Bicycles are a pretty big part of Dutch life, especially when you do not have your driving license. I always hated cycling, always. My parents made me go on a cycling trip in Swiss when I was 13 years old and it was basically hell. All those mountains, cycling up, having to eat sandwiches with mustard on them; yuk!

That trauma is kinda behind me now, I have not killed my parents, I actually love them more and more each year. However, cycling is still not a hobby of mine. I do cycle to work almost daily, but I do not really enjoy it. To the contrary, the strong winds always make me feel like cursing and especially in the afternoon when the wind turns and it is AGAIN in my face just like on my way to the office, I can get really annoyed.

But it is 2018 now and people ride electric bicycles, which make you cycle yourself, but then give you some extra pushes so it is not as difficult and annoying as it would be if you would have to cycle all on your own. They are a bit of an elderly people thing, and I instantly hate any person that will cycle by me on my route to work, cycling slow but going fast because of their e-bikes. Hate it!

But my parents now have ebikes and even though I have never tried theirs, I did try out an e-bike. It was beginning of this year and the parents and moi were on the beautiful island of Texel to go horse riding. As there was not horse riding happening (for which we came to Texel), we decided to rent some bikes and cycle the super tiny island. My parents got themselves a tandem, which is like a double bike for two people, and I got… an ebike. I really did not feel like cycling in the strong island winds and I know my parents; they go fast.

Eventually I really loved the ebike. Sure it is a bit heavy, but especially the highest mode feels like flying. At one point I went 28 kilometers an hour and it felt so good. It is cycling without all the burdens you would normally deal with, which is mostly exhaustion. It is too bad an ebike costs the same amount as a trip to Costa Rica, cause I will have to save money for the trip, but I am glad I tried one of these old peoples bikes and discovered that they are indeed amazing.