How riding uphill became pure fun

My first encounter with an electric bike was literally a magical experience. We sat on a café terrace in the small Italian town of Belluno and took a deep breath. It’s a beautiful place, but terribly mountainous! I had just arrived and realised – I can’t pedal up the hills here. All this fresh in the mind of a clever little girl. Dress on, pats on the back and strapped feet on the pedals. It came and rode up the steep hill I had just sworn to go down with playful ease. How is this possible? Total magic! It happened eight years ago. I had never been exposed to electric wheels before. Today, of course, I know that in the mountainous Dolomites, you only see electric bikes riding around.

It’s exciting to try

The first time I sat on an electric bike that had not only my bone motor but also an auxiliary accelerator, I felt a great thrill. And a little bit of respect. Romet Gazela is designed to look like a stylish, streamlined woman’s woman. The battery sits discreetly in the back and doesn’t announce to everyone that it’s making a small contribution to the journey. Plus, it was a breeze to remove and take indoors to recharge. The bike could be freely locked to the bike rack and left outside the house.

A proper boost

The Romet Gazela’s 250W electric wheel motor is capable of generating a very decent boost. For the user, the boost is divided into five levels. I’ll start with the first one. This alone gives a noticeable boost – crank a few times and then glide a decent run to the ground. Working with the engine takes some getting used to. For the first few laps, I’m perhaps too worried that the bike will start to roll too much under the seat. I brake a lot because it feels too fast. And I’m worried about whether my knowledge of traffic rules is good enough to drive around town with such an animal. An electric bike is literally a vehicle! 25 km per hour is a pretty decent speed to get on this bike.

The longer the journey, the greater the kaif

It’s when you’re on longer journeys that the real fun begins. You can go further, faster and with less effort. I also dare to push harder on the straighter stretches, and I have to admit that I personally have never cycled so fast in my life. I can also clearly feel the difference when I’m sailing into the wind at the seaside. On a normal bike it’s a decent rattle, with an electric it’s not bad at all. I have also heard some people deny that electric bikes are for lazy bums and drive themselves. Of course, this is not the case. But you can adjust the amount of effort. You don’t want to get sweaty every time, sometimes you want to arrive in decent clothes and smelling good.

Power balancing tool

Let’s discover another advantage. If your life partners are in very different athletic shape, you can’t go out together. My beloved is a total sportsman, I’m more of a pleasure rider. But when he’s on a regular bike and I have a little extra help from an electric bike, our speed and performance are just as good. And finally, I had that wonderful mountain climb that had stuck in my memory years ago. I wonder if I can do the same? There are no such steep rises in Estonia. There is a steeper climb at Noblessner, so I decided to test on that. So far, the first level of the extra boost seemed fast enough for me, I’ll try the third on the hill. I glide up the hill easily and smoothly, with minimal effort. Well, that’s a mood lifter. Me, I usually get off the bike when I need to pedal uphill, but I don’t do that with an electric bike.

Here comes Kristinka, fear of the mountains!

This great electric bike Arkus & Romet Gazela RM is waiting for you in Velomarket stores and e-shop!

Author: Kristina Herodes