It's official - cycling up hills is now easy ;-)

[Mick F]

Utterly agree TC ........... Jim.

Youth did it for me, but I couldn't do it now no matter the gear ratios or mechanical advantages.

[pwa]

One thing that I have long known is that on a ride that forms a circuit, you spend more time climbing than descending. In very hilly terrain the great majority of your time is spent climbing. And the uphill gears are far more important than the downhill gears.

[horizon]

Has anyone who believes it's no harder got an explanation for the popularity of E-Bikes?

Because people don't want to slow down going up hills, and because many people don't actually want to put any effort in.

I think also because most people's experience is of bikes that are too highly geared. I'm not sure that there is really much out there in terms of support for people to break through their physical fitness levels (unless they join a club), fit lower gears (i.e. much lower) and possibly improve their cadence rates (or be prepared mentally to walk up certain hills). I don't want to divert this thread onto a critique of electric bikes but the video does at least challenge the notion that an e-bike is the way to go.

[[XAP]Bob]

Whereas for the Dutch a fiets is a mode of transport, it’s just how to get from a to b…

Why wouldn’t you make it slightly easier?

It's a mode of transport for me too - haven't run a car for twelve years now or used public transport for five. I've been eligible for a bus pass for five years but I've never applied for it. I get offered lifts to the start of club rides but don't even like that - if I can't go under my own steam I'd rather not go.

Suppose I'm just funny that way - independent in every sense.

That still doesn't answer your question, though. I just see Dutchies as resilient, tough types who propel themselves and don't rely on being propelled, but maybe that's a bit too simplistic (or idealistic) and naïve.

I think it misses the point that cycling is just an easy way to get from a to b across much of the Netherlands. They aren’t anti-car, or pro-cycling, they just make their journeys by the most convenient means available, and much of the time that’s a fiets.

[Cowsham]

There's one hill on my commute to work that when I get to the top where it levels out, instead of getting faster I get slowed by the force of the wind in my face.

Wind that the hill sheltered me from on the way up.

[LollyKat]

Dutch paths are mostly flat but in the towns there can be an awful lot of humpback bridges over the canals. I’ve watched riders of all ages struggle on traditional heavy single-speed bikes so maybe that’s one reason to go electric.

[[XAP]Bob]

Single speed or IGH?

The video is explicit that it’s gears that make hills “no harder”

[LollyKat]

Single speed, which seemed to be in the majority - this was a few years ago.

[kylecycler]

I think it misses the point that cycling is just an easy way to get from a to b across much of the Netherlands. They aren’t anti-car, or pro-cycling, they just make their journeys by the most convenient means available, and much of the time that’s a fiets.

I get your point now. It's just a tool for the job and an e-bike is a better, albeit more expensive, tool.

And even then, I suppose expense is relative - an e-bike is still nothing like as expensive as buying and running a car, not even close.