout: Wisconsin football back at Camp Randall
- Pedestrian cited after being hit by vehicle, seriously injured, Madison police say
- Married couple dies after being ejected from motorcycle in car crash in Caledonia
- Elected officials from 6 Wisconsin communities on Oath Keepers membership list
- As the season opener approaches, Aaron Rodgers knows Sammy Watkins will have a key role
- Madison names grocery for big mixed-use project on South Park Street
- Watch now: Chocolate Shoppe nearly doubles plant’s size with $5 million expansion
- Why this version of Graham Mertz is what Wisconsin football needs
- Knoche’s butcher shop for sale, ‘priced to give new owners the opportunity to succeed’
Now that I’m a senior, I find that those skinny-wheeled bikes don’t seem quite as stable as they did 20 years ago. The bike is the same, but I am not. So I decided I had a few choices to make. I could trade in my bike for one with fatter wheels, a bit more stable for my body, one that would not ride as fast but would give me the same oomph. Or I could go a step higher and get an e-bike.
I bet you can guess what I did. E-bike is the name of the game. Now I can go faster than ever, be more stable than ever, and not need nearly as much muscle as I did before. But can I get the same benefit?
The answer is obvious when it comes to calories. Clearly, you don’t burn nearly as many calories, typically, on an e-bike. Well, you can, but the studies show you burn about 30% fewer calories per hour than with a regular road bike, so you’d have to ride longer.
How much does that matter? Does it still count as exercise?
If you’re a member of the jogging lobby, as I once was, using an e-bike doesn’t cut it. You need to burn the maximum number of calories per unit of time or you’re fooling yourself. So maybe an e-bike doesn’t really seem like exercise for some people, but it is fun. Does fun count as exercise? More on that in a bit.
One thing you do get is balance. You have to balance on an e-bike just as you do on a regular bike. And balance is a big, big issue as you get older. We lose balance over time, just from being old, the same way we lose muscle mass. So balance is part of what you need when you want to stay fit.
Now, you can argue, absolutely correctly, that while you’re improving your balance, you’re risking your life to do it. For example, if you go down Fish Hatchery Road in the country where I live, you do take your life into your hands when riding a bike. I never do that.
If you’re going on the bike trail, then fast cars passing you by, veering into your lane, are a non-starter. You do have a risk of falling off the bike, hitting your head and getting a head injury or, even worse, a subdural hematoma. Yes, that risk is real. And many of my senior friends have given up biking for just that reason.
But my Aunt Myrtle fell on her way to the mailbox, hit her head and perished from a subdural hematoma. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t walk to my mailbox. You pick how you want to live your life and take your consequences. I ski and I also bike.
Now back to the exercise question. A study from the American College of Sports Medicine took 30 men and women to a physiology lab, checked their fitness and put them on regular bikes and e-bikes and plotted a theoretical course similar to a work commute.
For the regular bike, the exercise was moderate to intense. Fair enough, just as I would guess. For the e-bike, the exercise turned out to be moderate.
My spin: If an e-bike gets you out and about, it’s a fine way to enjoy life and a fine way to stay healthy and fit. Stay well.
This column provides general health information. Always consult your personal health care provider about concerns. No ongoing relationship of any sort is implied or offered by Dr. Paster to people submitting questions. Any opinions expressed by Dr. Paster in his columns are personal and are not meant to represent or reflect the views of SSM Health.
Sign up here to get the latest health & fitness updates in your inbox every week!
