Reading in Condé Nast about Eugene Oregon being a place to visit in June, I booked three nights at the the Inn at the 5th and one full day of Pedego e-bike rentals for me, my niece who lives near Eugene and her always-up-for-a-fly-in sister who lives in Spokane, and my two 30+-year-old daughters who accompanied me to Oregon from Southern California. The five relatives were hoping for a meaningful reconnect with some activity in addition to wine tasting and my idea of spending a day on electric bikes was due to my being twice as old as the other women and having survived a bad bike accident and heart attack within the last six years. Although both these health events are now in the rear view mirror, I find myself slightly more cautious and physically limited than I used to be and this rental turned out to be THE ABSOLUTE BEST EXPERIENCE!
Leslie gave us thorough instruction before we began our riding from the parking lot behind the Pedego shop in this Oregon city’s charming downtown. After checking out the U of O campus we rode about 10 miles southeast along paved paths to Clearwater Park and Landing, then back along the Willamette River through brilliant green trees and undergrowth (and a 3’-tall blue heron standing on a bridge) to the Owen Rose Garden. We walked our bikes through the garden’s in-full-bloom, full fragrance, multicolor flowers after cruising with ease up to Skinner Butte Lookout for a bird’s eye view of the area while a warm sun shown down on us and our bikes. (Before this we enjoyed appetizers and drinks at a place on the river with our bikes safely secured with the locks the Pedego store provided.) With two of our five riders not bike nuts (or even bike fans?), the day was so special we all are talking now about planning more individual and group trips centered on e-biking and I am looking into the ability of my and my husband’s bike rack to carry two of these bikes.
It seems to me Pedegos possibly are superior to the e-bike my husband had me try (briefly) a couple years ago because of their generous seat padding and ability to “throttle” start with five levels of easily-accessible and easily-operable general assist. I strongly encourage those who love the outdoors and biking but who may think struggling up hills on “unassisted” bikes is not the fun one’s mate finds it to be, to visit this store if and when in Eugene. Doing so might prove life changing!