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It’s All Downhill From Here
Saying yes to an e-bike trail in New Zealand at seventy
I had never been on a mountain bike, much less an e-bike.
My husband Richard and I were on holiday in New Zealand.
When rough weather forced cancellation of our flight over the Southern Alps, Richard suggested we e-bike a nearly 14-mile trail from Arrowtown, a quaint gold rush town settled in the 1860s, to Queenstown.
Hiking in New Zealand had quickly taught me that the Kiwis’ definition of “easy” was not quite mine. At home on Tybee Island, I ride my rose-colored, wide-bottomed Walmart cruiser. I pedal around the flat, mostly paved roads looking like Miss Gulch in The Wizard of Oz.
I was not excited about biking. My 70-year-old body had been repaired several times over the years. I had made a bargain with myself, however, to say “yes” when my brain wanted to balk.
“Okay, honey,” I said to Richard. “But I read that the trail has some steep sections, and that you ride on the road with cars. My brain is already bent by the driving-on-the-left-side thing.”
“That’s why we are renting e-bikes,” he replied, giving me a hug. “The turbo setting powers you up the hills.”
