User Blog: One Rider's Journey from Two Knee Replacements to 8,000 Miles

I remember being a young girl, around 10, having fun riding my bike with friends and siblings. We clipped old playing cards on the spokes so they sounded like motorcycles…vroom vroom. I rode around the neighborhood, to the park, the store, and to softball practice. In those days, our parents told us to go outside to play and we were able to wander more without the fears of today.

The freedom to ride and adventure was a childhood memory that I cherish. While aging has its advantages, now that I'm older, creakier, and after both knees have been replaced, I can't deny that at times I miss those youthful days of the sun shining on my face and the wind blowing in my hair that I had when I was on my bike. At 70, I can honestly say that I feel like I have found the Fountain of Youth. How, you may ask?

Everything started one evening when my partner and I were planning our first active vacation. Prior trips were cruising, which we enjoyed, but our biggest challenge was staying away from the food on the ship which is almost an impossible task. We are fairly active people, but knee replacements make walking and jogging difficult. The idea of planning an active vacation was new to us but we were attracted to the idea of getting exercise while continuing to enjoy new places, cultures and people… we opted to do a guided bike trip from Spain to Portugal.

After looking at the daily cycling mileage and elevation gains we started to have some reservations. We cycled at home a few times a week but not for that distance. Plus, being in our late 60's, we didn't want to ride during the day and then be so pooped out that we couldn't enjoy the trip, drink wine, eat food and converse with fellow cyclists and locals. We opted for E-bikes on the trip. Never having ridden E-bikes, we figured we better "practice" so we decided to explore getting ourselves E-bikes.

We had limited bike brands in the local bike shop in our town so our research into E-bikes was mainly done online. Costs of bikes varied tremendously and since we didn't know if we would like them, and told ourselves we would likely still ride our regular bikes most of the time to get exercise anyway, we didn't want to spend too much. It was the perfect decision that allowed us to enjoy our first cycling trip and was the beginning of our E-Bike journey.

Our online research looking for our first E-bike led us to Velotric. At that time it was an upstart company that was looking for campaign contributors on the crowdfunding site, Indiegogo. We found out that one of the founders was the former hardware co-founder of Lime. That gave us confidence in the quality of the bike. The only bike Velotric had at that time was the Discover. It only had 3 pedal assists, disk brakes and a cadence sensor. At the time we had no idea what a cadence sensor was and didn't know there were also bikes with torque sensors.

We decided to take the plunge and made a pledge to the campaign, knowing full well that we could lose our money and never receive the bikes. Two bikes, each with an extra battery, front basket and bottle cage totaled less than $3,000. It took almost 6 months to get the bikes as the shipping arrangements were not as refined as they are today with Velotric products. We received our bikes in April of 2022. We assembled them and have been in love with Velotric products ever since. We rode those bikes thousands of miles. In fact, I was the winner of the first "most miles" contest that Velotric hosted with over 5,300 miles. Each time I rode my bike I felt like that 10 year old girl again with the sun on my face and the wind in my hair.

Needless to say, once we had our e-bikes we rarely ever rode our Scott hybrid analog bikes. On the e-bikes we rode more frequently, for longer distances and no longer let the wind stop us from riding. We were getting more exercise and they were just Fun to ride. The rides cleared my mind and I felt relaxed and peaceful. Riding my Velotric, or as I prefer to call it…"Velotricing", was my Happy Place. When the Velotric Discover 1 was updated to 5 pedal assists I bought a spare. Cycling had become such an important part of my life I never wanted to miss riding in the event of a flat tire so I told myself having a spare was a good idea. Plus, it was a good bike for visiting guests.

At the end of December 2022, I had my second knee replacement. I thought it would be smooth sailing considering my first one was difficult due to the scar tissue I had from previous surgeries. I was wrong. I had a soft tissue injury during recovery and had some nerve damage. Recovery was painful and frustrating. I slipped into a dark place. I was suffering from physical pain, mobility loss and compromised balance, but to my surprise, I had lost confidence and felt a sense of hopelessness. Even after months of rehab there was minimal improvement and I had to sadly cancel a bike trip to Canada due to the slow recovery. My doctor prescribed antidepressants and nerve pain meds which helped somewhat, but I was still struggling.

Each day I got on my Velotric E-Bike and rode a little further. When I overdid it, my knee and leg let me know it, but I figured "no pain, no gain". Each ride I gained a little more confidence and I could feel my leg muscles getting stronger and my knee flexion improving. After a few months of riding I was back to my normal 25-30 mile rides and my Joy had returned. I was able to get off all medications and the couch. Riding my Velotric literally gave me my life back. It was not only a Fountain of Youth, it was a Fountain of Health.

As our bikes were aging, we thought perhaps we needed to upgrade. On our cycling trips we used mid-motor bikes. They were lighter and some of the bikes had an upright riding position which we liked, but did miss the throttle for starting out. Velotric didn't have a mid-motor at the time so we looked elsewhere. We test rode, if you want to call riding around a parking lot a test ride, and bought two different well known brands. While they were ok, they both had a more aggressive riding position and neither had a throttle. There was a fourteen day return policy and after riding for about a week we agreed that we missed our Velotric bikes.

This was right about the time that Velotric introduced the Discover 2. The torque sensor was attractive to us and after watching reviews and reading the specs we made the decision to return the mid-motor bikes. We immediately ordered two Discover 2 bikes online. The cost of two Velotric bikes was less than one of the other mid-motor bikes. We received the bikes in about a week, put them together and all I can say is WOW! I didn't think I could love any bike more than my original Velotric, but I did. That joyful childhood memory was even more present with each ride. I also loved the candy apple red color of my Discover 2 and named her Rosie. Rosie and I have traveled together for over 8,000 miles. Velotric bikes are very reliable and I fully expect to reach even higher mileage over the years.

Wanting to share our joy and secret to the Fountain of Youth, we gifted our original Discover bikes to family and they are still enjoying them. The spare Discover 1 was sold to a neighbor who now is able to ride together with her partner.

Our E-Bike Journey and discovery of the Fountain of Youth through cycling has been life changing. Cycling is something I look forward to, not a form of exercise I dread but do anyway to stay fit. The ability to commune with nature on my bike and see wildlife as I ride adjacent to the river is a wonderful experience. While the daily route may be the same the experience changes daily. The majority of our holidays are now cycling vacations as we know we can go anywhere with an E-bike.

I would have never thought that at this age E-biking would become such a major part of my daily routine; I seem to plan my day around my cycling. Velotric has been the key part of that journey. It's possible that other bike brands may have had the same effect, but getting that very first comfortable and reliable Velotric Discover E-Bike that carried me effortlessly and joyfully for thousands of miles made all the difference in the world. The Velotric Brand has been reliable, responsive, innovative, and fun with their numerous contests and giveaways. I feel like Velotric values me and other riders. They listen to suggestions and incorporate them into new models.