Me, my family and my e-bike
By Jo Combelles
Early days
I’ve always enjoyed riding a bike but started cycling on a daily basis when I was a university student as my accommodation was 3 miles from campus – mainly to save money and get an extra ten minutes in bed than everyone else who caught the bus. I see cycling as a mode of transport, an easier, quicker, cheaper, more fun and more environmentally friendly way to get from A to B (although I’m discovering the extent of this depends on a few external factors). I’ve always ridden pretty basic bikes. My first lasted 6 years before being nicked, and my second lasted 18 years. By this time, I was living in South London and commuting to work in central London. I’ve never worn special clothes for cycling, although I’m starting to think about investing in some good rain gear. I was wobbling around on my bike on local errands until the day before my first kid came into the world. I now know that there are ways to carry babies on bikes but at the time we waited until she was turning one before getting a seat fitted on the back (with brackets on mine and husband’s bikes so we could swap it for nursery runs and so on). When our eldest got to school age we got a towing bar that connected her bike to my husbands. A year later she was riding her own bike around and her sister was on the bike seat.
With the introduction of school streets, low traffic neighbourhoods and more cycle lanes in London, the neighbourhood roads were becoming safer and more cycle and pedestrian friendly. This led to a major shift to cycling the school run for many families locally, realising that the 30-minute walk (or an unpredictable 10–20 minute drive followed by 5-10 minutes trying to park) could be done in a predictable 8 minutes by bike.
Arriving in Lewes
Last year in 2021 we finally realised our plan to leave London and experience more nature and a relaxed pace of life, and we landed in Lewes. Lewes appealed as a vibrant and interesting community where most of life could be done by foot or bike. We carried on as we had been, using the bikes as the default mode of transport, although the only school we could get our daughter in was 2 miles away and up a good hill. Which I started to realise was hard work on a standard cheap hybrid bike with a pre-schooler on the back.
The new bike
After 7 months of research and dithering - largely because of the limited buying and trying options locally and the need to get it right because it’s a large purchase - we bought an e-cargo bike that can handle the hills of Lewes with both kids on the back plus swimming kits, violins, bags and shopping. It’s a longtail so operates like and is the approximate dimensions of a normal bike, with kids’ seats on the back and a big rack on the front (we also have big panniers for extra stuff if needed). We love the flexibility it gives us. For example, we can take our daughter and her friend somewhere, or put an adult on the back. It basically operates as a car and we find ourselves using the car only 3-4 times a month. I do think e-bikes and especially those with a good carrying capacity are the way forward in Lewes with the limited public transport options from the outskirts and the hills.
The infrastructure
However, the roads are a barrier to cycling in Lewes. It takes a lot more planning to map a journey than what I used to do in London, which was put Google maps onto navigate (cycle mode) and go. There are particular areas that are desperately in need of a rethink to make it safer and more pleasant for people using bikes, scooters and feet (School Hill, Southover High Street, the junction of Station Street and Lansdown Road, Winterbourne Hollow/Nevil Road and most country lanes around town come to mind). Many roads, including much of the Lewes one-way system, are not wide enough for a car to pass safely, especially when there are children, and some drivers are very unhappy with a cyclist ‘taking the lane’ to avoid a close pass. We moved here to enjoy the beautiful scenery but feel so constrained by the infrastructure. At the weekend we’d love to visit places within a few miles that have lovely walks, or great family friendly pubs, or playgrounds or the beach. Most aren’t accessible on a normal road bike if you don’t want to cycle on fast country roads. We sometimes take the bikes on the train and go somewhere, but as we don’t always know the cycling facilities at the other end we can find ourselves in a difficult situation. I still remember in our first month in Lewes (pre e-cargo bike) taking the bikes on the train to Plumpton with a plan to cycle to the Half Moon pub for a family festival. We hadn’t realised the road would be so dangerous and hilly and our 8 year old daughter refused to cycle. We finally got her there but had a complicated trip to get us all home.
We are starting to learn that there are some maps and apps that help, but cyclists and would-be cyclists also need a better infrastructure badly, so that cycling is seen as a safe easy and pleasant option. I am excited that an e-cargo bike hire scheme is coming to Lewes to help people try it out before taking on a big purchase, and improvements to cycle parking are also on their way. I hope these will help more people see that cycling is for everyone, no matter what age, ability or what you need to carry. It’s a cheap and climate friendly way to get around and even get some exercise. So it’s no surprise more and more people are using bikes in Lewes – especially families. I hope that with more people cycling and less people driving that in turn it will encourage even more people to ditch their misgivings and get pedalling, bringing a real step change in take-up over the next few years.