“Buying an e-bike changed my life.”

Gordon Skillen now rides his e-bike regularly and recently volunteered to help put on HUB Cycling’s Spring Go by Bike Week in early June, but he wasn’t always this active. His journey into e-biking didn’t start until about four years ago at the age of 63. 

This is Gordon’s story:

“My wife and I were in Whistler four years ago. I have severe COPD and my doctor was experimenting with a new drug on me and it was not working. I could only walk a few hundred feet at a time and then I would have to lay down on the sideway to rest. Many people stopped to ask if I needed an ambulance.

Later that day, we saw an e-bike rental tent. My wife looked at me in shock, “You can’t even walk and yet you think you can ride a bike?” she said.

Well, we did rent the e-bikes and I had the best time of my life. The bike holds my body weight, making me feel light and energized.

After the trip, we came home to Langley and I immediately put in an order for two of the Specialized Como 3 e-bikes.  

Gordon’s dog, Rudy, sometimes joins Gordon and his wife on their rides. Rudy is a small white dog wearing a rainbow coloured hat and sunglasses.

Photo caption: Gordon’s dog, Rudy, sometimes joins Gordon and his wife on their rides.

 

We have met so many nice people through cycling, that I started a few bike groups on Facebook. The Specialized Como riders group has a membership of about 1,200 members from all over the world, and the BC e-bike riders group has about 2.7K members, mostly couples, so about 5,000 members.

I love meeting new people and riding has allowed me to meet a ton of people, including the great people at HUB Cycling. 

I have some health issues, like two stents in my heart, I had part of my colon removed and I have COPD. My e-bike allows me to be active and see parts of the country I would never have seen before. With an e-bike, I still have to pedal to go places but I can go further than I did before with a regular pedal bike and with less effort. We typically ride 30-40 kilometers a day during the week, after work, and ride about 75-110 kilometers on the weekends. Buying an e-bike has literally changed my life.”

 

 

Are you looking to meet other people through cycling? 

 

HUB Cycling has 10 volunteer Local Committees across Metro Vancouver that meet monthly to work to make cycling better in their communities. Learn more about how you can get involved here. No prior committee experience is required.