Happy Friday — we’re back with more Hot Bones. Last edition was all about how using your dishwasher, not washing by hand, is actually better for the planet, your wallet, and your ability to fit in 3 back episodes of Succession in one night. Nothing personal, Scrub Daddy.   

Since we’re on the life hack groove, this week is about how e-bikes can get you from your front porch to your lunch spot faster than your date can finish parallel parking. 

Last week during the pre-work scramble — switching laundry, packing lunch, salting driveway  — G asked me if this weekend we could truly do nothing. 

I told her I’d love nothing more. 

And then I called Endeavor Cycles and asked if they’d loan us e-bikes on Saturday so we could ride around the city as a test run for Cville’s upcoming ebike voucher launch. A cute little winter date, with a little Hot Bones on the side.

“Wow I can’t tell you how much I don’t want to do that,” G said when I announced the good news. Our romantic date news.

According to G: Saturday was expected to be one of the coldest days of the year, ice covered all the roads and bike lanes, that whole thing about not doing anything this weekend Charlotte.

And as we got closer to Saturday, snow was forecasted.

Lucky for G, I heard back from Endeavor and they only had one loaner e-bike available at the moment, so she was off the hook for the biking part. Having already called and spoken with Ben at the shop multiple times, I was not. 

As mentioned, Charlottesville is launching an e-bike voucher program — giving away $1,000 to 25 residents every quarter in 2025. I’ve never won anything from a raffle since an American Idol CD in middle school, but if you live in the area you should definitely put your name in the ring. The next drawing is on Wednesday, Feb 5.

Regardless of where you live, though, and regardless of a free 1,000 bucks, e-bikes are a pretty great tool for getting around without relying entirely on a car — and not arriving covered in sweat. 

I was about to find out that they’re also really fun to ride.

Ben at Endeavor was nice enough to give me the intro tutorial and safety notes for my first ride. Most importantly, he showed me how to use the speed computer on this bike, which looks like an Apple Watch and mounts on the handlebars. Once you start pedaling, the motor kicks in. You press the up button to make the bike go faster, down to go slower.

While Ben and I were talking, G walked around the shop, scoping out the other shiny e-bikes for sale and likely wondering when this stupid date would actually start. 

I signed a “hey maybe do not sue us” waiver and we left the shop. The plan was to meet for lunch at Botanical downtown, and from there do a little antiquing and beebopping around the area.

I set the speed computer to 5 out of 5 and immediately passed G in the car.

So e-bikes absolutely eat hills. 

I didn’t feel out of control at all on the way from Fry’s Spring to downtown, but I was cooking up JPA. Pedalling for sure, but also just gliding along as if I had the calves and thighs of Paul Mescal.

It’s like biking on caffeine, or being twenty again, or that moment after you step onto a moving walkway and say, you know I should sign up for that marathon in April.

And then, right in the middle of my transcendental e-biking experience — in fact within one pedal stroke of the true meaning of my life coming into focus —  a rogue Volkswagen (in a very similar color to ours) whipped in front of me and an angry blond woman (with a look distantly similar to my spouse’s angriest reaction) yelled out the window: “WHICH PARKING LOT ARE WE MEETING IN??” 

And there you have it. If we had both been riding e-bikes today, we would have just met in front of the restaurant. 

After lunch, G got back in the car and I unlocked the e-bike from its spot at the new bike parking setup south of the mall. We waved goodbye, agreeing to meet at Heyday near the climbing gym north of downtown.

As soon as I started pedaling I could sense something was wrong. I was biking too slowly. I was biking normally. 

I stopped, held down the top button, and the computer clicked back to life, pretty much still at full battery.

It turns out you have to wake up the speed computer when you leave it to go have a long lunch. For a second there I thought I was going to have to real bike for the rest of the day. I can’t go back - I’ve tasted the champagne now.

From there, e-bikey and I zipped along the semi-snow-free bike lane on McIntire, and G and I arrived at the same time.

The biggest hill of the day came after we left Heyday (no damage done to the Amex this visit). How would the e-bike do riding up past the Staples into downtown? How would my lungs do after two weeks fighting the worst cold Southwest boarding group B could throw my way? It’s a long straight shot up a busy road.

Damn that was so easy. 

I wasn’t even breathing hard at the top. No sweat. 

Actually, by this point in the day I was kinda banking on some perspiration to keep me warm. My toes were frozen, fingers the same. This last leg of the trip was going to be brief.

I kept pace with the cars on West Main, easily making it through a yellow light by the Corner. I could stop by the juice shop to warm myself up, but my inner nerd knew there was only one place to truly find peace and warmth: the library.

I had a chance to check my messages and stop shivering, and then it was basically all downhill back to Endeavor.

I told Ben it was the most fun I’d had on a bike this year — and then G pulled up and I jumped in to profess my undying love for the VW’s seat warmers.

A decade ago, back when I was still biking a ton, e-bikes were pretty stigmatized. Grannies and parents with young kids could use them, but everyone else riding a bike with a motor would have to deal with a lot of side-eye from the cycling community. 

Curious to see if this was still the case, I texted my go-to subject matter expert for all things biking, running, and climbing — my brother-in-law Jake.

Good news is that we’re making progress. 

Bad news is that it sounds like the spandex cycling crowd are still jerks about it. Nobody sucking “free watts” on their group rides.

Since most of us don’t want to join these guys anyway, no harm no foul. Seems like everyone else has jumped on the e-bike train in the past few years, including Sexy Back himself this month. 

Short answer is: Not cheap!

The e-bike I rode costs $1,599 — and the one I was eying was $2,999. Some of the cargo bikes where you can toss in a bunch of groceries and kiddos run anywhere from $1,499 to $5,000+. 

(If you live in a big city like NYC, the bike-share program may have e-bikes already — my dad still will not stop talking about his e-ride around Brooklyn last summer.)

A $1,000 voucher goes a long way to offsetting an intro e-bike. I’m super proud of Charlottesville for setting this up — over the course of the year 100 local citizens will be eligible to get their hands on a new setup. And if I don’t win, that means 100 people nearby might be willing to let me use theirs.

On the other hand, you can also have a ton of fun on a $100 Craigslist bike — you just might be breathing heavier.

If you want to try out an e-bike, there’s a free demo day at Ting Pavilion on January 29. There’s also an ongoing e-bike library in town, where you can rent a bike for as long as a week.

Winners of the program can use their voucher at one of the 3 local bike shops: Endeavor Cycles, Blue Wheel Bicycles, and Blue Ridge Cyclery. A few things to note:

🚲 Endeavor 

🚵 Blue Ridge Cyclery

Kristin on the Blue Ridge team brought up a great point when we emailed: Working with a local bike shop is nice because you get to test out stuff and all that, but bike shops like these also deal with any warranty and maintenance issues — a huge plus when you’re using new tech.

(Blue Wheel hadn’t responded to my message by the time this went out, but you should check ’em out next time you’re at the IX farmer’s market.)

📍 If you have other Qs, there’s more info on the program right here.