BIKE REVIEW – THE RIBBLE SL-e
In this edition of Arrivée, we confront the controversial subject of e-bikes – those magical machines that give cyclists some stealth technology – an added super-charge when our bodies can no longer respond adequately to the rigours of riding. Would their acceptance by Audax destroy its ethic, or would it, as Arrivée managing editor, Ged Lennox suggests, create an inclusivity that would allow older or less able riders to continue to enjoy their sport? O you who turn the wheel and look to windward, Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and young as you
Arrivée150Winter2020
– T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land
32
I’M A BIG FAN of Iain M. Banks and his Culture science fiction series – gritty and insightful. In his first book of the series Consider Phlebas, he imagines a human future in which one can choose to live to any age, be any gender and, indeed, any species one desires. Iain died of cancer in 2013 at the young age of 59. Like all of us, and Phlebas, he was, sadly, all too mortal. Russel Crowe, as Maximus in Gladiator, famously said: “What we do in life echoes in eternity.” What a lot of hyperbolics, Max… In truth, if we’re really lucky, our life will be remembered as a photo on a dusty mantlepiece until a house clearance dumps it into a carboard box, on to a charity shop, then oblivion. But hey, until then we all keep going as long as we can, don’t we? You see, it’s not death, it’s this slow decline into the photo-frame that bothers me the most – even if it’s my preferred option. Christmas last year in the gym, keeping fit for the never-to-happen season of 2020, a percussive pain starting in my chest then moving down my left arm, had me to the doctors quick-sharp. The doctor was incredulous, saying: “You are far too fit to have a heart problem” – and the ECG confirmed a perfect heart rhythm, blood pressure, pulse 46 bpm. Reassured I carried on, but the pain became chronic, even when walking. Oddly it improved after an initial 15 minutes on a bike. And so, to hospital. Never mind your life-long vegetarianism, your fag-free
cycling, your alcohol abstemiousness, it’s all in the genes. The CT scan showed a single blocked coronary artery, probably like the one that killed my dad at 49, the last of five heart attacks he unknowingly suffered. Because of a life in the saddle, my own heart had spontaneously developed a curious little diagonal bypass that was supplementing the blocked section, explaining the odd improvement when warmed up. Weird on the outside and weird on the inside – but it saved my life. Cycling is really good for you – mostly – but never ignore a pain in the chest, no matter how fit you think you are. The stent fitting too was like science fiction. Fully awake and watching the action on a big monitor, the entire procedure took just 18 minutes. My impressive surgeon at Cheltenham hospital said: “That’s it. I don’t want to see you here again for at least 20 years. Give it a few weeks then get back on your bike.” There’s nothing like a brush with death to put life into perspective, and during those few weeks of recovery I fell to worrying about losing cycling. So, I contacted the helpful and efficient Sasha Castling at Ribble Bikes to enquire about the new SL-e for this review. I was also, coincidentally, in touch with Richard Betts who was writing his story about having to stop Audax for issue 149 (page 14). His extraordinary tale put my comparatively minor problem into perspective. He is a truly remarkable man, calmly accepting the things that cannot be changed, so I asked him to road-test the bike. You can read his real-life case study on the following pages. Richard’s story highlighted a paradox for me though. The Audax remit is: … to encourage, promote, develop and control the sport and pastime of noncompetitive long-distance cycling in all its forms amongst all sections of the community in the United Kingdom and throughout the world. But, the rules also insist: … the vehicle must be powered solely by the rider. No matter how you read it, this pair of statements appear, to me at least, to be oxymoronic – contradictory if not discriminatory, excluding as they do anyone who is physically compromised. Does not “all sections of the community” include people with disability then? I find this quite a difficult problem to square because all of us already use technology to enhance our performance. As a kid I slogged to school on a Hercules 3-speed steel lump every day – now I have a sleek titanium mount (not to mention a titanium stent) which weighs a fraction of that monster and has 22 gears. We use high-energy gels and science-guided diets,
Some riders are more equal than others
