Covered Bridge Bike Introduces You To A Different Kind Of Zoom
“There’s a weird look that everybody seems to have after they try an electric bike,” says Bob Ensign, who owns Covered Bridge Bike in West Cornwall, Conn. To hear him describe it, it’s a goofy, lopsided grin that expresses so much: joy, awe, maybe even a little bliss. Biking the gorgeous countryside of Northwest Connecticut might always be a pleasurable experience, but on an electric bike, traversing byways and on hills you wouldn’t normally explore, it’s more than that.
Ensign opened Covered Bridge Bike, which offers both sales and rentals of Yamaha power-assist electric bikes, last August. He’d recently retired from his career in construction and property management, and took his first ride on an ebike. He was hooked.
“I simply couldn’t believe it,” he says. “The exercise for me was just right. I’d been a lifetime cyclist, but then I got a bad knee. Before that, I would get on a bike and go and go and go. I got on the electric bike and I went and went and went.”
Let’s say that a good day of cycling for someone would be 20 miles. On an electric bike, you could go 60 miles. You have to pedal to engage the motor —these aren’t mopeds doing all the work for you — so when you go up a hill, you get a nice cardio workout. Every stroke of the pedal is you, but the Yamaha provides a pedal assist, so there’s a little extra oomph that helps push you on.
The assist settings are similar to the gears on a mechanical bicycle. Level one offers just a little; level five, perfect for the steepest of the Litchfield Hills, offers a lot of assist. Still, the feeling is natural and organic.
“These are sophisticated Yamaha bikes,” Ensign says. "Even with the assist, if you’re going up a steep hill, it will almost feel like it’s all powered by you. It’s a nice workout, but you won’t feel like you have to walk uphill.”
Covered Bridge Bike offers a variety of styles. Ensign assigns them to renters, depending on the rider’s size and intention. There are racks available for those who want to tote a picnic lunch, cargo packs to tote a passenger, and helmets with every rental (sanitized, of course). It’s $60 for a half-day rental and $85 for the full day. Sales have been brisk, too, with the Yamahas ranging in price from $1,600-$3,500. Customers have bought them for commuting or running errands, as well as trail riding.
If you’re not familiar with the terrain of Northwest Connecticut, this is an ideal way to discover it. From gentle hills to steeper hills, rolling dirt roads and winding paved roads, it’s as if the region was made for cycling. With an e-bike, you’ll go farther and discover more. More exercise, more fun. You can even ride them in the snow.
In the age of COVID, Ensign prefers people make reservations so riders can sign waivers electronically and watch the introductory video on the website, decreasing the amount of contact needed before pedaling off. The bikes get cleaned and sanitized after they come back in and again before they go out.
Ensign will help you plan your route, keeping you off the main roads and steering you toward or away from the steepest hills. He’ll match up the route to whatever you’re looking for — places to eat, bucolic countryside, for example — and give you a map and directions. Group tours (from four to six people) are available Monday through Friday.
But back to that goofy grin: You can see it on the faces of riders whose photos are posted on Covered Bridge Bike’s Facebook page. The pedal-assist bikes have taken them places they’ve never been before.
“After a while, you forget the bike you’re on,” says Ensign. “You just hear the river and the birds, and smell the pines. The roads are flat-out beautiful and hardly traveled. It’s very peaceful. Especially with everything going on, it’s nice to know you can get away from it for at least four hours.”
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