This week our neighborhood held a Club Fair to showcase all the opportunities available to residents. I worked the Bike Club and Ladies Out to Lunch tables. We have about 50 clubs in our neighborhood (I'm peripherally involved in about 20 of them). The Cuisine and Baking Clubs put on a big food spread (food is always popular with seniors). They're still building in our neighborhood, so we get new people moving in every week. And, frankly, it seems whenever anyone new moves in, they come up with a new idea for a club.
Our Bike Club leader (the bald guy in the above photo) went to visit his grandkids this past week, so I organized our 3rd annual When the Cat's Away, the Mice Will Play breakfast ride where we just ride down the street to the Heritage Cafe (low fitness, high socializing). Bruce isn't a big biker, but he is good at socializing (and eating breakfast), so he usually joins us.
But after the breakfast Bruce decided that since there are so many bike trails in the neighborhood, he might enjoy biking a little more if he had a little help. So he went out and bought himself an eBike. eBikes are getting very popular, because they have built-in motors that give you a little extra oomph. They aren't quite as powerful as a scooter or a motorcycle, but it sure makes pedaling up hills a lot easier.
eBikes look a lot like real bikes, except for that fatter section in the frame that stores the battery. They're also A LOT heavier than a real bike, so if you aren't careful and run out of power, you're stuck with pedaling a lot more weight to get back home. I think Bruce's battery is supposed to last for about 45 miles, which is about twice as far as I usually ride.
Charlie didn't want to be left out of the excitement, so we bought him a bike trailer to go on the back of the eBike. The bike trailer weighs 25 pounds. When you throw Charlie in there, that's way too heavy for me to pull on my regular bike (hence, another perk of an eBike).
Charlie wasn't quite sure if he would like riding in it (we had to stuff him in the first time), but when he found out that it's a great way to get to the park, he became a big fan.
