I picked up an e-bike today for a month's hire totally free of charge. Cycling UK have a #MakingCyclingEasier scheme in #Manchester (and #Sheffield, #Leicester and #Luton), free hire for a month, including a lock, a helmet, charger etc.

First impressions are I love it! Definitely going to get me #cycling further.

I'm going to log my progress here, keep up with which journeys I do, and see what impact, if any, the e-bike has on my car use.

For context, we're a one car family of two adults and two toddlers. I commute via train. Usual car use is nursery drop-offs, supermarket shops etc. Occasionally to rehearsals or gigs. The loan e-bike doesn't have any pannier racks or similar for transporting things.

I also don't cycle much. Once or twice a week, weather dependent.

https://mastodon.social/@HunterAnton/110877617990030628

Day 2 of my #ElectricBikeMonth

- walked to the park and back
- no other travel required, so no vehicles used

Day 3 #ElectricBikeMonth

I had to drop kids at nursery, go to a rehearsal with guitar, amp, pedals and microphones, then pick up 8 bags of kids clothes someone was giving away on a local thrift group before collecting kids from nursery. And it’s raining So…

- used the car

#MustDoBetter

Day 4 #ElectricBikeMonth

Nursery drop-off and pick-up...

- used the car.

And my knee hurts.

Not going brilliantly so far to be honest. Tomorrow is another day though.

@HunterAnton Hmm. Knee pain not ideal. But it does seem like this experiment is making you think about what transport to use, right? Which must be good?
@cathrobots oh definitely, committing to writing down all the trips I do is interesting for sure! Knee pain isn't caused by cycling (I did it simply standing up whilst being old) but an excuse of sorts.