Tuscany by Bike

A new company opened its doors in Montespertoli, the village where I live, not far from Florence. I got to know the owner and started to help a bit. The company offers cycling tours on e-bikes. Electric bicycles. It's called: Toscana by Bike.

Now I am fond of cycling and do that without pedal assistance. Really sporty, so to speak. As almost all of us still think that cycling should be on normal bicycles and not with support.

Most people (Dutch and Italians alike) still have the feeling that e-bikes are for the elderly. A very sporty opinion, a bit tough too. Until you come cycling in Tuscany in the heat, with many slopes of between 10 and 15%.

Exhausted and dripping with sweat

Fortunately, most tourists are persuaded to try an e-bike and everyone who tries this sporty mtb with pedal assistance on our Tuscan hills is happy with it. So glad that I often hear people say that they want to buy such a bike themselves.

The people who so far could not be persuaded and take a regular MTB, do not come much further than 5 kilometers from the village, after about 100 meters in height they come back exhausted and soaked with sweat. It's just not easy to cycle in the hills unless you train for it.

Sporty Dutch

Our Dutch customers are the most sporty to date. The Dutch are all excellent cyclists and know in no time how the gears work and make good use of this in combination with the electric motor.

With a group of Dutch people you know for sure that the pace is nice and high and you hardly have to worry about whether they will come up a somewhat steeper hill. The electric bicycle does a lot, but not everything. You have to keep pedaling yourself, otherwise nothing will happen.

Americans can't ride a bike

Americans really can't ride a bike – that's my experience so far. They say that they cycle a lot and that they have and use MTBs at home… I don't understand how that is possible, because they can't handle the gears and don't try them out. They expect the bike to go all by itself and so they didn't understand the concept well. They enjoy it immensely, but I always have to help with the gears and the pace is quite slow.

How much?

Italians are all good at cycling and know how a MTB works. Some, like others, are sold after a short time and cautiously begin to ask about the price of these types of bicycles. As soon as they hear the price, they are often less enthusiastic.

However, the other part just doesn't like it. These are the Italians who have been fighting the hills for years and have built up a super condition with a lot of effort and perseverance. skinny and tight (trained) they are proud of the cycling performance.

They don't like the e-bikes because all their training suddenly turns out to be completely unnecessary. On an e-bike you can easily overtake a well-trained cyclist on a steep slope. That's a bit of a swallow for all those Italians tightly wrapped in lycra. That group suddenly sees her status lower, everyone can now cycle in the hills.

As much support as you want

The real core of sports enthusiasts is formed by a small group of Italians, but they forget that you can be as sporty as you want on an e-bike. If you don't turn on the pedal support, you have a normal MTB that weighs a little more than usual. That is really good for the condition! When you get tired, you put the support low and you hardly notice it (until you turn it off again, then you feel the difference enormously).

As a people, the Dutch are by far the most sporty. That pleases me. Not only are the Dutch curious to try these bikes and thus easily overcome the idea that they are cycling on an 'old people's bike', they use the bikes very well and keep a high pace when cycling uphill, so they still have to work a lot . Most Dutch people also brave the heat, even if so sporty. In short, as so often the Dutch look good in Italy!

ℹ️ Have you become excited to go cycling in Tuscany? This is the website: toscanaebike.com/en.