The single worst part about being an adult is the commute to work, and this is a hill I’m willing to die on. For years, I have been but a mere pawn in the games of TFL, South Eastern rail, and other villainous transport powers. Putting up your prices again? Very good, my liege. Train cancelled at the slightest sight of wind, rain, sun or snow? Naturally. Squished into the furthestmost corner of the carriage like a runt sardine that slipped past quality control? Cosy.
When I moved to Zone 2 Brixton and finally escaped the clutches of rail services, I thought my miserable commuting days were behind me. Think again. Relying solely on tubes is a fresh kind of hell. If it’s not the overcrowded platforms, sweltering carriages, omnipresent smog or lingering COVID super spreaders that grind my gears, it’s the daily £8.60 TFL Apple Pay notifications that remind me I'm paying for the pleasure.
So, I was primed and prepped for a change in my travel habits when an email came past my inbox with the subject line “Would you like to trial an e-bike this summer?”. Auto Trader had a huge range of e-bikes to choose from, and I decided on the gold Modus Tour because it was described as safe, ‘perfect for city cycling’, and it’d match all of my gold jewellery.
What happens when you get on your bike every day? Beauty editor Anna Bader tried it to find out.
I was particularly excited to find an alternative to my little run-around car that had almost become redundant now that I was living in central London, except for the odd big food shop, of course. When I do venture past popping down to Lidl, I’m a magnet to fines. I park in the wrong places, find myself driving through traffic quieting zones and turning down one-way roads more frequently than I care to admit. Driving in London is not for the faint-hearted or the broke. Nearly half of car owners, (47%), believe e-bikes could replace shorter car journeys and, spoiler alert, I am now a part of that stat.
I’m one month into my e-bike odyssey, and I’m a fully-fledged convert. The improvements to my life have been countless, but I’ll give it a go.
The number one thing that has been the best part of my time with this e-bike has to be the money it’s saved me. Now I understand I’m in a very privileged position not to have had to front the initial cost of purchasing a bike, which is one of the main reasons that only 9% of UK consumers have yet to own an e-bike. But for me, it has taken a lot of pressure off of my debit account, and that is easiest explained with a little girl maths.
So, as I already said, the daily TFL travel cap for Zone 2 is £8.60 a day. I was commuting to the office three days a week, totalling £25.80, meaning that every month, I was spending £103.20 just for the pleasure of travelling to and from work. This means that this month, my £70 maximalist manicure, one of my bi-weekly £25 food shops, my cheeky £5 McDonald's breakfast wrap the day after our Women of The Year Awards and one of the very many £2.80 chilled Starbucks caramel macchiatos that I buy at lunch – all FREE, with 50p to spare. So not only am I saving money, I’m making money.
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Outside of just to and from work, the bike has saved me money on countless trips. A trip to Brixton market to grab fresh fruit and veg is a lot more enticing now it's free. A 20-minute walk to my friend’s house has become a 5-minute cycle, and Ubers are a thing of the past, which leads me to my next point…
Being a girl in London is an extreme sport. The dreaded journey home from any event or occasion is either going to be scary or expensive. Weighing up £25 on a 10-minute Uber or a 30-minute risk-my-life walk home (where the £25 usually wins out) is a thing of the past. I can zoom home in minutes, using the bike's Turbo mode to ensure I’m too fast to fear men or my belongings being snatched. I’m using the Decathlon 20 L double pannier bag which has totally elevated my hoarding game. I can carry an absurd amount of stuff from one location to another knowing it’ll be safe and secure, without arriving at my destination with dead shoulders.
Now I know some would argue that navigating London’s roads on nothing but two wheels and a frame of metal is a lot less safe than a walk through a dark park at night, but to those men, I would say, you just don't get it, babe. No, but really, after the first two or three shakey outings where I felt like every car and cyclist was out to put me in an early grave, I now feel super confident no matter where I’m going or what time I’m heading off. As a mild adrenaline junkie (bumper cars, not skydives), I actually wake up super excited every morning to jet off on my little push bike, darting past smog clouds created by traffic jams and people standing at bus stops frustratedly refreshing the bus times, feeling just that little bit sportier and, let's face it, better than everyone else (sorry not sorry).
Speaking of sporty, the sneaky exercise is something I adore about the bike. I’m someone who hates the gym, hates the monotony of exercise machines and those overzealous gym instructors that ‘motivationally’ scream at me while I wobble at pilates. Sneaking an hour's exercise into my daily routine in such a soft and practical way is a game changer. I have felt stronger, happier and more awake every morning and evening after my cycle to and from work.
“I smiled back, gave a look of consideration, simply said, ‘No,’ and walked away.”
I think it’s really important for us to enjoy exercise. As women, dress sizes and the number on the scales can feel like the defining metrics for how healthy or successful our exercise routines have been. It’s been so freeing to enjoy taking in the fresh air, doing something I enjoy and just generally feeling stronger.
As someone who is chronically late (sorry to all of my friends and family), the bike has made travelling around London so seamless and time-efficient. My 50-minute one-train-two-tube commute has now turned into a 25-minute cycle (20 minutes if I’m feeling competitive). I’m not dependent on bus timetables or delayed tubes, and if I decide to change my outfit right before I leave the house, I know I can just pump a little more juice into my peddling and make up for lost time.
The only issue I found in the first week of using the bike was finding somewhere extra secure to leave it, as an e-bike is prime bike thief bait, even if secured. But then I saw the bike community raving about the Decathlon D-Lock 900M ART2 + cable set, which – theoretically, at least – makes any location an ultra-safe spot where the wheels, frame, seat and bags are fixed in place.
There’s a reason that the first line of Lily Allen’s iconic LDN song begins, “Riding through the city on my bike all day”. There is something so main character, so discovering my girlhood while discovering the city about cycling. There is no end to how beautiful my e-cycle journey has made getting around town. Do you know that feeling when you sit in the front seat on the top deck of the bus, just watching the world go by? Imagine that x1000.
I’m learning my way around South West and central London like a cabbie taking the knowledge. I’ve discovered cafes and restaurants to add to my hitlist and back roads lined with beautiful Victorian houses that I imagine myself living in one day. I’ve started doing a little cyclist nod to the other people in my office who pick up and drop off their bikes every day. I’ve carved out time when I don't have my nose buried in my phone. Time when I’m able to properly take in all of the beauty of the world around me, feeling like a part of the city in a way I haven't been able to before. There is no better start to the day than seeing the fishmonger unload his delivery on Atlantic Street behind Brixton market, watching scores of parents ferry miniature uniformed versions of themselves to the school gates. It just hits differently to tap into the world before you start your day and I’ll forever be grateful for discovering this.
As a dedicated disciple of the e-bike community, I’m sad to be giving my Modus Tour back. But Christmas is just around the corner, and an e-bike is definitely going to be on my list (yes, a Christmas list at 25, stop judging me). I’ll probably need to pick one at a slightly lower price point if there's any hope of me doing wheelies on Boxing Day, but I’m sure Father Christmas knows I’ve been good this year.
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We deserve to get active as much as men (and have fun while doing it).
