The Dutch are always so far ahead of us that sometimes it feels like we're not even in the game. I'm not thinking ASML, or the folks who design state-of-the-art chip-manufacturing machines, or tulip-growing agri-tech, or hydraulic engineering.
This time it's seniors getting together on e-bikes.
That's right - no more noisy public pickleball meet-ups with paddles and hollow balls swinging in the air, and lines and nets and kitchens controlling your every move. Dutch seniors on e-bikes are everywhere -- in the countryside pedalling along canals, along seashore boardwalks, and exploring their centuries of historic buildings. They're perpetually smiling, pedalling just hard enough to work up an appetite without a sweat, off to find a sweet stroopwafel and koffie verkeers at a café overlooking a vibrant town square or bustling harbour.
My wife, who was born in the Netherlands, and I spent early September touring Holland and northern Belgium by public transport and bicycle. We've made the trip to Holland many times and to various areas, but it had been ten years since we were last there. With 1.3 bikes per person, and 36 per cent of all trips being taken by bicycle, bikes are to Holland's culture like maple leaves and hockey are to Canada's.
What we didn't expect was how much the type of bike and the demographic of the riders had changed.
Before we go further, let me mention why a story on e-bikes makes sense in late November. If you're deludedly expecting the Leafs to repeat the Blue Jays' run and can't bear to miss it, or you're a winter snow-sport fanatic who had the good fortune to purchase your chalet years ago in Collingwood or Calabogie rather than Ellicottville, New York, it doesn't. However, if our early first snow has you dreaming of somewhere warm to spend a few weeks this winter, or you're already planning a spring trip, e-bikes should be on your mind, and maybe your Santa suggestion list.
Another day on the beach somewhere is fine, as is sailing in the Caribbean, with conditions. (Just remember, no power boat rides, especially if you're in the southern islands or anywhere near the northern coast of Venezuela. Being mistaken for a drug dealer by the American Navy could really spoil your fun.)
In fact, the hot ticket to an exciting new adventure, and maybe a redefined relationship, might just be to head somewhere warm with decent cycling infrastructure, rent a good-quality e-bike, and explore the world from a two-wheeled perspective.
Seriously. What we saw in Holland and Belgium was a dramatic shift to electric bicycle use, leading older couples and groups of friends everywhere to be cycling comfortably and happily more than ever before.
How did we know the riders were seniors? Other than racers, Dutch women seldom wear helmets, so well-coiffed grey or perfectly-dyed blond hair was a clue. So were the traditional rather than trendy scarves everywhere, keeping the women warm, and according to Cosmopolitan magazine, surreptitiously hiding wrinkles.
The age for men was ridiculously obvious. Freebird, an electric shaver company, says on their website that shaving one's head in later life attracts women, builds relationships, and projects increased masculinity. Freebird sales in Holland appear to be through the roof.
If they didn't have bald heads, it was 50-50 whether the men wore their regional identity caps or sought Tilley-style adventure hats with a throttling chin strap to keep them planted in the wind. Thankfully, seniors in tight, stretched-thin Lycra were nowhere to be seen, regardless of gender.
Either way, it sure seemed to us that e-biking had become a huge social thing for 60-pluses. Were we correct? Are seniors gravitating to e-biking for recreation? The answer is an unequivocal yes.
Canadian blogger and author Dave Hogan (E-Bikes, Putting the Fun Back Into Cycling (and Life) At Any Age), offers dozens of quotes that he found on a Facebook site called E-bike Cyclists over 60. These 60-plus riders provide every reason imaginable to consider trying e-biking for the first time, or returning to cycling if you were once an avid rider whose age and health caused you to quit.
A sample of posted comments:
My husband is 70 and I'm 67. Since getting our e-bikes, we are riding on the beach several times a week.
Or the rail-trails of Portugal, the Route Vertes of Quebec, the restored trestles of the Kettle Valley in the Okanagan - the list of opportunities goes forever.
I've had both knees replaced and have been afraid to ride a bike. I tried an e-bike and it's a game-changer.
Substitute double lung transplant, A-fib, bone-on-bone arthritis, or many other disabilities, and somewhere there's an e-biker whose life has been transformed
We ride like we are kids, with no worry about distance, headwinds or hills.
My wife agrees one hundred per cent. As we pedalled rented e-bikes along the coast of Belgium into a fierce headwind that must have been building strength all the way from Newfoundland, she repeatedly said, "I couldn't do this on my regular bike," as she added kilometre after kilometre to our ride.
New friends, new riding buddies. E-bikes allow us to ride together without our physical limitations hampering the ride.
New people, new connections, new experiences, the ability to explore farther, get more exercise in the sunshine and fresh air -- all without making a big deal of physicality.
Everything a medical expert might tell us is important for a healthy, fun and balanced life can be augmented by e-biking, especially as we age. In Ontario, cycling is not high on everyone's radar, but I believe e-biking is a game-changer worth considering.
Take that trip down the Danube next spring, but rent an e-bike each day with your partner or friend and explore the spectacular paved trails into the countryside and captivating small towns rather than climb on a bus and be the 700th visitor that day to some touristy castle or cathedral.
Stand at Mount Srd's incredible overlook a thousand metres above Dubrovnik, and grin knowing you pedalled all the way up there with a little help from your new e-bike friend between your legs.
Love Europe's cities? In London's core, cyclists now outnumber cars, and likewise throughout all of Paris today, more trips are taken by bike than by car. Guided e-bike tours are available in both.
Elbows up? Take an e-bike package tour for a few days in June along Prince Edward Island's Confederation Trail or Quebec's Veloroute Gourmande, a 235-kilometre gourmet cycling route connecting Montreal to Sherbrooke via every café, restaurant and wine bar imaginable.
Like the lady on E-bike Cyclists Over 60 said, e-bikes opened my whole world.