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ning myself differently, and with good results for my self image. Also, I've had an interesting reaction to the film from a friend in Holland, a real bike expert, who sees E bikes as a niche market product of not much interest to the general rider. "What does your video prove?" he asks. " It's no surprise that a bike with a motor can go up hills faster than one without. .... However over a 50km ride, the E bike will have a flat battery and become a heavy and inefficient bicycle, while the road bike you compared it with, will remain as efficient as it was at the start," My friend goes onto say."If you don't mind me saying so, Mike, you are exactly the demographic for these bikes, someone returning to cycling at an older age." (I'm 70) But the point is that when I bought my E bike, I wasn't "returning" to unassisted cycling. Indeed, I never would have returned to cycling without the E bike. Where I live, there are hills like the one in the film, though not so long, and virtually no one, midst the several hundred thousand people who who live in the area, rides a bike as transport , and it's mainly because of the hills. My friend can't come here and convince my neighbors to ride bikes. They wont listen to him. Not only the oldies like me wont listen, neither will those between 30 and 70. Maybe they should listen , but they wont and they don't. The whole challenge for folks to cycle as a way to curb our obesity epidemic and to cut green house gasses, falls on deaf ears round here. Bottom line, no one's riding and no one will ride to work or to the shops, and my friend can say, "they should" till he's blue in the face, but they wont. Enter the E bike, not to do 50 kms. not to race, not for touring, but to help the rider so that hills and headwinds are not so painful. Of course, it's not sure that even this inducement will convince many here, so wedded to the car are we Aussies, but there is a chance, that the E bike might tip the scales, at least get a hearing as to it's merits. And for the older rider, like me, it's the gift of cycling given back to me long after I thought it had been taken away. Anyway, what do you think? leave a comment on the clip. Is the E bike a quaint niche product, or does it have mainstream potential? Scott Dickason, who runs EVs which makes and sells my bike, is sure they have wide appeal and applications. He insists he's not just selling to geriatrics like me What did I personally get out of this experience, climbing the 7 km hill on my E bike? I felt empowered, enlivened (in the sense of life being put back in me) I also felt a bit of a hero, having done something hard but clever. Just look at the face of Tony (in another of my clips) after he's ridden to work on my bike, all 17 Kms. The title of that clip is, Commuting on an electric bike, yes you can! Mike Rubbo