Ever wondered how it is to have it all ?
To be able to conquer all the hills on the bike, despite of the fact of not being a top-shape athlete ?
The answer is SO simple - embark on a VAE (Vélo à l'Assistance Electrique, VAE is a French expression that stands for an E-Bike).
I had a special occasion to have a first-hand experience with a VAE last week - the reason for it was my dad visiting me here on French Riviera.
I organised a rental of Gotham Look E-765 from a local bike-shop that I am working with for all things bike - VELO 06.
He served me as a "test-group" of two of my French Riviera Cycling Tours (available for booking all year long!)
The Route of Azure Balconies Tour - ~ 75 km both ways, 600 m up
The Red Rocks Ride - The French Colorado Tour - ~ 60 km, 500 m up
And the results were so surprising - I sometimes had some serious trouble catching up with him when he went into "turbo" mode !
Day 1 : The Route of Azure Balconies Cycling Tour
Villeneuve-Loubet - Pont du Loup - Tourrettes-Sur Loup - Vence - St.Paul-de-Vence
incl. a lunch break of course !
I have cheated my dad a bit with a distance we were supposed to cover, but it was purely white lie, with a sole purpose to not stress him out right away. Of course, when we covered first 20 km and we were not getting anywhere near the civilisation this is when he got suspicious and started asking questions ;)
But first water fountain stop and some encouragements did miracles ! And when he saw the first high-percherd villages there were no more questions left - just the awes !
Day 2: The Red Rocks Ride - The French Colorado
Cannes - Theoule-sur-Mer - Agay - Mandelieu-la-Napoule
This is one of those rides that are (to me) a must-see when visiting the region. Why ? Because it's just SO different from what imagine Cote d'Azur looks like. Typically the French Riviera is all about yachts, the sea, the luxe, the pros training hard every day. Our greatest advantage above them is that we can just let it go, pedal at fully leisure pace, take as many refreshment and picture stops as we want ! And this is exactly what we did on this second day of our e-bike cycling escapade.
Gotham Look E-765 - is it worth it ?
Some quick sum up ouf our ride - we had a lots of luck as the bike happens to be gone (sold!) two days later ! This LOOK is a piece of art - Fully carbon frame as well as the fork, weights only 15.8 kg. It's mostly city design makes it a perfect companion for a city tour - though I would strongly discourage leaving it on the outside (even attached). The network of bike storage points (near the train stations for example), created to facilitate the everyday bike commuting are growing steadily each year. Despite its' city application - it can beautifully assist in all kinds of out-of-the-city bike weekend adventures too ! When it comes to the battery coverage is up to 50 km - but it's a good idea to charge it a little while taking a break - at least this is what we did twice, just to make sure there's enough "juice" for all the climbs on the way back !
I don't think this model is so widely available anymore - this is why I did my 'homework' and found a similar Spanish alternative, that looks even cooler (to me) than it's French counterpart.
Hope to have given you some motivation to hop on a bike and go explore the world on two-wheels. If you don't feel like organising your cycling vacation on your own - don't hesitate to reach out to me, to book a tour and I will help you with all the logistics (finding the plane ticket, booking cycling-friendly accommodation, finding the good restaurants and of course - renting a proper carbon bike) - so you can just sit back, and relax (until you join me here to cycle !).
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